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

The French Bulldog – Omaha, NE

I met my long lost friend from the Quad Cities, NoPants, in Omaha – she’s been going to school there and doesn’t get many visitors from back home. I met her a block from her house at this awesome little French bistro and charcuterie and cheese place called The French Bulldog. 

It’s got a small list of fancy cocktails and what better way to start your day than with a wonderful purple fizzy cocktail – which is what I got.  Purple Fizz. It was glorious.

We decided to get the Charcuterie and Cheese plate to share, even though I had been eating constantly for about 5 hours. Not joking. I was just going to sample various things while we got caught up on our lives. I know we got the Rillettes, the Corriander sausage, and the pate of the week, which was an Italian spicy spreadable sausage called Nduja. We also got the Little Darling cheese and the Grana Padano cheese. 

Shortly after, the server brought us a giant cheese board with pickles, mustard, and honey. It was fantastic. Our favorite part was the Nduja, in case you were wondering. It was really quite fantastic and fun to smash into various pieces of bread. Followed VERY closely by the Little Darling cheese (which I may or may not have convinced them to sell me a few chunks before I left).

NoPants also ordered some sort of tomato and basil quiche that looked delicious. I'm assuming it was delicious since she didn't even offer to share it with me. (I'm totally kidding, she offered, but I was full. Sometimes I exaggerate.)

The French Bulldog makes all of their own charcuterie there in house and has a nice window into the kitchen if you’d like to see who the sausage is made – not a metaphor, actually. It’s really a great place to have a nice cocktail and a pile of meat and cheese. 

www.frenchbulldogomaha.com

French Hen Café – St. Paul, MN

D.Rough and I headed over to the French Hen Café for breakfast (well, more like brunch since we slept late). I had heard good things about this place and couldn’t wait to eat here.

We started with a few blood orange mimosas (D.Rough got Prosecco and I got Moscato). It’s hard to have a bad meal when you start with these things.

D.Rough ordered the Croque Suzette – a grilled sandwich on Brioche with smoked ham, Gruyere, Dijon béchamel, and topped with a sunny side up egg and served with hashbrowns. I ordered the Omelette a la Florentine – spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, and Brie and I got a side of root vegetable hash.

The food came out pretty quickly and we shared each of these things like pros.

The Croque Suzette was really good. Dense but tasty bread with all kinds of messy toppings. Great ham and Gruyere flavor were especially good combined with the runny egg. Great work on this thing. The hashbrowns had great flavor and were thinly cooked, so there were lots of crunchy parts.

The omelet was tasty and had a lot of fresh tasting ingredients on the inside. I will say the highlight for me was the root vegetable hash. Really seasoned well and lots of good textures and fresh flavors.

We didn’t spend long here, although we did pop into the flower shop next door (run by the same wonderfully nice family). It’s a very nice atmosphere and they serve really good food. They also serve dinner, so I’m curious how that’s going to be when we return. Looking forward to it!

www.frenchhencafe.com

Chez Arnaud French Bakery – St. Paul, MN

D.Rough’s birthday was looming, so I was trying to figure out where I could take her for a lunch date. I threw out a couple of places and she suggested Chez Arnaud. I hadn’t been there and had heard her talk about it. I was 100% IN!!!

The place is very modern, clean, and almost minimalist on the inside. There’s a refrigerated case with sandwich kinds of things and then a dessert case. We did some in-depth perusing and finally decided we’d get a small item, a side dish, and split a sandwich (after D.Rough scaled back considerably what I originally wanted to order – sometimes, I get excited about food). We got a foot-long club sandwich with mortadella, provolone, and pistachio butter, a goat cheese tomato basil friand, and these fried potatoes with bacon, cheese, and onions.

We were going to have to go back up to check out the desserts when it was time. There’s no point in rushing into important decisions like this.

The really nice counter person actually coursed our lunch for us. She brought out the friand (like a flaky puff pastry pot pie) first, so we dug into that. Delicious. Very light and flaky crust and piping hot (she had just taken it out of the small oven). The goat cheese was just to eh point of melty and I wanted to eat a much larger version of this (the photo makes it seem large, but it was about 5 inches across – so not small either). Great starter!

The fried potatoes were split into two different bowls (this server is really top-notch) for us. The cheese was melty on the top and when you could get a bite with all the ingredients, it was super tasty. The only thing that would have made these potatoes better would have been if they had some crust on them, but I know it’s difficult and time-consuming to do that. As they were, they were great and I’m not even complaining a tiny bit. I loved them.

The sandwich was great and made me want to go back to Paris and eat outside a café in the blistering cold winter weather. Crusty bread, but not enough to destroy your mouth when you bite it. Great mortadella and cheese combo and the light pistachio butter was a wonderful touch.

It was dessert time. This took an equally long time to decide, especially since I wanted to get everything. The desserts aren’t just appetizing here, they’re beautiful. Beyond “pretty”. So pretty there are parts you’re not sure if you’re supposed to eat. Look at the photo!

After D.Rough shot down my dreams of eating an entire foot long swiss cake roll the size of my leg (I know it isn’t a swiss cake roll, but that’s what it looks like), we got a Moulin Rouge and a Cayenne Chocolate Macaron for D.Rough (since it’s her birthday), and I got a Pombleu – which she told me was a layered stack of custard, mouse and a blueberry-pomegranate mouse on top with some crumbles. I told the girl I would stop eating when I hit the gold part at the bottom of the Moulin Rouge.

The Moulin Rouge stole the show it was incredible. Very light and “happy” tasting. D.Rough always laughs at me when I describe food with non-food words, but it’s true. I wanted more of these, or maybe an entire log of these! How can I order this? In log form? Sheet cake form? Or do I just have to order a hundred of these little guys? I’m willing to do it.

The macaron was really good. I’ve gotten into these little cookies more and more over the past few years. I’ve always liked them, but I’ve had some bad ones, which means I know what GOOD ones taste like. These were really good ones. Just a tiny hint of cayenne at the end, which the girl told us people sometimes mistake for cinnamon. I can see that. Really good and flaky cookie that we both loved.

The Pombleu was really good as well. I like shooter-style desserts (I’m sure D.Rough is rolling her eyes right now). Pudding shooters. Key lime pie shooters. Cake shooters. Cake vodka shots – whatever. I like them all The blueberry pomegranate flavoring was subtle but any more than that would have made the whole thing too sweet. This wasn’t too sweet. It was perfect.

I’d say this was a pretty good showing for my first time at Chez Arnaud. The only thing I was bummed about was they were out of the giant macaron sandwiches they sometimes have. I had my heart set on one and I suppose I’ll have to come back! When this place runs out of things, they are out until the next day. Just a warning.

Oh, and there is a decent parking lot in the back of the building, in case you can’t find parking out front on Grand Ave.

Top 5 things about Chez Arnaud French Bakery
1. Moulin Rouge
2. Goat cheese friand
3. French sandwich on a long baguette
4. Potatoes, cheese, and bacon
5. Extremely helpful staff who will answer all of your questions!

Bottom 5 things
1. They were out of the giant macaron sandwiches
2. Some of the clientele can be pretty uppity at a French bakery, even in St. Paul. I would likely have “words” with some of the customers we saw this day…
3. Get there early during the lunch hour or you run the risk of them running out of things you want (and you WILL want everything)
4. It was a tiny bit pricey for our lunch (but cheaper than flying to Paris for lunch!), but still reasonable
5. ZERO pencil thin mustaches, berets, and tiny cigarettes here!

www.myfrenchbakery.net

Beth’s Café – Seattle, WA

Coach and I had planned an awesome breakfast with our friend Slutnik out in Seattle. She’s the one who actually got me hooked on roller derby, so I owe her a great debt of gratitude. I won’t tell HER that because she’ll lord it over me until I’m dead and gone – she’s like that. hahahaha

We met at Beth’s Café, and I won’t even mention the fact that she locked her keys in her apartment and had to walk to the place and we had to drive her all over town after breakfast – I’m nice and wouldn’t do that. Beth’s is a greasy spoon diner in Seattle. I almost wrote small greasy spoon diner, but it has lots of room. All of which are covered up by coloring pages from various patrons, children and grown ups alike. It sets the stage for a pretty relaxed and fun breakfast/lunch.

The menus all have different covers on them and they’re all hilarious. Some are colored crayon drawings, some are love notes, and some are various celebrity photos with comments on them.

The menu options are comprehensive with breakfast items and they’re known for their omelets. They have two sizes: 6-egg and 12-eggs. I hope you’re hungry if you order one of those – Beth’s was featured on Man vs Food with the 12-egg omelet and I don’t think Adam finished it. In fact most things on the menu are gargantuan. They have a few smaller items and breakfast combos, but I was really craving French toast (and bacon). So I went with the French toast combo. I still feel it was the right move. Slutnik also demanded we get blueberry muffins, which none of us complained about at all.

 

The muffins were actually really awesome. Lots of blueberries and the muffins were pretty substantial. You didn’t even need the butter they brought out. They were plenty sweet and tasty. Good call, Slutnik.

The food came out quickly, thankfully, since we were in a hurry to get to the roller derby bout between the Minnesota RollerGirls and the Rat City Rollergirls. Everything looked tasty. The over medium eggs were cooked perfectly. The 6 half-pieces of French toast were big and fluffy. And the four giant thick-cut bacon pieces were cooked almost crispy. The whole thing was good. Overall the food was above average. Nothing stellar, but honestly, it is hard to make breakfast life-changing. I liked it and would eat there again anytime.

Not enough stuff to do a top 5, but it was worth the trip! Thanks for the suggestion, Slutnik!

www.bethscafe.com
7311 Aurora Ave. N.
Seattle, WA 98103

Patrick’s Bakery and Cafe – Edina, MN

D.Rough decided she was going to hang with the disc golf crowd Saturday morning since it was going to be a nice day (it started nice and then got sweltering, actually). We left early enough that we could hit up a local bakery along the way. I knew she wasn’t going to be up for donuts (unlike me – everyday), so we went to a fancier place that only does fancy pastries. I knew she’d love it.

There’s a lot to choose from at Patrick’s. The really nice lady behind the counter was helpful and explained a couple of things to us, then let us browse. We finally decided on a St. Tropez Quiche (pronounced San Tro-pay, unlike my brutal slaughtering of French words), and a Vanilla Custard Pretzel Danish.

The lady offered to warm up our quiche since we were going to be taking it on the road with us on the way to the course. We agreed it would be better heated, so we sat down and split the Danish. I do like the Danish pastries from time to time, and this one looked like it had a lot of custard in it. A LOT.

The pretzel Danish is only called that because the outside pastry is twisted like a pretzel, not because it tastes like pretzel. The thing is really good though. It was nearing that point where there was almost too much custard. However, Patrick toed the line with success and put the maximum allowable custard in this thing. The pastry was very light and flaky and didn’t appear to be greasy, upon cleaning up after we ate it. Really good.

The quiche came out right as we were finishing up the Danish, so we headed out to the car with the to go container. The girl had thrown in a super nice salad in the bottom of the container as well. Like I said, she was really nice. The quiche cut in half nicely and was firm enough to hold its shape after we cut it (which made it much easier to eat while driving), but was also soft and light enough to be a proper quiche. The St. Tropez has pieces of chicken, tomato, and feta cheese in it, so it’s much more savory. We’re also glad we ate it since the previous evening’s pool party at Tiki and Duff’s was well-lubricated. We needed something substantial with protein before hitting the course in the sun. Thankfully, this quiche was exactly what we needed and was delicious, as well.

Patrick’s is a little higher end than I usually eat at, but since D.Rough was with, I thought I’d class it up a little bit and forego my Saturday donut. She’s worth it.

I think you’ll like this place if you go here. They also serve a really nice brunch and an upscale dinner, so don’t feel like you need to get here with the old people at 7:30am, like we did.

Enjoy!

www.patricksbakerycafe.com

Bacon Apple Monte Cristo – West St. Paul, MN

It was D.Rough’s birthday last week, so I thought I’d do something special for her, since she cooks for me all the time. I had seen a delicious looking recipe in the Rachel Ray magazine while waiting at the dentists office a few weeks back (don’t worry – no cavities!) and knew I should make it for her. It was a Bacon Apple Monte Christo. For those of you not familiar with the standard Monte Christo, you should find one. It’s basically a combination of a ham and cheese sammich and French toast.

Plus it’s extra sacrilicious if you call it “Christ Mountain”.

This one had strips of bacon on it, extra sharp cheddar cheese, and sliced apples. You basically do what you would normally do for French toast by dipping the bread in the egg batter and frying it up. It’s pretty simple, but really quite delicious. You can do all sorts of toppings for these things too: powdered sugar, jam, various compotes, fruit. We went the traditional route and dipped it in maple syrup, since we appear to have four bottles of the stuff for some reason. I’m not joking – we have four bottles of syrup in the cupboard.

I’m not going to give you the recipe or anything like that. It’s simple. Even for a cooking dummy like me.

La Tache - Chicago, IL

Callous-un had a stack of those awesome restaurant discount cards, so we decided to go to a place she had wanted to try for a while. It’s a French Bistro & Bar, which doesn’t always lend itself to vegetarian tastes, but we thought we’d check out the menu when we got there and see if she could eat anything. When we got there, she asked to see a menu and told the host she was a vegetarian. He said he was as well and she’d be able to find something to eat here. We grabbed a table by the window.

This place is a classy French Bistro – super dim lighting, small intimate tables, gobs of old rich people, and words I can’t pronounce on the menu. We decided to go with a bottle of wine, since this is a pretty swanky place. I got a nice bottle of Pinot Noir, which I’m usually good with. This bottle ended up being a 2007 vintage, so it was still a tiny bit tart. But all in all, it was still a decent bottle.

I was really torn on ordering off the standard menu or ordering off the prix fixe menu. The standard menu had some really good looking dishes on it, including venison and lamb, but the prix fie menu had some really tasty looking things on it, including all kinds of meat and seafood dishes. Callous-un decided on the Gnocchi which was one of a very select number of vegetarian dishes available. I finally caved and went with the prix fixe menu and ordered White Bean Soup with Bacon, a Glazed Duck Breast, and a Turtle Cake for dessert (at the insistence of Callous-un, who knows I’m not a dessert person).

I apologize for the darkness of the photos, but the place is really dim and I felt like it was too classy of a restaurant for me to send a blinding flash from the camera into the retinas of the other guests.

The White Bean Soup came out and was probably the highlight of the meal for me. Not only was the soup itself a combination of bacon drippings (aka wonderful delicious bacon grease), but it had pieces of super thick-cut smoked bacon in the soup itself. I was raving about it so much that Callous-un, a militant vegetarian, caved and tried a bite (without a bacon piece, so I guess it won’t stand up in vegetarian court or anything). She agreed it was phenomenal. Then I successfully thwarted all her attempts to get another bite. Truly one of the best soups I’ve ever had. And the portion was much larger than I expected at a French restaurant.

The entrees came out and also looked fantastic (though you can’t tell from the photos).

The duck breast was arranged in a very pretty pattern on the plate on top of some spinach leaves and pureed potatoes and turnips. There was a honey glaze on everything as well, which was awesome. The duck was good – not exquisite, but really good. The thing with duck is you have to eat it hot, because the fatty parts congeal and get weird textures if you let it get cold. I ate the duck first and didn’t end up having a single bad bite. All of it was good.

Callous-un’s Gnocchi was brilliant as well. It had more veggies in it than she thought it would and each pastry puff was perfectly crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. There were peas, green beans, mushrooms, brussel sprouts, and some other stuff in there. It was better than my duck breast, and my duck wasn’t bad at all. I would recommend the heck out of the Gnocchi if you have the chance.

Since Callous-un wanted Turtle Cake, we got Turtle Cake. It was two soft brownie/cake pieces with a scoop of ice cream, sprinkled with peanuts, and drizzled with caramel. It was pretty good, as desserts go. I had more bites of it than I thought I would, but maybe because the duck was smaller than I expected and didn’t fill me up. The Turtle Cake was good, though there were a couple of other desserts that might have been fun to try. Maybe next time.

La Tache is a great French Bistro. It’s really some fantastic food and very French. Small portions, gloriously presented. It’s got a small-ish wine selection, but they had at least one thing I could drink there, so we got by.

Top 5 things about La Tache
1. White Bean Soup with Bacon
2. Gnocchi
3. Duck Breast
4. Turtle Cake
5. Very nice host/waiter

Bottom 5 things
1. It’s a tad on the pricey side (but thankfully, Callous-un paid)
2. Had to stop from asking for a sippy cup full of the bean soup with bacon…
3. Wine selection was pretty slim for an upscale French restaurant
4. The place really isn’t vegetarian-friendly
5. The place got REALLY loud with old stuffy people toward the end of the meal

www.latachechicago.com

Meritage – St. Paul, MN

(This will be a long one…) Gerd and I decided to do something fancy for NYE and spend a little bit more since it was a special occasion. We had a number of places on the list, but this place called Meritage kept rising to the surface. We asked a couple of people and they either had never been there or never heard of it. Gerd found a couple of articles raving about it winning all kinds of awards so we decided this was the place for us. We could go to the other places some other time. Gerd did some research on what some of the dishes were ahead of time, since some of them looked alien to us), which helped us out a little bit.

This time, I’m glad we had valet parking (maybe I’m lightening up on my loathing for valet parking). There was a MN Wild (hockey) game a couple of blocks away, so the area was pretty vehicle-laden. The guy that parked our car was bummed to be working on NYE, but he was really funny about it. We walked into this large lobby of what looked to be an apartment building or business office facility. The entrance to the restaurant is tucked around the corner and through a very unassuming doorway. Very narrow doorway in fact. Once inside we knew we were in the right place.

The interior was VERY classy. Though not as crowded as a typical French fancy restaurant (did I mention this is a French restaurant? – probably not), it had more tables and chairs than I thought they would upon first glance. They can pack people in and still have room for their staff to get around and serve food. Wine bottles line one of the back walls and the kitchen area can be seen, but it’s not entirely open.

Our waitress was awesome. She was glad we weren’t going to an event so she could dote on us for a bit and have some fun with us. She offered to help us out with a wine selection or offered the special NYE menu which came with wine pairings for each of the five courses. Despite the set menu sounding amazing, we went with our own selection. An awesome bottle of Bouchaine Pinot Noir 2006. I went to Bouchaine Vineyards near Napa a few years back with Trash and Corpsekitten and we had an awesome time with the owner’s daughter (sounds way dirtier than it actually was). Get this wine if you get the chance. It’s REALLY good.

They have sample plates (which are literally two-bite plates) which are not for sharing. For those of you who know me, you won’t be surprised to know I got the lamb bacon (yeah, that’s right), and I also got a Braised Oxtail Strudel. The bacon was better than any bacon I’ve ever had before. And the Oxtail was really good as well. Gerd got the lamb bacon and the lobster bisque. She loved the bacon and really really loved the bisque. I also ordered a bowl of the Chicken soup with Matzo Balls. They brought out the matzo balls in a bowl with some carrots and other garnish, and then poured the chicken soup on top of it. It was excellent.

We then split kind of an appetizer of Parisian Style Ricotta Gnocchi with Arugula-Walnut Pesto and Tomato Concassé. They were like little puffy cheesy things served over the pesto. Brilliant dish. Very light and you could eat them for hours if they kept bringing them to you. (They didn’t.) Gerd also got talked into a Roasted Beet Carpaccio salad with horseradish fromage blanc and walnuts. Normally, Gerd hates beets, but the waitress totally sold her on the salad. She said the fromage was a cross between cream cheese and heavy whipping cream. It was light and fluffy and you almost couldn’t taste the horseradish in it at all. It was also awesome (I only got a couple of bites of that one…) .

The main courses all looked fantastic. It was hard to decide, but the waitress was a great help in this. Gerd decided on the Lobster sous vide in butter. What I gathered from this is that this lobster is pressurized and slow-cooked literally in butter, so it fuses with the lobster flesh. After that process, the meat from the body and claws is removed and served whole. So you get a whole lobster and don’t have to do all the laborious cracking and shucking and whatever else you do to lobsters. It was served with a smoked mushroom pain perdu, which was sort of like French toast/grilled cheese with mushroom filling instead of cheese. Gerd loved it all. The lobster was top notch (and very cheap due to lowered lobster market prices), and the perdu was super tasty as well.

I got one of the items on the special NYE menu as well, but it was a difficult choice. It was the Beef Degustation. It was thinly slice beef loin medallions and a beef short rib, served with the little potato balls with a crispy outside. I hope I don’t get her in trouble, but our waitress called them French tater-tots, and oddly, that’s what they tasted like, but they were the best tater-tots I’ve ever had. The beef rib basically fell apart when I touched it with the fork – most tender piece of meat imaginable. The whole thing was drizzled in foie gras reduction that was the perfect compliment to the entire meal. One of the best meat dishes I’ve ever had.

We finished the meal and decided dessert was in order. Gerd and I fought but finally decided on these little pastry puffs filled with ice cream and then drizzled with hot chocolate sauce. They were excellent, but I honestly thought they would be more flashy. We (meaning me) decided that even after finishing off the bottle of wine, we could still find room for more tasty alcohol. We got a Haute Chocolat. It was hot chocolate with amaretto and cognac and garnished with brandied cherries. Wow, was that good! I might start making these at home for these cold winter months in Minnesota.

Bottom line, go to this place. It’s not stuff like a lot of fancy places. It’s classy, but still human. It’s not cheap, but if you want to both impress your significant other and get a top notch meal, then Meritage is where it’s at. VERY good place to enjoy eating.

Top 5 things about Meritage
1. Rich-people’s Lobster – they do all the work for you, aside from putting it in your mouth and chewing it for you
2. Beef Degustation
3. Lamb Bacon
4. Haute Chocolat
5. Staff including the Jewish valet guy (he told us he was Jewish during a hilarious story)

Bottom 5 things
1. Gerd’s knife was aerodynamically designed to slide off her plate every time she set it down
2. Valet took a really long time (not their fault – due to the MN WILD traffic)
3. Chocolate drizzle on ice cream should have been hot fudge
4. They had no Malbec, which is Gerd’s favorite this month
5. I don’t think I could pronounce about 2/3 of the menu (that’s my fault, though…)

http://www.meritage-stpaul.com