Cosmos

Visited on Wednesday, March 4th with Kate and Kyle

Ben's Review
After some deliberation, we decided on going to Cosmos for restaurant week. We wanted to go to a place where the price during restaurant week would be a bargain compared to the normal menu prices and Cosmos fit the bill.

The deal at Cosmos was $30 for a set menu:

- a choice of Creamy Lobster Salad or Baby Arugula
- a choice of ahi tuna or duck for the entree
- a choice of nine layer chocolate cake or creme brulee for dessert

After reading the restaurant week menu, I assumed that the items would not be the same items offered on the normal menu. I figured they would either be smaller portions or simplified items because of the lower cost. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the items WERE the same as the normal menu. Adding up my items the food alone would have come to $50, so Cosmos turned out to be an excellent choice.

Erin and I walked through the skyway after work to Cosmos, which is on the fourth floor of the graves 601 hotel, across from Target Center. We were early for our 6pm reservations so we sat at the bar for a cocktail while we were waiting. The place was completely empty when we arrived, which made it good for photos - it's strange to see not a single person wandering around.

The bartender was a nice guy and he gave us some wasabi peas and snack mix to go along with our martinis. I had a gin/vodka martini with Hendrix gin and Effen vodka and it was excellent, and I'm not even a big martini fan in the first place. (Small side story about Effen vodka - my dad likes the Effen bottle so much that he kept the bottle and refills it with other vodka he buys, true story).

Kate and Kyle showed up a little after 6 and we were brought to our table. By this point a couple other people had arrived, so we didn't have the entire dining room to ourselves, which would have been even weirder.

I went with the lobster salad, ahi tuna, and chocolate cake options. The lobster salad was fantastic, the beet soup and the vanilla foam made it a unique salad experience. The ahi tuna came with squid dumplings and seaweed. The tuna also had wasabi in the middle of the cut which gave it a good flavor. The tuna was excellent as well, I really liked the seaweed and the dumplings.

For dessert I had the chocolate cake, which I thought had a misleading name. Nine layer chocolate cake conjures images of a tall piece of cake, maybe 6-7 inches high. This was not that cake. Instead this was a short, long piece of cake and I'm sure there were nine layers in there somewhere, but it's not nearly as daunting as I thought it would be. It certainly tasted good, no doubt about that. Also with dessert Kyle and I each had a pour of Laphroaig 10 year scotch, which was better than the cake :)

Cosmos has delicious food and great service, both at the bar and at our table. However, I probably won't be back here anytime soon as the prices are higher than I like to spend on a meal (although we are going to trump Cosmos with our meal this coming weekend). I was glad to be able to try it out at a discount and I would recommend others do the same during restaurant week next year.

• Service: Great service, our server was awesome and the bartender was friendly.

• Food: The food tasted excellent and the presentation was particularly good.

• Drinks: Not sure what the beer list is like but they have several wine options and a full bar. Be prepared to spend some money though.

• Ambiance: Cosmos is a really cool looking place, very modern. The ambiance while we were there was muted, but I think that was only because it was not busy. We were easily the loudest table in the place.

• Price: Cosmos is expensive. At normal prices you'll be looking at $50 per person, just for food.

• Convenience: Located in the graves 601 hotel. They validate parking at two nearby lots, which is nice, and there are buses that can get you there.

Erin's Review
Thank you to the few and the proud that responded to our Restaurant Week poll! We ended up choosing Cosmos based on the value of their restaurant week menu, and I think we made a great choice! I figured this would be the type of place Kate and Kyle would enjoy as well, so we invited them along for the ride. Kate blogged about the experience here. I made reservations on opentable for Wednesday night about a week and a half prior to our night out, and it seemed like most of the RW places were wide open - I wonder how the turnout was for other places?

As a happy coincidence, this ended up being a celebration dinner for me, as earlier that day, I received an offer (and accepted!) for a new job within my company! I'm glad that happened for a multitude of reasons, but for that night it at least semi justified what ended up being a pretty expensive dinner :)

We got there a little before 6, and as Ben mentioned, the place was totally and completely empty, including the bar. This was odd, but luckily a few others trickled in while we waited for Kate and Kyle to accidentally go to Chambers instead of Cosmos :) They got there at about 6:10 or so and thank god, the host hadn't given away our table :)

The menu that was on the MSP Magazine website for Cosmos was very simple, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the menu choices were actually the same as the normal menu and not watered down versions due to the lower price. I chose the arugula salad, duck with optional side of foie gras, and the chocolate cake. Our waitress was great - it took us awhile to stop talking long enough to examine the menu so she had to come back several times. She seemed to enjoy having the entertainment though.

We got bread right away, which was warm and nutty flavored. The waitress brought out more after we finished one basket (probably not necessary, but much appreciated). The amuse bouche came out - it had something to do with salmon tartar and was fresh tasting and a good start to the meal.

The arugula salad was pretty standard - I really like arugula, blue cheese, candied nuts, and pears so obviously I was going to like this salad. I thought the presentation of the salad was beautiful. I had one bite of Ben's salad and enjoyed the creaminess of the lobster and the beet flavor. Both choices were wonderful.

After the salad, we each got a shot of lingonberry explosion (I think) which I thought was an actual egg :) Yeah, I don't go to fancy restaurants too often. I was very glad to hear that it was just a little fruit juice that somehow had a skin around it, making it resemble an egg. This was very refreshing.

The duck came out done medium, as I requested. The main course was very rich, with the fatty duck, sweet potatoes, duck confit and porcini cake. Throw in a side of seared foie gras and I could barely sleep that night from being so full. It was all worth it though :) The foie gras was buttery and delicious. Not sure I'll order it often, but I'm glad I tried it. It was almost too big of a portion for me to even finish. Kate has a great photo of it here.

At this point, obviously I was stuffed, but I still powered through to finish the 9 layer chocolate mousse cake. I thought this cake was the perfect size - I was very glad it wasn't as huge as you'd imagine a 9 layer cake to be. The cocoa puff crisps on top were an interesting change, and that in combination with the cake and the chocolate ice cream created what might be my perfect dessert.

These came out after desesrt. Because we hadn't eaten enough.

This was quite an expensive meal with the pre-dinner martinis, glass of wine for me during dinner, and glass of scotch after dinner for Ben, so I'm very glad we came during Restaurant Week. We have so many fancy restaurants on our list that I don't know if we'll be back to Cosmos, but it is a great choice for an amazing dinner downtown. The ambiance is modern and cool, and it gets pretty crowded on weekends (so I hear at least) so it would have a good vibe.

Deets
Cosmos
601 1st Avenue North
Minneapolis

Craftsman

Visited on Friday, July 18th with Jamie, Daniel, Leigh, and little George :)

Erin's Review
I wanted to set up another dinner with my coworkers, and Jamie said she had been wanting to try Craftsman. Since her and Leigh live in the neighborhood, it seemed like a good choice.

When we got there, it was not busy at all - most of the inside was empty, and the outside had a few empty tables but was more crowded than the indoor seating since it was a beautiful night. I really enjoyed the outdoor area, it was surprisingly tranquil for being right on Lake Street.

I had looked at the menu in advance and noticed that it was pretty expensive. All of the entrees with meat were over $20, or sandwiches were around $12 which seemed more reasonable. The waiter was giving his recommendations and he said the Gnocchi was good so I made the last second decision to go with that. I know that these prices aren't exorbitant, but for $18 for a plate of pasta and veggies, I'm expecting greatness.

We started off with the meat plate which was fun to try. I think I tried all of the meats, including the pig fat, and I liked most of them. I also had gotten a cheese plate for myself, the Uplands Farm Pleasant Ridge Reserve, which was quite tasty especially with the meat plate. It had a bit of a bite to it but was not overpowering. I really enjoyed the mustard on the meat plate as well, and I'm not typically a mustard fan.

My entree was pretty disappointing. The gnocchi were cooked well, and seemed to be pan fried a little which added a little crisp. Overall though, it was very bland. I expected more of a cheese flavor from the sauce I think, and it just wasn't there. Others tried the dish as well and no one was wowed.

I had a bite of Ben's burger and I thought it was very good and a much better value. Daniel and Jamie also got burgers. Leigh got the polenta, which basically tasted like butter. I didn't try her dessert, but it looked pretty.

I am finding it hard to really "recommend" or not recommend some of the places we go to. I certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from going to Crafstman, but I personally would not return because I feel there are a lot of other restaurants at this level that are a better value or food that I enjoy more.

Ben's Review
Erin made plans to have dinner with the same friends that we ate with at Moscow on the Hill on Friday night. Craftsman was convenient for everyone, so we planned to meet at 6:30.

While Erin took pictures out front I went inside to see if anyone had already arrived. Since I walked in alone the hostess tried to convince me that I was there to meet a single woman who had already arrived, but I explained that I was already with a group of six, but I appreciated her effort :) Leigh, Jamie, and Dan were already sitting outside on the patio. The patio at Craftsman is its most redeeming quality, I think. Even though the restaurant is on Lake St. the tall privacy fence gives the patio an intimate feel that is tough to accomplish on a busy street. Several tables on the patio are also covered by a large gazebo (I don't know what to call this, look at the photo) that gives the patio some shade which was great on the Friday night.

Even though I recently decided to cut back on ordering drinks when we go out, I made the executive decision to have a beer. The soda was $2 and there were tap beers for $4 so I figured I could fudge it tonight. Don't judge me, it was Friday night and I wanted a GD beer. I had a Rush River Bubblejack IPA. Immediately after ordering I realized I was thinking that it was Rush River Amber Ale, which is much better than the IPA, but it was too late. The IPA is still pretty good, I was taken care of.

The food menu at Craftsman has a lot of big words that I don't recognize, many of which I assumed mean "not meat", so I went with the bacon wrapped venison burger, there's no way that burger didn't have meat on it, so I knew I was safe. Everyone else who got a sandwich ordered the small green salad instead of fries - not me, that night I was getting beer and I was getting fries. I knew that deep down they all WANTED fries, which was confirmed to me when Jamie wanted to try some of mine. They have several entrees on the menu, but the price jumps from ~$15 for a burger/sandwich to like $25 for an entree that I had a hard time justifying. Heck, even Erin's entree of potato filled gnocchi was $18 - and there was no meat involved.

We all ordered a meat platter (Charcuterie plate) to share as an appetizer that came with several different kinds of meat. They also gave us some bread, so the idea was to take a small piece of meat and put it on the bread with butter, I guess. It was pretty good, there was a fancy looking bologna thing that looked gross but actually tasted good. I didn't try the bread with a thin layer of pig fat on it. Dan finished that off though, no worries.

My venison burger came done medium as ordered. The burger was about a third of a pound and had crumbled bleu cheese in addition to the bacon. The burger itself was pretty good, as I would expect from a $13 cheeseburger. You can tell a burger is good if the bottom of the bun gets soggy as it sits on your plate as the juice gets soaked up. For this reason I usually cut the burger in half and then turn it upside down, as the top bun of the burger is always thicker than the bottom and won't get soggy. The fries were good, they looked like they were sweet potato fries but I think they were just brown in color because they were cooked a little longer. Good consistency and grease content, and they gave me plenty of them, which I appreciated.

Leigh ordered dessert that she shared with everyone, but I was pretty full to begin with and I'm not much of a dessert guy anyways, so I held off. We had a great time going out with Erin's co-workers and the patio at Craftsman is excellent.

• Service: Our server was great, he was down to earth and cool.
  
• Food: My burger was great, and I tried Erin's gnocchi which was also good.
  
• Drinks: They have some good beers at Craftsman, I'm always partial to tap beers. They also have a full bar and some specialty drinks.
  
• Ambiance: The patio is fantastic on a summer night. The brief time I was inside looked nice as well; they have bright hardwood floors and bar, can't go wrong.
  
• Price: I thought Craftsman was a little overpriced. The food was good, but I think you pay a little more because everything is organic and homemade, etc. So as long as you don't mind paying for that it's not a big deal, but I'd rather save a couple bucks.
  
• Convenience: There's a small parking lot in back, otherwise there is on street parking in the neighborhoods behind the restaurant.

Deets
Craftsman
4300 Lake St
Minneapolis

Recommended for the outdoor patio and sandwiches. Entrees are a little overpriced.

The Sample Room

Visited on Monday, April 14th

Ben's Review
We went to Northeast Mpls right after work on Monday - Erin was going to take some pics since it was a nice day before we went to eat. The Sample Room is on Marshall, across the street from a residential area, its kind of all by itself, there aren't any other commercial buildings nearby, I don't think. The building is one of those old buildings you come across in Northeast, with the really high ceilings that have patterns carved in them, its almost worth going just to check out the space.

We knew it was half price wine bottles on Mondays even though we didn't see that on their website, I called ahead to confirm (its also half price on Sundays). We went with the Heartland Shiraz from Australia, on the menu it was spelled "Heartand" which I thought was a little strange, but I went out of my way to NOT pronounce the "L" in Heartland because I didn't want to look like an idiot, but as is the case most of the time, I felt a little dumb when the bottle came out WITH the "L". Whatever.

The wine was good, I'm not much of a wine drinker so I'm not that picky. For dinner we decided to try the Grand Sample Platter Combo, which is a sample plate from each of the vegetable, seafood, meat, and cheese menus. Going with the Grand Combo also gets you $3 off of the total. We choose the braised pork ribs, asparagus, seared tuna, and the chefs selection of cheese. I also ordered a cup of cream of onion soup.

The soup was pretty good, I liked the flavor a lot but the onions were a little soggy. I finished it before she could even come to check on us though, so I'd recommend it. When the food came out I was a little disappointed in the serving sizes - each item was pretty small, but I guess that's why its called the sample room. The cheese, tuna, and asparagus were really good, I think I actually liked the cheese and asparagus the best which is out of character for me. I especially liked the sauce that came on the asparagus, a balsamic drizzle, it was tasty. The ribs were dry and tough and didn't seem like they had been cooked fresh, as if they were just warmed up or something.

For dessert we got a Baileys Irish cream cheesecake and a flight of port. I'd never tried port before and it doesn't smell great, but it tastes surprisingly sweet. We got three, two ounce glasses to try, it was fun to watch Erin try to smell it without gagging. I think the dessert was the best part of the meal between the delicious cheesecake and the port. The port was $8.50, reasonable for trying something for the first time.

The ratings for The Sample Room

• Service: Our server was really attentive, prompt, and friendly.
  
• Food: The food was good, I wish the portions were a little bigger - and stay away from the pork ribs.
  
• Drinks: Pretty good wine list, from what I could tell, and they have a decent selection of pretentious beers on tap. No cheap beers on tap however, only in bottles.
  
• Ambiance: Aside from an annoying woman with the horse laugh dining that night, this place is cool, it is one big room in a well designed, old building.
  
• Price: I expected the tab to be a lot higher than the $64 it ended up being. It helped that it was half off the bottle of wine.
  
• Convenience: They have a parking lot and there's plenty of parking on the street since there's no other businesses nearby.

Erin's Review
Everyone that I talked to about Sample Room said great things about it - as with many other places on our list, this place comes with a lot of recommendations. There were a few things that I knew I wanted to try: the asparagus, based on co-worker Amy's recommendation, and the tuna, based on Nicki's recommendation. We decided to go on Monday night because of the half priced bottles of wine - a lot of times this can be only the house wines, or just a few of the cheaper bottles, but in Sample Room's case, it was the whole wine list which I thought was great.

I let Ben picked the wine, he picked the Heartland Shiraz which I really liked. It had a twist off cap so it probably wasn't really a good wine. Who knows. We sure don't. As Michael Scott would say, this wine had a real oakey afterbirth.

(Bread that came out - I noticed on the menu that they charge for a second basket...)

For food, we did the 4 sample plates. You don't have to pick one from each category, I don't think (as Ben says above) I'm pretty sure you can just get 4 of whatever off of any of the sample plates. I'm not really sure what Ben was expecting when it said "small sample plates" but I thought the portion sizes were fine - they are supposed to be small. I was not really full after eating my half of the meal. I would recommend getting a starter. I didn't because I knew I wanted dessert, and since I passed 25 my metabolism has slowed to the point where I unfortunately can't eat EVERYTHING I want. Sad.

By far my favorite was the cheese. It was the chefs special - which that night was a Crucolo cheese. I think this would be a very crowd pleasing cheese - it doesn't have any odd flavors or aftertastes. I also really liked the asparagus - it was crunchy and was flavored perfectly with salt and the balsamic sauce - VERY good! I'm glad Amy recommended this to me - I would have never chosen it on my own. The tuna was good too - the best part about it was the wasabi aioli that came with it. I did not like the ribs at all - they were very tough.

I chose the Bailey's Irish Creme Cheesecake for dessert - this was delicious. I did not like the port. It actually tasted better than it smelled, but it didn't taste good enough for me to ever want to order it again!

The Sample Room is a very beautiful restaurant. I think pressed tin ceilings must be all the rage now because they seem to be at every place we go. This one seemed particularly nice. I also liked the huge windows in the front. I would love to go back to try more of the dishes there - some of the entrees and other sample plates looked very good.

(One of the ceiling tiles)

Deets

The Sample Room
2124 Marshall Street
Minneapolis

Highly recommended for the food, atmosphere, and cheap(er) wine on Sunday and Monday nights!