Elrushbo

Wow-that is way too expensive. It's food, not diamonds.

You definitely got my vote! Avenues was stunning in every possible way! I felt "at home" more than I have ever felt in a restaurant. Never had better service anywhere. I truly felt like an honored guest-for a restaurant to be able to make people feel that way says something about the people who run it. My dad has his autographed menu framed! If opening more restaurants is a future goal for you, I wholeheartedly encourage you. Not to impugn(sp) another chef, but I see Michael Mina opening restaurants and, having been to four of his restaurants, I can easily say that, imho, your food is better.

I sent a friend with an expense account to Ogden and he had a Kobe filet mignon and said it was the best steak he'd ever had.

I ate at StripSteak a few days after it opened, and thought it was pretty good. My steak wasn't as good as what I've had at Delmonico or at SW Steakhouse, but it was still pretty good. On the other hand, the side dishes provided a lot of interest. See my detailed review. ← It looks like a fun place, nice to see decent reviews for a newly opened place, one can expect them to be even better and improve on weaknesses after a while.

Delmonico really does fill up fast, you were wise to make a res early, especially on a holiday. Be sure to try the Parmesan Truffle Chips!

I'm interested in your report, I had soup and dessert at Ogden last year, want to know how the dinner is.

I know it's too late, but for the benefit of others, Michael Mina just opened Stripsteak, his first steakhouse, and Mandalay Bay. The menu makes me drool like Homer SImpson. I will DEFINITELY be going to Stripsteak on my next Vegas trip. http://www.michaelmina.net/stripsteak/about.html

I have eaten at both Prime and Delmonico, I have to give a slight edge to Delmonico on the meat-both were incredible, but Delmonico is just a tad bit better. Overall, I liked Delmonico better, I thought apps and sides were considerably better than Prime. Emeril's barbeque shrimp is absolutely heavenly! Service was imho better at Delmonico, more polished, more personable, I felt like I was treated as well as one possibly could be at Delmonico. Not that Prime's service was bad, but Delmonico's service was so good it was memorable.

Unfortunately, this is more of the rule than the exception with the Twin Cities dining scene. And I'm sure it's been discussed in various ways in a number of threads here. But here are some contributing factors: 1. Most of the high-end restaurants (in terms cuisine, ambience, service, etc.) are in the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and most of those are in the downtowns. 2. Thanks to suburban sprawl, the clientele for Cosmos and others like it have to drive a distance to go there. Then they have to park. Blah blah blah. And there's a portion of that clientele that doesn't come into either city for dinner unless there is a "companion" event (concert, sporting event, theatrical show, etc.). Thus many of these restaurants are in the special occasion or destination category. Even though the tasting menu may be a bargain at $60 per person, folks around here don't shell that out many times in a year. 3. The condos being built in either of the downtowns aren't selling as fast as developers have hoped. Perhaps that will yet change, creating a larger "local" clientele. 4. Minneapolis and St. Paul don't do the tourist business or business travel business of Las Vegas. 5. The number of high-end restaurants in a concentrated area is increasing. So those treating Cosmos as a special occasion place may like to try some other places before returning. I'd like to think of the increase in high-end restaurants as a good sign that the market can support all of them, but time will tell. 6. There are many very good restaurants in the neighborhoods of the cities closer to those coming in from the suburbs where one doesn't have to pay to park (or valet park), get dressed up, etc. The suburbs are also starting to develop some good ones. 8. The crowd that doesn't have a problem coming into the city (the younger crowd) for an evening of food and drink on any night of the week will drink and dance at Infinity, but don't go to Cosmos. I do hope these places all succeed. It's good for the cities. And, by the way, you should love La Belle Vie. Best dining room in the Twin Cities, and food to match. ← It's a shame...so many restaurants and it seems the really good ones there struggle. Aquavit was a prime example, excellent food and ambience. I wonder how long it will be before top notch places like Cosmos will no longer stay in Minneapolis. That said, how does La Belle Vie do? Busy?

Stunning! I expected good but got spectacular, and for a relatively good price! The ambience is breathtaking, very hip, modern and cool. Service was flawless. My friend and I got the tasting menu...he has a bad shellfish allergy and they were very good in accomodating that. The first amuse was for me a wonderful little scallop thing, can't remember all the details but it was very delicate and delicious. My friend got what appeared to be a tempura fried pastry with artichoke. First course was heriloom tomatoes in mozzarella broth. Wow! One of those things that after trying it you know every single thing you try is going to ROCK! The broth accentuated the freshness of the tomatoes, and it was a very rich, flavorful almost soup. Not a drop left when I was done with it. Next was scallop with cauliflower porridge and foie gras(have to start taking notes at these places). Again, spectacular! Identical to the risotto at Avenues, and the scallop was light, soft but not too much so, and just a little char on the side which added to the flavor well. A silver dollar sized piece, very good. The 2nd amuse was a dollop of pineapple sorbet in pineapple salsa. Great palate cleanser! Next was duck with a green apple salad, foie sauce, and a few drops of the most flavorful and pungent green apple sauce-you feel it in your sinuses! The duck was very good, tasted almost like beef. Next was cheese, three hard cheeses each paired with fruit, all very good. One was similar to pecorino, just excellent cheese that didn't fill you up. Next the Chocolate Globe, the coolest and one of the best desserts I have ever had. They bring you a plate with a 3-4" diameter hollow chocolate globe. The server pours warm chocolate sauce over it-in about ten seconds the globe half melts, with a crunchy cake on the bottom. The richest chocolate I have ever had! Highly recommend Cosmos-to my dismay there were maybe five tables seated on a Thursday night at 7. In Vegas this place would be slamming every night. Stunning food, and for $60pp, the tasting menu is a bargain.

Been working a LOT of overtime...wife and I will be moving to the Minneapolis area late this year, early next year, need to save up! I appreciate your praise of Cosmos, thanks! I will look out for the chocolate globe! I love the pics of Cosmos I've seen so far, it looks very modern and cool, and for me, that helps set an overall good mood. Did you ever by chance get to try Aquavit in Minneapolis? I thought it was very good, suprised it closed, well it wasn't getting enough business, but THAT suprised me. I thought it was on par with Michael Mina's food.

Thanks! Looking forward to it, and your words make me look forward even more! Might do the tasting menu, will have to see what my friend wants, and he has a shellfish allergy. Is the space as cool as people say?

Trying it Wednesday, taking a friend for his 40th birthday. From pictures, the ambience looks breathtaking, and I have heard the food is good.

True...Vinology shows promise, went there with the folks a week ago. I had Arctic Char...the fish itself was great, but it was swimming in a very bitter citrus broth-yuck! Would have been better with the tomato foam or basil foam on the menu. I was suprised, because I have had lunch there three times and loved it each time. The broth clearly didn't work, if tasted by the chef or shefs, it would have been rejected and re-done. My mother had scallops...got to try a bite and they were amazing! On par with the scallops at Avenues! We shared the charcuterie(sp) board, perfect ap for four, enough to go around, lots of great tastes. Will try them again for dinner. I agree tammy's assesments of menus, they should change frequently, and often, fewer selections are better. Changing menus tells me that a kitchen is using what is in season and freshest. For instance, at Spring, the menu is small, there were maybe 7 or 8 entrees, a half dozen apps, and the food was incredible. Better to focus on making fewer dishes and making them well, imho.

Oh, it's the Ann Arborites all right...look at Whole Foods. People pay insane prices for meat there because they think they're getting better meat...are they getting better meat than Sparrow Market in Kerrytown? HIGHLY doubt it.

I might have to try brunch at Zingerman's Roadhouse or the monthly dinner, cause the lunch there hasn't impressed me. I had an average burger served on a bun as thick as a loaf of bread. Other lunch items haven't impressed me-crab cakes were 90% breading. Not good and way overpriced. I think there's a certain segment of Ann Arborites who like paying too much. Like they think they're getting something better automatically because they're paying big bucks. I'll pay for good food, but Zingerman's was not that good the times I've tried it, and they're charging Emeril prices. Vinology was much better and less expensive. Perhaps the dinner at the Roadhouse is better, I'd try it based on the opinions of some here.

In my exprience at Alinea I always thought it was a seemless transition to dessert. It will be interesting to see how Chef Stupack integrates with Chef Dufresne and how a new pastry chef will integrate into Alinea. Somehow given the talent and creativity of all involved I think it will end up just fine. ← I agree, Doc. Dessert at Alinea has always felt like a very natural part of the progression. I imagine they're lining up for a chance to work with chefg and become part of the Alinea team. I'm sure they wind up with a totally top-flight candidate and I can't wait to find out who it is. ← I will be interested in hearing, once the new person is in place, how they differ from the predecesor. I'm planning on trying Alinea in Sept as I will be driving that way alone. Does anyone know why Alex Stupak is leaving?

Any good al fresco dining near the Cass Hotel?

I think that if a chef doesn't like using foie gras for ethical reasons, then they should do what they feel they should, and people who agree with that philosophy can choose to patronize that restaurant. If a chef doesn't feel that way, then they should use foie gras and people will patronize accordingly. This whole ban has NOTHING to do with foie gras, imho. It's about politicians testing the waters-get this ban thru, and it opens the door for more far reaching legislation. Soon you'll see foie bans in NY and LA, leading to the 'fat' tax, etc.

Maybe this is the direction Alinea wants to go? Seems to me, from observation, that Alinea's desserts haven't gotten the same attention as the rest of the menu.

Yup... and that ain't glue when you see milk in my pictures!! Neither are those scoops of "whipped shortening" I'm eating!! ← I've never taken food pics before, but I will take a few at Avenues next Saturday. Looks like the Chef's Bar is a good place for that, lighting looks good.

I was not going to get involved, but.... This is a ridiculous statement. I do not believe that "experienced chefs" can tell how a dish tastes simply by looking at a photo, but then again I've only been working in fine dining restaurants for 10 years. We can make assumptions on how a flavor combination may taste but no way would I assume to form an opinion on the overall flavor of a dish from a photo. In many cases being a chef could be a hinderence in trying to imagine what a dish may taste like. For instance take risotto, now I see the picture of the risotto, but unlike many "foodies" I have cooked risottos with different styles of rice, different liquid base (fish stock, chicken stock, vegetable stock, shellfish stock, red wine, white wine, fortified wine....), different cheeses (parmesan, pecorino, pecorino jenpiro, cacciocavallo...) many different aromatics (onions, shallot, garlic, carrot, bay leaf, celery, basil, parsley...), different spices, etc., etc., etc. and all of these things make a risotto taste DIFFERENT. Now mabe as a "foodie" you think that risotto just tastes like risotto but to me there are a thousand possibilites as to how that risotto may taste. And thats just the risotto. Dave ← What I meant, that got this topic going, was that imho sometimes a well taken photo of well presented food from a reputable restaurant, combined with a good description, can make that food look good. Isn't that part of the reason people take pictures of food?

This could be the craziest discussion I've ever been a part of. How can you possibly look at this picture and make any sort of judgement about whether this dish tastes good or not? I don't care if you've never been do a fine dining establishment of if you've been eating at nothing but Michelin 3 stars everyday of your life for the last 50 years. Current technology does not allow you to taste things on your computer screen. You cannot know the following: What the beef was seasoned with (that you cannot see) How the sauce on the side of the plate works with the beef How the flavors of the ingredients under the beef work with the beef What the different combinations of things on the plate would taste like when eaten together Is it just me, or is there a growing trend on food boards of people judging food at restaurants they have never eaten at? ← I'll see for myself next weekend, but in that pic I do not see things I dislike, like piles and piles of veggies. I like what I hear about the flavors from people who have tried it, sounds right up my alley.

The picture combines with the description to give a sense of what to expect-if you have some experience with fine dining and cooking and what flavors taste like what, you can get a feel sometimes for what will be good by a pic, imho. Not every restaurant's food illicits that same vibe from me like Chef Bowles' food does.

Chef GEB-I am eagerly anticipating my experience at the Chef's Bar a week from Saturday! Ulterior Epicure helped me to decide on Avenues, his advice and amazing pictures on flickr.com made the difference-it's a special occasion as my dad's birthday is being celebrated.