Ravintola Suomi

Description:

• In 2005, what had been a humble and unpretentious neighborhood restaurant went dramatically upscale, throwing away its flavorful, house-made repertoire and infusing traditional Finnish cuisine with a welcome sense of chic. The result is a dining room outfitted in a streamlined, woodsy-looking venue that's very pleasing, and some old-fashioned Finnish cuisine with postmodern twists. Examples include a terrine of white-tailed deer with an herb-flavored mustard sauce and dark rye bread, smoked filet of elk with a game-flavored pepper sauce, and such vegetarian specialties as a mushroom-and-barley-flavored risotto with carrot sauce. Dessert might include blueberry pie with Arctic brambleberry ice cream and wild raspberry sauce, or perhaps a selection of Finnish cheeses.

• © Frommer's 2012