Black Duck Spirits & Hearth

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Black Duck Spirits & Hearth

Date: Nov 1, 2024

2900 Johnson St NE

Minneapolis, MN 55418

Phone: (612) 331-1421

www.blackduckmpls.com

Finding a GOOD upscale LOCAL restaurant can be tough. We might be in Ham Lake one week and Edina the next. But we do it for you. We have a 60ish couple we meet a couple times a week that live in the North Loop and do NOT have a car. That seems to be becoming a thing. To that end I am in the process of adding ZIP Codes to our restaurant guide. Do you desire an interesting place to eat but you want a close Uber or a walk, go to the ZIP Code in your area…. But give me a week or so to get everything up.

We live in the North Metro. And if you are not originally FROM the Twin Cities a LOT of people don’t cross the river. SERIOUSLY! If you are in St Paul you go to St Paul Places, if you are Mpls you only go to Mpls places. The only exception is people from Minneapolis go to the state fair. But that is only a mile or two from the river and just allowed those ten days.

We live about five miles from Mpls. The City of St Anthony is our buffer from Mpls. The other day E said I want to go to a restaurant in St Anthony. I said you mean HAZELS? In all of St Anthony we know only one restaurant, Hazels at 2859 Johnson St NE. You know Hazels the main stay of St Anthony about 7 blocks from Ready Meats at 3550 Johnson St where we get steaks from the grill.
E said NO there is ACTUALLY a NEW Restaurant in St Anthony called Black Duck it’s an upscale trendy place across the street from Hazels. I simply said when are we going. We did on Nov 1.

Black Duck is not only a new restaurant they also have a Food Truck presence. Their food truck is called Fare Game. That goes in keeping with the wild fowl theme of Black Duck. Black Duck is in the quiet part of town. A block away and you will not think there is a restaurant around this St Anthony new restaurant. I parked for FREE across the street!
They have a nice spacious patio that I can see us visiting in the summer. A patio in the area I believe I looked at last year I sat next to as turkeys crossed the street in their timeline. The fowl theme continues inside. As a bird hunter I thought it was nice.
Black Duck has the new designed kitchen concept where you can watch your food being cooked and talk the chef artisans. To say they have an unusual selection of food options would be an understatement. A few things that jumped out was Quail, which I had and was very good. Add to that Octopus, Duck Liver Pate, Oysters, Fried chicken & bologna, duck and chicken, steak and fish a smash AND Duck Burger. Though they have vegetable options it’s the exotic meats that caught my eye.
Like most new upscale restaurants, they have a good selection of spirit drinks including Rye Whiskey, Bourbons, Scotch, Rums, Vodka, Tequilas and Gins. In addition to beers.
\For wines they have five reds: a Nebbiolo that I had, a Rhône blend, a Noir, a Cab-Franc which we have never seen by the glass in the cities and E had the Shiraz. Both our wines were good pours and worked well with the food. The have a Loire Sparkling whites include a Gri, for us Aussies a Gruner, a Chard, a Vino Blanca and a Sav Blanc. A fun group to try. They also have a nice selection of non-alcoholic pop, tea and coffee.
We ordered their burger with fries and a nice order of quail. All very well prepared and tasty. Our bill with two glasses of wine was $73.88 very reasonable for the quality and drink we had. The people were nice, and the place wasn’t very loud. I believe we will go back as you should too.