King David and I don’t spend enough time together. There I said it. I’m a terrible friend. So when D.Rough suggested we go check out the Dakota Jazz Club, I immediately thought we should double date with King David and Queen Rachel. King David has some considerable skillz in the jazz saxamophone area and I thought it might be of interest to him. Somehow all of the stars aligned and all four of us had the same evening off – unbelievable!!! They also had their niece staying with them for the summer, Princess Perfect, so she would be joining us, as well. D.Rough checked out who was playing and from the look of things, the Dakota Jazz Club does expensive shows during the week (like Max Wienberg or Doc Severenson) and then less expensive shows on the weekends. They simply tack on the cover charge to your bill and you pay for the show with your dinner. It wasn’t anyone on the national circuit, so we were going to get an awesome show from Big Walter Smith and the Groove Merchants.
The Dakota used to be in St. Paul and I have heard a ton of people say they hadn’t been to the new location (even though it had been years since the Dakota moved) on Nicollet Mall downtown. The venue/restaurant is really nice inside with an open air seating patio out front so you can watch jazz across the plaza or turn around and watch jazz on the stage.
I got to the restaurant a little earlier than everyone else, so I got our table – upstairs on the mezzanine with a great view overlooking the stage. I also ordered a 14 year Oban, since I had had an awful day and needed to wind down. I perused the drink menu while I waited for everyone and found they had quite a few awesome girly drinks and martinis. When everyone showed up and introductions were made, we set about deciding on drinks and appetizers for people (plus I needed another scotch – I TOLD you I had a bad day). The waitress was extremely helpful when we started firing questions at her. Basically, you can ask the staff to do anything (legal) and they will find a way to accommodate you.
We saw they had poutine on the menu but not as an appetizer – only as a side to one of the main entrees. Once D.Rough and I explained what poutine was, we had all of them hooked (except for Princess Perfect, who is slightly less adventurous with her food and spice level). We asked the waitress if we could get pountine as an appetizer and an order of regular fries for Princess Perfect. The waitress explained what the Dakota’s poutine is all about – they take the fries and throw on some cheese curds, but instead of the usual gravy, there’s a Tabasco/molasses sauce drizzled on the top. Plus, it came with a béarnaise sauce to pour over the top of all of that, so it sounded amazing…
To continue the special ordering of things not exactly on the menu, we asked our waitress if we could get the non-alcoholic fruity drinks with rum or vodka in them and she said she could make it happen. The fruity N/A drink descriptions looked quite good, so D.Rough and Queen Rachel ended up with some kick ass high-octane drinks.
This is the point in the evening where D.Rough and Princess Perfect began scoping out other people’s plates to see what they might be interested in ordering for dinner. From our mezzanine perch, we had a good view of everyone’s plates and at one point, we asked our waitress to verify what people had ordered – she was quite good at this game and was invaluable the entire night. We were way off on some of the dishes, so we were glad we had her around to help.
Deciding on food was extremely difficult. There are all kinds of combinations you can get or you can simply order a regular entrée. The “Blue Note Menu” allows you to order an item from the appetizer list and the entrée list and the dessert list, if it has a special blue note next to it. You can kind of upgrade this and add wine pairings to each of the courses for an up-charge. Or you can get the higher level combo of any appetizer, any entrée, and any dessert. Then finally, there’s a special chef’s prix fixe menu (and an additional wine pairing option).
Then, the waitress then came and told us what the chef’s cut of the day was and screwed everything up. Hahaha. I was in the mood to eat (and apparently spend a bunch of money), so D.Rough and I went with the any ap/entrée/dessert combo. D.Rough got the Lobster Vichyssoise and the chef’s cut, which was a Top Loin Steak. I decided I wanted the Beef & Basil Carpaccio and Caribbean Spiced Prime Rib of Pork (I’ll explain all these things later).
The poutine came out and was absolutely delicious – the second best poutine I’ve had. (The first is still Forepaugh’s.) The zing of the Tabasco was fantastic with the sweet molasses and the béarnaise creamy sauce was possibly even better than gravy (never thought I would say that, did you?). I think we have some new converts to the poutine team. I love getting people hooked on the national dish of French-Canadians.
The appetizers then came out looking delicious. D.Rough’s Lobster Vichyssoise was really quite good. It was a pretty little piece of lobster with some flowery accoutrements and then the server poured cold potato and buttermilk soup around the pile of tasty in the middle of the flat bowl. The lobster was light and didn’t taste fishy and the chives gave the dish some texture and more flavor, since the soup was pretty mild. Delicious but mild. This dish was quite good (ad I’m not even a seafood guy).
My Beef & Basil Carpaccio was also quite good. It is sliced rare beef and spicy beef tartar with some basil mixed in. It looked like little shredded piles of meat and basil. Each one was a forkful and really wasn’t as spicy as I had hoped. It didn’t have much zing, aside from the basil (which isn’t spicy), but the flavor was fantastic. I know some people get weirded out by raw meat, but this is the way to eat it, if you didn’t know. It’s a great dish (even without the spice).
By this time, Big Walter Smith had shown up and played some popular songs that we all knew and also some originals. He kept mentioning the band had CDs (as in kept mentioning it between EVERY song they played) and would name a different title each time – apparently Big Walter’s band has about 200 different CDs by our count. The band was really good and Big Walter is quite the showman for being such a slow mover. Great voice and had fun on stage – which is all I ask.
The poutine came out and was absolutely delicious – the second best poutine I’ve had. (The first is still Forepaugh’s.) The zing of the Tabasco was fantastic with the sweet molasses and the béarnaise creamy sauce was possibly even better than gravy (never thought I would say that, did you?). I think we have some new converts to the poutine team. I love getting people hooked on the national dish of French-Canadians.
The appetizers then came out looking delicious. D.Rough’s Lobster Vichyssoise was really quite good. It was a pretty little piece of lobster with some flowery accoutrements and then the server poured cold potato and buttermilk soup around the pile of tasty in the middle of the flat bowl. The lobster was light and didn’t taste fishy and the chives gave the dish some texture and more flavor, since the soup was pretty mild. Delicious but mild. This dish was quite good (ad I’m not even a seafood guy).
My Beef & Basil Carpaccio was also quite good. It is sliced rare beef and spicy beef tartar with some basil mixed in. It looked like little shredded piles of meat and basil. Each one was a forkful and really wasn’t as spicy as I had hoped. It didn’t have much zing, aside from the basil (which isn’t spicy), but the flavor was fantastic. I know some people get weirded out by raw meat, but this is the way to eat it, if you didn’t know. It’s a great dish (even without the spice).
By this time, Big Walter Smith had shown up and played some popular songs that we all knew and also some originals. He kept mentioning the band had CDs (as in kept mentioning it between EVERY song they played) and would name a different title each time – apparently Big Walter’s band has about 200 different CDs by our count. The band was really good and Big Walter is quite the showman for being such a slow mover. Great voice and had fun on stage – which is all I ask.The main dishes came out next and looked like they were going to be incredible. Sadly, they had turned down the lighting because the band had started playing – my apologies for the darkness of the photos, I was fine with the lighting until this happened. I had ordered a glass of Malbec to go with dinner, and was happy to see a nice large sized glass of wine, not a thimble-full in a small glass.
Anyhow, the food - The Caribbean Spicy Pork again was not spicy – what is wrong with your palates, Minnesota? However, it was really tender and deliciously juicy cuts of meat. There was one big chop standing up and then some sliced pieces of pork sitting on a delicious black bean rice cake. There were small drops of banana-habanero salsa around the plate and I don’t think I found what was supposed to be the “Diablo sauce” – nothing was really spicy on the plate at all. However, don’t think this dish was at all bad – just not spicy. The flavor was there and the interesting mix of the banana and meat was really quite delicious. The dish is really quite good and, for a Minnesota palate, it’s probably stellar.
D.Rough’s Top Loin Steak was much better than my dish. The top loin steak is a large piece of really juicy meat (twss) with a pat of blue cheese on top. The steak was very tender and had a perfect flavor, especially when paired with the blue cheese. I would recommend this if they offer it again. It comes with mushrooms soaked in red wine, some pureed spinach, and potatoes gratin – but the gratin wasn’t like any I’ve had before. It must have been a unique cheese or seasoning (D.Rough is pretty sure it is sage), but whatever it was, was perfect. I loved it. I really did like D.Rough’s more than mine. I’m convinced, sometimes she out-orders me out of spite, but I don’t mind, since we share well.
Anyhow, the food - The Caribbean Spicy Pork again was not spicy – what is wrong with your palates, Minnesota? However, it was really tender and deliciously juicy cuts of meat. There was one big chop standing up and then some sliced pieces of pork sitting on a delicious black bean rice cake. There were small drops of banana-habanero salsa around the plate and I don’t think I found what was supposed to be the “Diablo sauce” – nothing was really spicy on the plate at all. However, don’t think this dish was at all bad – just not spicy. The flavor was there and the interesting mix of the banana and meat was really quite delicious. The dish is really quite good and, for a Minnesota palate, it’s probably stellar.
D.Rough’s Top Loin Steak was much better than my dish. The top loin steak is a large piece of really juicy meat (twss) with a pat of blue cheese on top. The steak was very tender and had a perfect flavor, especially when paired with the blue cheese. I would recommend this if they offer it again. It comes with mushrooms soaked in red wine, some pureed spinach, and potatoes gratin – but the gratin wasn’t like any I’ve had before. It must have been a unique cheese or seasoning (D.Rough is pretty sure it is sage), but whatever it was, was perfect. I loved it. I really did like D.Rough’s more than mine. I’m convinced, sometimes she out-orders me out of spite, but I don’t mind, since we share well.We had additional tough decisions when it came to dessert time. I’m not usually a dessert person, but I found Peach Blueberry Upside Down Cake on the “tonight-only” menu and D.Rough had a hankering for the Dark Chocolate Soufflé. Princess Perfect got the Chocolate Crème Brulee and King David got the Berries & Frozen Chevre Terrine. I’ll review these quickly, for those who have made it this far in the review:
The Peach Blueberry Upside Down Cake was good, but not amazing. A tad dry, but the flavors of the fruits were very vibrant.
Dark Chocolate Soufflé – extremely rich dark chocolate, but with the Elderflower cream poured inside the hole made in the top, it was really quite tasty. D.Rough was a little disappointed she didn’t get to crack through the crust of her own (she DOES enjoy smashing things), but the server was really quick on the draw.
The Peach Blueberry Upside Down Cake was good, but not amazing. A tad dry, but the flavors of the fruits were very vibrant.
Dark Chocolate Soufflé – extremely rich dark chocolate, but with the Elderflower cream poured inside the hole made in the top, it was really quite tasty. D.Rough was a little disappointed she didn’t get to crack through the crust of her own (she DOES enjoy smashing things), but the server was really quick on the draw.Chocolate Crème Brulee – Made with Valrhona white and dark chocolate and Fleur De Sel Shortbread, this was probably the best of the four desserts I tried. Very flavorful without being gut-bustingly heavy or rich.
Berries & Frozen Chevre Terrine – with pistachio brittle top and lemon conserve, this dessert was a lot like cheese cake (probably was cheesecake, but not presented that way) and was really awesome. A close second to the Crème Brulee.
Berries & Frozen Chevre Terrine – with pistachio brittle top and lemon conserve, this dessert was a lot like cheese cake (probably was cheesecake, but not presented that way) and was really awesome. A close second to the Crème Brulee.We finished the meal with everyone quite stuffed. Conversation waned as we all settled into a nice food coma and were lulled by Big Walter. When all of us realized we had better get moving or they’d be scraping our sleeping bodies off the floor when they closed, we said our goodbyes and headed home.
All in all, a really delicious meal. We had fantastic service and our waitress was top-notch and didn’t complain at all about our special orders or questions. I’ll try to remember her name and put it in the write-up. Dinner was amazingly pricey, but I’m sure a couple of scotches and the cover charge for Big Walter didn’t help either. It’s a really nice place to go hear some music and have a bite to eat. But just be prepared for the bill – I thought I was, but I wasn’t. hahaha. Bill aside, it was a fantastic night with awesome people. We will do this again soon!!!
Top 5 things about the Dakota Jazz Club
- Chef’s Cut Rib Steak with Blue Cheese
- Beef Carpaccio & Basil
- Poutine
- Spicy Caribbean Pork (just not spicy enough)
- Hanging with King David and Queen Rachel (and Princess Perfect, of course)
Bottom 5 things
- It’s P-ricey!
- There’s always some d-bag in a straw hat and flowery shirt being a moron
- You have to pay for parking in a parking garage or hope to get lucky with street parking near Nicollet Mall
- If you’re close enough to see one of the big screen jumbo-trons on the walls, you’re close enough to see the band
- Some of the menu items online aren’t on the actual menu (drinks AND food) – although, now that we know they are good with special orders, they might have accommodated us. I should have asked. w
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