Eat The Menu: Altera — a New Alternative

Sometimes you wonder: What took so long? St. Paul’s Highland Village demographic of mid-to-upscale denizens is growing faster than the dandelion population of its boulevards. And yet … where’s a person gonna eat?

There’s Cecil’s Deli. There’s tiny, foodie-centric Myriel. There’s the fallback Highland Grill.

And now, there’s Altera. On the weeknight of our recent visit, its cozy cache of tables was populated by pairs of blue hairs, girls’ night outers, families settling infants into their seats, and couples who knew a good thing when they saw one. Plus, a reviewer and her companion. And the menu’s just as wide-ranging as that audience. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

We settled into a comfy, sand-toned banquette with views of Cleveland Avenue’s passing foot parade, backed by glitzy wallpaper in black and gold favoring palms and jungle cats. It’s the site of the former Agra Culture, operated and updated by the same company, which now provides a menu one might label Far East Meets Italy, with Le Cheeseburger thrown in for good measure. In other words, it’s what America is eating right now.

The succinct and nicely curated list leads off with Shared Plates ($9-18) such as Hamachi crudo, pok pok chicken wings, a ball of arancini rice, a johnnycake with optional jalapeno maple syrup and our choice, gyoza: a handful of noodle-dough pockets bundling the usual mince of shrimp, pork and mushrooms livened with black vinegar, scallions and (hardly noticeable — this is Highland Park, after all) chili. Soy sauce served as the fallback dipper. Standard and fine.

From the ensuing Salads & Vegetables section, we settled upon the lola rosa salad, sharing a generous and lively toss of greens spangled with maple-saturated pecans, craisins and bits of bulgar wheat for crunch, all spritzed with a modest vinaigrette. Or choose a Caesar with bagna cauda croutons; a Cambodian beef number starring pepper-and-lime-saturated meat joining the greens; a butternut squash a la plancha that I’ll return to gobble, egged on by its promise of sage-infused brown butter, Parmesan, lemon and chili; or the who-can-resist crispy Brussels sprouts dressed in mojo verde.

But it was time for noodles, and I craved all five that the kitchen favored. We settled on the hearty bucatini carbonara to assess the kitchen’s take on this Roman favorite, classically melding bacon-y sauteed pancetta with Gran Padano cheese, and the usual sunny egg to fork-spike and dress the greens, plus, here, a mini-jolt of serrano. Nice dish in a just-as-expected rendition, no surprises.

Next, our server’s recommendation of the gemelli verde — those husky green noodles laced with sweet, springy, pink shrimp, cherry tomatoes, a shower of Gran Padano and a spritz of lemon. Again, straight up: What you read is what you get — and that’s just what one should ask of a dish. Or opt for the pappardelle snuggling with tomato-braised lamb shoulder, paired with cumin and mint (okay, that’s a different pairing) and toasted hazelnuts. Or the dan dan noodles with Szechuan pork, bok choy, peanuts, sesame and chili, inserting an Asian slant to the otherwise Italian pasta list.

The generous servings proved our downfall, so we failed to make a dent in the choice of mains, ($19 for the cheeseburger to $34 for the grilled pork chop sided with jalapeno sweet potatoes and a ginger-orange sauce).

We were saving ourselves, you see, for a bite of dessert ($12). Two choices: a house-made carrot cake with mango lassi sorbet, pistachio and sumac, or our selection, a chocolate espresso cake. We guessed wrong. It proved dry and solid rather than providing the customary lift of limpid oomph. A tiny spoonful of roasted banana ice cream was nice but insufficient. C’mon, kitchen!

I nursed the Altera’s Old Fashioned throughout the meal, enjoying Maker’s Mark (well, who wouldn’t?) enhanced with pasilla pepper, cacao butter and smoked cardamom bitters, all suavely blended into pure mellowness. My companion’s order of House Red delivered a generous pour of Barbera ($10). The drinks list well suits the menu’s wide range of flavors — until one turns the page over to discover the by-the-bottle rundown with nada below $50. That’s not so Highland Park Nice.

Good wishes to a much-needed new gathering spot.

Altera
721 Cleveland Ave. S.
St. Paul
(651) 788-7009
www.alterarestaurant.com