KwikPick: Eastside in Mpls. promises great things for downtown dining

We have some friends who've recommended Eastside for a long time now. I don't have any excuse why we haven't dined there sooner. But I can assure you, we'll be back.

Food: 5
Service: 4
Ambiance: 4
Value: 5

Recommendation: The menu is very diverse. You can choose 'snacks', small plates, large plates or sides to suit your tastes and appetite. On our first visit, we chose a side of cauliflower to split as a starter. Then we each ordered an entree. She had a bison burger and I had lamb. Despite my aversion to ordering a burger for dinner, this one was delicious. And my lamb was great as well.

Our server was friendly and attentive. The decor is hip, modern, and comfortable. We felt that very satisfied with the price we paid for the quality of the food and drink we consumed.

We'll definitely be back, and I'll write a fuller review. But we were so pleased with our first experience at Eastside that I wanted to post a quick, preliminary review.

Kwik Pick: Terzo Vino Bar whets our appetite for Italian white wine

We met friends at Terzo to talk about travel in Italy. As my wife and I plan our next trip, we got lots of good suggestions from these friends, and she had just returned from skiing in the Italian Alps. So between us, there was a lot of enthusiastic discussion of our planned itinerary.

I wrote my previous review of Terzo in 2014, as we were planning our first trip to Italy after I retired. Our intent was to sample wines from the regions where we'd be traveling. It was a great strategy for shaping our expectations of the wines we'd be tasting on the trip. Not that we need to make up an excuse to go to Terzo, but planning for our next trip was as good a reason as any.

Also, Terzo has revamped its food menu, now offering more meals and a prix fixe option. We've always liked the food there, and we eagerly anticipated the new menu. This visit turned out to be an exploration of Italian white wines. The ladies started out with a glass of prosecco. My wife commented afterwards how much she enjoyed drinking the prosecco out of a regular white wine glass, instead of a champagne flute. I had a glass of Lambrusco, which turned out to be refreshing, light, and bubbly, a nice starter for the evening.

Then we switched to a bottle of Pratello Lugana, a white wine from the Lombardy region made from 100% turbiana grapes. I wasn't familiar with either the region or the grape. But this wine went very well with my wife's scallops and my branzino.

Ratings:
Food: 5/5 Besides the entrees mentioned above, we shared a couple of items from the pasta (primi) section of the menu. Everything was very flavorful, creatively prepared, and attractively served.

Service: 4/5 We relied on our server's advice for the wine. As with our past experiences, the suggestions were very good. The only quibble that I have, service was somewhat slow. It didn't bother us too much since we were having an enjoyable conversation. But we all noticed and remarked on the slow service.

Ambiance: 4/5 The ambiance is comfortable and casual. Tables are not crowded.

Value: 4/5 We felt the wine was very reasonably priced ... but the food was kind of expensive. The prix fixe option is $45 for a choice of an antipasto, a pasta/primi, and an entrée. But everyone at the table has to go that route, wich precludes sharing. And the servings are ample, so if you go that route, you can expect plenty to eat. In the end, though, I guess I'd say that $45 for food at a wine bar is a lot.

Recommendation: Definitely go to Terzo if you like Italian wines or if you want to try a variety of wines from different regions of Italy. The food is excellent. Just be prepared for some sticker shock at the cost of a meal.

KwikPick: Sonora Grill, Mpls., great Southwestern cooking

My wife and I have become fans of Record Store Day. It started because our son’s best friend bought a record store in the Longfellow neighborhood of South Minneapolis. At the time, I thought that it sounded like a risky decision for a young father. But Dave Hoenack and his wife, Laura, have made Hymie’s Vintage Records a focal point for the revival of vinyl recordings in Minneapolis. And we look forward to attending the block party that they throw as part of Record Store Day. We’ve gotten in the habit of finding a local restaurant for dinner after the festivities at Hymie’s. This year, another couple of friends joined us for dinner at the Sonora Grill, located only 6 blocks from Hymie’s.

• Food: 4
• Service: 3
• Ambiance: 3
• Value: 5

The back story on the Sonora Grill is that it started out in the food court at Midtown Global Market in 2011. A couple years later, they opened the Grill in an old Embers Restaurant several blocks east in the Longfellow neighborhood. I’d been there once before for lunch, shortly after it opened. I really enjoyed the food at lunch, and that’s why I suggested it for our Record Store Day dinner.

The food was great. For a table of 4, we got one order of their whole baked chicken, one order of paella, one order of beef short ribs, one order of eggplant fries, and one of their daily salads. The salad turned out to be more of a dinner salad with slices of chicken on it. It was very good, but not really what we were expecting. Besides that, everything except the paella came with vegetables on the plate. The chicken asado was fantastic. We expected that it would be enough for two people; it actually was enough for three. Besides the chicken, the plate included flour tortillas, beans, and a potato salad. My plate of short ribs included a slaw of shredded cabbage and a tasty salsa. The short ribs were cut ‘flanken’ style. I thought they were a little dried out and tough, but others at the table really liked them. The paella was very good, with large tender shrimp, mussels, chorizo, and chicken on top of delicious saffron rice. And we all loved the eggplant fries which came with a spicy aoli.

Service for our table anyway was a bit of a disappointment. Our server was friendly and helpful with advice about the menu. But he also was very slow and inattentive. However, we noticed that the server for the next table was very prompt and attentive, so it may be just the luck of the draw as to how good your server is. As far as ambiance, no complaints really, but as I mentioned above, this is a repurposed Embers restaurant. So the ambiance is comfortable but plain. We actually ate on the patio outside, and that was very nice.

I rated Sonora Grill high in terms of value. We got a lot of really good food for a very reasonable price. We only had one round of drinks – three glasses of wine and one beer. I was the beer drinker. When I inquired about the beer on tap, the server mentioned a dark Mexican beer that wasn’t even listed in the menu. It was great with the food, and was only $5 for a pint glass.

After dinner, we all agreed that Sonora Grill deserves a return visit. After this experience, I think I’d skip the short ribs, and maybe order a selection of Sonoran tacos (called ‘caramelos’). They’re priced at only $4 and the menu lists an intriguing variety of fillings, such as shrimp, beef tongue, roasted mushroom, and fish.

Anytime you’re looking for a place to eat in the Longfellow neighborhood, I’d heartily recommend Sonora Grill.

Click here for an explanation of my KwikPick rating scale.

KwikPick: Possibly the best restaurant on Capitol Hill = Bistro Bis

Before I retired, I came to think of Bistro Bis as my favorite DC restaurant. It has the ideal intersection of convenience, ambiance, good service, creative menu, consistently reliable meals. I’ve been there for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. They’re all great. I did post a review on this blog once before. But it was several years ago (2007) and a recent return visit refreshed my enthusiasm for the restaurant.

• Food: 5 (Ok, a little hyperbole here. My rating scale says a “5” is so good it would make angels weep. I don’t know if I’ve ever actually tasted food that good. But this is really good.)
• Service: 5
• Ambiance: 5
• Value: 5 Not to say that it’s inexpensive; it’s not. But it’s really worth it.

Since I retired, I don’t get to DC nearly as often as I did. Consequently, when I do travel there, I tend to want to try emerging new stars in the DC food scene rather than return to an old favorite. But when I met members of my old team and colleagues for lunch in early March, we went to Bistro Bis.

It thoroughly lived up to my memories of why I liked it so much.

I’ve always had good service at Bistro Bis. That means attentive without hovering, knowledgeable about the menu, good intuition about what a customer wants when asking for advice. The server we had on this most recent visit also had a sense of bravado and enthusiasm about the restaurant. He boldly asserted that Bistro Bis is the best restaurant on Capitol Hill. And I for one would not contradict him.

Recommendation: Definitely go if you’re on an expense account. Definitely go if you’re someone else’s guest. Definitely go to treat yourself, even if you’re on your own tab.

Click here for an explanation of my KwikPick rating scale.

Kwik Pick: Dinner at Ngon Bistro, St. Paul was great!

I’ve had lunch a couple of times at Ngon Bistro and really enjoyed it. I’ve even posted a blog review about one of those lunches. (Click here to read it.) I’ve been looking for an opportunity to head across the river and try it for dinner. And that’s what my wife and I did this past Saturday.

• Food = 5/5
• Service = 5/5
• Ambiance = 4/5
• Value = 4/5

As you can tell from my ratings, we liked Ngon Bistro for dinner very much. I’m not a big fan of Asian cooking. But I think that one reason why I like Vietnamese cooking is because much of it has a French influence (from the bad old days of French Indochina colonialism.) The menu at Ngon reflects this cross-cultural amalgam.

My wife, who likes Asian fare much more than I do, focused on the traditional items on the menu, especially the pho. Ngon regularly receives kudos for its pho. Besides the pho, she was very excited by the variety of dishes offered, but finally picked the seafood pho served with shrimp dumplings and mussels. I was tempted by the mock duck and by the duck pho. But I opted for one of the seasonal specials instead – duck confit served on risotto with mushrooms and zucchini. We both loved our main course meals. For starters, we had an order of sweet potato and shrimp croquettes and an order of lettuce wraps with tofu. Both were very good, though I remembered from a previous lunch experience that I’m not a big fan of do-it-yourself lettuce wraps.

Our server was excellent. She was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the food and drinks. Her descriptions of the items that we asked about were very helpful. Also, since we planned to linger for the music, she was very accommodating and let us order things at our own pace.

The ambiance in Ngon is very comfortable with tall ceilings, a big open dining room, interesting art on the walls and a very cool bar. The noise level on a Saturday night, before the musicians started playing, was moderate. We could carry on a conversation very easily without have to shout or strain to hear what each other was saying.

There’s a little bit of a back story to our visit. One of the reasons why we hadn’t gone to Ngon sooner was because we were looking for a Saturday night when they have live music. We do like to support restaurants that have live music. I knew from my lunch visits and from the web site that Ngon has music occasionally, and we kind of just waited until a time when our open Saturday night coincided with their music schedule. According to the web site, the music starts at 9 and they also resume happy hour at 9 on Saturday nights.

So we planned our evening to have dinner at 8, so that when we finished eating, we could order a couple of drinks at happy hour pricing and enjoy the music. Well, when we arrived, we asked for a table where we’d be able to see the musicians, and the hostess told us that she didn’t think there would be music that evening. She even called over one of the servers who also was unaware that music was scheduled. I told them that it was on their web site, but they still were dubious. After we got settled at our table, we also asked our server, and she determined that indeed, there would be live music. However it likely wouldn’t start until 9:30 p.m.

As things worked out, we finished our food just as the musicians were setting up, and we ordered our happy hour drinks. I had a barrel-aged Sazerac. I like a Sazerac, and I make a good one at home. But I’ve never had a barrel-aged cocktail. It was good, but I couldn’t really detect the benefit of aging the cocktail. Specialty cocktails ordered during happy hour are discounted $2. So my Sazerac was $9 instead of $11; I thought it was a fair price either way. My wife ordered a glass of the house red wine; happy hour price $5. But it was not very good. She didn’t finish it.

Recommendation: We’re already talking about our next trip to Ngon and who we’re going to bring along. But I don’t think we’ll purposely plan the evening around their music or happy hour. It just wasn’t that compelling to do it the same way again.

Click here for an explanation of my Kwik Pick ratings.

KwikPick: Burger, Beer, Warm Welcome at Pig & Fiddle, Edina

On a frigid Saturday night, the 4:40 movie had just ended, and people were surging toward the restaurants at 50th & France (Edina’s ‘downtown’ neighborhood). We saw crowds packed into the entry of several places as we shivered for a block and half from the theater to the Pig & Fiddle. Much to our surprise, we got right in. A few minutes after we got our table, the place was full.

Food: 4/5

Service: 4/5

Ambiance: 5/5

Value: 4/5

After the movie, we just wanted a good burger and something to drink. We’d been to the Pig & Fiddle before and enjoyed it. It strives to be a neighborhood pub for the 50th & France area. It’s actually on the Minneapolis side of the line. I wonder if that’s why it took a while after the movie to fill up. Maybe there’s some kind of psychological barrier to crossing from Edina into Minneapolis.

In any case, it was exactly what we wanted. Pig & Fiddle has a varied menu of traditional pub food, I think mostly selected to accompany the great selection of ‘American craft beers.’ I considered several menu items, but we had set out looking for a good burger, and that’s what we both ended up ordering. I got mine with fries ($2 extra). Otherwise the burger and sandwiches come with house-made chips, which are pretty good too.

I usually have a pretty good idea of what beer I want. But my wife is not a regular beer drinker, and she needed some guidance. Our server was very knowledgeable and helped her pick something that she enjoyed. Overall very good service.

We asked for a table in the dining room. We like the ambiance there better than the bar. (In the bar, the ambiance has a more typical pub feel, a little noisier and with TV monitors showing various sporting events.) The dining room has nice stained glass windows and a big fireplace.

In terms of value, I thought Pig & Fiddle was very reasonable. Our total was $57 including tip.

Recommendation: I would definitely go back for a casual dinner after a movie.

Click here for an explanation of my KwikPick rating scale.

KwikPick: Christmas Eve at Mill Valley Kitchen, St. Louis Park

We used to avoid going out on major holidays like Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve. But we wanted to spend the evening with some friends, we weren’t interested in any of the new movies, and eating Chinese seemed like such a cliché. So we made a reservation at Mill Valley Kitchen. It was a very enjoyable meal.

Food: 4/5

Service: 3/5

Ambiance: 3/5

Value: 3/5

The only other time I’d eaten at Mill Valley Kitchen (MVK), it was a group celebration dinner with some friends. I remembered it as a pleasant meal, but hadn’t hurried back. My wife has had lunch there a few times. But I have eaten a couple times at its sister restaurant downtown – Marin. I wrote a review of that a year ago. The two restaurants are very similar, though I think I like Marin better.

Like Marin, MVK prides itself on top quality, very fresh food that’s prepared very simply and healthfully. The food we ate on Christmas Eve certainly lived up to the restaurant’s goal. My wife and I split a kale salad to start. The menu specifies that it’s ‘baby’ kale, but we didn’t really expect the small tender leaves that we were served. It was good, but we were expecting more robust crunchy leaves of kale. My wife had scallops which is a favorite of hers. The tomato-fennel sauce was spicier than she expected, but she still enjoyed it. I had duck breast with black lentils. I thought it was excellent.

Our actual server was pretty good; I probably should give her a 4. But we did have an issue with being seated. At first they directed us to a table in the bar, but that was not the ambiance we wanted for our dinner. There were open tables in the dining room, but the first one they took us to was near the door leading out to the patio, and while it was not a frigid night, it was still Minnesota winter, and it was a bit drafty by the door. So we asked to be moved again, and this time the table was just fine.

In terms of value, we had a nice meal, we each had a glass of wine, and the total with tip still came out below $100. That’s not bad, but it’s also not inexpensive. I gave a nice tip because the server was working on a holiday. (At least I thought it was nice.)

Recommendation: If you’re looking for a self-consciously health-oriented restaurant, and you don’t want to hassle with downtown parking (to go to Marin), I’m sure you’d enjoy Mill Valley Kitchen. I still would probably prefer Marin.

Click here for an explanation of the rating scale.

KwikPick: Celebration dinner at Murray’s Mpls.

It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten at Murray’s. But a friend picked it for a special birthday dinner, and I’m glad he did.

Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Ambiance: 5/5
Value: 3/5

Comments: You go to Murray’s for steak, right? Sure they’ve got fish and seafood on the menu, and I’m sure they’re good. But it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that we’d be eating steak. Murray’s offers several different steaks at several different price points … all of them expensive. In that regard, it’s not much different than any other high-end, expense account steakhouse. But I like the fact that it’s a locally owned independent restaurant. That gives it a nice ambiance.

The guys started with martinis. Excellent. Murray’s has an excellent wine list; we had a couple of bottles of Frog’s Leap Merlot that went great with our steaks. We also ordered a few side dishes. They were a little on the small side, but tasted very good. The steaks were outstanding and large. Two of the guys worried that medium rare would be too well done, but didn’t want to order rare. The server proposed ‘rare plus.’ That’s what they ordered, and the steaks were just right. (I ordered mine medium rare, and it was just how I like it as well.)

I guess when you go to a restaurant like Murray’s you expect near-perfection, and for our group they delivered. Still, it was very expensive, so it’s hard for me to give it a high ranking on value.

Recommendation: I don’t know if I’d pick Murray’s for my own birthday dinner. But if any of my friends did, I wouldn’t hesitate to say ‘Yes!’

Click here for an explanation of my rating scale.

KwikPick: Family dinner at Jasmine 26, Minneapolis

We had (almost) our whole family home last weekend. Only my son-in-law in Chicago couldn't be here. So for dinner on Saturday, we wanted to pick someplace casual and kid-friendly. We thought of a few old standbys, but finally decided on someplace new – Jasmine 26 on Eat Street in Minneapolis.

Food: 4
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Value: 3

It's been a long time since I've eaten Vietnamese cuisine. I do really like it, and the food served at Jasmine 26 is pretty good. With our group of five adults and one child, we ordered a nice selection. The only trouble is, the style of dishes (at least those that we ordered) did not lend themselves to sharing, which is usually part of the fun of eating at an Asian restaurant.

For example, I had red peanut curry with roasted duck, eggplant, bamboo shoots, bell peppers and sweet potato. It was excellent. But, the way it was served, you spoon some rice into a small bowl and then spoon some of the curry over the rice. The curry has a lot of liquid, almost more like a stew. So that made it difficult to share. By the way, it was delightfully spicy. Just enough heat to make it interesting.

My son and his wife both had soups. (My wife has had soup at Jasmine 26 before, for lunch. I think it's kind of a specialty.) They both liked their meals, but again, pretty hard to share soup.

My wife's dish was quite interesting. She had the seafood crispy noodle, which was a variety of seafood sauteed in a light garlic sauce and served in a bowl formed from crispy noodles. I did taste that, and it was good. She liked how the sauce softened the noodles on the bottom of the plate so that there were an interesting variety of textures as she ate the dish.

My daughter's meal also was interesting. She had grilled shrimp tossed in coconut milk with thick rice noodles, garnished with shredded lettuce, cucumber, herbs. I took a taste of that and liked it, though my wife's crispy noodle meal was more interesting.

I guess I'm kinda working backwards on this meal. We actually started with an order of spring rolls and coconut cream cheese wonton. I liked the wonton better than the spring roll, though others at the table raved over the spring roll. And my granddaughter had the chicken satay appetizer as her meal.

Recommendation: As I look back over this review, I notice that the most common adjective that I used was interesting. So I guess I would recommend Jasmine 26 if you're looking for an interesting meal – maybe a little unusual from the usual Asian, good flavors, quality ingredients, well prepared.

KwikPick: Mort’s Deli, Golden Valley, MN

We have trouble sustaining an authentic deli in Minnesota. Mort’s is the most recent attempt. We gave it a try for lunch when my daughter came to town for a visit from Chicago.

· Food: 3
· Service: 3
· Ambiance: 3
· Value: 3

Pretty average scores, in my judgment. Based on this visit, I’d have to say that Mort’s sandwiches are your best bet. My wife and daughter split a Mort’s Reuben. It was made with horseradish cheese instead of Swiss. They liked the lean corned beef and the sandwich was very tasty. But the horseradish cheese was very mild. They both spiced up the sandwich with mustard. We were joined by my sister-in-law and her older daughter. They split a corned beef sandwich, and they also liked the corned beef.

Mort’s serves breakfast until 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, so I focused on the breakfast menu. I opted for corned beef hash (which is available all day anyway, as are the omelets). Sorry, but I was not impressed. The corned beef was good (notice a trend here?) But the hash seemed to lack flavor. I much prefer the hash at Al’s Breakfast in Dinkytown.

The hash came with a bagel and two latkes. The menu says that the bagels are from H&H Bagels in New York City. The bagel came with cream cheese and two pats of butter – very nice touch. The latkes, on the other hand, were unimpressive. They needed to be much crisper. They were served with sour cream (good) and applesauce (tasted like grocery-store Mott’s).

After we placed our order, the server brought us a plate of pickles. They were very good, as was the matzo ball, chicken noodle soup. For beverages, I had coffee. It was ok, nothing remarkable. The half-and-half on the table wasn’t Land O Lakes (boo, hiss). Mort’s also offers a large variety of Dr. Brown’s sodas – my wife’s favorite. And my daughter had a large glass of chocolate milk – only 99 cents, a bargain.

Recommendation: Worth a visit, stick to sandwiches, nothing to rave about.

KwikPicks: Supper at Sonoma, Washington, DC

There’s no other way of putting it – I just plain like Sonoma. That’s why I ate there twice on my last trip to DC.

Food: 4
Service: 4
Ambiance: 4
Value: 3

I arrived in Washington on a Monday evening. The plane landed at 8:30. I got to the hotel at 9 and was unpacked by 9:15. I hadn’t had any dinner, but I really only wanted a light bite. I was staying at the Capitol Hill Suites. Sonoma is just around the corner. I’ve eaten there before and really liked it. So that’s where I went.

It was great. I ordered both of the evening specials. The soup was minestrone. It was a very unusual minestrone. Normally I think of minestrone as being thick with vegetables. This version featured a rich, brown broth enhanced by kale, fennel, and not much else. It was very good, but like I said, quite unusual. The evening pasta special was bucatini in a cream sauce with basil, walnuts, and ricotta cheese. Honestly, I loved it. This meal was just what I wanted after arriving in DC.

So the next night, I had a reception early in the evening. I had some finger food at the reception, but afterwards, I still felt like getting a light meal. It was already after 9, so again, I didn’t want to go out for a full dinner. I thought, “Can I really eat at the same restaurant two nights in a row?” I decided I could.

This time, I had one of the regular menu items – mozzarella risotto. It was a basic risotto recipe with braised greens. Instead of parmesan, the more classic choice, this risotto was finished with mozzarella. I’ve made risotto with mozzarella before, but this was much creamier than anything I’ve ever made. Anyway, it was delicious. I must say, I enjoyed it more than the bucatini from the previous night.

So, all in all, I’ve had lunches and dinners and attended receptions at Sonoma. It is consistently good. I certainly recommend it for an informal meal in our nation’s capitol.

KwikPicks: A business lunch at Meritage, St. Paul

I met a colleague in St. Paul for lunch at Meritage. It reconfirmed my opinion that this is one of the best restaurants in the Twin Cities.

Food: 5

Service: 4

Ambiance: 4

Value: 4

The relaxed bistro décor that was so appealing for our evening dinner in March is equally as appealing during the bright light of day. The sunlight shown through the big windows looking out onto St. Peter St. The midday traffic bustled by outside, and enjoyed the view of Landmark Center out the window.

It was Kentucky Derby weekend, and Daryn wanted a mint julep. Our server was a little hesitant. She’d never made one before. But she said she’d give it a try. She got the mint muddled with the sugar right, but Daryn said an authentic mint julep should be served over crushed ice. She surprised him, however, by floating a small amount of rum on top of the cocktail. Daryn said that explained the sweetness he tasted. It’s a variation he’d never had before.

I decided to have a glass of their luncheon wines. They were very reasonably priced. I had a Macon Charnay for $6. (If I read the menu correctly, the same wine at dinner is $10 for a glass.)
Prices for lunch seem very reasonable. I had the plat du jour – sautéd sole with herbed couscous for $13. The sole was topped with a basil sauce. I don’t think it was pesto because it didn’t have much garlic and it didn’t appear to have pine nuts or parmesan.

Daryn had steak frites. The menu offers a choice between a four ounce or eight ounce steak. Daryn had the small steak, and it seemed ample. He asked for it to be cooked medium, and it came out more on the medium rare side, but he said it was fine. The pomme frites were crisp and salty. I thought they were better than the side order that we had with our dinner on our first visit.

One of the things that I enjoyed on our first visit was the ‘amusements’ – small samples of appetizers or desserts for $3. We didn’t have an appetizer. But I ordered a dessert amusement – matzo Nutella sandwich. It consisted of Nutella spread between snack-size matzo crackers. Daryn’s dessert was profiteroles. He said they were great.

So in my book (or I guess actually my blog), Meritage is two-for-two and is a winner for both lunch and dinner. I highly recommend it.

KwikPicks: Business dinner at Ocean Grill, Madison, Wis.

On my annual winter trip to Madison, I hosted a dinner with the folks from the Cooperative Network. We dined at Ocean Grill, part of a local group of creative restaurants.

Food: 4
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Value: 3

One of my guests was a student at the University of Wisconsin. His dad works with me at Land O'Lakes. He noted that Ocean Grill is one of his parent’s favorite restaurants in Madison. I’ve eaten there previously as well, and it certainly is great place to eat. The quality of the fresh fish and seafood is exceptional. I had the potato crusted seabass – fantastic (take a look at the photo). A couple people had seafood enchiladas, another regular item on the menu. They all said they really liked it. One guest had scallops, and they looked fantastic. One guest, who has a seafood allergy, even had steak. So you can see it’s a diverse menu.

So for my KwikPick ratings, I rate the food pretty high.

The service for our group was fine, but there wasn’t anything exceptional about it. The ambiance is comfortable for a business dinner, but I wouldn’t describe it as being cozy or romantic (like for an anniversary dinner or birthday). I like the large windows that look out onto MLK Street. And as for the overall value, it’s great food at a fair price. I wouldn’t describe it as a bargain, but it’s well worth the expense.

Recommendation: Definitely worth considering when you’re in Madison, especially if you’re in the mood for fish or seafood.

KwikPicks: Dinner at Wasabi in Minneapolis

Had a very enjoyable sushi dinner at Wasabi with some people from work.

Food: 3.5

Service: 3

Ambiance: 2.5

Value: 3

I’ve been on a project team with a group of consultants from Deloitte. As we near the end of the project, and as the consultants begin to disperse, the project sponsor offered to host an early dinner before people made their way to the airport. I was asked to recommend a venue. Wasabi was the choice.

We don’t have too many sushi places in Minneapolis. I like Nami and Origami. There are a few others like Fuji Ya and Sushi Tango. I hadn’t tried Wasabi, which is relatively new. But a co-worker had, and he had very good things to say about it. The location was appropriate for two of the consultants who needed to leave early and get to the airport.

Ordering was really quite simple. We started with a ‘boat.’ It was, literally, a large model boat with different varieties of sushi and sashimi arrayed on the deck. These items all were pretty basic – a couple of rolls, 3 or 4 varieties of fish and seafood items, and one very attractive maki roll. Our server suggested it would be good for 3 or 4 people, and I guess he was right. He also told us about two evening specials. Ok, I know this is a terrible thing for a food review, but I’m really at a loss to explain them, and since they were specials, I can’t even look them up on the restaurant’s online menu. But they were really good.

Overall, I thought the fish was very fresh and well prepared. The items on the boat were good but not out of the ordinary. The specials were really good. The ambiance of the place was comfortable, but the noise was a little too loud. It was hard for me to hear people across the table very well.

One of our guests for dinner was from New York and the other was from Los Angeles. I asked them to comment how Wasabi compared to sushi restaurants in their cities.

Melissa (New York), thought the décor of Wasabi resembled a Japanese country lodge: “Big points for creativity of the rolls, especially the "lobster-sized" shrimp one - you see a lot of shrimp tempura in rolls these days but rarely one with such an extraordinary specimen!”

Michael (L.A.): “Quality of the fish was at least on par with what I find in NYC and LA. Definitely would consider going back the next time I'm in Minneapolis.”

Recommendation: I probably like Nami and Origami better. But Wasabi is definitely worth a visit, especially if you’re in the neighborhood anyway for an event at the Metrodome or the Guthrie Theater.

KwikPicks: Amore Victoria, Minneapolis

I hate it when a restaurant that I consider to be a reliable standby is disappointing. But that’s the experience my wife and I had with the dinner we had recently at Amore Victoria.

Food: 3

Service: 3

Ambiance: 3

Value: 3

Before dinner, we went to an open house at the pottery studio where our son does his work. We did some light noshing so we weren’t starving, nor were we in a rush to get our food. We started with drinks. I had a glass of wine, and my wife had a cocktail. Our server asked us if we were ready to order, so we did. We had barely begun sipping our drinks when our first courses arrived. We didn’t want to send them back, but we really would have preferred to enjoy our drinks a while before eating. I ordered the Lombardi salad. It was really good. It had romaine, kalamata olives, goat cheese, artichokes, tomatoes, and baby red potatoes. The dressing was whole grain-mustard vinaigrette. Linda had zuppa de mare (seafood soup). It was very tasty with lots of fresh fish and seafood. It also was quite a large portion.

For entrées, Linda had the ‘Italian stallion’ and I had one of the evening specialties, veal Milanese. Linda knew that she was just getting a hamburger, but it was nothing special. I was expecting veal scaloppini. Instead, it was a patty of ground veal, topped with mozzarella cheese and served on a bed of pasta with a pesto sauce. The pasta was very good. The veal was very ordinary.

In retrospect, I would have been very happy if I had ordered the Lombardi salad and Linda’s soup, and I wouldn’t be writing about being disappointed.

Recommendation: I'll give it another try, and you should too.

KwikPicks: An office celebration at Kafe 421

The communications staff from Land O'Lakes went to Kafe 421 for a celebration lunch in late October.

Food: 3.5
Service: 3.5
Ambiance: 3
Value: 3.5

I’ve written about Kafe 421 before, and I like it. That’s why I recommended it for our celebration lunch. Not everyone else is a big fan of ethnic cooking, as I am. But the nice thing about 421 is that the menu has a lot of variety. We started out by ordering a selection of dips – hummus, tapenade, eggplant, and tzatziki. For our group, the tapenade was the favorite. Three of us had the mezedes special, a selection of Greek specialties including dolmades, spanakopita, chicken and beef skewers. Very good. Others had sandwiches. I’ve had the sandwiches at 421 and liked them quite a lot. I think the most attractive meal of the day was the steak Cobb salad. It had such a nice selection of ingredients and was very attractively displayed.

Recommendation: I’ve been to 421 for lunch with just a couple of people. I’ve been there with a group. And I’ve used them to cater a party at our house. They’ve never disappointed. Give it a try.

KwikPicks: A late evening nosh at Palomino in Minneapolis

My wife and I went to Palomino after a reception.

Food: 3

Service: 2

Ambiance: 3.5

Value: 1

When I set the 1-5 scale for KwikPick rankings, for ‘value’ I said a 1 means “they should have paid me.” For our visit to Palomino, they sorta did. We had a $20 gift card that we used on our visit. As I noted above, we had been to a reception earlier in the evening. There was plenty of food and drink, but we had planned to use the gift card anyway. We were surprised how vacant Palomino was at only 9:15 on a Saturday night. (Labor Day weekend, the waitress complained. She was bored and inattentive.) We each had a glass of wine and we split a salad and a pizza. My wife quite liked the salad; I thought it was ordinary. She didn’t so like the pizza, but I thought it was tasty. 4 items, $40. Not worth it. Take off the $20 gift card, and that was about right

Recommendation: Keep looking. You can find better food, better service, and better value within a few blocks.

KwikPicks: Dinner at Chamber’s Kitchen, Minneapolis

Another amazing meal that confirms my opinion that this is the best restaurant in the Twin Cities.

Food: 5

Service: 5

Ambiance: 4

Value: 5

On my third visit to Chamber’s Kitchen, I wondered, “How could this compare to the wonderful ‘chef’s table’ experience we had on my last birthday?” Though we didn’t get the little extras that go along with the chef’s table meal, we had a great meal. My ‘4’ rating on ambiance reflects the somewhat stark and industrial décor, and it can be fairly noisy. Four starters, four entrées, four delighted diners. Though it can be expensive to eat at Chamber’s Kitchen, I still rate it ‘5’ for value. It truly is worth every penny.

Recommendation: Find any excuse to eat here.

KwikPicks: Lunch at Zelo, Minneapolis

There’s nothing like an outdoor lunch on the Nicollet Mall.

Food: 4

Service: 3

Ambiance: 3.5

Value: 4

Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer in Minnesota, and Labor Day this year was a brilliant, gorgeous, warm day, just right for al fresco dining. After a morning of shopping downtown, we picked Zelo for lunch and staked a strategically-placed table near the corner of Nicollet and 9^th with the restaurant awning providing enough shade to keep us comfortable. The people-watching was great. Limos kept pulling up on Nicollet, disgorging unidentifiable VIPs to what appeared to be a special event at McCormick & Schmick’s across the street. Clueless out-of-towners drove blithely down the Mall, unaware that it’s for taxis, buses, and limos only. (The only downside to outdoor dining on the Mall is the bus traffic – noisy and smelly.) The menu at Zelo is creative and the food is nicely prepared. We kept it simple and each had a soup and a salad and a glass of wine. The only complaint was our server. She was slow and inattentive. Another server working the sidewalk tables kept noticing that we were waiting and offered to help us. As soon as she did, the person assigned to our table suddenly appeared. We gave a reasonable tip to our server. We wished we would have been served by the other person; she would have earned a more generous tip.

Recommendation: If the opportunity arises, definitely eat here.

Kwik Picks: Bank, in the new Westin Hotel, Minneapolis

(A guest post by Patty Miller)

Out for a business lunch, we decided to eat at Bank on the spur of the moment.

• Food: 4
• Service: 3
• Ambiance: 5
• Value: 4

Comments: Bank is definitely one of the hot new business-lunch destinations downtown. The surroundings are gorgeous - the lobby of Farmers & Mechanics Bank restored to its arte moderne glory. Former bankers' offices are now private dining/meeting rooms. I had a stellar pannini of asiago, basil, grilled chicken, roasted red peppers and tomatoes accompanied by homemade, super-crisp asiago-sprinkled potato chips. One companion ordered a chicken Caesar salad that was a standout due to the presentation: an assortment of toppings was served in small spoons arranged around the outside of the plate. The other ordered half a roasted chicken that was golden-brown and moist, accompanied by roasted potato salad, which she said was quite good.

Recommendation: Definitely worth a visit.