Mission

When Mission’s parent, Hemisphere Restaurant Partners, announced plans last year to open Via Cafe & Bar on France Avenue across from Southdale, it brought in newly unemployed Auriga wunderkind Doug Flicker to work on Via’s menu and help out chef James Foley at Mission.

Word from the company was that Foley would be the executive chef at Via and Flicker would run Mission. Mission is better off with him than without, but if you have an all-star, why wouldn’t he supervise all your kids instead of baby-sitting a sibling?

OK, so I’m off to Mission, a restaurant that has become a regular lunch spot of mine. Though it does more business at that time than any other tablecloth eatery downtown, it lost me at dinner.

The philosophy chef Jordan Smith birthed still remains: simple, slightly witty compositions of good food, prepared without fuss. With Flicker behind the stove, flourishes have begun to pop.

A chilled shellfish platter that had always been hit or miss in terms of freshness was without fault; a braised chicken taco came with the sultry and sexy surprise of smoked potatoes; and a pile of teeny, paper-thin, Korean–style marinated short ribs were stunningly cooked, sticky-sweet and charred, served with a homemade kimchee as addictive as the ribs. A tomato-bacon salad was deftly turned out, the bacon warm and crisp. Pan-roasted monkfish was wrapped in prosciutto and cooked to perfection, a veal sauté came with a trembling cauliflower flan, and duck breast was perfectly sautéed, teamed with a prune ravioli and drizzled with a stock reduction that clearly was made by talented hands. Someone was teaching these cooks how to baste when sautéeing and how to sear protein.

Doug Flicker is one of the best chefs in the five-state region, but in a large restaurant like Mission his hands don’t touch all the plates. No matter, he’s an inspiring teacher and manages people well. But here, he is cooking to format rather than to his soul, and having eaten his food and followed his career for over a decade, he seems to be catching his breath.

Mission co-owner Anoush Ansari is one smart guy. I hope he figures out a way to keep Doug Flicker engaged. By the time you read this, Via will have opened, providing some clues to my Flicker-Foley placement puzzle. Fingers crossed.

IDS Center, 77 S. 7th St., Mpls., 612-339-1000