Aram K.
Yelp
We showed up on a Wednesday just before prime dinner time and to our surprise it was packed and had over an hour waiting time! To me, that says that you're about to have some good food, I've rarely seen a restaurant get this packed on a Wednesday on off peak hours for early dinner. Luckily two people left the bar and we snagged the bar seats.
The ambiance is nice, it has a bit of a high class vibe without being too over the top.
The service was really good considering that they were packed, we were attended to in a reasonable time, and they put on their "Minnesota nice" smiles for us which we enjoyed as tourists.
Now I know you guys are mostly reading this to find out about the food. And ... just wow. Not a single thing was bad.
I'll start with the calamari. We ordered it blindly and didn't read the description off the menu like we usually do, and it came with fried jalapeño and a sort of fusion sauce, best way I can describe it is that marinara and cocktail sauce had a baby and then this sauce was born. My partner doesn't usually like cocktail sauce because he doesn't like horseradish as a general rule, but this one was so subtle that even he enjoyed it. As for myself I'm a major lover of all food as long as it's made artfully and let me tell you the way they combined the two flavors was absolutely genius. Major kudos to the chef
Next we had the Brussels sprouts, it had a beautiful garnish on it and the sauce it came with really brought it home. I really appreciated how it was fried enough so the outer leaves were crispy but the inside still had a tiny crunch left and didn't become mushy. The sauce pairing really brought the umami flavors home and added a touch of tang and cream that was absolutely delightful. I was even able to use it to eat the garnish cabbage after I finished the sprouts. Now if you're a Brussels sprouts lover like I am then you've had it a billion ways. This was definitely top 5 sprouts I've ever had at a restaurant.
Now we shall review the wildly popular chicken pot pie. This seems to be one of their 4 most popular menu items from what I could tell; so I made sure to order it. First and foremost, kudos to the presentation it came sizzling in a clay hot pot. Before I talk about the flavor, take into consideration, while being a wildly popular American comfort food, it has English roots and was modified by us Americans. Like most traditionally American / English dishes, the flavors are more subtle but they are definitely there, and absolutely delicious. So let me get to the good part and describe it:
1: the crust is flakey on top and soft elsewhere and melts in your mouth like butter.
2: the pie part itself is creamy, but it taste like it was made from scratch, it's one of the best cream sauces I've had for a while, and every single vegetable had an absolute perfect texture to it. The dominant flavor profile here was fourfold: cream, pepper, veggies natural flavor, and just the right amount of salt.
The only critique I have is, I wish there was more crust, but it's not enough to bring my star rating down. I will say this, the presentation and pictures wouldn't be as nice if it covered the pie and you couldn't watch it sizzle in front of you. So I understand why they did that on an artistic standpoint.
It's possibly the best pot pie I've ever had, so there's that!