Obviously, it was busy, so we put our name on the list and
went to stand near the bar. There’s an area specifically for this activity with
a nice rail to put your drink/snacks on and hang out while you look at all the
delicious food coming out of the kitchen. The bar snack menu is simple, but has
some great things on it. We opted for the Chicharrones – basically pork rinds –
and a couple of cocktails. I got the Orange Julio (a tequila-based version of
an arrange Julius) and D.Rough got The Currant - some sort of delicious punch with a sprig of
thyme resting on top. The chicharrones
aren’t like any other – they are covered in Cheeto dust. Yes, the addictive
orange snack that turns your fingers orange. GET THESE THINGS. (The photo makes them look like chicken strips, but I assure you, they are pork rinds)
We got seated in the dining room quicker than expected, but
we had already checked out the menu while cocktail-ing. The menu changes every
few months, though they do keep a solid base of favorites on the list. The menu
is quite unique in that it’s a list of really familiar, almost home-y dishes,
but they’ve all been tweaked or given some sort of unusual ethnic treatment to
kick them towards the awesome arena. For example, they have a fried bologna
sandwich on the menu – but they add pork shoulder and some delicious cheese to
it. The short rib comes with house-made sauerkraut, a house-made kielbasa link,
and has a sour beer lacquer on it. Seriously, J.D. knows what he’s doing. We
ordered a pop-over, grilled octopus, ricotta dumplings, the cheese burger, and
some fries. We were going to share it, so it’s really not that much food.
The popover is a pretty impressive item. It’s REALLY large
and comes with a beautiful rectangle of butter drizzled with bee pollen and
something else. The pop-over itself is really quite good, but the butter and
bee pollen kick it up a notch. Very good.
The grilled octopus was given a Mexican-style treatment,
including some chorizo and black bean puree. This was really fantastic, and not
too overpowering. We like grilled octopus a lot, so we were pretty happy with
this dish.
The dumplings were a recommendation from our server. We even
went with the larger order at her suggestion. These dumplings were the best
thing of the night. Absolutely delicious cheesy puffs with a squash sauce. When
we come back again, we might both be getting our own order of these. We wanted
to cut them into tiny bites, so we could keep eating them, but eventually, they
disappeared from our plate.
The cheeseburger is somewhat controversial dish. I guess the
owners think it’s just fine, but people are really raving about it, so we had
to get it. It’s got some sort of magical champagne-cheese on it, and it truly
is really good. I don’t usually go for burgers at nice places, but enough
people raved about this one that we caved. Worth it, though! And the lightly
pickled cucumbers were quite good, as well. The fries were house –made crinkle-cut
fries and were delicious. We were glad they didn’t try to do much fancy to
these – there were plenty of them, so we were glad we got these.
The dining room looks empty, but it's only because we were there late and it was close to closing time. We like to enjoy our culinary adventures and take our time. When we got there, there was a large line to dine here.
Saint Dinette is really one of the best new restaurants we’ve
been to recently. It’s pretty close to home, so I have a feeling we’re going to
find ourselves there fairly regularly. And we’re looking forward to it!!
Top 5 things about Saint Dinette
1. Ricotta Dumplings
2. Chicharrones
3. Cheeseburger
4. Menu isn't too large, but has things on it you'll recognize, making the choice easier
5.Grilled Octopus
Bottom 5 things
1. Parking was a pain, but we realized too late that it was an Art Crawl in Lowertown
2. No reservations, and you'll likely have to wait, but it will be worth it
3. All of the cocktails have bitters (Tim is a mixology wizard), so order accordingly - I realize that's totally MY issue, not a fault of the restaurant, it's just hard to find anything to complain about here
4. Dammit. There's nothing else to complain about
5. See #4
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