The Lowry (Poutine Crawl) – Minneapolis, MN

Again, this was a make-up visit of the Twin Cities Poutine Crawl I’m involved in. I missed the actual night the group went, but I wanted to get caught up. A-Wow and I walked over from Rye Deli, since it’s a block away and prepared for our second course of poutine for the night.

The staff here are really friendly. Some of the best in the Twin Cities, as far as I can tell. Someone, whom I can only assume is the owner, is a character (in a good way)(I like my restaurants with characters) who goes around to the tables hobnobbing and cracking wise and making sure if people aren’t having a good time, finding out what he can do to make sure that gets turned around. What I’m saying is don’t go here to break up with a girlfriend or anything.

A-Wow described this poutine as a pot-roast-style poutine. I needed to find out what this meant. So we ordered it, and we also decided to have something more substantial, since we had basically eaten a bunch of appetizers. We decided on the steak and pierogies, which the waiter offered to split up for us evenly on two plates. To maintain the waiter’s idea that A-Wow and I ordered some girly drinks from the cocktail menu and hoped for the best. I got a Battle Cat (really, there are some He-Man themed drinks, including a Snarf) and A-Wow got a Moon Bear.

The drinks came out quickly. Mine (The Battle Cat) was a girly drink on the bottom and a beer on top – really. Vodka, orange curacao, lemon juice, cranberry juice, simple syrup ,and then Summit EPA on the top. Actually, it was delicious. I even drank them separately just because I was up to the challenge. A-Wow’s Moon Bear was a bit more manly even for a girly drink – rum, lime juice, orange curacao, orange syrup, bitters, and Laphroaig, with a fancy cinnamon stick sitting in it. It was a little rough for me, but I’m not a Laphroaig fan nor a bitters fan. A-Wow seemed to polish it off pretty quickly, so I’m guessing he thought it was good.

The poutine arrived first and looked stunning. When A-Wow said it was pot-roast-style, he meant there’s actually shredded pot roast IN it. Like a generous helping of it. IT also had carrots, celery, onions in it – just like mom’s pot roast. The meat was extremely flavorful, which I Was thrilled about. There were actual cheese curds in the dish and you could taste them! The fries were better than average and held up really well, mainly because of the lack of identifiable gravy in the dish. There really wasn’t any to speak of, at all. I was disappointed by this fact, but to be honest, it didn’t NEED any gravy. It was an awesome dish – it just may ruffles poutine purists’ feathers to call it poutine when there isn’t any gravy present. They have a point, but I’m guessing they’d get over it really quickly if they tasted how delicious this almost-poutine is. I loved it. Again, the dish is technically an appetizer, so it appears small, but it’s the perfect size for sharing, especially if two of you have ordered an entrée… which we had.

The steak was marinated and finished in some sort of teriyaki sauce which was absolutely fantastic. There were about 6 or 7 slices of perfectly cooked medium slices of steak. The cooks split our steaks and pierogies, so we both got equal portions. I can’t talk this steak up enough – it was really quite excellent. The pierogies were delicious, but I’m not a fan of horseradish which was what the dip was made from. So I ate them without the dipping sauce. The pierogies were made with onion and cheddar and covered with a handful of fried shallots. The pillow-like puffballs filled with cheese were decent and I probably would have eaten a bunch of them, even though they weren’t the best in the Twin Cities. They were good though, don’t get me wrong.

Lowry’s boasts a really good meal and I’d be happy to come back here again. While we were waiting for our food and chatting, we kept hearing people talk about the breakfasts Lowry’s makes. They all sounded delicious and looked even more delicious when the servers started bringing them out. Dang, I should have gotten breakfast. Next time, especially since they have chilaquiles – one of my favorites! Lowry’s has an interesting upscale bar atmosphere that is backed up by really delicious food and fun people working. You’re going to have fun and get full at this place. What more do you want?

www.thelowryuptown.com