I had the opportunity last weekend to eat at The Strip Club, the new East end outpost by the folks that brought us Town Talk Diner. I must admit to being an St Paul girl. I live in St Paul and we frankly don’t have enough restaurant choices (which may be why I always end up at the Lexington) so I was really glad that the Strip Club came along. 
 
I made my reservation on a Tuesday for the next Saturday. I had been to the space before and new it was really small so reservations were a must. Upon arriving, a very nice man named Tim greeted us and told us the reservations were running a bit behind and asked us to be patient which we were for 40 minutes until we were seated. The vibe in the place was really fun, people at the bar were very accommodating and nice so waiting at the bar was fine. Tim checked in two or three times and I later found out Tim was the part owner so it made sense why he was hovering to make sure we were ok.

 
While at the bar I befriended my neighbors, two wonderful gentlemen named Mark and Dennis. We quickly struck up a conversation and I have to tell you, they eat the way I want to eat when I go to a restaurant but I am too chicken to do it. They sit down and order the cooks choice and let the cook fix up for them what is special for the evening. As each of their entrees and small plates came out they let me sample them – I sampled the Swedish meatballs on top of mashed potatoes with brown gravy – these looked good enough and tasted very warm and comforting. The other entrée was a fish that was really lovely on the plate.. The custard was good, there was a cherry layer that was yummy and crumbled biscotti on top. I would have to visit the dessert cart again to really give you a sense if they are hitting on all cylinders there. Bar drinks were thoughtful and generous. They make their own Limoncello and orange and grapefruit infused liquors. Mark and Dennis just kept asking the bar tender to get them the house specials as drinks were concerned and they were all made with these fabulous concoctions. I would definitely go that route on my next visit. Desert was a trifle that was elegantly prepared
 
 

At the Strip Club the thing to order are the small plates. Each are priced from 6-12 and they give you lots of little delicious bites. I loved the eggs. They were deviled eggs with spicy chili oil and they were really excellent. I also loved the grilled Caesar salad where the romaine was grilled along with the giant crouton they served along side. Grilling the lettuce gave the dressing a really smoky special flavor and the dressing that was drizzled over it was tart and garlicky and perfectly complimented the smoky lettuce and nutty Parmesan shreds – I loved this salad. Lastly we had an order of the walleye fritters. They were a pan friend walleye cake and the small plate came with three with a delicious homemade tart, briny sauce that was a fancy tarter sauce. The cakes were light, airy and perfectly cooked and we loved them so much we ordered another plate full. We also had fried oysters that were delicious. They were presented on a skewer, on a bed of mixed greens, with a sauce to drizzle over them. The presentation was really nice. Last came the NY strip steak that we ordered. I am sad to say the meat was tough, had a bit of gristle and was a bit tasteless. This would not have bugged me so much if the place were not billing itself as a meat joint. The way it works is you order your cut of meat and then you can order one of 6 sauces ala carte to go with the meat. Our server didn’t recommend any of the sauces or seem very excited about any of them. In hindsight it might have made the meat feel more special to have a sauce and I wished they would have pushed the sauced idea more as it’s a great concept and the restaurant could hang their hat on that – if that is they can get the cuts of meat right.