Coup D'etat, the new Uptown restaurant by the people behind the chef-driven Borough in Minneapolis' North Loop, is bigger and much more opulent than its predecessor.

Its dramatic lighting, front-and-center round bar and two-story layout scream "chic." But the food is much more streamlined and the cocktails more approachable.

That's not to say the menu is dumbed-down by any means.

We sampled oysters, crudo, bone marrow, octopus and quail. But we also had pizza and steak.

It's the kind of menu that sometimes makes us cringe -- decide what you want to be already! And we might have cringed, except everything was so good.

Let's start with the smaller plates, which really sing.

Bone marrow ($14) is rustic and satisfying in its preparation.

(Pioneer Press: Jess Fleming)
(Pioneer Press: Jess Fleming)
The bones are split down the middle and charred, topped with smoked sea salt and served with a bit of tart gremolata to cut the marrow's richness. Our spoons parried for the last bits.

Fat oysters ($13) are quickly grilled and graced with a bit of aromatic pernod butter, which perfectly compliments the briny flesh.

The tuna ($12) is prepared in a simple crudo style, the rich fish seasoned perfectly and balanced with blood oranges and breakfast radishes for sharpness.

It was hard not to compare the baby octopus ($12) with our favorite octopus preparation, which comes from Borough. Bathed in earthy harissa, balanced with herby yogurt and served on crostini, Coup D'etat's dish is utterly different from the soy-glazed octopus of our dreams, but it's also really, really good.


After eating so many fun small plates, it seemed almost anathema to order a pizza, but we were dying to know how these chefs would handle the most simple of comfort foods.

The sausage version ($14) consists of a cracker-thin crust, bright tomato sauce, house-made sausage and pickled red onions. The sausage is a wee bit gristly, but the pizza is decent soak-up-the-alcohol food.

Speaking of alcohol, the drinks at Coup are some of the best in the Twin Cities, which is no surprise given that some of the best bar- tenders in town -- Jesse Held and Shawn Jones -- are in charge.

(Pioneer Press: Jess Fleming)
(Pioneer Press: Jess Fleming)

The Lagoon 75 ($11) is a potent, scarily drinkable play on a classic French 75, and one was definitely enough for us, in the best way.

Our favorite drink is probably the Not as Cool Hand Luke ($9), a sweet, sour and complex version of your grand-father's whiskey sour.

Even side dishes are given respect here. Two favorites are a spicy broccolini ($8) and a sweet/piquant/crunchy acorn squash ($8).

We kind of wish we didn't know about the gnocchi ($12), because the fluffy little pillows are browned outside and paired with rich parmesan and truffles, and it's really easy to eat the whole plate.

Mains we tried are easily sharable, especially if you start with some small plates, which you definitely should.

A flat-iron steak ($30) is juicy, beefy and cooked just right, and a stuffed popover sends the dish into comfort-food overdrive.

Quail ($24) is braised until tender and swathed in a tangy glaze. It's served on chewy farro studded with pomegranate seeds. That dish comes with three little birds, perfect for sharing.

After all we had eaten, dessert seemed like overkill, but we decided to share a piece of carrot cake ($7), which was mois and delicious and somehow disappeared, just like almost everything else on the table.

An upstairs patio with a roof will be an absolute draw to this restaurant come summer, so our advice is to go there now and familiarize yourself with the menu, because reservations likely will be hard to get in the coming months.

Coup D'etat: 2923 Girard Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-354-3575;
