Dakota Jazz Club
The Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant is a jazz club in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The club opened in 1985 at Bandana Square in St. Paul, Minnesota as a restaurant with local jazz in the bar. In 1988, the programming expanded to national artists with performances by McCoy Tyner and Ahmad Jamal. In 2003, the Dakota moved to downtown Minneapolis on Nicollet Mall.
History
Opening in 1985 with owner Lowell Pickett and chef Ken Goff as Dakota Bar and Grill, a 1986 review called the food as "nouvelle bar-and-grill cuisine at its best...". By 1988, local newspaper The Star Tribune noted that Dakota chef Ken Goff stylized the food as "upper Mississippi cuisine" using "local ingredients... with European techniques." Although music has become what it is now most widely known for, food has continued to be a significant part of the Dakota. The Dakota was one of the first Minnesota restaurants featuring "farm-to-table," working closely with Minnesota growers and developing a new "Midwestern Cuisine" under original Chef Ken Goff.The Dakota was one of three midwestern restaurants to be featured in a major New York Times article about the emergence of a regional cuisine in the Midwest. Since then, the Dakota has continued to emphasize fresh ingredients from sustainable sources and continues its creative culinary approach.