D' Amico Kitchen - Minneapolis

I checked out D' Amico Kitchen downtown Minneapolis. They moved out of there old digs in Butler Square and are now located on the ground floor of the swank Chambers Hotel in the heart of the Hennepin Theatre District. This would be a great spot for a nice dinner or upscale snack if you're holding Orpheum Theatre tickets.


The atmosphere is upscale and trendy but still feels warm and invited. The artwork in the restaurant and hotel are worth the visit.

The menu is grouped by antipasti, pasta and secondi. Our waitperson recommended that we each go with one of each. If I go back I would probably stick to the small plates, as they were the highlight of the meal and after which we were all getting a bit full to really appreciate the main course. The fresh bread served was great and could have easily made a satisfying meal paired with the small plates. I think we went through three baskets.

We started with the mussels, tuna, lamb meatballs and roasted beets. All of these were excellent. The mussels were served in a basil-garlic butter and were so good we ordered some more to share with the table. My favorite was the lamb meatballs served with pine nut, currant and yogurt. These, by themselves, will probably bring me back. The yellow fin tuna was served with avocado and melon and I really liked the roasted beets with pistachio, Gorgonzola and pumpkin seed vinaigrette. The beets with the Gorgonzola is a great combo.

We tried the mushroom risotto, ravioli and butternut squash cappelletti for the pasta course. They were all solid, but I think the standout was the ravioli with bufala ricotta, goat cheese, speck, tomato and basil.

Everyone was pretty full by the time the main course was delivered to the table. We tried the braised short rib, sea scallop, grilled swordfish and chicken under brick. All the dinners were good, but I didn't have anything that would send me racing back.

D' Amico has a great wine list, but the prices are a bit of a hammer. I don't understand why restaurants feel they need to charge three retail.

If you go to D' Amico Kitchen or the Chambers Hotel during the winter make sure to check out the Ice Chamber ice bar and fire pit out in the courtyard.

D' Amico Kitchen is located in the Chambers Hotel at 901 Hennepin Avenue. Right across the street from the Orpheum Theatre. Their phone number is 612-767-6960. D' Amico Kitchen's hours are 6:30am - 10pm Sunday through Thursday and 6:30am - 10pm Friday and Saturday.