Bellecour

John and I visited Bellecour recently. He had not been yet and I was more than willing to go back. I'd managed to get a reservation just the day before. Must have been a cancellation or something. It's worth keeping an eye on openings even if they are booked.

I don't have much to add since the last visit, but I wanted to share the photos of the food so we can remember what we ordered.

 seasonal sidecar and winter cup cocktails

 shrimp cocktail

 endive salad

 We both had the hanger steak.

 hanger steak and béarnaise 

My coat check ticket to hold the leftovers until it was time to go. That's a new one!

hazelnut profiteroles 

The service was excellent once more and the food was very enjoyable as well. I'd like to return for brunch sometime. The menu looks wonderful.

Here's a link to my first visit to Bellecour:
http://whereshouldwegomsp.blogspot.com/2017/09/bellecour.html


Bellecour
739 Lake St E
Wayzata, MN 55391
Phone: (952) 444-5200
https://bellecourrestaurant.com/

Parlour Bar

John has been on a bit of a burger quest lately, so we decided to check out Parlour bar for dinner recently. Their burger has been on the best of lists for a few years now.

The burger is ground chuck, ribeye and brisket topped with white American cheese. It really is a delicious, juicy burger worth the hype.

We also had an order of fries. Decent, plentiful fries for sure.

We also got the tuna topped with carpaccio, Kalamata olive, pickled mustard, pepper, chive and rye crisp. The tuna was cut, very, very thin and the olive overpowered any flavor of the fish. I didn’t love this combination.

The seating is just open seating, either at the bar or at tables around the room. There is no host or hostess on duty. So seating gets a bit chaotic and competitive.  They have an excellent cocktail list, but I totally forgot to take photos of our beverages. The service was fine, nothing memorable, but perfectly acceptable.

 

Parlour bar
730 N Washington Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Phone: (612) 354-3135
https://www.parlourbar.com

Bellecour

Stephanie and I visited Bellecour in Wayzata. We did Spoon and Stable last year and we were very excited to have another Gavin Kaysen restaurant in the western suburbs. I made a reservation well in advance, but it was not too difficult to find openings.

We arrived slightly before our reservation and were seated right away, as it was a very early reservation. Our server was Ricardo and he did a great job even though he also had a large group next to us, though we found the service became pretty slow toward the end of our visit.

We started with drinks and Stephanie had the Beach Bum, a rum cocktail. The lime on top was flaming on arrival. Super cool touch. I think I had the Daily.

Bread basket. Fresh, warm French bread.

Our first appetizer was the tuna nicoise. It had a nice citrus flavor in addition to the fresh fish. Simple, yet a bit complex.

We also shared the chilled shrimp. The garlic aioli was a nice option to the cocktail sauce.

Stephanie’s entrée was the short rib on the bone with mushrooms duxelles and sauce au poivre. The meat was very tender and flavorful.

I had the halibut with peas. It basically tasted like spring and the fish was very light and delicious.

A side of pommes frites with ketchup and garlic aioli. The aioli was great with the fries.

And since we both love dessert was both had to order one. I had the vanilla crème brulee. Plenty of actual vanilla beans in this!

And the chocolate opera cake with espresso butter cream and candied almonds. The hazelnut ice cream was very rich tasting.

We both enjoyed Bellecour a lot. It feels a bit more casual than Spoon and Stable, maybe as it is in the suburbs or near the lake. I'm not sure exactly why. The prices are definitely on the high end, but the quality of the food is very high and you won’t be disappointed.  The service could have been a touch better, but our server was helpful and friendly throughout. I look forward to going back. I think if you order carefully and left off a couple courses, the total bill could be kept lower. The bar would also be a nice option for a quick snack or drink.


Bellecour
739 Lake St E
Wayzata, MN 55391
Phone: (952) 444-5200
https://bellecourrestaurant.com/

The Depot Tavern

The Depot Tavern is located on the side of the First Avenue building and run by the same owners. We have dined here a few times now and I have never gotten around to doing a review somehow.

The room is pretty basic, but comfortable and clean. The service is always very efficient and the food is definitely elevated tavern fare. The menu has a nice variety with something for just about everyone.

John had the BLT, which is your standard BLT on brioche bread. He really liked the fries though. They are made freshly in house daily and very crisp with excellent potato flavor.

I had the buffalo chicken sliders with fries on the side. The buns were lightly toasted and the buffalo sauce was very good. Everything was freshly prepared.

We really enjoyed our food and found the prices to be in line with similar establishments in the area, and I feel the quality of the food is much higher with the Depot going above and beyond to elevate the bar fare to be higher quality than average. We enjoyed it once again and plan to return. It is a great option near Target Center, Target Field and First Avenue.


The Depot Tavern
17 N 7th St
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Phone: (612) 338-1828
https://thedepottavern.com

Fayze's - LaCrosse, WI - Trip Report

We visited LaCrosse, Wisconsin, with our friends Megan and Jason back in September for a short weekend getaway for Oktoberfest 2012. So this report is way overdue. We all used to go every year, but due to other obligations we've had to take a year off here and there. This year we arrived Thursday night after work and attended the Tapping of the Golden Keg on Friday morning at 11 am. Later that evening we decided to visit Fayze's to refuel. We've been here quite a few times before and it is always pretty decent food. And great Bloody Mary's according to everyone else in my party. I'm not into Bloody Mary's, except for the olives. I'll eat your olives if you need me to!

I had the fire grilled prime rib dipped in garlic butter. The dipping sounded better than it tasted. I should not have ordered it dipped. It was very overdone and chewy. Maybe it would have been overdone either way, but this may have made it worse. The baked potato was good at least. They have great dinner rolls in the bread basket too. And all dinners come with a small side salad to start. You really do get quite a bit of food for the money.

Megan had a steak, the sirloin I beleive. She said it was really good and cooked as ordered.

Both John and Jason had the Friday fish fry special with cod. They both said the fish was really good, very light and flaky. The fries were ok, just your typical frozen french fries.

Cheap ketchup. Is it really that expensive to buy Heinz ketchup?

Oktoberfest song book and 2012 program of events.

They are tapping the Golden Keg on stage. Lots of people in attendance this year!

We had a good time in LaCrosse and everyone except me had a good dinner at Fayze's. I'm sure we will return again on our next trip. Even though the food is a bit hit or miss, there are not many other choices in the downtown area anyway.

Fayze's

135 4th Street South  

La Crosse, WI 54601

www.fayzes.com/
(608) 784-9548

Devil's Advocate

I could make tons of jokes about balls since this place only serves meatballs, but I think they've already been done by everyone else so I will spare you my bad jokes. In reality, I followed the opening of Devil's Advocate this spring with a lot of interest. The concept sounded so interesting with the wide beer selection and the offbeat menu. I'm pretty tired of the standard sports bar fare anyway.

I ordered the two beef meatball sandwich with pomodoro sauce and provolone cheese on a baguette. I am pretty sure both of my meatballs were the pork meatballs though as they were a bit spicy with lots of fennel and garlic flavor. They were great and it was a great sandwich, but it was not what I had ordered. I was starving, so I just ate it and did not complain about it. And we did not figure it out until we had almost eaten everything anyway. I also loved the fries. They looked and tasted like hand cut fries. They were very crispy and not at all greasy.

John ordered the three meatball sandwich with pork meatballs and Sunday gravy sauce on a pretzel roll with a chopped salad on the side. It seemed like his sandwich had two beef meatballs inside and one pork meatball. So they mixed up his order with mine I guess. John liked his sandwich a lot as well. He liked the side salad option as it was a crunchy and fresh change from the heavy sandwich.

I wish I could recall what kind of beer we had, but I forgot to take a photo. Let me just say that they have a huge variety of beer on tap and something to please everyone. We had a great server who was very friendly and helpful and very prompt with everything. We were quite confused about all of the different menus they had on the table and she did a good job summarizing everything and suggesting combinations. We enjoyed our meal and would definitely return again.

Deals and Discounts: I had bought a Groupon for Devil's Advocate shortly after they opened and I got $30 certificate for $15, which was a good deal. They also offer a happy hour with some great beer and food specials.


Devil's Advocate

89 S 10th
Minneapolis, MN 55402
(612) 843-2260

http://www.devilsadvocatebar.com