Fantastic dinner at Rinata

If you don't remember my disappointment from our Valentine's dinner, you should go back and read it. It was an overly expensive, adequately tasting, poorly served meal. We partly blame ourselves for going out on Valentine's Day, but it really was quite bad.

A couple weeks ago we had lunch at the beautiful El Tovar Hotel in the Grand Canyon Village. Excellent food, surpassing service, and quite reasonable prices.

Then this Wednesday night we went to dinner at Rinata in Uptown, Minneapolis. It is owned by the same guy as another restaurant we enjoy, Al Vento, in south Minneapolis.

Allison found out about a wine dinner they were having on Wednesday. It was four courses each with a paired wine including Swordfish as the main entree. It sounded very good and was priced at a very reasonable $40 per person so we got reservations.

A day before the dinner Allison got a call from the restaurant that they had had a number of cancellations and had fallen under the minimum number for the wine rep to show up. So while they were still going to do the four courses with paired wines they were changing the menu a little bit and wanted to make sure we still wanted to go. Allison talked to them and the menu still sounded good but they had traded out the swordfish for pork tenderloin. A disappointment to be sure, but not enough to scare us away.

The evening started out interestingly as I took a bus from downtown to just meet Allison there. Turns out that while Nicollet and Hennepin are only a block away from each other for most of downtown, I assure you, they are in very different places in Uptown. So I was wandering around the corner of Nicollet and 25th wondering where this restaurant was hiding and wondering where my wife was. Allison was parking in the parking lot at the corner of Hennepin and 25th and wondering what her husband meant when he texted that he was standing at the corner of Nicollet and 25th. After finally realizing my mistake I hoofed it the mile to the correct location and dinner was able to start!

First of all, I just want to get this out of the way. If you decide to give Rinata a try (and you should) you should absolutely ask if you can be put into Ben's section. Ben was our waiter for the night and I really can't remember a better server in all my life. We weren't his only table but whenever we needed anything he was there before we had to ask. We had our food as soon as we would have wanted it. Our glasses (of wine or water) never fully emptied out. He explained each dish fully so we knew what deliciousness we were about to enjoy.

Before the first course even arrived we had our first glass of wine. We were served a Prosecco that was quite good. Both Allison and I enjoy red wine more than white but we both enjoyed this. Right before the salad came out Ben stopped by to refill our glasses. We were both pleasantly surprised by this as we had only been sipping on our wine. The last wine dinner we attended was pretty strict with only one glass per course. Clearly this was going to be a fun night.

Before our first course was brought out we were served some bread and a olive tapenade in olive oil. A note about the bread: I loved it. It is the same (or at least very similar) focaccia as they serve at al Vento. It has the perfect density and a dusting of Parmesan cheese (maybe?) baked into the crust and a garlicky taste. Dipped in the olive oil and with the tapenade it was a delictable start to the dinner. And another point to our server, Ben. He quickly picked up on the fact that I loved the bread and kept us supplied with fresh bread and tapenade for the entire dinner.

Very soon our first course was brought out. It was a micro-greens salad on a base of sliced beet with chopped almonds and julienned parsnips and celery root. Over all of it was a Processo Parmesan dressing (using the same wine we were drinking).

I'm don't normally enjoy beets very much but this was a very tasty salad. In the last year or two I have discovered that I enjoy parsnips and celery root (they are very similar) so that was definitely a strong addition to this salad and the texture of the salad was very good. The dressing was good but the similarity to the wine was too subtle for me to really "get" the pairing.

After our salad was cleared away we were poured a glass of Sauvignon Blanc that was paired with our second course. Another white that we wouldn't normally drink but was very dry and very good. We were both excited about this course: mussels steamed in the Sauvignon Blanc with housemade fettuccine tossed with pepper flake, garlic, and a touch of butter.

This dish was outstanding. Allison is much more familiar with mussels than I am and she said they were prepared very well. I definitely enjoyed them. The pepper flake gave just the right amount of heat that I could still feel after the dish was done. The wine matched up excellently with each bite. The coolness and dryness of the wine was a nice counterpoint to the heat in the pasta. The noodles themselves were delicious if a little thinner than I would prefer. My favorite housemade fetuccine remains Vescio's. The broth left over after everything was eaten was a nice bonus that was delicious when wiped up with some fresh bread.

Once again, soon after our completely cleaned bowls were cleared away a new glass of wine was poured. This time is was a red to go with the main entree. This was by far our favorite wine of the night, a Banfi Centine Toscana. It was so good that after we had finished our third course I asked to see the label so we could look for it in stores and instead of just letting me take a look Ben said "Of course you can see, here let me just leave the bottle with you." Marvelous!

As I mentioned before the original third course was swordfish which I don't think I've had before and was definitely looking forward to tasting. Instead we got a roasted pork tenderloin over a bed of polenta with sauted spinach and a roasted red bell pepper sauce. He had a particular word for the type of sauce but I cannot remember what it was.

The polenta and spinach were both prepared excellently and were delicious. The tenderloin itself was very good but not good enough to make me forget about the swordfish. It was seasoned well but not as succulent as I would have wished. The sauce over it all was extremely delicious and something I'd like to have again. A good dish but not quite as good as the previous one. The wine went very well and again was our favorite of the evening.

The final course was a dessert of housemade limoncello sorbet with their housemade limoncello.

Allison found the sorbet a little too tart and by this point in the evening the limoncello was a little too strong. I found both an excellent ending to the evening. The limoncello was definitely strong, but not strong enough for me to refuse a second glass when offered. The sorbet was smooth and refreshing and I felt the tartness was just right.

If you can't tell, we had a marvelous time. We were there for a little over two hours but the time flew by. We were never waiting for anything and never wanted for anything. The food was all more than satisfying and delicious. And the price was definitely worth the experience. I can't recommend Rinata highly enough. And remember, ask for Ben, he will take care of you.

Lunch at El Tovar

One of the many highlights of our trip to the Grand Canyon was lunch with Allison's parents at the El Tovar Hotel in the Grand Canyon Village. The dining room was beautiful and built like a log cabin with a fireplace on each end.
Even though there was no dress code (we were in the middle of a National Park) the servers were all dressed in tuxes and bowties. Our server took very good care of us and made a couple of excellent suggestions. He didn't specifically say any thing about a starter but I couldn't resist ordering the French Onion Soup.

It was marvelous. A very crispy top and a deliciously cheesy and oniony broth. I enjoyed every bite.
For the main course Allison and her dad ordered the Navajo taco. Instead of a tortilla it was made on a housemade frybread and made with a vegetarian chili. I had a bite and it was probably the best taco I've ever tasted. Allison's mom and I both ordered the Prickly Pear Natural Chicken. I also had a local beer along with my meal, which you can see in the background of this picture. It was a Grand Canyon Pilsner. Quite good. Allison's dad ordered the Grand Canyon Starry Night Stout that had a great roasted flavor to it.

It was organic chicken marinated in a prickly pear sauce and covered with a jalapeno jack cheese. The chicken was perfectly done and the marinade was very tasty.
And then came dessert...

Mmm, housemade chocolate chip cookie cheesecake! Not only was there a big cookie and piece of dough on top of the cheesecake but the cheesecake itself was cookie dough flavored with chocolate chips inside. Drizzled over the top was chocolate and caramel sauce with a chocolate "mint leaf" sticking out of the back. Allison ordered the vanilla bean creme brulee. It was exquisite. Even though I am still glad I ordered the cheesecake I will admit the creme brulee was better. Thankfully Allison couldn't quite finish her's and I got to eat a good portion of it.

Do you remember our Valentine's dinner? I sure do. The service was subpar, the food was okay, and the price was outrageous. How about lunch at El Tovar? Supurb service by a very friendly gentleman. The food was excellent and their entrees were priced between $10 and $15. What a deal! I highly recommend everyone going to see the Grand Canyon some time in their life and when you're there have lunch at El Tovar.

One of those days

This is one of those blog posts that people who don't blog are referring to when they say things like "Why would anyone read a blog? Why do I care about some joe-schmoe's day?" This is a post chronicling a day in my life: yesterday, March 17th, 2012, St. Patrick's Day.

Do you ever have one of those days?
One of those days where everything you do is exactly what you wanted to do?
One of those days where besides all the fun you even did something productive?
One of those days where even the things outside your control (like the weather) go your way?
One of those days when you're enjoying what you're doing and then you all of a sudden remember one of the other awesome things you did earlier that you almost forgot about?
Well, I have. I had that day yesterday.
Though, I must admit, it didn't start off perfectly...
Now when I say that, I mean it was still a-okay and even expected. Just not perfect. (It should be very well known to anyone who knows me that I have and have had a pretty good life. Not much goes or has gone wrong.)
The first one awake was Boudreaux, our dog, which is typical on the weekends. I didn't want to get up with him but he was insistent. So I dragged myself out of bed, headed downstairs, fed the dog, let him out, let him back in, and then climbed back upstairs and into bed. After a little while Allison and I finally got up and made ourselves a nice simple breakfast of oatmeal with strawberries.
Then we got dressed and headed out to Old Cedar Avenue near Long Meadow Lake for a hike. Allison had had the brilliant idea that since we had so much fun hiking in Arizona maybe we should just keep hiking after getting back home? And you know what? There are lots of places to do that within or close to the Twin Cities. So the three of us went on a wonderful ~2 mile hike along the lake. There were numerous people out hiking and bird watching (some of the people had some serious scopes on tripods). Boudreaux got very excited when he saw some ducks in a pond and really enjoyed walking up and down a stream.
Something else there that was neat was the Old Cedar Avenue bridge. It is a two lane bridge that used to be the only way across the Minnesota River in our part of the southern suburbs. And it was what my dad took to work every morning from Burnsville to Golden Valley when I was growing up. It is right next to the new 6 lane Cedar Avenue bridge. Whenever I drive over the river and look at that rickety old bridge my mind reels at trying to imagine rush hour crossing the river.
After our hike we headed back home and had a delicious lunch of leftover andoule sausage jambalaya. I had made it the night before (from a box) and it was still quite tasty.
Next came the productive part of our day. Allison and I moved some of the furniture around downstairs so she could paint one of the walls. There are only a couple left and it looks much nicer than the stark white we had before.
While Allison was painting I headed outside with Boudreaux and got out the chainsaw. I cut down a few lower branches from some of the trees in our yard. I was trying to get rid of the ones that really hang down and make it difficult to mow the lawn. I dragged the cut branches back into the woods behind my house and while coming back from dropping off the last couple of branches five white-tailed deer ran by. Boudreaux had been watching me take the branches out of the yard and he was transfixed by the small herd. I then took some pesticide and diatomaceous earth (which is supposed to help with box-elder bugs) and sprayed and spread around the base of our house.
By the time I was done Allison had pulled out our plastic yard furniture bench and started reading her Kindle (she's in the middle of A Clash of Kings, in preparation for the upcoming season of A Game of Thrones on HBO). I headed inside to grab my own Kindle and grabbed us both a nice, cool, Leinies Sunset Wheat and then headed outside to join her.
We sat there for maybe an hour, maybe two. Just reading our books and sipping our beers. The last I had checked the mercury had reached 78 degrees, but it wouldn't surprise me it it hit about 80 while we were out there. And I tell you what, we had zero problems reading our Kindles in the bright sunlight. In fact, it was probably even easier than reading a real book because it isn't the bright white of a page made of paper.
The last time I talked about what I was reading I was soldiering through a fairly poorly written book. Since then I had read a bunch on the plane and also while enjoying myself in Arizona. I finished that book, Fight For the Abyss, the next book, Mechanicum, the following book, an anthology of short stories called Tales of Heresy, and am currently reading the 11th book in the Horus Heresy series, Fallen Angels. I've quite enjoyed everything since Fight For the Abyss.
Around five o'clock I headed upstairs and grabbed a couple of New York Strip steaks out of the frig in preparation for dinner. There was no way I was going to let this day go by without turning on the grill. When the grill was ready I used a little Famous Dave's Burger and Steak rub and threw those bad boys on the fire. The steaks were served with a simple arugula and tomato salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing and an excellent French wine that Allison had picked up a couple weeks ago. It has 50% Grenache and 50% Syrah. I can't describe to you what "notes" it had, or what it "hinted at", but I can tell you it complemented my medium-rare steak excellently. And if I do say so myself, the steaks were fantastic.
We cleared away the dishes and cleaned up after dinner and an odd notion came into my head. The beautiful sunny day harkened back to summer days of my youth and I wanted to something I hadn't done in quite some time. I asked Allison if she wanted to hit the Dairy Queen drive-in and just go on a little drive in the country. She surprised me by saying "Yeah, let's go." And the three of us got back in the car and took off.
We headed out to Rosemount and the Dairy Queen there. As expected the drive-in line was long and there were family's at every picnic table and all over the parking lot enjoying sundaes and cones and Blizzards and other treats. We got up to the window and I ordered a mini Oreo Blizzard for Allison and after a small internal debate I ordered a small Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard for myself. The debate was not over the flavor but the size (I've had a couple medium and even large Blizzards in my day) and by the time I had finished I was happy with my choice.
From Rosemount we headed for downtown Farmington. Neither of us had actually been to our neighbor town to the south. It was not quite what I was expecting, at least not where we drove through. Downtown Lakeville is a cute and quaint little area. "Downtown" Farmington, or at least the main commercial drag through the center of town was anything but cute. A couple of strip malls and a restaurant/gas station. I'm sure we missed other stuff and we'll just have to return again some day. By the way, Boudreaux really enjoyed the drive. His head was out the window nearly the entire time.
We got back after sunset and for our next activity Allison suggested we head down stairs and play a board game. You never have to ask me twice to engage in my favorite hobby so with newly filled wine glasses in hand we went downstairs.
Then the tough choice became which game to play. Allison was debating over whether to play her favorite game, Dominion, or try playing Stone Age again. I got Stone Age for Christmas and we had played it once so far and she opted to bring it out again. Allison won our first contest a few months ago, but I'm sorry to say that I beat her this time. It was another fun contest and I was glad we got to play it.
When we finished packing up the game I didn't even have the chance to ask "What do you want to do now?" when Allison asked "Do you want to watch Iron Man?" Ummm, yes.
I had seen Iron Man in the theater and Allison had not. I have never been a big comic book collector but I've always enjoyed the stories and the heroes. With the Avengers movie coming out in just a couple months I had planned to watch the related movies that I hadn't seen yet. I had seen Iron Man and Thor, but hadn't yet watched The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, or Captain America. When I got Hulk in the mail Allison expressed an interest in watching it with me. She enjoyed it and since I was getting Iron Man 2 next I asked her if she wanted me to get Iron Man first, which she did.
So we poured out the remainder of the wine, popped in Iron Man, and watched a great super hero action flick.
Phew! I think that's it. After the movie, on the way upstairs to bed, I was thinking about what a great day it had been and I suddenly remembered my Blizzard which I had nearly forgotten about. It was then that this blog post started forming.

So let's recap:
Up early with my wonderful dog, Boudreaux
Oatmeal and strawberries
Hike near the Minnesota river
Andoule sausage jambalaya
Chainsaw and branch cutting with a deer sighting
Sitting in the sun and the heat with my wife, my Kindle, and a beer
Steaks and wine for dinner
A cookie dough Blizzard and a drive through the country
A game of Stone Age with Allison with a glass of wine
Watched Iron Man with a glass of wine

Yep, not too shabby.

Roadside Snack

We got some cinnamon and sugar frybread from a guy set up on the side of the road. Good stuff.

Lunch at Burger Moe's

Juicy Moe with fries and a Left Hand Milk Stout. Can't wait to get to the molten center.

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.

Free pizza usually tastes great

But today I don't know for sure.
There is some leftover pizza just sitting there in the lunch room...right now!
Normally I'd be all over it because hey...free pizza! But today I was able to steel myself and refuse to give in to temptation. I had already eaten lunch and I could stand to lose a few pounds. In that case, I decided, free wasn't necessarily the best deal.