Okay, I've gone back and read all the criticisms of G&M, but will be participating in a company dinner at the place, so I can't avoid it. Fortunately (?) I have a shellfish allergy. Is ANYTHING palatable at the place? Maybe I should use my allergy as an excuse for us not to go there :)

My boss is in town and I don't want to disappoint: I need to know the best wings in town. I love Tracy's, but I think that may be nostalgia from college. Thoughts?

Wow, I cant wait for Chowhound to filter my messages locally!

I was just at 9th street yesterday and was totally mind blown about how good it was (hence Why I found this link). I'm hoping to hit Joe the Art of Coffee today!

Ooh, Eggrolls! I've made sushi before, as well as cassoulet. I feel like pate and terrines are the main contenders in this post. I need to come up with a menu for tonight pretty quick here. Now to ponder everyone's ideas. Thanks!

All fabulous ideas. Beef wellington IS on the list, but as it's nice out today I'm hoping for something a little less heavy. The fish is a great idea (though I feel like i've done it before). I was thinking fish en papillote as an option too.

So, to try and expand my horizons as well as having an accountable blog to write about it on, I have forced myself to learn how to cook new things every week. And after 2 weeks I'm already feeling uninspired.
It's going to be nice in MN this weekend so I don't want to make anything too rich which pretty much eliminates all the ideas I had for oxtail soup, duck confit etc.

Last week was souffle (way easier than it should have been) and the week before was sweetbreads. Any suggestions?

Shellfish is the only thing I have to avoid due to an allergy.

Thanks

Kate

thanks for your input! did anyone specifically introduce you to them or did you discover them on your own?

is there anything that particularly brought you to enjoy manhattans. did anyone else in your life drink them? did you discover them on your own?

I'm writing an article about how people develop a taste for the drink they order anytime they're at a bar or restaurant. Being 27, I still switch it up quite a bit, but having a "regular" cocktail is not lost on me. How did you decide on one? Do your friends know it's your drink? How old were you when you stopped experimenting?

Any input would be great, Thanks!

Kate

I think the real question (and I'm sure this is covered by others, but I'm not really interested) is tipping on excessively marked up wine that was selected by you without the help of your server. I believe Wine Spectator covers this in their most recent issue, but i'm not male, and i'm not over 50 and I don't usually go out to dinner at places that have "impressive" wine lists on a month basis (unlike the wine spectator readers that responded to a questionnaire about wine service in restaurants) so I decided not to read the article.

Original post, I think

the service we had was SO BAD I haven't been back. That and my truffle burger was totally over done, and oh, it didn't taste a thing like truffle.

Sofia's in north east has both :)

no beer at st. alberts though!

i totally agree. I'm from wauwatosa, and lent around here simply isn't the same as it was down there. It's the beer thing that gets me the most (and the major lack of potato pancakes)
I think it may be the norweigan immigrants versus all the differeing immigrant groups in milwaukee that have NEVER had a problem drinking, even if it was in the church basement.

tdq- at least we have similar taste :) i just can't get over my foh disappointment :(

cafe 28 is great. i should go there more often actually... local ingredients. low key, small cute, romantic environment

this bummed me OUT! I loved this place for happy hour and was hoping to go there for my birthday dinner tonight... argh!

we went to the 112 for my 25th birthday. We were very pleasantly surprised with the fact that they opened a second dining room on the 2nd floor and were seated almost immediately at 8:40pm.

In summation, the food was awesome. Fois gras and lardon salad is to DIE FOR (I'm always a sucker for seared fois gras) and the avocado and anchovy crostini were great. We ordered small plates because we wanted variety. I had the stringozzi with lamb ragu and my fiance had the tagliatelle with fois gras meat balls (now you know why I am marrying him). They were fabulous. We also ordered sides. The cauliflower fritters (because i Know how tasty they are) and brussels sprouts with bacon shallots and reduced balsamic. For dessert, tres leches a cappucino and an espresso.

everything tasted great, which looks good on paper... but lets get down to the nitty gritty.

there was little communication between the 1st and 2nd floor. the hostess showed us to the 2nd floor, but didn't communicate that we wanted a table, so were about to be served at the bar until we told them we actually were told we wanted a table. that's fine, no biggie.

we ordered sides. Our server (being retired from the business, i know how this goes) forgot to order our sides. In fact, he didn't even remember what we had ordered for sides. So when we got our small plates and asked to make sure our sides were coming , he told us he screwed up. 15 minutes later, and two main dishes in our stomaches came our sides. yes, this is traditional in any italian restaurant, in italy. But folks, this is the midwest. I want my fritters with my main dish.

we also ordered coffee. We got our tres leches 5 minutes before we got our coffee.

we didn't finish our bottle of wine (truth be told, we had been out earlier, and didn't wan tot drink too much and get in trouble) and they corked it for us to bring home. The cork wasn't in far enough, and leaked enough to break the paper bag it was in. I have not yet surveyed any leakage in the car.

Okay, maybe i'm being a little more meticulous because this is the 112... but would you say that for a $130 this was acceptable? They didn't offer any compensation, but apologized a few times.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but at least the dessert should have been on the house... right? The food was great, but the service was not quite spot on. I feel like i'm too judgemental... but then... sides after the main course?

Your opinions are all accepted and appreciated.

Thanks!

cabrito, is what you should look for. go to mexican grocery stores. Mutton is much more gamey than lamb, the same goes for goat!

I would have sworn I saw a thread about this a few weeks past, but I can't find it. Anyway, Muffuletta's is offering some totally amazing sipping chocolate right now. I ordered it without the mint marshmellows and was happy I did.

In fact, our entire meal was wonderful. I had a pappardalle bolognese that was made with wild boar

(does ANYONE know where I can buy this in the twin cities???)

that what fabulous, my fiance and my brother both had the scallops on special served with israeli couscous and saffron (I'm allergic to shellfish, but the both thought it was wonderful). My future father in law had the pot roast and continued to rave about how wonderful it was(he is notoriously fickle, and NEVER cleans his plate!) and my future mother in law had the beet salad which was very crisp, tasty and refreshing

awesome... what did you think???

Thanks for all of your kind words and suggestions. We decided to go with the Nicollet Island Pavilion which uses Mintahoe catering exclusively. I've heard great things about Apples and the food actually sounds pretty good, but we both absolutely loved the reception site. I'll keep you all update with our menu choices when it gets closer to that time of year.

Another chowhound bites the dust. I got engaged last week. But now I need to KNOW!
Best caterer? Best location with in house food?

We're looking for about 150 people next October.

Yay!

Texture is a major player in my eating career. I couldn't eat tomatoes until 3 years ago due to the texture of them (and still can't eat winter tomatoes, they are so mealy and bleah, gross). I also can't eat two things that are too moist/tender together. For example I cooked up some chicken thighs and had an artichoke heart dish on the side. I ate maybe 1/2 of what I would normally have eaten because both had such a similar consistancy. Mealy apples, while still may taste like apples, are thrown to squirrels due to texture.

TJ's vanilla was unavailable for a while, but it should be back for good (unless they get another late shipment). I 'm fairly certain they wouldn't discontinue such a prized possession (and if they did, we'd rebolt!)

Sadly, I feel uninformed compared the rest of our chowhounds knowledge; Bottarga is the closest i could come to a unique food no one else has heard of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottarga

but then i am reassured that of the 104 employees at my current job had ever heard of duck confit. Come on people, we work in the food industry!

my initial thought in a nutshell!

but i love dark chocolate bounds above milk chocolate. i must learn to love black coffee...

arghhh