Laura Zastrow
Triangles of gnocchi hide the real star of the dish: the mushroom ragu.
Here’s the deal. If you aren’t immediately entranced by Mint Mark’s bar back — part tiki, part fern, part that Shining-esque deco bar from Passengers — then I think we may be coming from different emotional spaces. To me it reflects a restaurant that is both complicated in inspiration and simple in presentation, earnestly evocative and also a little kitschy.
Consider that during a chatty meal at the counter overlooking the kitchen, chef Sean Pharr made savvy references to both The Office and The Simpsons while dropping neither a beat, nor the large knife he was using to slice the rye bread for that evening’s fish fry.
Pharr returned to Madison recently after some years working in various Chicago kitchens, taking up residence at the Capitol Chophouse before joining forces with a group of partners, including Chad Vogel of the Robin Room, to open Mint Mark. The former Mermaid Cafe is almost unrecognizable, now with a tidy white tile floor and wicker seating that would feel almost silly if it wasn’t so darned comfortable.
Considering how beloved the Mermaid Cafe was, it’s a nice touch for the neighborhood regulars that Mint Mark still serves weekday breakfast and lunch. (Weekend brunch has just started up.) The lovely Sunday Morning breakfast sandwich, with ham, cheddar, and a fried egg, has made its way across the isthmus from Johnson Public House, by way of fellow Mint Mark partners Gwen and Kyle Johnson. The buttery, crusty-topped biscuits are all Mint Mark, however; I couldn’t bring myself to adulterate them any further than with a zippy cranberry-orange jam. They’re wonderful, fluffy and almost creamy at the center.
The dinner menu shifts with alacrity. Gone are shrimp and grits, with curls of shrimp cooked to such delicate tenderness that I had to double-take for a moment to ensure they weren’t scallops. Smooth potato pierogi, seared hard on one side, are gone too. A healthy knob of cauliflower, fried not to crispness but a pleasant crustiness, is a dish with almost evergreen seasonality, but it’s gone too.
More recently, a dish coyly named “Mushroom” — many of the dishes have that very Chicago one-word name thing going on — seems like it should focus on the triangles of Roman-style gnocchi at its base. But the true base is indeed the braised mushroom ragu, tricked out with even more mushroom, thanks to a dose of liquid roasted out of an entirely different mushroom dish. It’s an umami bomb that I could mistake for a bolognese and not the fully vegetarian dish it is.
In fact, get ready for richness throughout Mint Mark’s menu, even when it is punctuated by acidity, as richness should always be. The deviled egg, served as two halves per order, features sea urchin roe whipped into the egg yolk for egg-on-egg goodness, and a slice of duck prosciutto on top — but then a healthy quantity of Dijon mustard to break it up.
A hearty plate called the Mish Mash held not only two cheeses, various meats including pâté and head cheese, and grilled bread, but also apple butter, two mustards, and a selection of lightly pickled vegetables. The palate never gets too used to any one sensation.
Mint Mark features the occasional special, like a late night cheeseburger or a fried chicken sandwich, or a slightly unexpected — for this restaurant’s style — Friday fish fry. I say “slightly” because fish fry in Wisconsin is never entirely unexpected. The modest portion of bluegill is crisp, hot, and perfectly seasoned, and the dark hand-cut fries aren’t overdone at all. Word is definitely out about the Mint Mark fish fry, so if you don’t arrive early, plan for a wait.
And plan for dessert, because it’s quite something. The rye flour chocolate chip skillet cookie a la mode is another one of those just-the-other-side-of-prosaic dishes that Mint Mark nails. I realize that ultimately all cookies are hot cookie dough, but hear me when I say that this luxurious and melty dessert is literally hot cookie dough. It is capital-G gooey.
The lemon posset, somewhere between lemon curd and melty gelato, is a simple recipe that sings with citrus acidity. It’s worth ordering alongside that cookie, if you’re hungry enough. A slice of Basque cake is no slouch, either.
Simple and exciting, goofy and adept, Mint Mark is a new restaurant you’re going to want to get to know.
Mint Mark
1929 Winnebago St.; 608-285-5096; Mintmarkmadison.com;
Food service 7 am-2 pm and 5-10 pm Mon.-Fri., 9:30 am-2:30 pm and 5-10 pm Sat.,
9:30 am-2:30 pm Sun.; bar open 4 pm-2 am Mon.-Sat.; $5-$18
