D.Rough and I continued celebrating my birthday week with a
visit to Travail’s newest offering – an upscale basement lounge experience with
upscale food and very crafty cocktails. I understand it’s a challenge to get
reservations here, and that they have three different “time slots” available,
so if you’re interested, get on the website and reserve your spot! Totally
worth it.
Like Travail’s other establishments, it’s sort of
European-style seating – you WILL be seated at a table with other diners. I like
to let people know this so they aren’t alarmed. It’s as fun as you make it –
you may end up best friends at the end of the night or you might exchange a few
questions about the food or drinks that the other people ordered – you get to
decide. Pro Tip: Show up early for your reservation and you may get to decide
where you sit, before the space gets filled and you’re stuck with whatever is
left open.
The hostess, servers, bar tenders, and food delivery folks
are all professionals. They want you to have a good time and enjoy yourself,
and they are very gracious and helpful.
We started with a few cocktails, which is really what this
place is known for. If you look around the rooms, they have most of the
cocktails presented in little nooks, and deconstructed so you can see the
ingredients. Bottles of booze and also some of the flavors you’ll be tasting –
very interesting concept. Classy and informative (something I’ve never been
accused of being). D.Rough got the house tiki-style drink – the Many Faced God
(vodka, macadamia nut liqueur, pineapple, coconut, and damiania). I got the
Ronaldo Burgundy (Bacardi heritage white rum, pomegranate, pineapple hibiscus
milk punch). I'll apologize in advance for the photo quality - the dim lighting wasn't doing my camera any favors - but you'll get the general idea.
D.Rough’s tiki drink was REALLY good. Not too much macadamia and
the pineapple and coconut were magical. Fantastic.
My rum-forward drink was
also incredible. It came with a smoky bubble on top AND in a bat-painted tea
cup (on a bat painted saucer). A little bit fruity and plenty of rum flavor – I
loved this drink!
We ordered a couple of food items to tide us over for the
night. The Broadway Burger, the poutine, Salt & Peppa Shrimp, and the
lobster egg. The kitchen sends out the folks who prepare this stuff and they
explain what’s in some of the dishes and answer any questions – very top-notch.
The lobster egg is a soft boiled egg with lobster, truffles,
brown butter, and tarragon, all served in an egg cup. Beautiful presentation
and it tasted great too. It’s nice when you can recognize the flavors of each
of the ingredient and none of them are overpowering. This is a
well-put-together dish.
The Salt & Peppa Shrimp are deep-fried shrimp with
garlic butter and jalapeno slices. A relatively simple dish but the garlic
butter and jalapeno elevated it a lot. I considered ordering a second round of
these, they were that good.
The poutine was fantastic – perfectly fried fries and a rich
gravy that clearly was not an afterthought. There weren’t curds, but the
gruyere foam was a fun change that I approve highly of. Great job!
The Broadway Burger was not just a restaurant burger. It had
a lot of pickled things going on and some mustard situations, but it was a VERY
juicy burger. Not sloppy, just really moist and juicy. I loved this thing.
I needed another cocktail and the Travail Basement Bar is
not short on them. In fact, they’ve got a few different kind of drinks. They’ve
got some small cocktails, for if you’re feeling like you just want a little bit
or if you’re toasting someone (very fun idea). And, they’ve got a handful of
fancy non-alcoholic drinks, as well. I politely asked the server if they could
just add a bunch of rum to the pina colada-style non-alcoholic drink they had
on the menu – The Bird C.R.E.A.M. He assured
me it wouldn’t be a problem at all to do so. And since he was already there, I
also ordered the Potato Pavé – a thick stack of super-thinly-sliced
potato covered with gruyere and cheddar sauce and serrano ham.
The drink was as good as I had hoped it would be – I
actually liked it more than the Many Faced God, but only because it was rum,
not vodka, and not nutty, otherwise, they were pretty similar. Delicious! And
the Potato Pavé was fantastic. Cut-able with a fork and lots of cheese flavor. I’m
glad I got to try this one.
Additionally, since my wife’s family is Italian and literally do
not believe something is a celebration until there’s cake, we ordered a slice
of chocolate cake. Not just any cake – a serious cake, with chocolate mousse layers
and a chocolate ganache outer layer. It even comes with a bit of edible gold
foil on top – see? Super classy! And, amazingly moist and tasty.
Overall, zero things to complain about at this new restaurant. The
staff are all very “interchangeable” and everyone can help you with any request
you have. They’re all there to make sure you enjoy yourselves and return to the
basement. We even joked with our server that in the basement, everyone looks
tan! We will definitely return here and enjoy some additional menu items. We
understand this will be an ever-changing menu, so we’re excited to see what new
cocktails and food items are available the next time we go there!
www.travailkitchen.com/basementbar
