2nd- lucia's take out and bakery, minneapolis
8th- la belle vie, minneapolis
15th- wendy's, savage
27th- thailand view, shakopee
29th- baker's ribs, eden prairie
2nd- lucia's take out and bakery, minneapolis (b)
i've never been to either of the other lucia places (wine bar, restaurant). not sure if i should've gone to one first or something, as for all the good things i've heard about them i expected something better from this place. it's a bit on the spendy side (except for soup), the food was above average but not great, and it was a bit on the squishy crowded side in a bad way. it's cute and all, but still. i was going to sit at the communal table, but someone had piles of wrapped flowers and vases on it.
had the frittata with white cheddar and onions. it was tender and all, but it oozed watery stuff on the plate and needed a lot of salt and pepper help. it was a bit on the mild side, too, it didn't really taste of onion and barely of cheddar, but was ok. i wished they would've listed the price of that plus the popover, which was nice and all, but not $2 worth of nice (some baked goods are that much worth of nice, however). the butter is local and fresh and good, though.
i did find it a wee bit odd that some things in the case o'food were for eating at home and apparently not there. polenta with goat cheese is an at-home food, not a eating in at at take-out place food. then again, i also found it odd this is the second place i've been to recently that implies you can't eat while you're there but you can.
for the money i'd hit french meadow, as this is pretty much a tiny version of that, only different.
8th- la belle vie, minneapolis (b)
this is not happening, this is not happening... i never thought 'kind of disappointing' when i've been to la belle vie before. maybe because i had such high expectations, but some of the lounge food so did not come through for us. what was good was brilliant, but the rest, well... it's just bad and wrong when the grilled cheese at a place like annie's parlour tops la belle vie for flavor.
maybe i set myself up for it.
sure, there's presentation value in the 6 tiny sandwiches served with a wee demitasse cup of tomato bisque (they're boucheron, mimolette and mourbier cheese, by the way, one in each). i expected something really close to the best grilled cheese i have ever had... i mean, it's la belle vie. but for what you pay for them they weren't all that and a bag of chips.
though the chips, boy, those were great. we got the rosemary garlic dipping sauce, also tasty, and i'd like to try the truffle. apparently they go over big in the kitchen. i'd also do the foie gras on grilled bread with bitter orange marmalade again, which was very good (hard to ruin foie grad) but a bit on the cold side (most noticeable in the toast). instead of the more trad sauternes i got an ice wine, a gewurztraminer. the citrus in it complemented the marmalade and the rest of the dish admirably. and thus, what we had that was not disappointing.
the seared ahi tuna (with sea urchin sabayon and a salad of seaweed and lobster) was not that impressive and it was one of those 'massive plate tiny food' deals. it tasted better if you had some of everything on the fork. seemed kind of out of place for a reason.
what really broke my heart here was the fries. i expected, well, i thought there may be potential to top vincent's. pommes frites, golden, hot, perfectly seasoned, lovely and crisp.
foolish me.
they were... well, good. above average, even.
but not transcendent.
and they came with an overly sweet ketsup (marsala and something else if i recall) and a decent but not great bearnaise sauce. they were better when dipped in the stuff that came with the chips or in the bisque.
and so not what i imagined that la belle vie would do to with what is more or less bar food. er, lounge food.
and seriously, for what we paid... i'd say it wasn't really worth it. i would've rather gone to annie's parlour for the grilled cheese and fries and saved tons of cash, or just gotten the foie gras and the chips. now i know.
why a b? well, some food was a, some b, some c, and factor in said disappointment.. service was efficient. i found it kind of funny that i only got the serious book of wines after i inquired of the gewurtz ice wine, before that we only got the bar list by the glass. i dunno.
and the restroom needs work (odd i didn't comment on that last time). for a high end place, the restroom doesn't really fit with the rest of the decor. it looks a bit slapped together and neglected.
i will be going back here, probably to the dining room, with restaurant club. let's hope that goes better.
one spicy chicken, one not ordered. we were told the spicy is on the tray, the not spicy would be up in a minute.
five minutes later, at the counter...
spicy, right? (sandwich proffered)
no, not spicy, we have the spicy.
spicy, right? (same sandwich proffered)
no, we were told we had the spicy, we want the regular.
plain then. (of course, same sandwich proffered)
tired of it, we took it.
person one had started on the other one.
which of course was not the spicy one.
the newer one, well, i'd hesitate to call it spicy.
it had a bit more pepper than the other.
the rest of the food and most of that one tasted like nothing.
even the pop tasted unpoplike.
i recall wendy's tasting lots better.
maybe when i was younger or something.
sigh.
27th- thailand view, shakopee (b-)
at least i think it was a b-. i have a cold and can't taste much... i should've ordered the really hot stuff. i'm taking my co-worker's word for it.
the room was very dark, the lights were not on and it was overcast. odd.
they have a lunch special now but really i need to not get the chicken. it's still weird. for $6.95 you get soup, some kind of noodle, meat, veg and a big pile o'steamed white rice. you can get your meat with nuts or not, and with basil or not, or something like that. i'm on cold meds and such, you know, and can't recall things more than usual. who am i again?
we had to ask for a lime slice for the pad thai.
i explained the 'in bed' fortune cookie bit after lunch. ha. ha.
29th- baker's ribs, eden prairie (b-)
my sense of taste is still out of services, more or less, due to mr. cold. the ribs here are reportedly better than famous dave's, though apparently not as good as costco's. the turkey was nice and tender, though it could've been warmer. the sides were a bit odd, and the prices seemed a bit high for what you get. weirdly, the place was pretty vacant most of the time we were there, maybe it's a lull between holidays or something. dunno.
© The bent sun as risen.