Happy Birthday to Me

Mike and I had been looking into various restaurants to visit for my birthday dinner for a couple of weeks. We had a found a few that were intriguing, but nothing that immediately shouted, "LET'S GO HERE!"

Then Mike was perusing through articles online a few days before when he came across this article on a restaurant called Travail Kitchen and Amusements.  Molecular gastronomy in a casual bar setting?  How could we pass up such an interesting idea?  So on the third of November, after a long and "special" day, we made our way up Highway 100 to Robbinsdale to see the hubbub Travail's was creating.

We had a vague idea of what we were getting into -- the place didn't take reservations and we were going to a restaurant that had just received rave reviews in the local magazines and papers, but we were still a bit stunned by how crowded it was for a Wednesday evening.  And, when I say crowded, I mean that the wait time was estimated at one and a half hours.

Even so, we decided to stick it out.  There wasn't much sitting room, so we stood near the bar and contemplated some glasses of wine as we watched cooking shows on the televisions over the bar and looked over the dinner menu.

The menu from above is from someone else's camera from a different (more recent) date, but many, though not all, of the dishes are the same.  If anything, it gives you an idea of the place -- certainly casual (the water glasses are mason jars), but some up-scale menu items indeed.  We decided to go all out for the ten course tasting menu. 

Nearing the hour-and-a-half mark, two seats opened up at the bar.  We quickly took possession of them intending to stay until a table was ready for us.  There, we started talking with the couple next to us who were regulars at Travail's and friends of the restaurant owners.  They gave us their recommendations on dishes and suggested we have our dinner at the bar.  There was space enough there and good company.  Plus, we didn't know how much longer the wait would be, so we thought, why not?

And, that kick-started dinner!

A note before we get into the food -- having taken place over a month ago, I have to admit that my memories over the details of the dinner are fuzzy.  I know what the main components are, as well as some of the garnishes, but many of my descriptions are not very detailed nor necessarily 100% accurate.  Sorry!  At least we remembered to bring a camera...

So...

First course:  a simple, but very prettily presented beet salad with blue cheese and some jalapeño peppers for a bit of a kick.  Sweet, refreshing, and delicious.

The second course surprised us both -- and not because of the ingredient themselves, but how they were prepared!  Both of us have had octopus before -- that was no big deal.  However, soft, tender octopus?  Never!  The surprising (and delicious) texture was the result of sous-vide (pronounced "sou-vie") cooking that we had heard about and seen (on Top Chef) again and again. 

That dish was also our first experience with foie gras and having a foam in our dish.  It's been so long that I don't remember what kind of foam it was.  It was very light and dissipated with the touch of our forks.  Nevertheless, the dish was certainly one of our favorites.

Course number three was one of the recommended dishes of the night:  beef tartare.

We've had tartare before -- but that was a tuna tartare.  Raw fish is a rather normal thing if you like sushi.  Raw beef, however...  less normal.   It was, of course, delicious.

On the opposite end of the dish was a home made cracker crisp and capers.  In the center is a bit of pickled onions and carrots, and three gelées:  an olive gelée, a caper gelée, and an anchovy gelée.

The next dish ranks as one of my favorites:  agnolotti pasta with a parmesan foam. 

The filled pasta was so good and the froth made for a very light and airy sauce that really did taste of parmesan!  

A close up of the parmesan bubbles.

Up next for course number five was chicken two ways -- sous-vide chicken and chicken "doughnuts".  The latter was chicken that had been lightly coated with a sweet batter and fried.  They served the two preparings with a tasty sweet potato puree, caramelized onions. 

While interesting to try, the chicken was not a big hit with either of us.  Granted, neither were dry and over done (like a lot of chicken you get when you go out), but the doughnuts didn't leave much of an impression and the texture that we loved with the octopus was not as pleasing with the chicken.

Course number six was another big hit:  the fish and chips.

Everything in the dish was very straightforward and simple -- a scoop of herbed mashed potatoes, hand-cut chips, house-made tartar sauce, and a perfect piece of fried cod.  Ask Mike about the fish -- he could go on for days.  Maybe it was the great quality of the fish, or the fact that it was soaked in beer before battering and then washed again with beer, or both -- but the texture and flavor of the fish was incredible.  Luscious, buttery, melt-in-your mouth...  Mmmm...

The seventh course featured steak.  This was also done sous-vide with some home made pasta and garnished with grapefruit wedges, radishes, and lemon zesty bread crumbs.  Good, but not super memorable.  We were also rather tired of sous-vide proteins at this point.

Yet another first for both us -- rabbit terrine served with fried green tomatoes, onion, celery, and a bit of pesto made up the eighth course. 

Soup constituted our last course of the evening, not including dessert.  The last step of putting the soup together was done in front of us.  We started with a bowl with peanut butter powder, dried cherries, some celery leaf for garnish, and a sweet and nutty paste made up of something that I can't remember. 

Then they poured the celeriac soup on top.

Ants on a log in soup form!  We enjoyed the creative presentation.  It was also very tasty, though in general, I am a huge fan of soup. 

Our final bite of the night was dessert.  We chose to take the tasting version of the dessert plates (why not?), which included some form of chocolate, ice cream, and a deconstructed s'more.  The more memorable part of the dessert platter was its name: "Fire and Ice".

They began by lighting the platter on fire (obviously to toast the marshmallow in the s'more).  Unfortunately I don't have a photograph of that.

Then they poured liquid nitrogen over it.

A bit cheesy, sure, but the spectacle was kind of fun.   

The friendly couple had left just before we had our dessert, but they had surprised us by buying us a can of Sofia champagne in honor of my birthday.  It is surprisingly good for coming from a can.

Overall, we greatly enjoyed our experience at Travail's.  Each dish was a new adventure and we left  pleased and very satisfied with our meal.  If we go again, however, we'll be sure to get there either right when it opens, or after 9 pm, lest we have another crowded wait.