Minnetonka is HUNGRY. Ike’s Food & Cocktails opened the other day and I popped by for their second service last night and they were on an hour wait by 5:45. Granted, they weren’t serving on the patio and the little semi-private room wasn’t open, plus it’s not a huge space, but people just kept pouring in looking for seats. It’s smart actually, it was obvious that management was trying to control the flow of the door so as not to kill the kitchen which  on day two of service is always still a little hinky (I don’t care what justifications you first-day reviewers pull, you’re wrong).

So Ike’s in the suburbs, imagine that. The little building on a frontage road right down from the high school used to be Prima, and it hasn’t changed a whole ton, but the design touches have made it friendly, comfortable, and as updated as a retro-flavored joint wants to get. The menu is similar to the downtown Ike’s: ribs, crab cakes, deviled eggs, chops, burgers, big plates of homey supper-club food. There are a few more flatbreads due to the site’s wood burning oven (which gives your walk from the parking lot a little campfire edge) and also a few fired foods such as wood oven roasted mussels and clams. I had a nice sea bass chowder which was actually a large hunk of crusted fish on a buttery, creamy bowl of taters and clams.

Friday and Saturday nights promise a hickory smoked prime rib special and that’s balanced by The Weekender: a bloody mary extravaganza with enough garnish to feed a soccer team.

The funny thing about this location is that it was long-vacant and potential tenants kvetched about the confusing dual doors and accessibility issues from the main road. But I don’t know, maybe if you light the oven and stack a bloody mary they will come.