date: 1/19/10
location: minneapolis
grade: b (group grade)

when i made reservations for 6 people a week before we were set to go, 6:30 pm was blocked off in the online reservation system, so i went with 7 pm. when i went to change it to 5 people a few days later, it was blocked off from early in the evening to late at night.

so i was a might surprised to walk into a place that was largely empty. i do realize that they don't want too many large groups at once, but i didn't see any table with more than 3 people at it when i walked it (and very few of those), and the largest other table i saw all night was a party of 4.

after walking in, and waiting at the podium for several minutes, the bartender took it upon themselves to show me to the table (and btw, i have heard good things about the bar here). the server did rearrange the table after i told them it would just be 5 for dinner, and then was uninterested in any menu questions after i declined a drink.

when the others got there, they also seemed uninterested in any menu questions, but did proffer a few suggestions in a canned speech manner. they did at least leave water on the table. for most of the meal, though, it was more rote- put down food, come back in two minutes ask if it was fine, then got the hell out of there, then avoid the table completely until the next course hit. we did manage to get a bread refill once, but never was able to pin them down again when it had been sitting empty for a while... so no dinner sauces for us.

and now, a question... should we be more disappointed in this kind of service because tim mckee is a james beard award winner (ok, for cooking, but still) and i expect better of the restaurant as a whole because of it? or should i expect is as we've had quite odd service as a whole at mc kee locales and i (and my bad restaurant karma) have also received crap service (in more than one place that they own, for that matter). what not a good theme to have. yet we still went. anyway. the food.

the appetizers we got were all pretty (i want to say 'chill' here as most were raw bar...) lovely to look at and pretty lovely to eat. there were a few minor things that could've been improved- for instance, my smoked alaskan salmon with 'traditional garniture' ($9) had egg yolk, capers and what i assume is some sort of horseradish sauce came with small plate of toast points. there was quite a bit of salmon- way too much for the points of toast. good thing that was the one time we had been granted a bread extension. but having very tasty salmon outnumbered bread by a 2 to 1 ratio or so is not a bad problem to have, really.

i didn't taste the langostines with hot olive oil, chile and rosemary ($15). the hawaiian yellowfin tuna poke with sesame and seaweed ($8) could've used a tad more sesame and less soy, but that's maybe just me- the flavor of the tuna itself was great. maybe it needed just... nothing?i enjoyed the sofrito crudo on the albacore with lardo and apple cider vinegar ($10), that choice of flavors was very impressive and i am not sure what was in it, but it tasted lovely and citrusy to me, maybe that was just the acid from the vinegar.

someone brought up, after i first posted this, that this may have been one of the only dishes that had a balance of acid. they thought it was missing in many of the dishes there (they had eaten there before). and it is odd that they do not serve any lemon or other acid component with the vast majority of fish dishes.

the warm roasted beet salad with pancetta, walnuts and blue cheese ($8) had problem the odd plating of the day. interesting, but it kind of reminded me of hung's colorful cereal wonderland from top chef (just me?), with towering beets, clouds of cheese, and a pancetta sculpture.

and yes, i had to make the puppy dog eyes at those who ordered the sea scallops with potato, dill crème fraîche, oyster mushroom and onion ($24). i did remember to quiz the server about ingredients not menu listed i may be allergic to when they were still in hearing distance (they even asked if my food was ok even in proximity to the shellfish, so it was nice that they were aware of that, at least). i miss scallops the most. i've probably mentioned that. a lot.

one of the people who had the dish said it was the best scallops they had eaten. can't recall any qualifiers on that, but if there were, or if i misheard, i am sure they will let me know. the other thought that the dish started out fine, but the potatoes (mashed and heavy, fried skins) overpowered the scallops with richness the more you ate it. the richness made them slow down when they ate it, and the colder they got, the less appealing the scallops were. oh, there may have been some un-menu-listed caviar in the dish, too.

there were no complaints with the grilled swordfish cassoulet with giant beans, confit shrimp and garlic sausage ($21) or the crisp skinned arctic char with white bean and artichoke giardiniera ($20), which i had for lunch the last time i was here and enjoyed quite a bit (that one has more on the decor, but it's added barriers for sound, and is a lot more blue and green and toned down and made warmer, figuratively... i was not the only freezing person in the group for a change here, and it was above 0 by quite a bit).

i went with the niçoise salad with seared tuna, quail egg, green beans, olive and basil ($13). the beans and the egg were not mentioned in the description. maybe they didn't as there was only the one tiny egg and a few beans. there were perhaps two olives (so olive was almost literal), 5 or 6 pieces of nicely seared tuna, and quite a large pile of greens. like the scallops, the dish was unbalanced, but in this case it leaned wards bitter (like me!) from the greens that overwhelmed by sheer quantity the more delicate flavor of the tuna and the scarcity of the rest of the ingredients. more dressing maybe would've helped.

so the food was all quality and fresh (freshness is indeed important). fyi, per their web site, "sea change uses only the freshest fish and shellfish from sustainable fisheries and environmentally responsible farms. we seek out partnerships that promote local farms and relationships with local farmers whenever possible." very admirable. too bad they can't see that sort of quality from their service... and maybe work a bit more on the execution of some of the dishes when the chef de cuisine perhaps had the night off.