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October 28, 2009

Number 4: A place to dine for

Restaurant opens in Landkamer building

By Brian Ojanpa

MANKATO — If anyone but these two brothers were opening a downtown Mankato restaurant in this chancy economic climate, they might be advised not to order any green bananas.

But Patrick and Chris Person’s track record as local restaurateurs speaks for itself as the Number 4 American Bar & Kitchen launches this week in the historic Landkamer building.

“I don’t think people thought it was a good idea to be opening a new restaurant now,” Chris said.

So why, then?

“We’re both at the age where we said, ‘If we ever do this, now is the time,’” Patrick said, citing their strong employee roster, many of whom were plucked from their other restaurants to staff the new one.

Executive chef Mark Kohner has left Neighbor’s Italian Bistro to head the kitchen in the new venture, and former DINO’s Pizzeria manager Natasha O’Hara is a partner in Number 4.

The brothers also operate Tav on the Ave.

The new restaurant’s theme? There isn’t any, and that’s by design. It’s billed as a “gastropub” specializing in high-quality cuisine from the North, South, East and West.

Patrick says its aura bespeaks a bit of old-fashioned supper club, pub food offerings and a dash of retro.

The label “casual upscale” also may apply. In practice, that’s likely to mean a Saturday night hockey crowd noshing on free-range buffalo burgers while serious foodies dine on lamb shanks and Chilean sea bass.

A food glossary also might come in handy to navigate descriptive menu language such as that applied to the roasted beet salad with “fleur de sel, quenelles of laura chenel goat cheese and balsamic gastrique.”

The brothers set sights on opening their fourth eatery soon after the January demise of the upscale Contessa restaurant, which had an 18-month run in the building.

They said their decision was driven in large part by a downtown reemergence that includes the Second Street extension over Veterans Memorial Bridge and prospective construction of a performing arts center across the street.

Patrick said Number 4’s menu has more made-from-scratch dishes than the fare at Neighbor’s.

It’s also decidedly more adventuresome than other local restaurants, with offerings ranging from a seafood bouillabaisse ($15) to venison tenderloin ($24) to crab dim sum ($15).

Want a little showtime with your mealtime? Order the Pot on Fire ($14), a braised beef and vegetable dish with brandied gravy that arrives at your table ablaze.

Also in play are standards such as roasted chicken ($12), Canadian walleye ($14) and appetizers ranging from homemade french fries and onion rings (both $7) to sautéed scallops ($12) and Philly cheese steak sliders ($9).

Even as they christen their new restaurant, the brothers are looking to the horizon.

Said Chris, “After we opened DINO’S, we said, ‘Yeah, we’re done at three.’ But now this is number four, and after a couple years, who knows?”

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