Set in an old steel foundry, Clyde Iron Works is a restaurant with a modern menu full of home made,…read morehearty fare. The space is gigantic, easily dwarfing the size of most restaurants, with an open floor and kitchen that seat what seems to be far more guests than they'd ever hope to serve, not to mention an entire balcony second floor with even more seating.
The bottom dining area is clean and modern, while the balcony retains a lot of the original flooring and walls. It's a really interesting dichotomy and I wish there was a museum or something inside to really go deep into the history of the building.
Fried Ravioli ($14) - I ordered this hoping to get a taste of St. Louis-style T-ravs that I've been missing for a couple of years, but these turned out to be chunkier renditions. The 5 pieces included are large, far larger than normal ravioli, perhaps 3 inches per side, stuffed, breaded, and fried. The deep frying gives an aggressive herb crust, studded with Italian spices and herbs. Rather than the more traditional method of cutting ravioli squares out of larger sheets of dough, these seem to be dough sheets stuffed and folded over like empanadas. While frying, some puff up like pita bread, with the air remaining inside due to the impermeable exterior. The interior is a cheese and Italian sausage filling, mixed in a balanced fashion so neither component overpowers the other. It gives a slightly spicy warming sensation, while remaining tender and stretchy via the cheese. The ravioli are served with a small cup of marinara. It's warm and bright, herbal with a good balance of flavors between the acidity, sweetness, saltiness, and umami. (5/5)
Clyde Rueben Sandwich ($18), Sub Onion Rings (+$3) - The sandwich includes a large pile of shaved pastrami that's fatty and tender, and well spiced. Clearly a lot of care was spent smoking this meat. It's topped with a somewhat funky, fermented gochujang enhanced kimchi, which is mixed with a strongly tangy sauerkraut. The flavors are clearly there, but complementary with the pastrami instead of being overwhelming as with some other places. It's all brought together with a slice of melted cheese and some toasted rye.
We subbed onion rings for this one, which according to the menu should cost $4 extra, but we were only charged $3. These are THICK onion rings, both in height and also somehow width. I'm talking almost an inch in width. I've never seen an onion ring this size before! And it's delicious. Full-bodied allium flavor, slight sweetness, and a cornflake enhanced breading that somehow sticks on and stays on. It's only lightly seasoned, so they give either blue cheese or ranch to dip in. We went with the ranch, which seems to be made in house, full flavored with a bit of the base buttermilk tanginess still in play. (5/5)
Porketta, Sub Grilled Vegetables ($18) - The sandwich is pretty simple, with cheese melted on a pile of pulled porketta, all in a soft and almost pillowy bun, grilled yet no hint of crunch. The bun is completely soft and acts like a sponge soaking up the pork juices and the jus. The pork is extremely flavorful, full of braising spices, garlicky and abounding with warming fennel savoriness.
The porketta comes with a small bowl of jus. It's not the best; the pork broth is thin and watery, lacking salt, completely missing the point of a dipping jus that should be concentrated in flavor and very salty. Perhaps this is just a characteristic of Iron Range Porketta since I'm not that familiar with this dish. It's not very flavorful, although there is a strange aftertaste that I can't quite describe. I'm not sure what spices make the rather unpleasant taste.
One of the few items not homemade are the fries, which is one of the reasons I decided to go with the veggies. It's an awesome choice to have grilled veggies as an option as a first place - most other places have either fried food or boring salad as a side. The grilled veggies are definitely a thoughtful addition. In this case, they are flash grilled on a flat top with oil, then peppered liberally with salt and black pepper. The pieces all still retain the fresh vegetable crisp while having some char on the sides. I actually liked the grilled veggies more than the sandwich! (4/5)
I found it funny reading all the reviews complaining about portion size! We got one app and two entrees and were almost full eating only the app. Living in Seattle has really changed my ideas about portion sizes!
Clyde Iron Works certainly serves some excellent food. It was one of my favorite meals of my entire trip to Minnesota!
Bathrooms - Larger ones both upstairs and downstairs
Food: [4.67/5]
Service: [ ]
Other: [ ]
Final Rating: 5/5
