BULLDOG N.E. RESTAURANT & BAR

Belly up to the barfood and you won't be disappointed.

By Rick Nelson, Star Tribune

The Junk

Steve Rice, Steve Rice

Landon Schoenefel

BULLDOG N.E. RESTAURANT & BAR

Location: 401 E. Hennepin Av., Minneapolis, 612-378-2855. • Hours: Kitchen open 11 a.m. to midnight Monday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday; bar open to 2 a.m. daily. • Atmosphere: The swell mix of historic and contemporary, a holdover from the space's last tenants, Boom! and Oddfellows, has been diluted but not deleted. • Service: Cheery, informal. • Sound level: Not an issue. • Recommended dishes: Burgers, pickle plate, chili, cold cuts, fries, green goddess salad, chicken and waffles. • Wine list: The exceptional beer list emphasizes Belgian brews and includes several dozen pint, 10-oz. and 25-oz. pours. • Price range: Very little north of $10.

Talk about on-the-job training. After working at Restaurant Alma, 112 Eatery, Cafe Barbette and other top Twin Cities kitchens, Landon Schoenefeld has put his sweat-equity education to very good use at his new gig. As chef at the new-ish Bulldog N.E., he's borrowed his former employers' cooking principles -- Grade A ingredients, strong technique, creative thinking -- and applied them to traditional neighborhood pub genre. Although the results are far from fancy, Schoenefeld's next-generation bar food exudes obvious smarts and attention to detail. Oh, yeah -- it tastes good, too.

It's difficult to imagine a better burger. Schoenefeld starts by trimming fat from Kobe-style chuck, curing the meat overnight with salt, thyme, garlic and peppercorns, and then cranking it through a meat grinder twice. The highly seasoned beef is then formed into thick patties, grilled to sizzling, juicy perfection and slipped into some of the best buns in the business, baked at the New French Bakery. Purists can stop there, but Schoenefeld soldiers on, offering his customers a few tantalizing variations, constructed with well-sourced building blocks: pungent Stilton, a slab of smoky Minnesota-raised ham, thick bacon from that same Waseca farm, earthy truffle oil, a mustard brimming with fresh horseradish, a snappy house-made aioli.

He has fries down, too: long and runway-model skinny, double-fried to just the right crispy snap, and finished with a liberal shake of Sicilian sea salt. Naturally, Schoenefeld tinkers with the genre. One version dusts 'em with fennel, a tarragon aioli subbing for ketchup; the most over-the-top variation fuses mellow Grana Padano and a splash of truffle oil to fries as they come out of the fryer. One bite and you'll be hooked; two, and you'll be stuffed.

The pickle plate -- a primo partner to the Bulldog's exceptional beer roster -- is also a beaut. It starts with some rockin' sausages (from a Wisconsin family farm) before moving on to an array of nicely conceived house-made snacks. Herring has a subtle coriander kiss. Beets have a faint cinnamon chaser. Miso puts an edge on turnips, and a few chiles give carrots a wicked one-two punch.

Ditto a fine (and affordably priced) assembly of cured meats, cheeses and spreads, particularly Schoenefeld's ruddy chicken-pork terrine and flavorful liver pâté paired with sweet-tart Wisconsin cherries. Brisket -- tender, richly flavored -- is another highlight, whether it's folded into a mountainous plate of nachos flecked with queso fresco or made a centerpiece of an exceptional chili. Its smoldering heat, emanating from fresh and dried fresno and poblano chiles, is cleverly cooled by a cilantro-infused crème frâiche. And you have to love a basket of Tater Tots, hot bite-size treats dunked into a harissa-laced mayo.

Overscaled salads (the kitchen makes a wonderfully creamy green goddess dressing), fancified hot dogs (get the chili dog, a Vienna Beef topped with that amazing chili) and a half-dozen nicely composed and overstuffed sandwiches round out the menu. A few larger entrees get the blue plate special treatment: big portions of stick-to-your-ribs fare. Best is a classic chicken-and-waffles combo, with a pair of light, yeasty waffles topped by an abundantly meaty, crispy-skinned fried chicken, all drizzled in maple syrup blended with bits of that seriously delicious bacon.

There's a weekly special, too; last week it was a spin on a Gopher State hot dish standard: Tater Tots, roasted Brussels sprouts and fork-tender short ribs, all tied together with a savory mushroom béchamel sauce that stood in nicely for cream of mushroom soup.

No dessert, although Schoenefeld is looking into the prospect of a few simple sweets in the not-so-distant future. For now, Schoenefeld's menu is available only at Bulldog N.E., not at its older sibling establishment in south Minneapolis. But who knows? If the ownership is smart, they'll take Schoenefeld's cooking on the road.

Rick Nelson • rdnelson@startribune.com