Krik's Picks

I've written before about how my wife and I have become fans of Jose Andres. He's a Spanish chef who have a series on public television called Made in Spain . He also has several restaurants in Washington, DC, and one in Los Angeles. One of his DC restaurants is an experimental, food-as-art venue called minibar. It's considered one of the most desireable reservations in DC. I went there earlier this year and posted an item about my (fabulous) experience. I was back in DC in early March, attending a meeting at a hotel in Arlington. At the end of the evening, I wanted to find a place to eat, but didn't want to eat too much. Tapas seemed like a great option. One of Jose's restaurants, Jaleo , was less than a mile away. It serves tapas. I decided to go. Truth is, I have eaten at Jaleo before. It was very much a similar situation - meeting over, just need a place for a light meal. That time, I went with a small group of other people. So here's the thing. I like ...

Last night, we went with friends to Spasso in Minnetonka. A week ago, we went with other friends to Il Gatto in Uptown Minneapolis. Here are my views and recommendations about both. Click here for my review of the food at Spasso. One of the things I really like is the arrangement with the Wine Shop next door. You can buy a bottle at retail and they'll serve it to you at Spasso with no corkage fee. We purposely arrived early so that we'd have time to peruse for a bottle. The Wine Shop has a very varied selection. We found a malbec with a sticker that said "Staff recommendation." It was the last bottle, so we decided to try it. I asked about the staff recommendation when we paid for the wine. The clerk said that he was the one who made the recommendation. When I told him we got the last bottle, he said that it won't be available again until the next vintage is released in several months. We took our wine into the restaurant and were taken to our table. We had a...