At the start of the week, Colleen and I used the break between the women’s and men’s Big 10 basketball tournaments to have dinner at the new Bûcheron in the Kingfield neighborhood of south Minneapolis. While we mainly knew 4257 Nicollet as the original home to Revival, it was also home to Corner Table and Lufrano’s (h/t to Justine Jones at Eater Twin Cities on that last one).

Open about two months now, this 38-seat room was immediately familiar (yet seemed smaller – didn’t Revival’s dining room eventually expand next door?). Loved to hear that they used the old Revival benches to build the new bar. Also loved to see this comment from Revival on the Bûcheron Instagram page:

We feel honored to be part of the legacy that you are carrying on. It makes our heart full to see all the love and care you put into the space and know you will make memories of your own for years to come!

Lots have been written already about the husband and wife team of Chef Adam Ritter and Hospitality Director Jeanie Janas Ritter (see Sharyn Jackson’s preview in the Strib, Jason DeRusha’s article for Minnesota Monthly and Justine Jones’ story in Eater Twin Cities), so I won’t rehash the backstory. Let’s just say that I completely agree with Jason when he writes “It’s going to be fascinating to watch the first wave of Kaysen proteges do their own things.”

In addition to the owners, there is Chef de Cuisine Cory Western (Spoon and Stable & Demi), General Manager Tyler McLeod (Bellecour & Demi, KZ Provisioning) and bar lead Will Gobeli. Not sure who all we saw on our visit, but there were some strong The Bear vibes coming from the kitchen on our visit, with lots of white T-shirts and tattoo-covered arms. The back of house staff does come out to discuss the dishes, which was super fun (at least for us).

We ordered from all sections of the menu at the beginning of the night so our wonderful server could course it out appropriately. Here are all the items we had (as printed on the menu):

• POMMES DAUPHINES, gruyère, celery, caraway | 10
• LITTLE GEM salad, lobster, sherry mayo, winter citrus, tarragon | 19
• Grilled CARROTS, kohlrabi, chickpea, cilantro yogurt, sweet & sour sauce, vadouvan vinaigrette | 17
• SKREI COD roasted sunchoke, rapini, wild rice furikake, radish beurre blanc | 34
• Feller’s Ranch STEAK*, shallot confit, potato mousse, kalettes, sauce bordelaise | 42
• “COOKIES & CREAM” milk sorbet, cocoa macaron, vanilla custard, lemon verbena | 13
• Shepard’s Way ‘Sogn’ CHEESE, fermented honey, quince, mustard, seeded baguette | 14

I loved every single thing I had and feel that this was the best meal I’ve had so far in 2024. Take the grilled carrots (pictured above): it was a true Ratatouille moment, with flavor combinations just bursting in unexpected ways. Colleen was disappointed in the salad, but her food allergies meant the kitchen had to put some things on the side that I was able to add back. My Feller’s Ranch steak with the potato mousse had fingerlings in the mousse, which was an excellent surprise. Both of our desserts were amazing and it’s always great when I can order a Milk and Honey cider in the city…

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Bûcheron (French for ‘lumberjack’)
4257 Nicollet Avenue • Minneapolis, MN 55409
612-255-5632 (online reservations via Resy)

Hours:
Monday – Saturday 5pm to 10pm
Sunday – closed