Butcher and The Bore

Having had a fun and great-tasting first experience at Butcher and the Boar a few weeks ago, I was looking forward to meeting three friends there for another try.  The food still impressed across the board - jalapenos, pork chop, honey chipotle glazed chicken, mahi mahi and especially the sausage sampler were all frankly delicious.  And I'm picky.  Really.  Service, on the other hand, left much to be desired.  Actually, I take that back.  The service itself (taking orders, bringing food and drinks) was okay.  What was sorely lacking was hospitality - that quality that great restaurants have that makes a diner feel like the restaurant and its employees appreciate your business and want you to enjoy yourself. 

My group had an 8:30 reservation on a busy weekend night and I was not surprised nor upset that our table was not immediately available.  It was a lovely evening for a drink outside the backyard beer garden, and we enjoyed that very much (for about 15 minutes).  By 9:00 irritation was setting in and we went to check with the host about our table. People, where are your manners?  Do you really think it's acceptable to keep a group waiting 35-40 minutes past their reservation time without the slightest hint of apology?  I see no good excuse for not sending over appetizers or a round of drinks, or something to a group that has waited that long.

The wait wasn't even the worst part!  We waited all that time only to have our group of four seated at a round six-top, which in a noisy restaurant essentially relegated each of us to talking only with the person sitting next to us and totally defeated the purpose of our group dinner.  My group even declined dessert - unheard of in our circles.  I think by that point we were just tired of sitting in a circle staring at each other unable to actually talk.  The bottom line for me was that although the food was delicious, the lack of hospitality took the fun out of my meal and no amount of incredible house-made sausage can make up for that.

5 Sweet Sweets

Dear Chefs,

We've noticed some of you take a vacation when it is time for dessert, so we want to give gold stars to a few of our favorites.  We'd like to thank these chefs for paying as much "or more" attention to dessert as the rest of the meal.


In particular order:

5 - The Good Earth's Ginger Snap Cookie -  Looking to spice things up?  This is your cookie.  Definitely plan on following this chewy treat up with a glass of milk.  When you're done with this you'll know your meal is over.

4 - Sebastian Joe's Oreo Ice Cream - A staple of summer time, it only edges out the other 37 flavors I love from there.

3 - Al Vento's Honey Ricotta Cheesecake - The lightest thing made with cream cheese you've ever had.  It was great to eat cheesecake without feeling like I was eating cheesecake. The hazelnut biscotti crust and a little touch of spice with the citrus put this dessert on the list.

2 - 112 Eatery's Butterscotch Budino - You were doing salted caramel before it was cool.  Or wait, are you the ones who made it cool?  Creamy, salty, sweet and difficult to share.  Does anyone know who Nancy Silverton is?

1 - Piccolo's Pine Needle Panna Cotta - A revelation.  Period.  Check out our Piccolo review below.


We're always on the lookout for one more.  If you have one you think we need to try, let us know.

Hugs and kisses,

The Restaurant Tramps

Al Vento

Killed it the other night... mini review coming soon.

Disgruntled Server Post

Just because the food and drinks are discounted during Happy Hour, this does not mean my tip should be discounted. 

Piccolo

Piccolo
4300 Bryant Avenue
Minneapolis, MN
612.827.8111

Saturday night at Piccolo, a foodie's delight.

Razor clam chowder with compressed celery, crispy sweetbreads and tapioca
I like my first course to have punch that wakes up my taste buds but they all slept through the razor clam chowder.  It was under seasoned and I can't even believe I'm saying this but I was disappointed in Piccolo.  The sweetbreads kept me from hating it.

Cauliflower terrine with golden raisins, asparagus and marcona almonds
Split vote on this dish.  I thought the dish was terrific, it had depth and the sprinkle of sea salt brought the dish to life.  My dining companion felt it needed a touch of citrus or something tart to cut the richness of the creamy terrine.

Camembert and apple tortelloni with rabbit "pancetta" spring onions and sorrel
Two thumbs up.  Biting into the al dente tortelloni with creamy camembert brought back the Piccolo I remember.  We were happy to be back on track.

Scrambled brown eggs with pickled pig's feet, truffle butter and Parmigiano
There is a reason this is their signature dish.  Riots would break out if this was taken off the menu.  There is a richness to the parmigiano and the truffle butter but the eggs are light and keep the dish from becoming too heavy.  (Side Note: They will not make this "To Go", yes I have asked.)

Monkfish and crab roulade with poached egg, asparagus and arugula
Poached egg on seafood was new to us and we weren't sure if that was a good or bad thing.  We thought the dish was decent for Piccolo, which means it is 10 times better than most food.  But it still lacked the "Wow Factor" we've come to expect.

Veal breast with tarragon, radishes, peas and bone marrow rice pudding
Holy fucking shit!!!  Bone marrow rice pudding where have you been?  I've searching for you...do know how many bad dishes I've had to taste over the years to find you?  The veal breast was so tender I could've fallen asleep on it.  The radishes and the wasabi peas gave the dish a nice little kick and crunch.  We were hitting our Piccolo stride.

Smoked Pine Ridge Farms pork jowls with boiled peanuts, ramps, Benton's ham and celery root
Piccolo cooks and seasons unusual cuts of meat like no other restaurant in town.  Then they take said meat and place it with the most unexpected combination of accompaniments... and they blow your mind.  This was another great dish.


Pine needle panna cotta with pine nut brittle and mugolio
Gas prices up?  Home values down?  Constant threat of terrorism?  Who cares, eat some pine needle panna cotta.  Guaranteed to make you forget about everything.  One of the best desserts we've ever had.  The fragrance of pine needle in a smooth and silky package with a nice crunch and saltiness of the pine nut brittle.

About halfway through writing this review I called for another reservation.  I'll keep you updated...

The Butcher, the Boar and the Jalapeno

Butcher & The Boar

1121 Hennepin Ave.

Mpls, MN 55403

612-238-8888

butcherandtheboar.com

So, I went to Butcher & the Boar the other night.  We showed up almost half an hour late for our reservation and even though there were some empty tables, as a cynic I still expected some serious attitude from the hostess when we gave her our name.  After all, this is "it" for the Twin Cities right now. Fortunately, she was very accommodating and we were seated shortly after arriving.  The food was universally flavorful and different than most restaurants in the Twin Cities.  (No calamari! No flourless chocolate cake! Thank God!)  Cocktails were also excellent and I'll be returning (when I'm not driving) to try a bourbon flight or two.  All I will say is this: if you go to this restaurant and do not order the roasted jalapenos stuffed with a cream cheese and peanut butter mixture, you are not my friend.

Pat's Tap Revisited - They're Holding

Pat's Tap

3510 Nicollet Ave.

Mpls, MN 55408

612-822-8216

On my first visit, I thought the food was sub-par.  On the return trip, I really enjoyed the dishes I had.

Breakdown:

Goat Cheese Fritters: So deep fried goat cheese is always going to be good.  But the crispy texture of the fritter was very unique and a little pickled onion over the top was terrific too. Three 1.5 inch by 1.5 inch fritters per serving.

Lamb Meat Balls:  The sauce was terrific.  I thought about licking the bowl but I wasn't nearly drunk enough (explanation below).

In addition to those two, we had several other dishes.  Nothing worth ripping on...which is rare in my world.

Service: Our server apparently swung by the crack stacks and wiped them out of everything before coming to work.  Besides the 1/2 opened eyes, the slow and repetitive conversation, and the infrequent visits, we repeatedly heard:

"Your drinks didn't come yet?" - Now as a server, there have been times when I've had to ask my tables if their food had come.  These are very rare and unique situations that mostly involve oysters (oyster times out of the kitchen are all over the board between 5-20 minutes, likewise they are very slam-able) so if I'm away from your table for 5 minutes making lattes for another table it is possible that the dish has been delivered and cleared without my knowledge.  In an extreme situation the same thing could happen with a salad but only with the hungriest of diners.

Now the thing with our drinks is that they were not slam-able: dark beers and martinis.   So, apparently the first drink ticket was "lost" (code word for: I forgot to fucking punch it in).

After round one, our waitress asked us, "Is there anything I can do for you?" 


We responded with, "Yes we would like our drinks and our food."  Both of which we ordered 10 minutes prior.  Her response was a fumbling of lines as she tried to secretly confirm what we ordered while pretending like she'd already rung it in.

In addition to all of this, she would sit down next to a friend/customer and talk for a several minutes at a time.  At one point, another server had to ask her to check on all of her tables.

Nothing was taken off the check.