Arbor (CLOSED)

Dinner at Arbor is a Midwestern delight. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, dinner runs from three to seven courses (we picked the five-course option with wine pairing), and you’ll know very little about what comes next for the meal. You’ll be asked a simple “any dietary restrictions?” and from there the menu is in the hands of chef Leonard Hollander. Our dinner started with a blue corn cornbread with coffee butter and bitter citrus grape jelly, but moved quickly onto seasonal dishes like a roasted butternut squash soup with pumpkin butter and compressed pear. Some dishes are inventive—a savory beet panna cotta—while others are more reminiscent of traditional dinner fare, tender turbot with white beans and kale or pork secreto with a celery root mash. Regardless of what’s on the chef’s mind for the meal, Arbor is a place you can come back to regularly, as long as you don’t fall too in love with one particular dish as the menu changes every night. A reasonably priced prix fixe meal with an ever-changing menu with a hyper-local spin makes Arbor a place approachable for someone looking for a delightful meal and pretty plates that’ll nudge them out of their comfort zone just a bit.