The Søvengård — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

What an exciting time to be in Grand Rapids! Chef Jason Porter (IG @foodiejp) is playing chicken with your taste buds!

The Søvengård - on the foodie row of Bridge Street NW - is undergoing an exciting transformation under your very eyes. Staying true to its Scandinavian roots (the New Nordic Movement), grounded in its values of local (and foraged and home-grown) foods, it's reaching out to offer enticingly new flavor palettes and preparations.

At the moment, seating is in the outside rear section of the restaurant. The ambiançe is perfect for the cuisine: outdoorsy, between growing greenery, under the stars, lighted by Edison bulbs, warned by propane heaters. The musical background was cheery, uptempo, and unobtrusive.

Our visit tonight was a roller-coaster of experiences. Originally, I was disappointed by the menu, having my heart set on the duck of read about. I was ready to walk, especially after our heard they were out of one of my choices. I am so glad I didn't.

We started off with the Roasted Beets (oven-roasted red and golden beets, apple, nectarine, roasted pepitas, chévre, microgreens). I don't even love beets, but the combination of the apple acidity, beet sweetness, chévre tang, and pepita texture was a mouth-pleaser!

Next up was the Cheese Board (local cheeses, seasonal blueberries (tonight), house jam, pickles, local wildflower honey, grilled bread). Beautiful on the eyes, confusing on my palette; I couldn't figure out the why - no obvious theme or combinations. (Pandemic, supply chain issues, new staff and visions - it's all good. I trust that they'll debug this dish.)

They were out of Nana's Sopè (house-smoked local beef brisket, house-made corn sopè, Leelanau raclette, blistered heirloom tomato, carmelized onion, fresh cilantro) but it's on my to-taste list on my next visit.

Instead, we went with the PB&J (confit local pastured pork belly, smoked apple compote, ginger gold apple, roasted butterball potatoes, sauteed string bean, apple-mustard cream). OMFG - THE PORK BELLY WAS PERFECTION! Rendered just so; the crispiest of exteriors and unctuous, elegant, creamy layers of fat. Seriously, there's a couple of area chefs that I'm sending over to Søvengård to see how pork belly ought to be executed. The potatoes are artistically presented, as the sweetheart said, taste like "mashed potatoes wrapped in potato chips".

Dessert was a Concord grape crumble, with grapes grown near-by fed picked by the chef. The texture on the crumble was divine, the jellied grapes, oh so purely grapey; the sweetheart was all over it. I was thinking some of the chévre would've counterbalanced the sweet.

The coffee was strong, hot, and very drinkable.

Chloé, our server, was helpful, cheerful, and attentive.

Chatting with Chef Jason - sampling some ingredients and also his "quickfire challenge" of the evening (which I know will make it to the menu when he's satisfied with it) - actually made me sad to be heading back to San Francisco this weekend. I don't want to miss a beat.

I'll be back in a few months; YOU can enjoy the taste (r)evolution happening nightly at Søvengård. Oh, sure, there'll be stumbles amongst the hits, but those are the experiences most dear, the foodie tales most precious. Don't miss out on the most exciting food happening in...

Atmosphere: 5/5 a simple industrial modern design, clean and vaguely IKEA-esque, minus the beds. The Biergarten is over twice the size of the inside seating, it feels like a fancy garden party I would like to host if I had the funds. Their renewable mindset is apparent in the repurposed shipping container as a bar and not using a 2oz container for dipping our fries in. Very open and clean feeling overall.

One of only a couple negative points I have are, There were a lot of terms I did not recognize on the menu, so many in fact I was too overwhelmed to ask our server to explain each one.

Service: 4/5 When we first entered the building it took 2 min for anyone to notice us waiting. It took our server about 10 minutes to realize we were his table. After the initial wait he was polite, helpful, and prompt. Good service overall.

When we recieved 2 open face sandwiches I wish our waiter had told us what we had ordered, we ordered quite a few things and forgot what was what by the time we received them. I accidentally ate both of our sandwiches!!

Cleanliness: 5/5 Very clean despite being outside, the only mess was the one I accidentally made.

Food: 4/5 The open faced sandwiches had a nice blend of flavors. The mushroom one was very light on flavor, the pumpernickel overpowered the rest of the delicate sandwich. Both of the sandwiches had quite a crispy crust which scratched the roof of my mouth.

The fried egg sandwich was perfect, just the right doneness of egg and flavor with the ham and sourdough. I would order this again.

Rainbow trout was delicious, flakey and perfectly cooked (nice amount of crispness to flakeyness and oh so moist! It was set on a bed of greens and micro green (love them!) with mint and beans, delicious!

My husband had the chicken and dumplings with root vegetables, think stew-sized pieces, and it was very good. The chicken was flavorful with a flakey texture, the root vegetable were perfectly crisp, yet cooked, and the dumplings were small with a smooth texture. The whole dish was graced with gravy and not drowned in it.

Overall 4/5 There was not a dish on the menu that did not sound appetizing to me, I would be eager to return, however my husband could not find a dish he thought sounded appetizing at all. Difference in taste I suppose, I knock down one star for not appealing to other tastes along with...

Westside True Locally Sourced Farm-to-table Excellence. We have so much fun here! You’ve gotta check it out! The ambience is lovely, each server has always been attentive and personable, the time spent with family and friends is priceless, and you can tell the food and drinks have been really well crafted and thought through.

We had a siblings-and-spouses dinner for 10 the first time, and were quite pleased. We’ve also come in smaller groups for drinks, or drinks and shareables. All fabulous. As a family we all tasted everything, including the desserts! Wow. I am not a dessert person, but The Søvengård’s talented chefs have a way of creating the perfect balance of flavors and nuances in each plate & dessert that not many places achieve. My spoon kept creeping back to the plate!

This place has gone from “Thank you so much! We will definitely be coming back!” to “Hey! How’s the family?”

•TIP— If you love a plate you get here, get back here THIS week, because next week it might be gone! (Seasonal menu) •TIP— Highly recommend their Biergarten out back. I had no idea how much property they had and how restful it was, until the server guided us back to their secret garden of sorts! Heaters help extend the eat-outside-comfortably season. •TIP— trying to find PARKING? The church next door allows guests of The Søvengård to park there, making it a lot easier on a busy street! •TIP— Pickiest eater here growing up waves, and I it is all delicious. Seriously. Chat with the server — they know every bit about the menu or will find someone who does quickly to make your dream dinner work. (My sister-in-law did actually dream of one of her dinners here!) •TIP— The menu accommodates many taste preferences and dietary restrictions! I know personally GF/DF/sugar-free is very doable here. I’ve even gone off my usual diet here a bit with no repercussions, because farm-to-table is just so fresh and amazing. TIP— There is even a cute tiny market inside! TIP— Neighborhood residents get the added bonus of not needing to find parking because they can just walk home!

PS I must say, our group had to “close the place out” to get pictures of all these empty tables! The ambiance is really lovely when it’s busy. Just right. Feels like a...