St. Genevieve – Minneapolis, MN

D.Rough and I decided to go someplace a little upscale for our 4th anniversary dinner. I’d like to start a  trend that we go out to eat 4 times for our fourth, 5 times for our fifth, and so on, but I don’t think it will fly. St. Genevieve sets aside a small portion of its table for reservations, and then the rest are walk-in seating. We weren’t lucky enough to get a reservation, so we took out chances and showed up unannounced. There was a 90 minute wait on a Wednesday, so be ready for that. thankfully, there is a wonderful store next door to do some shopping and kill some time.

Once we got seated, we were really impressed with the place. Very nice without being snooty and the windows in the front open up onto the sidewalk for a really open atmosphere. It was pretty slick. This is the kind of place that not only has a nice wine list, but also a nice champagne list. D.Rough enjoys champagne more than most, so she ended up getting a nice glass of it. A glass which she thought was $9, but didn’t know that was for a half glass. (And, I didn’t tell her until afterwards, since it was our anniversary and we shouldn’t be watching our pennies.) It was a Chigny les Roses from Montagne de Reims. I got a really heavy red (Languedoc Roussillon) from that I loved, but D.Rough thought it was too meaty for her.

Also, a side detail. The coasters under your water glass are color coded for the servers. Red for tap/still water, and blue for sparkling/bubbly water. Genius time-saver idea!

The menu is quite French, so if you can speak any French at all, it may help you decipher some of the things. We do alright, so we ended up not starving – hahaha. We ordered some pomme frites (French fries with béarnaise aioli) and some Morels with Parisian gnocchis. St. Genevieve is also known for its Tartines (sort of a fancy open-faced sandwich), so we went a little extravagant and got the foie mousse tartine. We decided to split a large plate, so we didn’t over eat – we got the pork dish.

The pomme frites were awesome. Very crispy and the béarnaise aioli was good enough, we probably should have ordered another container of it so we didn’t have to ration it so much. Seriously good version of elevated French fries.

The morels were fantastic. I’ve never had morels before, but I know people fist fight over them in the woods. I know a lot of people that hunt these things and I’m glad I finally got to try them. These were fantastic and served with some of the best, lightest, fluffiest, creamiest gnocchis I’ve ever had. There was a sherry reduction on them and also a bit of fried chicken skin. Really? Yes, really, and it was awesome. It’s a pricy appetizers because of the morels, but it was really good.

The tartine was one of those things that I really liked, but D.Rough didn’t care much for it. A little too rich for her taste. A generous slathering (sorry for not using a more fancy word) of foie gras mousse on top, and then topped with some tarragon and pistachio. The kicker was the green strawberries, though. They were a really nice sweet tart pop in this dish. Really fantastic.

The pork medallions were really top notch. The pieces of pork were served together with some pieces of pork belly, but if you ate the together, it was quite a different flavor and texture combination. It was served on a small bed of cheese grits along with an onion puff and kind of a celery remoulade. The onion puff was referred to in another review as a grown up funyun and it was a pretty apt description. IT was also delicious. I think D.Rough got too much of the pork belly and wasn’t expecting it, but I really devoured this thing. One of the better pork dishes I’ve had recently.

Did we need dessert? No. Did we get it anyway? Yes. D.Rough went with the butterscotch crème brulee and I got the orange chiffon. I didn’t even really know what orange chiffon was, but it sounded intriguing and I was in the mood to gamble.

The orange chiffon was like nothing I’ve ever had before. It was sort of a fluffy cake with blood orange reduction drizzle on it. It also had black sesame macarons on it, as well as… wait for it… fennel sorbet. The cake was delicious, especially with the blood orange sauce on it. And the black sesame macarons were also good, but the sorbet I struggled with. Seriously struggled with it. I tried really hard to like it, but I just couldn’t. I almost ate all of it, hoping it would change my mind, but it didn’t. It was the most bizarre thing I’ve eaten in a long time. It was like a pizza flavored black licorice sweet ice cream. I’m sure it was fantastic and very high-brow, but it was rough for me.

Thankfully, D.Rough’s was mindblowing. The butterscotch crème brulee was quite good. Impressively good, if you must know. It had banana malt ice cream on top with cacao nib brownie pieces and caramel corn. This thing was an immensely elevated crème brulee. Get this thing.

Top 5 things about St. Genevieve

1. Pork medallions with pork belly pieces

2. Morel mushrooms with gnocchi

3. Butterscotch crème brulee

4. The atmosphere here is energetic and loud and open and fun, but still very upscale

5. The wine and champagne list is pretty baller

Bottom 5 things

1. Fennel Sorbet

2. D.Rough would put the tartine here, but I liked it

3. Be ready for the price tag, but it was worth it (just be careful on the wine ordering)

4. You’ll likely have to wait in line, unless you email the place weeks in advance

5. There isn’t a website (use FaceBook, yelp, or various articles to learn more)

St. Genevieve

5003 Bryant Ave. S.

Minneapolis, MN 55419