date: 10/30/07
location: minneapolis
grade: b-

the grade reflects my opinion only, by the way. others enjoyed the place more than i. yeah, i'm sure that surprises you. not. someone said a-/b+, someone else said b.

consensus was that it would be good for business dinners, and possibly cocktails and apps at the bar. it's not the worst you can do downtown, which seems a bit lackluster at the moment in the world of restaurants. not the best, either. a solid choice, perhaps. the head chef used to work in chicago, and one of our party who had eaten there said the menu reflected a lot of what they did there, a kind of safe, middle of the road approach.

service was odd. this seems to be a common theme among many reviews. between the large private party the server was working (thus abandoning us for long periods of time), the strangest dessert description i've heard in a very long time, possibly ever (the world 'flop,' or any variation thereof, should not be used in any restaurant describing any sort of food, it's just unappetizing), and the weird way the cheese selection was described- after two cheeses they would not name names (there's some domestic and some imported... well, gee, thanks... could you vague that up just a bit more?). there was no list, and i was not about to go with what the server liked, so i tried some sort of game show, in which i guessed 'any sort of triple-cream,' and i did not name that cheese, so i struck out... not impressive.

yet on the other hand, the water was filled at a good rate, and they did bring more bread after we cleared it quickly (a decent dark nutty bread and a white one that was average, with salty butter). it's just odd.

anyway, i was trying to go with safe bets, dara's recommendations, the deviled eggs with sturgeon and tobiko caviar and the tomato soup with fontina grilled cheese sticks. if i'm paying $6 for two deviled eggs, i would like the whites to be not rubbery. i would like the deviled part not to be so overwhelmed with mustard that i can't taste the wee bit of caviar on it. they should've been more luxurious, and slightly less chilled.

other starters were a lot better, two kinds of tartar, a salmon with mango and avocado puree and a tuna poke with pinenuts, sweet apple, sesame, chili and mint. split decision on that one, some liked the spicier tuna, some didn't like it that way. the winner in the category was the large, perfectly done sea scallops with sauces of english peas and i think fennel and oranges, with some radish on top. especially nice paired with the sweet kir royale.

the person who had that also had the winning dinner, or another appitizer, as it was. the pached lobster and risotto croquettes with black truffle butter, yum. spot on with that. the other two dinners were the soup of the day butternut squash puree with pumpkin seeds. i thought it nice, but a bit sweet for my tastes and mine was the roasted tomato soup with grilled fontina cheese on country bread. cute, and decent. apparently the web site menu is not updated, as it comes in at $8 instead of the $6 on the menu. people, update your web sites. it's not that difficult.

also on their web site was the selection of mini desserts, which were making a special appearance, i guess, as they're not on the menu anymore. we went this way instead of going more rounds in 'name that cheese.' they're the perfect size, too bad they're not really there anymore. the valhrona truffles were lovely and dark, the panna cotta light, and the 'pumpkin pie' not too rich or sweet (and i mean that in a good way). they come in shooter glasses, it would be interesting if you could do them as shooters.

what impressed me most was the space. it's a beautiful room, they arranged it in an interesting manner, with the bar and restaurant intertwined almost. but since it is a restaurant, you'd like to be more impressed with the food, no? to me they were slightly above what average would be for this sort of place, but there's nothing to draw me back here. i was not colored impressed.