May 12, 2012
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The (New) Standard
Restaurant transformations come in different levels of difficulty. Some are seamless. When Sean Wilson bought Proof from Carly Groben last month, the place never missed a day of business. Others close down for months of gutting and rebuilding. Dante Heck, Brendan Kelly and Rob Iovino’s The Standard is from that latter category. The only thing that remains from its days as The Pelican is its slate floor. The bar, furniture and stage (hosting live music each Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) are all new. The partners said they want to be an alternative niche in the Court Avenue district. Their musical choices seem to be reaching out for a more adult audience with blues, jazz and soul. The bar does the same thing by featuring classic cocktails and martinis, plus a nostalgic frosted cooling rail.
Their menu was geared for drink pairings with tapas, soups, salads, sandwiches and desserts. Nothing was priced over $12 and most everything was under $10. A four hour long Happy Hour (3 p.m. – 7 p.m.) brought half price martinis and bottles of wine plus $3 beers. The Standard is not a wine bar though. Beers outnumbered wines seven to one. It’s a cocktail lounge with tapas from a serious kitchen.
The Standard martini with New Amsterdam gin and white vermouth was offered with the “dirty” option of a splash of olive brine and three green olives. That salty taste paired nicely with corn meal encrusted crab croquettes served with a zippy remoulade, orange segments, red onions and a mini salad of mesclun.
A Manhattan fudged on classic interpretation. Canadian Club has not been a rye whisky for decades. Canadian law allows Canadian distillers to use the term even if no rye is used and Canadian Club is made with corn these day. (American rye whiskey must use rye for over half of its mash.)
Otherwise, the Manhattan was served by the book with sweet vermouth and a maraschino cherry. However, it was served with a mysterious froth, or mini head, that one would never see in a serious cocktail lounge in Las Vegas or New York. At any rate, that sweeter drink was paired with a marinated olive platter that included two pitted green olives marinated in chile oil, two more in citrus and herbs, and another two stuffed with blue cheese.
A Sazerac delivered a modern take on a classic. Made with Buffalo Trace’s Sazerac brand rye whiskey and Pernod Anise substituted for absinthe, it produced none of the theatrical notes that Django’s Sazerac delivers.
It was a lovely reddish brown accented with an orange twist and it worked well with
Cajun style shrimp cooked in cayenne, beer and butter. A rumchata, made with cream, rum and caramel vodka, was the sweetest cocktail I tasted
and paired well with fish tacos (“the most popular item on the menu“) which delivered tilapia, pineapple salsa, avocado and mesclun with a side of potato soup.
Smoked salmon was served with chevre and toast.
A steak sandwich brought tender braised beef mixed with roasted mushrooms, caramelized onions, horse radish cream and a fried egg. It was also served with a side of hand cut, twice fried French fries.
Those are a labor intensive bonus that one rarely sees at such low prices. A short dessert menu included home made fresh mint ice cream and fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate. A excellent evening special of French toast was served with burnt maple syrup, candied walnuts and a strawberry reduction.
Bottom line – The Standard is a pleasant new place with exceptional food and drink values, particularly at Happy Hour.
The Standard
208 3rd St., 243-4456
Mon. – Fri. 11 a.m. – 2 a.m., Sat & Sun. 5 p.m. – 2 a.m.
Side Dishes
Fresh Iowa grown produce has been sold at pop up farmers markets since March. One farmer sold 150 pounds of spinach at the Shops at Roosevelt and said his crops were six weeks ahead of schedule.
