THE UPTOWN BAR and Cafe's recent closure hit a sour note on the neighborhood's soundtrack: Would its denizens of musicians and concertgoers have to schlep downtown or to Cedar-Riverside or St. Paul to perform or see a show? Not if things continue to pick up at Sauce Spirits and Soundbar, which moved into the former La Bodega space at the corner of Lyndale and Lake Street this past summer.
Sauce's two-room setup—a performance-space room with a stage in one corner and a narrow, booth-lined dining room—is similar to that of the Triple Rock. The venue's a bit raucous, the dining room far mellower, and both are linked by the music being piped in via a free jukebox near the kitchen. Overall, Sauce has a comfortable, arty vibe. Abstract paintings and photographs of Twin Cities performers line the walls, and a vending machine sells CDs by local up-and-coming bands. (If you recognize more than one of their names, I'll concede you some serious scenester cred.)
Alma Guzman
Eighteen taps and pretty good grub: The Lyndale Tap House
Location Info
Details
THE LYNDALE TAP HOUSE
2937 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis
612.825.6150, Web site
appetizers $5-$10; entrées $7-$16
SAUCE SPIRITS & SOUNDBAR
3001 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis
612.822.6600, Web site
appetizers $5-$10; entrées $7-$13
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Sauce's owner, Mike Riehle, who left his corporate job to focus on his zest for music, emphasizes the space's triple-function as restaurant, bar, and music venue. (He hopes that his Beastie Boy-themed cocktail list will one day lure his favorite MCs to perform.) Riehle recently expanded the club's food offerings to feature more of the Italian comfort food he grew up on—the red-sauce recipe originated with Grandma Delia, who's pictured on the front of the menu—plus a selection of all-day breakfasts to dispense with the need for a post-show trip to the diner. The majority of Sauce's fare is straightforward, stick-to-the-ribs sort of stuff: artichoke dip, chicken-cutlet sandwiches, pizzas, and pastas. After customers begged for French Fries and chicken wings, Riehle brought La Bodega's fryer out of retirement.
Earlier this summer, the kitchen suffered a few hiccups with sourcing ingredients and fine-tuning recipes. Tomatoes on a Caprese salad were mealy and bland, even though it was peak tomato season. A whole-wheat pasta dish tasted like somebody poured balsamic vinegar on a pile of cardboard toilet paper tubes. (Fortunately, it didn't make the cut on the revised menu.) But several of the items went above and beyond the banal bar food most music lovers typically put up with. The red-pepper pizza offered a rich, spicy sauce of roasted red peppers and Italian sausage on a crispy crust. A bowl of fusilli, sausage, and veggies was smothered in a lovely gorgonzola-garlic cream sauce. A meal pairing either with a slice of Franklin Street Bakery carrot cake would easily establish Sauce as an establishment with ambitions to be equal part restaurant—and not just a music venue that serves food as an afterthought.
The newer menu items I tried, including the vegetarian lasagna with hot cherry pepper sauce, cheese, mushrooms, and walnuts, and the rigatoni Calabrese with house-made meatballs, are not pushing any culinary boundaries. And how you judge them will depend on your expectations. A stand-alone dinner at Sauce is likely to underwhelm, compared to the neighborhood's other restaurant offerings. But I'd guess that showgoers will be thrilled to find more interesting fare than the typical rock-club mozzarella sticks and burgers.
