There’s finally some life in the long-empty space across the alley from Aster Cafe. And the folks behind this new restaurant know their neighborhood pretty well.
Cabana Club comes from partners Krista Johnson, Charlie Gibbs, and Jay Viskocil, industry lifers who have bartended, cooked, and served at restaurants throughout the Twin Cities.
“Funny enough, we all met at Aster,” Johnson says. Viskocil was managing, Gibbs was the sous chef, and Johnson was a server. About two years ago, the trio hatched a plan over beers to open a restaurant of their own, and while they looked all over Minneapolis for a location, “This one just kind of spoke to us,” Johnson says. Cabana Club celebrated its grand opening on January 3.
All three partners are avid travelers—Johnson alone has been to 34 countries—and that’s reflected in the restaurant’s globetrotting menu.
“We dug into different experiences we had and came up with different staples,” Johnson says of the menu, which has everything from a duck confit bánh mì to a meat pie with Amish chicken breast in green curry. “And then we do have a few things, like the American smash burger, that’s the kind of stuff you crave when you come back.”
Those travel experiences are also represented on the extensive wine list, which includes adventurous bottles from Turkey, Lebanon, and Croatia. (Johnson is a Level 2 or Certified Sommelier.) Cocktails, too, will take you to far-flung corners of the globe, and they’re grouped into high-proof, medium-proof, low-proof, and spirit-free categories. Try the Oaxaca ($14), with lightly smoky Sombra Joven mezcal, coffee liqueur, agave nectar, chocolate, and a hint of coconut—it’s served hot, and, per my dining companion, “exactly how I imagine the hot chocolate from The Santa Clause.”
From there, you can choose your own adventure. You could begin with the comforting Butter Board ($14), which arrives with a trio of butters to slather on popovers and focaccia; during our visit that was morel mushroom (among the richest and most decadent spreads I’ve ever put on bread), sundried tomato (like if pizza was butter), and rosemary orange (subtle, soft, and pleasant, even if it was the least craveable of the three).
For a totally different experience, go for the Sea Bass Crudo (market price/$18), the kind of fresh and citrusy platter that wakes up your tongue and makes you hungrier for the meal ahead. Dotted with pureed sweet potato and doused in leche de tigre, the slightly spicy “tiger milk” that makes Peruvian ceviche so enticing, it’s perfection atop the accompanying crispy plantain ribbons. Or, there’s the Paella Arancini ($14), a wonderfully crispy shrimp-and-chorizo, Spain-meets-Italy fusion.
(Have you noticed we’re doing a lot of deep-fried balls lately? Just down the street at Aster House there are the Wild Rice Fritters; the new Du Nord Cocktail Room and Lagniappe have the Crispy Boudin Balls. Anyway!)
The travel-inspired menu hops from country to country, and placing an order can feel like boarding a train and heading for the next spot on your itinerary. What will it be? Jerk chicken? Harissa-braised lamb shank? Piri piri shrimp?
We opted for the Wild Mushroom Fettuccine ($22), which is tossed in the morel butter that was so sensational on the Butter Board. (You could call it the culinary equivalent of traveling to a new city, finding one cool bar, and posting up there night after night, a habit of which I am guilty.) Hey, if it ain’t broke—this generous pasta plate is piled with earthy mushrooms and warming Calabrian chiles, and heirloom cherry tomatoes provide concentrated pops of juicy sweetness.
It might surprise you, as you sip your drink and gaze out the wide front windows across the Mississippi, to learn that this building sat empty for more than seven years before the Cabana Club team got the keys last year. The most recent restaurant tenant was Vic's, which closed abruptly in early 2018, making this just another vacant space along a lovely riverfront corridor that feels like it should have a lot more going on.
Johnson says she and her partners want to compliment and expand the options for folks in St. Anthony Main. “The Monday thing—we definitely want to be open on Mondays,” she says, referring to an area food writer’s recent grumbling about the lack of options near the Main Cinema on that day. Not only is Cabana Club open on Mondays, but they’ve got half-price bottles of wine to help get you in the door. “We really want to lean into happy hour,” she adds, with service industry-friendly offerings like Ferarri—Fernet and Campari—shots.
Those shots are just $5 during happy hour, which runs from 4-6 p.m. Sunday to Thursday. We snuck in just before six earlier this week and enjoyed the Butter Board for just 10 bucks, and already I’m making plans to return for the $10 happy hour smash burger before a movie.
“I’m really proud of honestly everything: the menu, the vibe, the staff,” Johnson says. Of the neighborhood where she’s worked for years, she adds, “It should be hopping … The more restaurants, the better.”
Cabana Club
Address: 201 SE Main St., Minneapolis
Hours: Open daily from 4-10 p.m.
