Birch’s

There is an uninviting strip mall at the end of 394, just past where the freeway becomes a two-lane highway. Ravello was the first to see opportunity there, and now Birch’s has taken over and refurbished the space. Burt Joseph, a veteran of the catering universe, wanted to bring the American supper club back to an area that once supported the Buckhorn Roadhouse. So the formerly Italian–inspired space has been updated with a fresh coat of lake blue paint, an enlarged bar stacked with blond field stones, and birch wood accents engineered to soften the strip mall ambience. Sticking to the supper club premise, the menu is full of comfortable, familiar food such as chops and steaks, which are dry-aged on the premises. The hallmark dish is chicken-in-the-rough, a cast-iron pan-fried crispy half-chicken inspired by a vintage Buckhorn recipe. Hearty sandwiches, big salads, and flatbreads round out the something-for-everyone offerings. Birch’s seems to be striving for everything Ravello wasn’t—hominess and fluency. Maybe that’s the answer for a small restaurant in a small exurb, but we’ll see if it’s enough to draw people again and again to the end of the freeway.

1935 Wayzata Blvd., Long Lake, 952-473-7373