The press release says the Red Stag Supper Club [1] will open to the public next Monday, November 26, but Kim Bartmann’s newest restaurant actually has been open for business since last Monday. It’s what’s called a soft opening – a chance to work out some of the kinks before the crowds, and the restaurant critics, show up en masse. I stopped in Tuesday night for dinner, and things already seemed to be running pretty smoothly.

Bartmann, who also owns the Bryant Lake Bowl [2] and Barbette [3], has been at the forefront of the local sustainable-humane-organic restaurant scene – and Red Stag takes that ethos a big step further. Red Stag is being billed as the first LEED-certified restaurant in Minnesota. That stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – a set of standards for making buildings energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. Among the Red Stag’s bragging points: water consumption is 70 percent lower than the typical new restaurant – and would be even lower if the state of Minnesota permitted waterless urinals. The lighting all comes from LEDs, which are much more efficient than incandescents, and the restaurant has its own composting system, so less food waste gets hauled to the landfill. The place looks great – the old carved wood bar and the red and black carpet give the place a classic supper club feel, while the exposed beams are a reminder that the new business recycles an old space.

The supper club theme is an interesting choice - it harkens back to an era when none of us worried about carbon footprints and environmental sustainability or whether our steaks were grass-fed and our eggs were free-range. Meat and potatoes were the staples of the classic supper club, and Red Stag menu is a carnivore’s delight: three cuts of steak, plus a red deer Stroganoff, a pork chop, entrees of chicken, duck, and a veal casserole, a butcher plate of potted duck, pig in a blanket and Scotch egg. If you really want to get elemental about it, you can order a big roasted marrow bone, served with grilled bread, gremolata, and a spoon. But this is meat you can eat with a clear (or at least clearer) conscience: it’s all local and sustainable, from producers like Wild Acres (ducks), Star Prairie Trout Farm, Thousand Hills Cattle Company, and Pastures A’ Plenty (pork).

Chef Bill Baskin’s resume includes cooking with Seth Daugherty at Cosmos [6], at Graves 601 Hotel, and with Heston Blumenthal at the Fat Duck [7] near London, often named as one of the best and most innovative restaurants in the world. His approach here is more basic, and more rooted in regional cooking, with dishes like a chop salad, smelt fries, chicken with potato buttermilk dumplings, and pork chops with cheese grits and shimp and bacon succotash.

It isn't fair to judge a restaurant on its second day in business, but based on what I have tasted so far, I would probably steer clear of the trendier dishes, like the seafood cioppino and the breast of duck with butternut squash ravioli and raisins - and stick the classic supper club fare.

509 1st Ave.N.E., Minneapolis, 612-767-7766.