10th- d'amico cucina, minneapolis
16th- capital grille, minneapolis
23rd- naviya's thai kitchen, richfield
27th- snuffy's malt shop, edina
30th- el loro, savage
10th- d'amico cucina, minneapolis (a+)if one person has pasta (gnocchi in this case) with white truffle butter and a generously large amount of lobster and the other has ravioli filled with ricotta and mushrooms in a buttery sauce with black truffles and some spinach on top, which one do you assume is going to be better?
the lobster, i think most would pick the lobster. they'd be wrong, but they would pick it.
as the ravioli is now on the list of the best things i've ever eaten in a restaurant. it was luscious, rich, and decadent, and perfect in every way. the entree portion had a goodly amount in it, too. i cleaned the plate. literally. i used bread and got all molecules of sauce off. and one of the breads in the basket, topped with sea salt and parmesan, was every so tasty. the other wasn't bad and all, but that one... especially with the sauce... oh my. and bonus points for not writing off a vegetarian dish as an also-ran, like may places seem to do.
and note that it's i, bad restaurant karma person, that got the stunning dish. how often does that happen?
not that the lobster gnocchi was bad, mind you. that dish was an 'a' on the grading scale. it had tender chunks of lobster, probably about two claws worth, over a very good gnocchi that we think was a pasta version, with the tasty white truffle sauce and some greens (i think it would've been better without the greens, i didn't quite like the bitterness against the rest of the dish). but especially when you figure cost into account (the gnocchi ran about twice as much as the ravioli), the ravioli kicked major hinder.
as we split the foie gras to start i may drop dead of a heart attack any... moment.... now. it was done two ways, seared and in what's was more or less a pate (of course i can't recall the exact term they used). also pretty perfect- seared to the exact degree of doneness, tender in the middle for that treatment, and the pate was so very well seasoned. it was accompanied by apple butter, little toasts, and some pickled onion.
this place pays large attention to detail in service. when the bread and water person overheard me remarking on the supreme tastiness of one bread over another (i believe i used the phrase 'kick ass' somewhere in there... so yeah, you can't take me anywhere... heh), when the basket was refilled, guess what we got a whole lot of? yep, the salty cheese bread of goodness.
plating was cookbook worthy, water never got below half mast, table service of the entree was one of those dual-server attack methods where you all get your meal hitting the table at the exact same second or so, and when i was heading to the facilities i picked up a guide along the way (a bit odd, but it does speak to service). the setting is mellow and low key done in creamy tones and there's low lighting. it seems restful, almost, and makes you kind of forget you're sitting in a semi-basement.
at dinner we discussed why this place kind of fell off the restaurant map of the twin cities. it may have been that the type of food they serve (more on the authentic side of italian) became less popular, and maybe they weren't trying as hard while riding out the low-carb craze back then. plus it's way less 'sexy' than some of the new kids on the block, like la belle vie, it's more of your parents special occasion place. i'd say it may be back to old higher standards, and maybe it deserves more recognition now. hard to say based on one go, but it's a place i'd return to and recommend.
something to think about- why do the places where i have my best experiences eating out seem to be at all high-end places? why can't i find a place relatively near my house where i can get a great sandwich or entree, or a non-disastrous breakfast with good service? discuss.
16th- capital grille, minneapolis (c)
question one- why is this place in minneapolis? that's not the capitol of anything. ha. ha.
question two- why do i continue to eat shellfish when i'm pretty sure i'm allergic to it? (see: rule number one of life for that answer.) we split the lobster and crab cakes to start. there were huge chunks of lobster in the cakes, and you get a nice portion of fresh corn relish (the corn comes from a cob), fresh tartar sauce, and a half lemon, thoughfully wrapped in some sort of cheesecloth or some such so you don't get seeds in the food. mine was chewy, mrs. brk's was ok.
question three- why have a restaurant with freakingly good service and very high prices when the food you serve is average at best? i had a seriously hard time coming up with a grade for this place because of some perceived value question. i feel that the high menu prices should equate with kickass food... but we had a $50 gift card. mrs. brk and i split the chicken. on the menu it's $22, which is about what we ended up with for the total bill. you do get a whole chicken for that. but it's about half as good as the chicken from brasa, and that wasn't the best chicken i ever ate. the one here had too much gristle, not crispy tasty good skin, and no flavor.
question three- why waste some nice parmesan and truffle oil on otherwise not that good fries? even with those two things on them, only hollandaise made them tolerable. plus more salting would've helped a lot. not even mayo. our other side we got was asparagus, which was overcooked.
maybe some of this is our fault, as we didn't take the server's suggestions (other than on the lobster/crab cakes). but the food just wasn't that good. there was a lot of it, but that means very little when it's not stuff you'd like to bring home. meanwhile, service in the very clubby/steakhouse atmosphere was of the sort where you got an amuse bouche (some nice chevre in pepper with some fig molasses) and a palate cleanser (lemon sorbet with mint and a blackberry), very tasty breads with whipped butter, a hand towel post-dinner, water glasses never got less than a quarter full, a crumb service, etc.
but the blah food made it feel like felt kind of average experience even for that price. i left feeling disappointed in the place. they're putting lipstick on a pig.
23rd- naviya's thai kitchen, richfield (a-)
mrs. brk and i went on our not so usual by now wednesday night dinner out. someone had given me a gift certificate here, and now and then i like to take her to places outside of her normal routine. i convinced her to not get the chinese dish she wanted, but to the pad thai. chicken, but still. it's still the best i've eaten (we ended up splitting our entrees).
i got the roast duck red curry. the curry was spicy, the veg crisp tender (fresh! bamboo shoots, mushrooms, grape tomatoes... it's all fresh stuff here, but when's the last time you had a dish that didn't have canned bamboo shoots in it.... the 4th of never?). the duck was a bit overdone, but not too much. we also split the fried vegetarian spring rolls, pretty good still.
they had been doing a buffet dinner on wednesday night, but that didn't pull. but once again it was kinda empty... one couple when we came in, two more for table service came in later, and there were a few pick-up orders. so yeah, service was pretty good. someone had mentioned the lunch buffet was more thai now instead of chinese (perhaps due to her other place opening), i'll have to get back here to check that out. it's a better deal than the menu prices (which are again worth it, as the extra buck or two for great fresh food is so worth it... and how often am i all over paying more?).
27th- snuffy's malt shop, edina (c-)
i was craving a chocolate banana malt, fries, and possibly a grilled cheese. so we went here. alas, the malt was too runny and didn't taste like chocolate, banana, malt powder, or ice cream (ice milk, maybe). the fries were hot, but were short and didn't have any salt on them, nor would salt stick to them. the grilled cheese was passable, but was underdone (more white than toasted). mrs. brk got a burger. she was also not thrilled with the food. the burger was not flavorful (though it did taste fresh ground), the bun was not fresh, tasty, or toasted enough, they forgot the onions.
service was half-assed ('i don't know' was a common theme, see also: forgotten onions, plus i had ordered a different grilled cheese but didn't feel like pressing the point). perhaps the problem and cause of decline (it used to be decent enough when it opened) is that the place appeared to be staffed entirely by teenagers- no owner on site.
anyway, both of us were disappointed and probably won't be back. nothing was horrible (so not a d), but it's not worth going to again when there's better places out there. (so there was a reason why we haven't been here in ages...). i'll have to head to annie's parlour, as after eating what i craved i still want the real thing.
decided to go with chilaquiles. though usually it's a breakfast food (often eggs are added), my plate looked more to be some sort of deconstructed nacho... torilla chips, with shredded chicken, salsa, and melted queso, with some 'nacho sauce', side of beads, and 'guacamole salad,' (guac with some lettuce and sour cream, and a sad tomato slice). the flavors were good, but i wish the chips hadn't turned into a soggy mess, they just supposed to be a bit softened. i ended up using chips from the basket to scoop stuff up.
my dining companion got the lunch special #1, a chile relleno, a taco, beans, and guac salad. it was served two plates, one with the chile relleno and beans, one with the taco and the salad. on the taco plate, it was a lettuce explosion. kind of amusing, the sheer amount on the plate. like they wanted it as a space filler.
prices here are good for a sit down lunch- ours were about $5 each. service is efficient. apparently the el loro/el toro chain used to be a bit more authentic with items like tacos with lengue (tongue), tripe stew, and such, but it's evolved to something a bit less so, but nothing like your usual mexican spots. it's also one of the few non-chain places in savage.
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