Citizen Public House

Citizen Public House Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant: Chef-owner Bernie Kantak made a name for himself when he ran the kitchen at Cowboy Ciao just down the street. And he's now proving that he can make it on his own with this gastropub that marries style with sustenance. The good mood starts with the ambience, in a warm, convivial, often loud space outfitted with mahogany trim, leather booths and a stainless steel-topped bar. It continues with the chatty, skilled bartenders, who can describe the origins of a craft beer as well as they mix either a classic or contemporary cocktail. Kantak's food is playful but sophisticated.

Food: To wit: Tender belly bacon fat heirloom popcorn; Kilt Lifter fondue with hunter’s sausage, pear and toasted country bread; or the porcini-dusted Cedar River filet mignon with smashed new potatoes, sautéed local greens, white beech mushrooms, demi-glace and black garlic butter. Given the modern demand for reasonably priced comfort food, Kantak doesn’t take as many risks as he did at Ciao, but there’s still plenty of enticing dishes and several offbeat recipes, from coffee-charred short ribs slathered in dried cherry barbecue sauce with roasted parsnip purée to the you-gotta-try-it-to-get-it mirliton chopped salad of chayote, snow pea greens, grape tomatoes, heirloom popcorn, grilled Halloumi cheese and cucumber-onion salad in parsley-garlic dressing.