Otho: Pioneers of Portland Avenue

OTHO RESTAURANT AND STREET LOUNGE
949 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis
612.455.1516 • www.othorestaurant.com
entrées $10-$16; appetizers $6-$9

The inevitability of change is that someone always has to go first. Whether signing the Constitution or stepping out in public wearing a pair of Zubaz, the risk of being an early adopter is that sometimes you get in too early. What good is owning the first Betamax if video stores don't yet stock the tapes? What good is opening the first upscale restaurant in a gentrifying neighborhood if there aren't enough customers?

Otho is a pan-Asian-fusion restaurant that opened this past fall in the sleek Skyscape condo building in Elliot Park, one such up-and-coming neighborhood. When the condo craze hit, developers flocked to the area. But when the housing market tanked, so did hopes for an Elliot Park revival. As I headed out of downtown Minneapolis proper, skyscrapers transitioned to dingy apartment complexes and sleepy commercial buildings. I started pre-apologizing to my guests, lest we were the only people in the restaurant. Elliot Park hasn't yet become a destination: There's no theater or nightlife and little retail activity. As of the 2000 census, its residents had an average income that was half that of the rest of the city, and twice the city's rate of poverty. It's done better since: The neighborhood's bar-stumbling proximity to downtown makes it a promising bedroom bunker for urbanites. New condos in the area are owned by young lawyers, financial analysts, and even U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken.

The first time I visited Otho, post-dinner on a weeknight, I peeked in the windows—the restaurant is all windows, as if prepared for the eventual arrival of foot traffic—and found it was actually kind of busy. Not so much the dining room, which is open and airy, with leather banquettes and warm orange accents, where a few groups were finishing their meals. But plenty of people were gathered in the adjacent bar, furnished with concrete floors, sheet metal, and sometimes-too-bright track lighting. (The restaurant's "industrial chic" look works everywhere but the restroom stalls. After latching the immense metal door, it's just you, a concrete floor, and a toilet—a little too close to a solitary confinement cell.) The best thing about the space may be its versatility. There's a dark, secluded booth for privacy seekers and a circular lounge for groups to cluster on ottomans, but it's also a comfortable place to sit by yourself at the bar. One night, the owner played chess with a patron, while the bartender dealt cards to another.

The restaurant's owners are in the same age bracket as their late-night clientele. Chef Otho Phanthavong, 28, launched his culinary career in high school, waiting tables at Pad Thai Grand in St. Paul, the restaurant his parents co-owned. After culinary school, he cooked at Zander Café and Duplex for a few years. When his parents sold their share in Pad Thai Grand and offered to help with financing, Otho partnered with his brother, Kap, and a former Zander co-worker, Tina Schubert, and went into business together.

The restaurant's menu has two distinct sections: Otho handles the upscale Asian-fusion appetizers and entrées, while his mom takes care of the home cooking, such as egg rolls and stir fries. Otho's dishes reminded me a lot of those at Duplex—finer dining than what you'd expect for entrées priced between $12 and $16. His rainbow trout en croûte nails gourmet-on-a-budget: The fillet is packaged in spring roll paper, then pan-fried and baked so it's crunchy on the outside and juicy within. The fish is served on a bed of cooked spinach and mushrooms, with a pool of beurre blanc that's brightened with yuzu (a Japanese citrus that tastes a bit like grapefruit and tangerine). The dish comes with a few textbook croquettes—panko-breaded exteriors, pillowy potato interiors—that are like a grown-up version of Taco John's Potato Olés. Between the crisp spring roll wrapper and croquette crust, the tender fish and greens, and the buttery bite of beurre blanc, it's a perfectly balanced composition.