Dexter's - Edina, MN

I was a massive, massive fan of Burch. It was a restaurant that just clicked as "yup, this is me". It would have been the answer to every one of Mpls.St.Paul Magazine's Twin Citian questions for me: Where do you grab a table when you're celebrating? What about when you need to commiserate over a defeat? When it closed, I needed a new "spot". I started a tour of all the possibilities - P.S. Steak, Manny's, all the main haunts. I've always been a Red Cow fan, but it doesn't quite fit that spot - the vibes aren't quite there. My go-to list has been in flux.

This has been further complicated by the fact that all my neighborhood favorites have closed in the last few years - Lyn65 (though, after our first visit to Lynette, I do have hope) and Protagonist (dying to see what Pejmon and Jahn do next) being two that really hurt.

Then, I went to Porzana. Suddenly, one of the spots on the go-to list was closed. That was one of my favorite steakhouse experiences ever, and one that I'll be returning to, in victory or defeat. It was the first Daniel del Prado restaurant that really resonated with me.

But that review will have to wait - I'm sitting here, after dinner at Dexter's (also by Daniel del Prado), and it's making me want to write about food. I'm very lucky to be able to eat out fairly often - my wife and I make a point of working through at least a chunk the MSPMag's Top 50 list every year. Going back-and-forth to draft our list for the year is one of my favorite traditions. We try to always have a reservation to look forward to, and this week she snagged one at Dexter's for a date night.

In a nutshell, it’s a sports bar by Daniel del Prado. And it is so good that this post, and me even thinking to do a restaurant review in the first place, grew out of a way-to-long text to a friend who was curious how it was.

In short: everything was exactly what I wanted it to be. It has taken over my top burger spot, and I think the Burch-sized hole in my heart has been closed. Between Dexter’s and Porzana, Daniel del Prado has two of my top three favorite restaurants at the moment (the third being Maison Margaux - that will also get a write-up, that was a meal of a lifetime). It's my new weeknight "I just want to go out" pick - a burger and martini at the bar is the solution for just about anything.

My wife and I were there tonight (11/14/2024), for date night. I was thankful we had the reservation - at 7pm, on a Thursday, it was a full house and there was a wait for walk-ins.

A rundown of what we had:

• The martinis are all excellent - and they have a flight of them. I absolutely started with the flight of 'Tiny Tinis', and followed it with a full-size Dirty Vodka. I was too Old-Fashioned-out after making too many American Trinitys this last week to try it, but the few I saw ordered looked delicious. Steph loved her Spritz, which she has been perfecting at home.
• The cauliflower was insane. “What if you made cauliflower absolutely sinful?” was basically the brief, and they nailed it. Best cauliflower I’ve ever had by a mile. We licked the spoon.
• The wings were some of the best I’ve had recently, and a super interesting flavor profile. Loved them. Housed them.

• The burgers. Oh, the burgers. Incredibly well done. I had the Bacon, she had the Elote, and both were super well executed. Steph proposed doing a head-to-head weekend before the food arrived, where we do both Dexter's and Red Cow, and after I had a few bites I knew that step was unnecessary. I cannot find a flaw with the burgers - a ton of flavor, a manageable package, a level of restraint required to nail a concept. I'm looking forward to working through the menu.
• The fries were really good, but the onion rings looked excellent, and I will be swapping that out next time. This isn't a knock against the fries, but they were just "really good fries", and I want to see what Daniel del Prado does to an onion ring.

I’m going to be back many, many times. It is, in a word: perfect. The vibe is spot on. If you texted me “Meet at Hewing or Parlour or Dexter's?”, while I’m sitting at my desk staring at Washington Ave, I’m grabbing my keys. It’s that good.