date: 9/26/06
location: minneapolis
grade:b (me)/a (everyone else)

right now i am so over bad restaurant karma.

alas, it's not over me. so whereas everyone else had a perfectly lovely meal with great service, mine was marred by a few flaws.

for instance, service. the main server was great. funny, knew their stuff from wines to the menu. and took it personally when people had empty water glasses- they even took it so far as to bring me another, larger glass when, yes, mostly mine was sitting empty frequently. i don't think i've had one that good for a very long while. alas, junior server helping them out had to do a plate auction for the courses (i.e. who had this? who had that? sold!) and i had to take evasive action to not get a plate they were holding in the side of the head.

food... everyone's was better than mine. for starters, i had the sampler of four bruschetta (tapanade, caponata, tomato basil, and artichoke walnut). not bad, not great. i was going to go with the stuffed mushrooms, but it had things i don't eat in it.... though it was not quite apparently on the menu. if the description of an item reads 'sicilian stuffed mushrooms with tomato and roasted garlic,' would you not think that it had no meat in it? i thought so, but asked first. (sometimes i learn my lesson.) it did. it needed a bit of salt, but there were no shakers on the table (or pepper, nor was anyone offered any from the grinder, which is odd with the salads below... anyway...). and i forgot to ask.

the gold beet salad fennel vinaigrette and warm goat cheese had a bit too much vinegar (aftertaste, i think) and was not very fennel or goat cheese packed, if i recall, but was otherwise nicely plated and tasty, as was the other salad. the rack of lamb (special) was sublime, and i would also highly recommend the smoked salmon crostini with strawberry marscapone, too, that was quite lovely and smoky and good.

main courses... the duck with wild cherry sauce and polenta cake and asparagus was a nice balance of flavors, and extra points for getting the duck done right and the sauce not sweet and cloying, as often happens. the delicata squash risotto, plated in the baked squash half, was also great, and not heavy like many risottos are. the chicken cacciatore evoked childhood memories (in a good way for the person who ordered it), and the not on the menu but put together dish of spaghetti with red sauce had a great red sauce on it.

but mine, alas... fettucini with clams and tiger shrimp in a white wine and garlic sauce. they do make their own pasta, by the way. when it hit the table, the middle was warm, but the outer pasta was cold. i asked for it to be reheated, and points for main waiter and the kitchen, when it returned they also brought out some white bean ravioli in the red sauce for the table to share. i liked the ravioli. the beans weren't mushy like you would think and the texture added a lot to that dish. but the pasta cooled off within minutes, which didn't really improve it.

the shrimp and clams weren't overdone, though i would rather the kitchen bother to check the clams before plating them so i don't end up with one that was dead before it was cooked like i did here. and maybe they could also check to see that no bits of shell are dumped in along with the clams, like i ended up with here. not fun to bite into one of those. i was thinking that bread on the table would've been good for the red sauce, but not that the white was bad, but the clam shell and a few bits of clam grit in the sauce would've made it dangerous to mop up. mixed blessing, i guess.

some people got dessert. two people got the the pistachio semifreddo, and each plate had it moulded into a different shape. they're good with the plating. the trio of creme brulees were also tasty, i like the orange vanilla the best, but the chocolate and pistachio (i think it was) were also good.

the main server, as mentioned, was all over the wine list. if you told them what you liked, he could recommend a pick on the menu that went with your dinner. the peach proseccotini got high marks.

the atmosphere of the place- the kind of lighting where everyone glows, nice fixtures, real napkins, etc- would make it great for a date place, but the low lighting and acoustics make it not as good for larger groups (we had seven). for a neighborhood place, it looked pretty high-end looking (except for the very very very tiny and quite cold restroom... not that it wasn't clean, but it was tiny. and did i mention cold?). the prices were not out of line, either. they have half-price wines, and a good deal on dinners after 8 pm (a mutli-course meal for two for $35).

speaking of prices, despite someone's subtle hint, i underestimated my share (allegra and lack of sleep make me more zoned than usual lately, and of course... math is hard). please remind me to throw down a bit extra next time. thanks.