Dale S.
Yelp
We finally made it to Quince for brunch this past weekend. The ambiance is modern, open, and welcoming with lots of warm autumn sunlight from the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the river and lovely fall trees across the river. The menu here surprises me. It is one of the most, if not the most, wonderfully unusual, interesting, and global in scope menus I have ever seen. It's exciting.
Our server today, Stacy, was very cordial, pleasant and appropriately attentive throughout our meal. Miss Anne began with a Mimosa and I had a Margarita with macerated Serrano peppers. Perfect heat and not overly sweet. Just the right amount of agave to suit my taste. Made with fresh lime juice.
We began with the Ceviche Verde which I have looked forward to trying since first seeing the menu on line. It is quite remarkable. The fish is, of course, citrus "cooked". I don't know if the shrimp is first citrus marinated as it is grilled before adding to the mix, as is the avocado. The slightly tart tomatillo verde sauce is such a perfectly lovely compliment to the seafood and avocado. The Serrano pepper provides the perfect amount of flavorful heat. It makes the dish sing.
Miss Anne went with the breakfast Chile Relleno. There is not a description of the dish to be found on line so I cannot tell you what is in it besides shredded beef, I think. I may fill this in after she enjoys the rest this evening for supper. It is plated over black bean puree, garnished with pickled red onions and topped with drizzled crema. She thoroughly enjoyed it. This dish consists of three! three! stuffed chiles. She brought two home for later.
I chose the Chilaquiles. A rich black bean puree is topped with a mound of house made chips and your choice of three sauces (I went with the salsa verde), over easy eggs, crema, queso fresco and pickled onions. For seven bucks you can add chicken; for nine bucks, beef. I think it's skirt steak. It is marinated before grilling. Quite tender and tasty!
I want to mention this because it tells you what kind of a first class store you're dealing with here. My Chilaquiles came out at room temperature. I don't care what the restaurant is, stuff like this happens. It prolly happens at French Laundry (but who is going to say anything to their server there or to Thomas Keller, right? LOL) I mentioned this to Stacy, just an FYI. I didn't want anything done. I had finished what I could eat (it is a HUGE portion... 2/3's came home and heated up just fine), and I was good to go. I just wanted him to be aware of this. He spoke to the manager, Fabien, who immediately came to the table to ask what he could to make it right for me. A redo? Desserts? I said, "Not a thing. I'm good. It's an impressive interpretation of Chilaquiles and I'm fine. I just wanted you to know this."
I'm greatly impressed with our server's and this manager's commitment to a quality dining experience and customer satisfaction. We greatly enjoyed this dining experience. What a great addition to the FTW culinary scene.