Last week, a few local bloggers had the opportunity to experience the newly re-opened 1201 Kitchen, located at the corner of 12th and State. If you don’t want to take the time to read the rest of the review and want a quick recommendation – go to 1201 Kitchen. Go now. Go for dinner. Go for Sunday brunch.

A quick disclaimer: when you invite a bunch of geeks to dinner, you can expect us to bring a bunch of technology with which to geek out over the food. Our dinner last week was no exception – there were 3 iPhones, 2 Blackberrys, live Twittering and 2 cameras catching as much of the action as possible.

First, let’s talk about the restaurant. There have been several eateries in the location at 12th and State. I hadn’t been there since it was Fat Boys several years ago. Recently, it was bought by JB Innes and chef Dan Kern. They’ve transformed the space into a beautiful haven for great food. With the amount of local art on the walls, you could confuse the space as an art gallery that happens to serve amazing food.

So, the meal…

The meal began with two appetizers, though there are several types of appetizer and sushi available as starters. We tried the Kobe Roll and the Angry 1201 Roll. Since yours truly has a shellfish allergy, I stuck with the Kobe roll. Here’s an extreme close up. The six rolls were presented on a piece of shale – the grey rock really showed off the color and marbling of the Kobe beef. The beef melted in your mouth and it was a great complement to the crispy vegetables inside – in this case daikon, zucchini and alfalfa sprouts. The soy dipping sauce was a nice addition and rounded out the flavors nicely.

While I didn’t partake, many other people at the table were fans of the Angry 1201 Roll – which featured spicy crab, avocado and wasabi tobiko, which is a fish roe. Here’s a close-up.

If you don’t want to do sushi, there are plenty of other choices. Shari, who opted out of the sushi, chose a grilled romaine salad as her starter. It certainly got the table talking – grilled for just a few minutes and drizzled with a poblano buttermilk dressing, it was quickly passed around the table. Poor Shari didn’t even get to eat much of it. The highlight for many of us was the lacquered bacon included with it. I suggested to chef Dan Kern that a plate of the lacquered bacon would make an excellent appetizer on its own.

So we could try a bit of everything, we each ordered a different main dish. There is a definite seafood theme with the seasonal menu, but if don’t like seafood, fear not, there are choices. We ordered pretty much one of everything and passed it around the table and shared. We had the duck enchiladas, strip steak, grilled escolar, salmon, five-spice pork, fried rice bowl and roasted scallops. View each of those photos in the largest size possible to really get a taste of the presentation – especially the fried egg on top of the scallops.

While all the main courses I tasted were delicious (except the scallops and the rice bowl, stupid allergy), I can talk most about my main choice, the strip. It was a generous portion cooked to a beautiful medium-rare. Garnished with delicious mustard greens, the strip rested on a bed of sweet potato fries that were sweet and tender. It’s one of the better steaks in Erie.

I think this point in the meal was the quietest as everyone was eagerly nomming on their dishes. Ron even caught me trying to be a serious food critic.

Just as we thought the dinner was wrapping out, out came desert, or should I say deserts. The chefs sent out one of everything to give us a chance to try everything. With several choices, chances are they will have something that suits your taste. We sampled the chocolate mousse, a ginger spice cake, caramal flan, cheesecake and no-flour chocolate cake with vanilla peppercorn ice cream. I enjoyed the mango on top of the cheesecake and the flan especially, though all were very good.

In the end, we left all the plates pretty clean.

They call the cuisine latin-asian fusion, and while those flavors are definitely present, I think the food shines because they use fresh, good ingredients an let them speak for themselves.

It’s interesting that they want to stay seasonal with the food and keep the menu fresh by changing it up every six weeks or so. This is great for customers who will get a brand-new menu every time they come in, but I imagine it’s also good for the chef, who will have the opportunity to try new flavors and won’t get bored by the same menu and start to phone it in.

Our verdict? Make the trip to 1201 Kitchen – especially for Sunday brunch with sounds amazing. You can learn more at their website or follow them on Twitter.

Want to see more photos from 1201 Kitchen? Check out this slideshow or see more at our Flickr pool.