MINNEAPOLIS—Executive Chef Aaron Hagerdorn announces that Prairie Kitchen & Bar, which just celebrated its first anniversary at Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, now features an outdoor patio on Nicollet Mall, an expanded menu with summer specialties, and also utilizes three on-premise beehives for honey used in menu items and handcrafted cocktails.
The 5,500-square-foot restaurant specializes in locally grown and seasonal items that evoke the Scandinavian and farming heritage of Minnesota. Chef Hagerdorn is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. “Our enhanced menu features items that reflect Minnesota’s unique heritage with a continued emphasis on fresh ingredients native to The Land of 10,000 Lakes.”
The new, fully furnished patio seats 40 and features two stone fire pits, rustic tables, and six Adirondack chairs. The patio menu includes items such as BBQ Bison Sliders and Smoked Trout Dip, and the patio drink menu includes an array of local craft beers from Minnesota breweries such as Summit Brewery, Lift Bridge Brewery and Big Bay Brewing Company as well as signature cocktails such as the Honey Crisp Prairie with Prairie Organic Vodka, cranberry juice, and Crispin Honey Crisp Hard Cider; the Bee’s Knee’s Martini with Tanqueray gin, Ames Farm honey and lemon juice; and the Purple Rain with Absolut Citron, Parfait Armour, cranberry and lime juice.
Prairie Kitchen & Bar has introduced new seasonal menu items incorporating fresh summer ingredients. New specials include vanilla malted waffles with whole grain, heirloom melons, mint and whipped honey butter for breakfast; an heirloom tomato and watermelon salad with pickled shallots, popcorn shoots, local goat cheese and tarragon-champagne dressing and a roasted baby beet salad with shaved fennel, apple and arugula with sherry dressing for lunch; and dinner specialties like crispy walleye fritters, “create your own starter” options, and a cured salmon cobb salad with local bacon, tomatoes, pickled egg, smoked cheddar, and micro arugula with a lemon dressing. The sumptuous dessert menu now features a strawberry cardamom cheesecake, a blueberry goat cheese tart, and several other selections.
Another addition at Prairie is honey from three on-premise beehives, which house about 180,000 bees. The bees produce more than they need to sustain themselves, so the excess honey is used in several menu items and handcrafted cocktails, as well as chocolate for Mademoiselle Miel, a local chocolatier that sells its honey bon bons at the hotel’s Market. The beehive program provides the colony of bees a safe habitat in downtown Minneapolis and allows them to contribute to pollination, further beautifying the city.
Go to the Prairie Kitchen and Bar.
