Skip to main contentFirst things first: Before we get into the details, let's clear up confusion about the restaurant's name. Mint/820 is actually two entities: Mint is the restaurant, whilst 820 is its younger sister lounge, added two years after the former opened in 2001. But 820, with its 40-plus signature drinks (including a surprisingly delicious avocado daiquiri), cozy outdoor patio and constant gaggle of happy-hour kids, seems to have outshined Mint as of late. Fortunately, Mint is content to let 820 linger in the spotlight while it quietly continues to rock a surprisingly sophisticated, if hard to define, menu. American in nature, the food is prepared in a multitude of non-American ways. Indian influence is found in a pepper-crusted albacore accented with a tamarind glaze and coconut jasmine rice, or one can channel a French bistro with the duck confit salad or stuffed quail with béarnaise sauce. Feeling a need for Italian? A vegetarian polenta napoleon or pork-sausage fettuccine might do the trick. We think the amalgam of tastes is intentional—after all, we are, for better or worse, one big melting-pot nation. (LS)
Signature Dish: The pepper-crusted, tamarind-glazed Oregon albacore always sells out.
Standouts: A delicate quail stuffed with mushrooms lying on a pillow of truffled rice that, even with béarnaise sauce, was light yet satisfying. It'd make any customer a member of the clean-plate club.
Regrets: Starters served up in the adjacent 820 undersold Mint's potential—
especially with an odd presentation of raw fish cubes with sauce, which turned out to be ceviche.
WWeek 2015