Valentine's Day Dinner

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. Allison and I went out to dinner at a nice little restaurant we had been to once before: Cafe Levain in south Minneapolis. It is connected to Turtle Bread (which we love for lunch) and we really enjoyed it the first time.
First of all we had a lovely time being together and people watching. That is always enjoyable. But the rest of the experience...well, we'll get to that.

I had made a reservation so when we arrived at 7pm we were seated immediately. The restaurant was mostly full, but not completely. We were seated in what Allison called "the 7 o'clock row" as it was empty when we got there and filled up soon after.
And then we waited. And waited some more. And watched servers mill about and water boys weave by our table to fill other patrons' water glasses. Finally, about 25 minutes after arriving a guest whose water was being refilled pointed the employee toward our table. The hostess who had seated us finally came over and told us a server would be right with us. How novel! Water was finally brought out with some bread and butter. I mentioned that the restaurant is connected to Turtle Bread whose bread I really enjoy. So I was looking forward to the "bread course." I should not have been.
With ample time to peruse the menu and special Valentine's tasting menu we were ready to order as soon as our server showed up. I wasn't in the mood for small talk with her. Along with a carafe of the house red we ordered the tasting menu. We figured it was a special night and there were things on it that we likely wouldn't normally order.
After our wine the amuse-bouche came surprisingly quickly. It was a small dish of beet soup with creme fraiche and crispy beet shavings on top. It was quite good and I thought that maybe the food would redeem the service thus far.
The first course was a warm kale salad. It was charred kale on top of a mustard vinaigrette with parsnip crisps on top. I'm sure it was prepared well...but maybe I just don't like kale. And the vinaigrette had no bite whatsoever. Which was a bit of a surprise seeing as though it was mustard based. The parsnip crisps were tasty but I noticed later on in the evening that the parsnip portions had grown considerably compared to when our salads were prepared.
As I mentioned earlier we had a great time being with each other. And we were not necessarily in a hurry, but our initial wait had put any seemingly inordinate amount of time between courses to the forefront of our minds. So we felt every minute of the two hours we were at our table. Especially while waiting for our next course. And remember that disappointing bread I had earlier? Well no one ever came back around to ask if we wanted any more (except for once later) which I would have enjoyed between some of the courses.
Anyway I seem to remember waiting a while to get the second course, which was a polenta dish with lobster. There were a couple of sauces I don't quite remember but the dish was very good. I enjoyed it immensely. Polenta is essentially the Italian version of southern grits, which I have grown to enjoy since marrying a Texan. Instead of hominy polenta is made of cornmeal. The lobster was good as well though I am not as enamored with lobster as many people are.
After that it was another bout of waiting until the third course arrived. This was one that we were both looking forward to. It was a buttered scallop over a bed of braised white beans and a couple of sauces I can't quite remember. The scallop was excellently prepared (confirmed by sea food expert Allison) and very tasty. The beans on the other hand...I don't know if braised beans are supposed to taste like they aren't quite cooked all the way...but they tasted like there weren't quite cooked all the way. Also, as Allison pointed out, the textures of both the second and third courses were both way too similar. The beans didn't work for us at all.
Now that I think about it I do actually remember the time between the third and fourth courses being especially long because I remember our dirty plates sitting there for quite some time. They had actually been very good about clearing our dishes away after we were done, but not with this one.But oh well, I was looking forward to what was coming next. Of course our server couldn't help but screw it up a little more by finally asking if we wanted more bread and then promptly forgetting to get us any.
Finally it was time for the main course and what I had been looking forward to: the short ribs. This is the dish that Allison had had on our previous dinner and they had been divine. So I didn't repeat the mistake of ordering the tenderloin and also ordered the short ribs. They did not disappoint. It was perfectly prepared and served over pureed potatoes and roasted mushrooms. Sadly I can't describe them adequately but I'd heartily recommend them to anyone who eats beef.
After scraping the last drop of sauce off of my plate with the last bit of beef we only had the dessert course left and it was a doozy. It was a dark chocolate mousse with chocolate ice cream over a white chocolate fondue and sprinkled with chocolate cookie crumbs. I enjoyed every single bite.

After that we paid the bill (which was taken care of quite expeditiously I might add) and headed out into the falling snow...as I mentioned, two hours after we arrived. Was it all worth it?

Well, lets examine a few things. The experience definitely had its high points. The short ribs and dessert were outstanding. According to Allison the scallop was also excellent. I thought it was very good but the dish was seriously marred by the beans. The polenta dish was good but nothing I'd order again and the kale salad was sub par as far as I'm concerned.
Then of course was the service. Yikes. It was quite poor. I can't remember anything about the service from our first trip (which probably means it was good) but I cannot recommend this restaurant to anyone for a busy night like Valentine's.
Then there was the bill. What does one go out to "fancy" restaurants for? For what does one pay more than one normally would for dinner? Excellent food and excellent service...at least compared to what one is accustomed to.
For the two tasting menus and carafe of wine our bill came to $160 + tip. This was not a $160 meal/experience. We've had a couple of dinners in that price range and they were memorable and pleasurable through and through. This one obviously was not. I know I would have been happier had I just ordered the french onion soup (which I had had the previous trip and it was superb) and short ribs. And Allison would have been happy with the mussels (also excellent) and short ribs. We could have had that with wine and dessert for a cool $80-90 and been done in an hour.

All in all it was a wonderful evening because of the company. I never mentioned the ambiance, which was very nice. It is a cute little place. But the food and service, the main selling points of such an establishment, were not what we were hoping for.

We'll probably return one day, but not for quite some time, and certainly not for a special occasion.