Colonial-themed restaurant’s focal point is massive open hearth

Fry explained the restaurant concept: “So many restaurants are doing modernist cooking these days,” he said. “I thought it would be fun to take a step backward — like back in Colonial times when you had those hearth kitchens in the basement and the women were down there in their bonnets, cooking in the fireplace.”

Fittingly, the restaurant’s focal point is a massive open hearth fueled by crackling firewood and hardwood charcoal.

The menu seems timeless but pays heed to trends, and culinary finesse sneaks into the “primitive” cooking methods. The Mississippi rabbit arrives on the plate as a confit leg, pancetta-wrapped loin, fat sausage, and toast spread with liver parfait.

Chrysta Poulos, the talented former pastry chef at 4th & Swift and Woodfire Grill, has brought her mind-blowing sticky toffee cake to the party, which she now serves with a stout ice cream. A Black Forest cake arrives deconstructed and splayed out over a board as desserts tend to be these days — half moons of cake with cookie dust, cherries and peppery ice cream.

I know King + Duke is a Colonial-era themed restaurant, but when it comes to dessert, Reconstruction sounds like a good idea.