Restaurant 301

The Restaurant

Restaurant 301 occupies the corner ground floor of the Sheraton Duluth Hotel at 301 East Superior Street, a block uphill from Canal Park and a block from the Aerial Lift Bridge. The dining room is compact — about forty covers — but generously fenestrated, with floor-to-ceiling windows that frame East Superior Street, a fireplace at the back, and a small bar facing the open kitchen. The cooking is run by a Northland-trained kitchen team that has held the room for several years and brings a quiet polish to a hotel-restaurant brief that most cities mishandle. Restaurant 301 was named one of Open Table's Top 100 Hotel Restaurants in the United States in its most recent rating cycle.

The cuisine is sharpened American with serious Northland sourcing: short ribs braised in stout and finished with a horseradish gremolata, a planked Lake Superior whitefish with brown butter and capers, a roasted pork shank in maple jus with apple compote, a saffron risotto with foraged North Shore mushrooms, a seasonal ricotta gnocchi, an aged ribeye with a charred onion soubise. The menu rotates with the season — the autumn programme leans into wild rice, foraged mushrooms, and game; the winter to slow braises; the summer to lake-caught fish and Wisconsin produce. Desserts are direct and good: a brown-butter cheesecake, a chocolate mousse with sea salt, a seasonal cobbler.

The wine list is shorter than the Italian rooms in Canal Park, but well-chosen: about ninety references with reliable representation across California, Oregon, France, and Italy, and a small section of by-the-glass that includes one or two thoughtful choices in each category. The cocktail programme is competent and includes a small selection of regional spirits. Service is professional and unhurried in the manner of a hotel restaurant that knows it is serving both business travellers and Duluth locals on the same night, and the kitchen handles a quiet solo diner at the bar as gracefully as a four-top of clients in the main room. Reservations through OpenTable are usually available within a week, which makes Restaurant 301 the practical choice when Bellisio's and Va Bene have closed their books.