Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant

Now long-established on Nicollet Mall under chef Jack Reibel, the Dakota, as most of us call it, remains one of the shining lights of the Twin Cities cultural scene. Nowhere can you dine so wonderfully in the presence, many nights, of the best jazz being played in the entire Midwest. But it is harder to define the Dakota under Reibel than it was under founding chef Ken Goff, who took the tortuous steps of defining a regional cuisine from the ruins of cream cheese wontons, wild rice soup, and walleye. The locavore movement was decades away, but few places felt more thoughtfully Midwestern than the Dakota.

Reibel’s menus and cooking are more stylized and manifestly creative, his technique is more obvious on the plate, and his kitchen’s skills are unimpeachable. If there is a disconnect, it’s that the menu lacks a culinary focal point or niche and is often overwrought, with too many elements and flavors on a plate. (In truth, I prefer Reibel’s more playful lunch menu with witty dishes such as a cobb salad burger or Jamaican pork sandwich.) The best cooking here incorporates focused and congruent tastes, such as the appetizer of Korean barbecue quail breast with apple kimchee and peanut sauce. Beautifully textured, balancing intense flavors, it is great modern cross-cultural dining.

But shrimp and blue crab cakes with middling crabmeat and a melange of sauces, including a tomatillo puree that overwhelms the seafood, fall into the overwrought camp. The Dakota’s always got an interesting selection of salads, and one with bibb, spiced pecans, and buttermilk vinaigrette was no exception. I quite like the main course of seared diver scallops over a cauliflower risotto and a rich lobster velouté, though the dish cries out for something acidic or mineral to balance it out. Pumpkin gnocchi are not ethereally light but tasty in a smooth butter sauce. Two tastes of natural Angus beef, unctuous short rib meat and a nicely crisped tenderloin, are paired with a bitter semolina “pudding,” while the veal demiglace it sits in is pleasant but not quite the wowser our server boasted about. A dessert of black bottom pecan pie with bourbon caramel is also done in by too much too much—specifically the cloying dollop of sweet potato semifreddo.

Service at Dakota is smooth and professional. The wine list is well chosen, if expensive in spots. Be assertive about where you want to sit in the dining room and whether you want to be in range of the music or not. Our hostess did not inquire.

The Dakota is a great jazz club with a serious dining experience. As a restaurant alone, it’s easy to like, a litter harder to fall in love with, and even tougher to define. 1010 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., 612-332-1010, dakotacooks.com