Draft Horse – Minneapolis, MN

This place had been on our list to try for a few different reasons, but it took us forever to get here. The place is proud of the fact that it leverages local (and in many cases in the same building) suppliers of meat and veggies for its delicious sounding menu. They’ve got a few star items and we tried to get a couple of them. 

We had to wait a bit for a table, but we were expecting that. So we grabbed a few beers and watched the servers bring out delicious smelling plates to various tables. We chatted up the bartender and a couple of servers that helped us make our decisions. We got seated and as we were looking at our menus, the table next to us kept offering their food for us to try. They had ordered too much and were SUPER generous about sharing with us and another table. Really Minnesotan and really awesome.

We ordered a meat plate to start with, since it’s difficult to go wrong with those. We also got a pork cassoulet to share. For our entrees, D.Rough got a roast chicken pot pie and I, after changing my mind a few hundred times, decided on the pork shank.

The meat plate and pork cassoulet came out first and we dug in. Great mixture of meats on the meat plate, and each one tasted different (sometimes the meat boards end up tasting the same, but I like variety of this one). Great choice.

The pork cassoulet was quite good. I would get this again, without question. The beans were nice and soft and not grainy and the rustic bread complemented it really well.

The chicken pot pie was good, but not great. I know D.Rough was expecting more flavor, but it was just ok. Plenty of food, but we wished it had more flavors in it (aside from a boat-load of onions).

The pork shank was massive. Really waaaaay too much food. I should have split this between two or three people. The rub it had was fantastic, so I was pretty stoked about eating the rest of it. The skin was a little thick and chewy in spots, but one I got down to the meat, it was incredible. I really loved the flavor of this giant chunk of meat. The seasonings on the outside had clearly soaked into the meat below and gave this meat serious flavor. It was perfectly cooked, as well – not dried out.  I’m glad I got it, but I’d only get it again if I were sharing with a few people. It’s not a one-person portion.

Great restaurant with a slightly higher price tag than our usual stops, but we’re glad we went there to have a nice date night.

Top 5 things about Draft Horse
1. Pork Cassoulet
2. Pork Shank
3. Meat Plate
4. Super friendly people that shared their food with us
5. Love the locally-sourced food

Bottom 5 things
1. Wished the Roasted Chicken Pot Pie were better
2. It's upscale pricing
3. You're going to have to wait, since it isn't very large inside
3. Nothing else was bad!!!

www.thedrafthorsempls.com