We had made a reservation on Open Table and we were seated immediately. We both really liked the look and feel of the long narrow building. Lots of dark wood and brick. The interior is much larger than I would have guessed.
I started off with the Minneosta Mule, which is vodka, lime juice and ginger beer. I really liked it as it was quite light and refreshing. My friend had a glass of wine to drink.
I started with the green goddess salad. Oh my goodness, this salad was divine. The menu simply said blue prawn, avocado, bibb lettuce, spicy bread crumbs, but this salad was so much more. I think the prawns were marinated in lemon or lime juice and they had wonderful flavor. There was even some seafood mixed in with the avocado. I don't even think there was any dressing on this salad, but when you got some of the avocado, prawns and crunchy breadcrumbs all in one bite, it was so flavorful that it did not need additional dressing.
Steph said the house salad was awesome, one of the best wedge salads she's had. The homemade buttermilk dressing was great as well as the fresh tomatoes. She said she does not normally eat cucumbers, but because they were cut so thinly (rather than the thick wedges you normally get), they tasted great. I had some of this salad as well and the bleu cheese dressing was so rich and creamy, with just the right amount of zing from the bleu cheese.
I ordered the mac and cheese with king crab. This was really tasty, with perfectly cooked pasta, however I felt like there was not much crab in the dish. Steph liked the fact that is was light on crab, since she is not big on seafood. So it depends on what you like I guess.
Steph ordered the steak and potatoes and she thought it was awesome and a large portion of food. The steak was cooked as ordered. There was gremolata on the steak, which I just learned is lemon, garlic and parsley. The dish also came with bone marrow to put on the toast. Steph did not want to try it, so I did. I'd never had bone marrow before either and it was sort of like spreading butter on toast with a slightly more gelatinous consistency. I'm not sure I was crazy about it actually. Maybe it is an acquired taste. The toast was excellent too...very thick. The portion of the potatoes was perfect, not too many.
For dessert we ordered the doughnuts. The dessert was very good too, as most desserts are. They did not have any chocolate items on the dessert menu that I noticed, and since I am a chocolate addict, I like to usually see something that screams choclate. Even though we had doughnuts for dessert, which might sound heavy to some, I thought they were kind of refreshing with the pistatshio ice cream and the chai glaze sauce we poured on them.
We both thought the portions of each course were perfect. Not too much and not too small. We walked out feeling very full, but not stuffed. All of the food was so beautifully presented that I felt bad having to destroy it to eat it! The menu descriptions were very vague and did not elaborate on the items very much so when everything arrived we were surprised by the elaborate look of the food.
The service was very good. We were never left waiting for anything since she seemed to check back at just the right times without hovering. The service felt somewhat casual, especially when you compare it to the nice room and the beautiful food. I think that is what they are shooting for here, a modern fine dining experience that doesn't feel stuffy, and I think it works. It made me think that you could come by anytime, not just for special occasions, though some of the prices are in special occasion territory, they have other items that are less expensive.
We really enjoyed our Haute Dish experience. We were seated in the back near the kitchen so we could see a lot of the different dishes as they were finishing them and sending them out. Great scenery! I look forward to going back soon.
Haute Dish
119 Washington Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55401
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sounds yummy!!!
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