The Rake Magazine

Tag: new year’s eve

  • Where to Dine on New Year's Eve – Part II

    Still haven’t decided where to go for New Years Eve? Besides
    the usual suspects, and the places I wrote about last week in Part I the options range from free champagne and hors d’oeuvres at
    midnight at the new Driftwood Char Bar, three- and five-course options at First Course, and a seven-course gastronomic blowout
    at North Coast in Wayzata.

    The Driftwood
    recently opened in the former Westrum’s Tavern space at 44th and
    Nicollet Ave. S., Minneapolis, which closed last spring after the city pulled its liquor license.
    The new joint seemed to have some of the same spirit and clientele, but a
    mellower mood. Flyers at the Driftwood promise complimentary champagne and hors d’oeuvres at midnight, but if you want something more substantial, you can order ff the menu, which sticks to basic tavern fare: burgers, sandwiches, chicken wings, home-cut
    French fries, and a first-rate homemade macaroni and cheese ($5.25, with a side of steamed broccoli). Driftwood Char Bar, 612-354-3402.

    The menu at North Coast starts with five courses for $55,
    including poached cold water lobster tail, with braised artichoke and rapini
    ratatouille; mushroom and fresh ricotta "cheesecake;" Thai curry glazed king
    salmon with coconut seared spaghetti squash; prime Angus filet mignon, and a dark
    chocolate crème brulee, but if you really want to put on the dog, you can add
    the flight of five selected wines for $25, and optional courses of American
    Sevruga caviar and Schramsberg blanc de noir champagne ($35), and an intermezzo
    of French foie gras medallion with pear
    flambé and ice wine reduction ($20). If that’s a little too rich for your
    blood, a limited selection from the North Coast’s regular menu will be
    available a la carte (entrees $16-$34).
    North Coast, 294 E. Grove Lane, Wayzata, 952-475-4960.

    The three course prix-fixe at First Course starts with Norwegian smoked salmon wih frisee and salmon roe; followed by Thousand Hills short ribs with tallegio potato gratin, and a chocolate trio of raspberry terrine, fallen cake and truffle for dessert – all for $40, plus $20 if you select the accompanying flight of three wine and glass of champagne. The five-course version, which costs $60, adds a carpaccio of foie gras with miso and Japanese truffle sauce, and braised pork belly with herbed polenta; add $30 more if you want the flight of five wines and champagne. Reservations recommended.
    First Course, 5607 Chicago Ave., Minneapolis, 612-825-6900.

  • Two Parties

    Most restaurant industry slaves refer to New Year’s Eve as "Amateur Night". Having worked plenty of NYE’s in past, I can’t say that I’m eager to go out and cram myself into a bar with a bunch of sweaty, drunk people. Have fun.

    I wouldn’t mind tucking into a cozy booth at a favorite restaurant, but we always seem to have too many revelers in our pack and no one can make a decision as to the best location.

    So it’s my house for the fest. But what manner of fest shall we have?

    Fancy Schmancy

    Part of me thinks it would be fun to do it up glam-style. I have a sassy black dress and shiny shoes (one of the benefits of hosting, never having to trudge through the snow in fabulously inappropriate footwear) that would do the trick. We’d prepare a spread of serious nosh: something in an escargot puff, a caviar treat, some foie possibly, maybe an oyster thing or two. There’d be Manhattans, natch, and likely a sake sangria. Low lights, music from Tao, good gossip and pretty people (we’re all pretty people in low light). Bubbly at midnight, no?

    Slippery Fun

    The other part of me thinks that it might be nice to hang low this year. We’d have a bunch of fun-lovers over for a little family skating/Boot Hockey (yes, the Hub built a rink in the backyard this year) starring a massive pot of chili. Maybe I’d sink a few growlers of Surly in the snow not far from the bonfire. Spiked cider, spiked cocoa, stick-roasted hot dogs for the little’uns and a slumber-pit for those who can’t make it to midnight. Toast in the year with Hot Toddies, and we’re all still pretty in firelight.

    EITHER WAY … there’s one thing that people who come to my house for NYE know and fear, the required shot of the evening to bring in luck for the new year:

    The Crazy Nikolashka

    Pour a healthy shot of whiskey (your choice). Take a half slice of lemon and remove the peel. On one half of lemon, pour a small mound of sugar, on the other half, pour a small mound of ground coffee. Throw the lemon in your mouth and chew vigorously. Swallow and chase with the whiskey. Glory be.

  • Where to Dine on New Year's Eve – Part I

    Monday night is cheap date night at the Bryant Lake Bowl –
    two soups or salads, two entrees, a bottle of wine, and two lines of bowling
    for $28. And since New Years Eve happens to fall on a Monday, they are offering
    a Not So Cheap Date Night – the same deal for $32, but with better than usual
    entrees and wine, and tablecloths on the table. They don’t take reservations
    for dinner, but you can guarantee yourself a seat if you reserve tickets for
    the Scrimshaw New Years Eve Spectacular, performed at 7 and 10:30 at the BLB
    Theater. The show, by perennial Fringe Festival favorites the Scrimshaw
    Brothers    , is billed as "comedy,
    music, dance, special surprise guests, and more broken resolutions than you can
    shake a Scrimshaw at!" The full BLB menu is available in the theater.
    There are some risks attached to sitting in the dark in a theater full of
    people who are eating and laughing at the same time, but heck, New Years Eve is
    the night to live on the edge. Showtimes are 7 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., and tickets
    are $20, or $15 with a Fringe Festival button. You can reserve tickets online by going to the BLB website, or by calling 612-825-8949.

    Bryant Lake Bowl, 810 W. Lake St., Minneapolis, 612-825-3737.

    At BLB’s sister restaurant, Barbette, new executive chef
    Sarah Master is raising the gastronomic level a notch or two with a selection
    of a la carte New Years Eve specials such as bison carpaccio with arugela and shaved pecorino ($9), red deer with cherry-vanilla demi-glace, glazed vegetables
    and mustard spaetzle ($27), and
    butter-poached lobster with asparagus, tarragon potato cakes and caviar crème
    fraiche ($35).

    Barbette, 1600 W. Lake St., Minneapolis, 612-827-5710.

    The very romantic Grand Café is offering a six-course prix
    fixe menu for $65, and a modified version for vegetarians for $10 less. The
    structure of the menus is the same, but the vegetarian agnolotti are stuffed
    with celeriac, while the carnivores get foie gras; the seafood course of diver
    scallops with lobster sauce is replaced by polenta with sweet carrot sauce, and
    while the meat eaters get with a potato and cepe pave, the vegetarians get the
    potato and cepe pave without accompanying animal flesh.

    Grand Cafe Minneapolis, 3804 Grand Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612-822-8260.

    Creating a menu that combines the spirit of a Northeast
    tavern with the structure of a five-course $65 French prix fixe menu isn’t easy, but the chef
    at the Sample Room has risen to the challenge: the first course offers choices
    such as country pate en croute with Cumberland sauce, (in lieu of meatloaf),
    and performing the role of bratwurst, a house-made maple chicken sausage.
    Entrees choices include a beef tenderloin, chicken breast stuffed with
    prosciutto, and striped sea bass with sautéed spinach and walnut butter sauce,
    but also a tavern classic – roast breast of turkey with brown gravy and butternut
    squash puree.

    The Sample Room, 2124 Marshall St. N.E., Minneapolis, 612-789-0333.