Trattoria Tosca

After a chaotic and perfunctory soft opening, I was wary about Harvey McLain’s long-awaited Linden Hills restaurant. Would it evoke the polished and exacting Café Levain or the stagnant and slipping Turtle Bread Company that microwaves quiche? Good news! If you passed through Tosca over the winter, the place is transformed. Dark wood wainscoting, sponge painting (a Turtle trademark), and black leather seating now graces the once bare spaces, and chef Adam Vickerman is fresh back from Italy with a brief, modern Italian menu. The crowd on the Saturday night I visited was decidedly informal and downscale (but ordering lots of pricey Fiji water—that’s south Minneapolis), but the cooking is not—this is no pasta-and-sauce joint. There’s a strong emphasis on seasonality—ramps were all over the menu—and local meats abound. Our server was enthusiastic and sharp (except for the part about our white wine being “not very tannic”). And the cooking was exceedingly careful for a ten-day-old spot. You can’t say they rushed Tosca into existence, and perhaps we’ll all be the better for it.
3415 W. 44th St., 612-824-6013