date: 9/30/03
location: minneapolis
grade: c

here, the grade is an average of the food and service, kinda. it's the type of place i would dearly love to award a higher grade to, but alas, they were highly unprepared for a group of more than, say, two people to come in, and they have a stupidass policy when it comed to paying. no checks, and only two credit cards per table. now, the food is spendy enough so that a dinner for two, most people won't have enough cash on them, so that's ok. dinner for eight, not a chance. minimally, probably about four cards there. stupid policy.

and they were unprepared for an 8-top. two servers in the place, one per room, and the one with that table is hosed. and the service reflected that. and i will just leave it at that, 'cause otherwise, it'll take too long.

the food. i really liked my seafood pasta, though french it ain't, the cheese app was tasty, but cheese usually is. three well-sized hunks of cheese, candied walnuts, and apple slices, it was enough to share with three other people. good rolls, too. i will say it strange the non-alcoholic drink menu is limited to orangina, water, coffee, and tea. but it didn't surprise me. however, if you're carrying on a french theme to the utmost, why some italian dishes on the menu?

i really loved the cheesebutter that came with someone's steak. the world needs more cheesebutter. various tastes of other's food... the mushroom tart, tasty. the encrusted walleye didn't thrill me, it was ok. the roasted salmon was pretty good. the shrimp were large and plentiful, and came with a mustard aioli (we think. no one got a positive id on it). creme brulee , apparently at one point voted the best in the twin cities, was all cold (fhima's, go there for it). which is bad and wrong. and the pomme frites, well, go to vincent's for 'em.

i wanted to give it a higher grade. it's an independent neighborhood place, the kind the squad of us are trying to support, and all that kind of thing. i do realize it's set up for intimate dining, but they could be a bit more adaptable to larger groups trying to give them lots of money. so i'm torn. i'd go back, just with fewer people. that is a bit of a balm to my conscience, i guess.