Prairie Kitchen and Bar

Expect a few tasty surprises even with entrees that ring familiar in this chic, big—5,500-square-foot—restaurant that opened in May 2012 inside the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Case in point: the hearty PB&J. It’s not your mother’s lunchbox sandwich.

Inhale deeply, and the hot griddled bread loaded with cinnamon and sugar smells like small-town bakery delivered on a plate. It’s loaded with creamy chestnut butter and lingonberry jam, one of Prairie Kitchen’s nod’s to Minnesota’s Scandinavian and farming heritage. Other breakfast favorites include a smoky trout cake Benedict and an artichoke and morel mushroom quiche.

Lunches include cool summer soups such as the chilled honey cucumber, a salmon BLT, grilled wild rice bratwurst, and a sweet potato and leek frittata. Some of those spill over to dinner, which includes Parmesan-crusted walleye and garlic and veal meatballs.

Don’t miss dessert, especially with a $10.95 trio of seasonal samples that you choose. We love the zingy goat cheese ice cream served in a Red Wing Pottery crock with blackberry compote and crisp honey tuille, a vanilla pancake with bananas Aquavit and cinnamon ice cream, and a tangy strawberry rhubarb tart with mint ice cream.

If you prefer a more casual gathering (though we love that servers here wear Minnesota-inspired plaid flannel shirts), you can order off much of the menu while sitting in the vast redesigned Hyatt lounge near the fireplace. Grab a surprisingly comfortable seat on one of the giant logs while sipping a Honey Crisp Prairie, containing prairie organic vodka, cranberry juice and Crispin Honey Crisp Hard Cider, or a Raspberry Rickie with gin, lime, agave and muddled raspberries. No matter what you choose, you can't really go wrong.