Schneier

Anasazi and Geranamo; I'll be posting reviews in a few days. Bruce

I need to add that the menu was very innovative and interesting, and that I would go back in a minute. I lined up a few Santa Fe meals, and this was by far the best of the lot. Bruce

I have eaten at Mark Miller's other restaurants--the Red Sage in DC and Coyote Cafe at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas--but not at the original Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe. Last week I visited there with 13 friends. Thirteen is a difficult number, but they seated us fine. We had a long table for ten and a round for four, kind of like an exclamation point. Among us we didn't eat the entire menu, but we came close. Appetizers: New Mexican Gazpacho Verde with Tomatillo and Avocado Crema. A pretty cold soup, citrus and tart, with a nice bite. Green Chile Rillete, Cabernet-Port Reduction and Permesan Crisps. A basic rillete: nothing special, but nothing wrong with it either. Much better things on the menu, though. Chipolte Tiger Prawns on Fresh Griddled Corn Cakes with Chipolte Butter. The sauce was delicious; it had a nice bite and a long finish. It was served with guacamole and pico de guyo; both delicious as well. The shrimp was kind of lost in the dish, though, but I'm not sure how much that mattered. Grilled Quail with Stacked Back Been Buritto with New Mexican Slaw and Mondongo Chile Vinaigrette. This dish wasn't that, though. The quail was perfectly cooked and perfectly seasoned. The accompaniments didn't overpower the dish, and everything tasted well together. Washington Dungeness Crab Tacos, Sweet Corn Cream Sauce and Green Chile Aioli. Best appetizer on the menu. The mixture of sweet and hot worked great with the crab, and everything blended beautifully. Entrees: Pan Roasted Diver Scallops with Roasted Corn Cake and Mole Verde, Roasted Corn and Shiitake Mushroom Salsa Scented with Truffle Oil. I only had a small taste of this. "Subtle and good" was what I wrote, but honestly I can't remember anything more. Definitely not too spicy. Pan Roasted Alaskan Halibut Filet, Local Apricot, Aji Amarillo Pepper Chutney and Thai Basil Crema. A perfectly cooked piece of fish that was overpowered by the preparation. Delicious sauce, though. Absolutely delicious. Pepper Pepita Crusted Pork Tenderloin, Honey Chipolte BBQ Sauce, Chorizo Spoon Bread and Roasted Tomatoes. This dish was more balanced: pork tenderloin in one of the best barbecue sauces I have ever eaten. Crispy Skinned Hudson Valley Duck Breast with Fresno Pepper Rhubarb Ginger Sauce, Yukon Gold Potato, Bacon and Spring Onion Salad. There was disagreement about this dish at the table: some thought that it worked, and others thought that the sauce overpowered the duck. I was in the former camp. Rhubarb is not a flavor I think about with duck, but it really did work. The bacon gave the dish a nice smokey flavor, and the ginger set the rhubarb off well. It was not too hot, and very well balanced. I think this was one of the best dishes at the table. Tellicherry Pepper Crusted Venison Loin, Potato Artichoke "Cake" Dusted with New Mexican Red Chiles and Imported Black Trumpet Mushroom Jus. Another perfectly cooked piece of meat in an interesting sauce that kind of overpowered the meat. The potato artichoke cake was surprisingly good, too. Pan Roasted Rack of Colorado Lamb, White Bean Pasilla Chile Stew, Rajas and Cilantro-Jalapeno Pesto. Best entree on the table. Fantastic sauce, especially the pesto. Great lamb, great beans in chili sauce. Great all-around. Desserts: Classic Creme Brulee. Okay. Margarita Cheesecake with a Passionfruit Sauce. Delicious, but I like Passionfruit. Frozen Chocolate Caramel Parfait, Hot Fudge Sauce and a White Chocolate Tuile. Eh. Roasted Bananas with Cinnamon Ice Cream and Pecan Tuile. Eh. New Mexican Pecan Tart, Dulce de Leche Ice Cream an Cajeta Sauce. Delicious. Sorbet Trio. The "cherry cordial" sorbet was basically chocolate sorbet with a hint of cherries--eh. The mixed berry sorbet was fine. The green chile sorbet was delicious, but way too hot for a dessert. I would have made an excellent palate cleanser, though. And that's it. Overall, the sauces and preparations were uniformly delicious. Miller uses about a dozen different chili peppers in his sauces, and they're all different and interesting in their own way. He has a good feel for what works well together, and how to make things spicy without being too hot. Less consistent are the pairings of these sauces with the rest of the dish. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. It's kind of hard to predict what works beforehand, though. It's a common theme for this restaurant: delicious sauces are the star of the plate, and sometimes they overpower the protein. I was very happy with my meal, to be sure, but it is possible to order wrong and be disappointed. Service was very mixed. I know that there are some things that just can't go well when you have a table of 14, but the bread service didn't show up until the appetizers came--and the various things were cold--and the coffee service was completely messed up. Those sitting on the outside didn't care to be reached over when our water glasses were refilled. On the other hand, the server completely forgot to add a $120 bottle of wine onto the bill. And then there was perhaps my weirdest experience meeting the chef ever. During the meal, I asked my server about the fate of Miller's Las Vegas restaurant. Sometime last year the Coyote Cafe closed at the MGM Grand, and now they're building a sushi bar in its place. (Like Vegas needs another sushi bar.) The server said something like: "I'll ask him; he's sitting at the table next to you." It took me a while to figure out that she said that Mark Miller was eating dinner at the table next to you, but once I figured it out I asked if he would mind if I walked over and said "hello." He was friendly and gracious, and I learned something very interesting about the Las Vegas restaurant scene...but I'll save that for another post. Bruce

Um, what city are we talking about here? Can someone add it to the thread's title. Bruce

Congratulations and good luck. When will you officially leave Trio? Bruce

We do our own, thank you. (They're of Minneapolis--and in the Heartland board. We have a monthly column in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. But thanks for the compliment. Bruce

Yes. And I think the meal works better when you have eight people, and can B enough B so that there's something unique for each course. B

Eigensinn Farm is kind of hard to explain. Michael Stadtlander was a celebrated Toronto chef. Some years ago--five, maybe--he gave it all up to move two hours north to his own farm. There, he serves a set menu to eight ?to twelve people each night for $250 CDN ($175 US). Famed in articles and reviews, Eigensinn Farm is Statlander's experiment in cooking off the land; the food he serves is as organic as he can get it, and mostly from his farm and his neighbors?. Based on everything I've ever read about the place, Eigensinn Farm is a different sort of restaurant. We knew it was different the moment we pulled into the driveway of the farm. There was no sign telling us we were at the right place, and the house didn't look in all that great a shape. There was an abandoned bus on the property, and a large barn. Ducks, chickens, Guinea fowl, and a pea hen wandered around the parking area. We saw a woman in a chef's apron hanging washing on the line, and figured it was the correct place. We deliberately arrived a bit early so we could walk around the farm. There were three large pigs in one pen and a pile of piglets in another. There was a large vegetable garden, barely planted, and a much better looking herb garden. And we finally saw a handmade sign that said Eigensinn Farm over an entryway. The only door was a back door, which opened into a darkened mud room. There was a washer and drier, a refrigerator, a pile of boots, and another of coats. I tried the most obvious door and ended up in the kitchen--oops. The other door led into the dining room. Actually, it was the living room of the house; but it was set up as a dining room. Two tables for two, one for three (that was us), and a table for four. Eleven people would be dining at Eigensinn Farm that night. Eleven lucky people. A table at Eigensinn Farm is probably the hardest reservation to get in Canada. Let's do the math. Figure ten people each night. Figure six nights a week. Figure 40 weeks a year, with days off and vacations and winter when it's too cold and too far. That adds up to 2400 diners per year, less than many fine restaurants serve in two weeks. When we called for our date, a single group of eight had reserved the entire restaurant. But they hadn't paid yet, so we put ourselves on a waiting list. When the group canceled, we were in. We received a tentative menu by e-mail a few days before so we could choose wines--the farm is strictly BYO. Three is an awkward number, and I brought a Herbert Lamy white Burgundy, an off-year half bottle of d'Yquem for the foie gras, and a 1975 Rijoa for the meat courses. A sweet Riesling stayed in its bottle; by the time dessert rolled around, we had had enough wine. Michael's wife, Nobuyo, runs the front of the house. She met us at the door, took our wine, and showed us our table. By any measure, the room is eclectically furnished. There's driftwood, shells and candles everywhere. The ceiling is painted with an odd colorful amoeba-like pattern. Twigs act as a border high on the walls. Bright colors are everywhere. The two other couples arrived, and we all introduced ourselves. (The table for four arrived later, after we had started eating, and we never met them. The three smaller tables were grouped closer together, and occasionally we commented about the food to each other.) Nobuyo is Japanese, and she had a younger Japanese woman assisting her with the service. (We decided they were not mother and daughter.) Together, they served ten courses to the eleven of us. Course 1: Amouse Platter. Five different morsels were arranged on a pretty handmade horseshoe-shaped plate. First was a fresh oyster topped with spiced sake and chopped shallots. Second was a vary tasty piece of sautéed whitefish, with a vinegar and parsnip glaze. Third was a delicious bit of cream of asparagus soup; there were some other flavorings that we never identified. Fourth was a piece of ham from Stadtlander?s smokehouse served on toast. The ham was delicious: not too chewy and not too salty. And fifth was a piece of jackfish sashimi, served with garlic, chives, ginger, and soy--also delicious. Everything was tasty, and the entire tray felt harmonious--strongly flavored, interesting, and harmonious. Course 2: Soup of upland cress--which I'll assume is similar to watercress--with a piece of lake trout and sprigs of fresh parsley and sorrel, served in a beautiful handmade soup bowl. Course 3: Sautéed foie gras, served on a single ravioli of peach puree and ginger, with flaxseed oil, blackberry vinegar, and maple syrup...and some oxeye daisy leaves. The foie gras was perfectly cooked, and went deliciously with the other flavors. I liked the tastes of peach and maple, and the texture of the ravioli against the foie gras. Course 4: Braised canner lobster, served with lobster bisque, wild rice, and mizuna. Another perfect dish: a very flavorful lobster set against the nuttiness of the wild rice and the bitterness of the mizuna. Course 5: A tower of white spring salmon and black bass, served in a cream chive sauce with sea asparagus...with a piece of sea urchin on top. My one wish was for this dish to be hotter. Actually, nothing came out of the kitchen really hot, but I think this dish suffered the most because of it. Otherwise, it was perfectly fine. The fish was good. The sauce was good. The sea asparagus--tiny green asparagus that grows in estuaries--was very tasty. Course 6: Black currant sorbet. The sorbet was delicious--rich and flavorful and not grainy--and the presentation was beautiful. The sorbet was in the punt of an upside-down broken wine bottle. That bottle was set in a broken hand-made bowl. Between the bottle and the bowl were sprigs of apple blossoms and mint leaves Course 7: Barbecued squab, served with celery root puree, lovage, morels, celery root chips, and something that I wrote down as "squab innards sauce." Game and wild mushrooms--nothing wrong there. The celery flavor worked well, too. Course 8: Lamb chops with grilled wild leek bulbs, potato gnocchi with wild leek pesto, asparagus and lamb jus. Both the lamb and the wild leeks were from the farm, which I found kind of magical. It was magically delicious, too: a melt-in-your mouth lamb. The gnocchi was delicious, too, as were the asparagus. But the wild leek bulbs were even better: crunchy and flavorful. I could have eaten an entire bowlful. Course 9: Four cheeses: Pont Couvert, an unnamed mild blue cheese, a fresh goat cheese, and a cow-and-goat cheese called Matis...all from Quebec. Course 10: The dessert course consisted of three desserts. We had a Bavarian cream pie, with strawberry, yogurt, and apple, a rhubarb hazelnut meringue cake, and wild ginger ice cream. Everything was delicious. It's hard to explain why this meal felt so different from any of the other fine restaurant meals we've had. Part of it was the atmosphere. Nobuyo was very friendly, and the whole dinner felt more like being served in her home than at a restaurant. Early on in the dinner, for example, Michael and Nobuyo's son came out of a side room (his bedroom?) and walked into the kitchen. Again and again we chatted with the couples at the nearby two tables, sharing wine and commenting about the food. Part of it was the style. Eigensinn Farm is a different kind of restaurant. Michael Stadtlander is not running a restaurant kitchen; he's cooking a single meal for eleven dinner guests. <i>I've</i> cooked a ten-course meal for eleven dinner guests. Of course, Michael is a far better cook than I am, but the point is that what he's doing is more like what foodies do in their own kitchen than what chefs do in a restaurant kitchen. (After dinner we were talking with Michael. He said that he had four assistants in the kitchen, but only really needed one.) Part of it was the menu. Stadtlander really tries to put together a menu that reflects the farm and the season. He tries to use local ingredients: wild leeks he gathered himself, lamb he raised himself, herbs he grew himself. His menu is harmonious: interesting but not flashy. He's a great chef who tries to put the food first. And part of it was the food. K commented how impressed she was that Stadtlander was willing to serve food that didn't look restaurant-perfect but still tasted delicious. The presentations were beautiful, as were the dishes, but taste was the most important. In a world of high-end chefs trying more and more bizarre presentations, Eigensinn Farm just felt more "real." And that's the word that best describes a meal at Eigensinn Farm: real. Sure, there are better meals out there, and more expensive ones. But there isn't another restaurant where you feel like you've been invited to dinner, where you're pleased that the family cat has decided to walk through the dining room and that the large dog has filled up the doorway. There isn't another restaurant where you feel, really feel, that the chef is cooking just for you. And there isn't another restaurant where you can, at the end of the meal, wander through the kitchen and realize that it is more a home kitchen than a restaurant kitchen--with odd art on the walls and a newspaper-strewn breakfast table in the back--albeit with a 12-burner Garland. Bruce

Just two days ago, I saw whale on the menu at a waterfront restaurant in Bergen. I didn't order it, which in retrospect was a mistake. B

I just love this. It's oh-so-Minnesota. Gotta know your audience. Karen's good; she really is. B

Sea fare that tantalizes Karen Cooper and Bruce Schneier Special to Star Tribune West May 26, 2004 Blue Point is one of Wayzata's nicest restaurants. It offers a spare, attractive dining room with smooth walls and rippled glass accents. It has white-jacketed waiters who bustle about attentively. It's got fresh oysters. In the jet age, maybe it's not so impressive to serve oysters a thousand miles from an ocean. After all, one could dine on fresh oysters in towns along the railroad tracks more than 100 years ago. James J. Hill himself probably brought oysters to Wayzata in the 1870s. Nevertheless, good fresh fish is always, still, a treat. The chalkboard inside the door gives a preview of the menu, so look there for the day's choices. The entrees change depending on what's fresh, so you may find different choices. We started with the fresh Dungeness crab cakes, fine by themselves, but lost in the strongly flavored red pepper sauce. The smoked shrimp and pineapple pizza, about eight inches across, will be enjoyed by those who like pizza with pineapple. No red sauce was involved, and the cheese was a bit much for the shrimp. Better was the chicken gumbo, which was rich and nicely flavorful. The New England clam chowder had a good helping of clams, and lacked that smokiness we don't like anyway. As an entree, the New Zealand blue nose sea bass en papillote was fabulous: a whole fish and julienned vegetables steamed in a parchment paper wrapper. The waiter opened this fragrant, perfect packet and set the plate before us, carrying wafts of aroma across the table. It was sublime. We ordered the grilled Hawaiian yellowfin tuna "as rare as possible," and the kitchen complied. The fish was lovely, cool in the center and hot outside. The vegetables alongside, a mix of carrots and zucchini, were doused with a too-salty soy sauce, but the swath of wasabi sauce brushed across the fish was pungent and hot. Our table loved the side of sweet potato fries, served with cumin aioli. These thin sticks of sweet potato are at their best when very hot, but they're so good that they won't have time to cool off before they vanish. The asparagus with blue cheese butter was nice, too. Our one serious complaint with Blue Point, in fact, was about the hot food. A tray carrying some of our meals came out from the kitchen, each plate covered with silver plate covers, which is fine. A couple of minutes later another tray with the rest of our dishes arrived. Our meals weren't served until both trays were at hand. Here's our advice to the kitchen, the waiters, the entire food service industry: don't let dinners sit cooling off where we can see them. Leave 'em in the kitchen if you must, or serve some of us while you finish the last few plates. All this doesn't come cheap. Entrees are $19-$24 (more for lobster dishes); appetizers cost half that. And at those prices, you're entitled to expect a lot. We wish the menu were more exceptional more often. Some dishes are marvelous; others don't live up to the good service and attractive dining room the Blue Point offers. Karen Cooper and Bruce Schneier write a monthly restaurant column for Star Tribune West. If you have a favorite restaurant in the western suburbs, please write and tell us at diningwest@startribune.com.May 26, 2004

Saves you the trouble of telling your kids to eat their vegetables. B

I had dinner at From the Bayou last night (based on the recommedation of this thread). It's absolutely fantastic. I had the best seafood gumbo I have ever eaten, and a mighty fine crawfish etoufee. Even the jalapeno corn muffins were delicious. This restaurant alone is worth a trip to Tacoma for. Thank you. Bruce

Pretty restaurant. We had a late reservation on a weeknight, and had no trouble getting a place at the sushi bar. "Soft shell crab with ponzu sauce." Delicious. "Sashimi gazpacho." I'm not used to tasting tomato in a Japanese restaurant, but there's nothing to complain about with this dish. "Sea trout napolean." It's chopped raw trout mized with peanuts, cilantro, soy, and ginger, served on crispy wanton skins. Yummy. "Corianter-crusted fried calamari." Major tasty, and a nice twist on tempura. We had a bunch of sushi, including the big eye fatty tuna and the hiramasa yellowtail belly. We didn't--a mistake on our part--have the foie gras sushi. A delicious meal, although expensive. And I wanted more interaction with the sushi chef. I thought I was sitting in front of Kaz, and I wanted him to suggest dishes for us. I wanted him to make dishes for us, based on what he thought was good. I tried asking for that, but it didn't work. I'm not sure why. Bruce

Dinner at Citronelle Saturday night. Getting in was a pain. It was graduation weekend, and all the good restaurants were booked solid. Mark Slater got us on the waiting list, and even pushed us into a 7:00 slot when someone canceled the day before. Serous thanks to him. They've redone their menu. The offer one tasting menu: Promenade Gourmande. It's seven courses, an amuse and petits fours at the end. Cost is $125, and $200 with wines. They also offer a four-course a la carte menu--a starter, a fish, a meat, and a dessert--for $85. Karen (mnfoodie) and I ordered the tasting menu. Amuses: Chopped asparagus in cucumber water, served in an eggshell: nice and refreshing. "Vitello tonatto": basically tuna and veal pate in small layers, much like a small cake piece. Delicious last time, and delicious again. An addition from last time is a piece of cheese toast with mushrooms. Absolutely fabulous; I could eat a dozen of those. Small eggplant pizza: If you read my previous review above, I panned this last time. On this trip is was much better. It wasn't overcooked. There was more cheese, which blended better with the eggplant. I don't know if I got a bad one last time, or if Richard tinkered with the recipe. I really enjoyed this, and would have gladly eaten more. Course 1: Irish Coffee: reviewed last time. Course 2: A piece of seared foie gras in a lentil crust, served with mushroom sauce. Nice combination of flavors and textures. Course 3: A soft-shell crab stuffed with blue crabmeat. It was served tempura-style and a ratatouille-style vegetables and chili oil. Absolutely fabulous. I love soft shell crabs, and stuffing them with crabmeat is brilliant. Course 4: "Lobster medallion, citronelle sauce, brunoise of chayote." Similar to what I was served last time, but now with chayote squash. Good dish. Course 5: Squab, both a piece of breast and a leg crusted with potato. It was served with crispy potato, risotto, and a cinnamon port reduction. Delicious in every way. Course 6: Cheese - Camembert, Forme d'Ambert, and cheveron. Course 7: Chocolate dessert: chocolate ice cream, chocolate mousse, and the best Kit Kat bar you've ever tasted. Yummy. I also ordered a "Breakfast for Dessert" for Karen. Great meal, fun time. Thanks again, Mark. Bruce

My wife Karen (mnfoodie) came with me to Washington DC this weekend, so I went back to some favorite restaurants. Which is why--not two months after my last meal at Jose's Minibar--I was back again. I didn't take notes. Most of the menu was the same, but there were a few new dishes: We had "Egg 147 with Caviar." I had this last time; it's a quail egg cooked at 147 degrees for a long time, such that the white is the same consistency as the yolk. For this meal, it was served with banana and passion fruit. The fruit tastes blended interestingly with the egg and caviar. I thought this better than last time. "Sea urchin with pomegranate." A simple dish: fresh raw sea urchin topped with pomegranate foam. A tasty combinatino of flavors. "Frozen mango soup with oysters." A small bowl with mango sorbet on the bottom, then oysters, then mango slices, then cilantro shoots and a few small nasturshim petals. Very very yummy. Note the many fish/fruit combinations? Definitely a good idea. Another new dish was "baby peach with yogurt." Three small green peaches--no pits--on a bed of yogurt and a bunch of other flavors I can't recall right now. Delicious. A lot of my favorites from last time were there: "Sushi 2003," "cauliflower in textures," "caesar salad," and "New England clam chowder." And many other dishes I remembered. Again, it was a really fun time. I don't think there is a better food value anywhere: $65 for something like 32 courses. That's $2 per course. The six people at the minibar have the full-time attention of at least four cooks, plus some of Jose Andres's. Why isn't the waiting list years long? Bruce

Lunch at Firefly. Appetizer: "Cream of turnip soup with bacon-n-egg crust." Delicious soup. The bits of bacon and hard-boiled egg definitely added, but it fitted no definition of the word "crust" that I've ever heard. Appetizer: "Crisp oysters and parsley with chipolte tartar sauce." Delicious battered and fried oysters. The sauce was too much for them, but thankfully it was on the side. And there was only a smidgen of fried parsley; not nearly enough to qualify for a place on the dish name. Main: "Portobello mushroom cacciatore with housemade taglaitelle and spinach." Very good; nothing to complain about, not even the way it was listed on the menu. My biggest complaint about Firefly was the noise. Sure is crowded in there, and loud too. There was a room in the back that looked quieter; probably best to ask for it. And my guess is that it's way better for dinner. Bruce

Looks like we'll once again be doing reviews for South, but not soon and only once a month. For now, we're reviewing restaurants West of the city. Bruce

Karen (mnfoodie) and I are back doing reviews for the Star-Tribune. They have a new section called "West," for Western suburbs. We have a once-a-month column (the frequency is low enough not to get us in trouble with the union. "West" includes St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Wayzata, Eden Prairie, Plymouth, Chanhassen, Chaska, and on out to Western Hennepin County line. I'll take restaurant suggestions. Bruce

I've never been to Le Cirque in Vegas. I haven't actually avoided it, but it has never bubbled to the top of my list because 1) there are way better top-end restaurants in New York, and 2) New York versions are generally better than their Las Vegas counterparts. Bruce

I believe it was just braised. The prep was minimal; it tasted perfect without any "extra" ingredients. Bruce

NobHill is my next stop, the next time I'm there. I didn't realize the restaurant was that old. I thought it was much more recent. Bruce

I don't think it was bumbkin-truck-ness; I think that's the restaurant's sthick. They'd probably do it to a table filled with Brennans. Bruce

Okay, here's my $5 prime rib story. I went to one of those restaurants with the huge "$5 prime rib" advertisements. I sit down, and the $5 prime rib is not on the menu; there's a $12 prime rib on the menu. I ask the waiter about the $5 prime rib, and he plays dumb. It's only after I demand the item on the sign outside that I get it. Presumably if I order the "prime rib" I would get the menu price and not the sign price. Moral: you can get a $5 prime rib, but you have to be firm about it. Bruce

Did you get that touristy overbearing service, there the waiter recites half the menu with commentary? I found that so annoying. And when I tried to make it interesting by conversing with him, he got annoyed. Bruce