Photo by Roberto Rodriguez
The Tavern Kitchen & Bar
If one dish can capture the spirit of the Tavern Kitchen & Bar, it’s the duck poutine, which tops the traditional fries and cheese curds with duck gravy, duck confit and duck cracklings. It’s too much duck. It’s just plain too much. It’s also terrific. The fries are crisp, the curds are caught in that magic moment between chewy and molten, and each of the duck elements conveys its own variation on the fowl’s flavor and a distinct texture. “More (done well) is more” is the guiding principle here: the cheese-larded tater tot casserole; the bacon fried rice, itself substantial enough to be a meal, that’s merely the side dish for the oversized char-siu pork steak. Speaking of “more is more”: the original Tavern in Valley Park now has a sibling in the Central West End.
Opened: 2009
Must order: Duck poutine ($15)