Sacramentals? Sacrametroids?
Yes, the possibilities are nigh on endless.
Whatever you choose to call yourself, this particular Sacramendicant availed himself of the Dine About Town this past Monday night. $30 for a 3-course meal at any of several restaurants. I wandered by Ella round about noonish, and asked the perky hostess if I could get a reservation for that evening.
“Sorry, we’re all booked up. We’ve got a waiting list…what time would be good for you?
“You know, I’ll take any time. I’m easy like that.”
“All right. I’ll put you down for “Any time!!!!”
Yes, she did actually give me four sassy exclamation points on the reservation sheet.
That was obviously the key, for when I called back around 1:30, the answerer told me, “Four exclamation points, eh? I guess we’ll have to fit you in. 5pm or 7:45?”
I went with later.
I got there at 7:00 on the nose to find…
…the place pleasantly crowded. Not Mikuni-on-a-Saturday crowded, but just enough to make me feel like I was a pretty happening guy. My date wasn’t going to be there for a bit, so I settled into the lounge area to the left of the door and dove into a Hendricks martini. It took a while to get to me, as only one bartender was working, but boy was it tasty. They must have triple-paned the windows, because I barely noticed Light Rail rumbling by not thirty feet away.
The decor is Nouveau Something, with a marble bar in the middle, and reclaimed window shutters on the ceiling and walls. Brown, green, red…all the typical antique colors, but I have to ask: Why no umber, Ella? Eh? Eh? Eh?
Promptly at 7:45, the hostess rambled over and showed us to our table against the far wall. We ogled the main menu for kicks, and decided that, since there were two choices for each course on the prix fixe menu, we’d just get one of everything.
We began with a $4 appetizer plate of olives of all shapes and sizes. They were uniformly excellent, and were a good way to get our juices flowing.
My salad was delectable, with crunchy crisp fresh greens and a really piquant dressing that didn’t overpower the flavor of the rabbit food. L$’s squash soup was a powerhouse in itself, rich and smooth.
Our waiter was a bit obsequious, referring fairly often to his “assistant”: “I’ll have my assistant bring you some water. I’ll have my assistant refill your glass.” Okay, dude, I understand you’re high on the waiter food chain.
Then the unthinkable happened: I emptied my water glass, and it remained empty for a solid four minutes, three of those minutes after an “I’ll have my assistant fill that right up.” It’s a small thing, but at a place with the Selland reputation for flawlessness, it stuck out like a sore thumb. When I inquired about it to the assistant, he let me in on the 411: “We’re down three people tonight.” Fair enough.
My pasta with ragout was phenomenal, and complemented my $9 glass of Cotes-du-Rhone quite nicely. The wine list as a whole is rather intimidating, but there are several affordable bottles, and many glasses that won’t make a state worker cringe.
L$’s mahi-mahi was, quite honestly, a little underwhelming. It had been cooked a bit long, and didn’t have the freshness or texture of a good mahi-mahi cut. The bed of pureed radish and carrots was quite excellent–not enough to make up for the blah fish, but very yummy.
Finally, dessert. I dug into the brownie with chocolate chip ice cream, and she had three scoops of coffee. I wish I had a picture of her face after that first bite–it was like she had been touched by the hand of Juan Valdez: “Now *that* is some coffee ice cream!” She was right. Easily the best coffee ice cream I’ve had, and this is in an extensive, storied career of coffee ice cream eating.
The brownie was nicely sized, and I had to actively refrain from licking the plate. Despite the preponderance of politicos hammering away on Blackberries, there are still some standards that must be maintained.
Great stuff, and the total bill was less than a Benjamin. Dork that I am, I compared the meal we got with the prix fixe against the menu prices of individual items. We saved maybe $5 per person. The thing to remember is that on prix fixe nights, they’re not offering the filet mignon or the braised rabbit. I had a $15 entree, an $8 salad, and I’m guessing the dessert might have been around $8-$9. It’s not quite the super deal that is advertised.
On the other hand, it’s a great reason to get out and support local, non-chain dining. Randall Selland is continuing his expansion of high-quality meals with high-quality ingredients, and it’s a blessing to have this sort of restaurant in Downtown. If they can nail down the service and get their fish off the grill a bit quicker, this is another triumph.
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Great write up - and welcome back!
I’ll have to ask a friend of ours what night she went to Ella because supposedly, when she went this week and asked for the fixed price they said “oh, that’s over.” She said, no it’s not. But they said yeah.
Oh well.
Dude you gotta write more restaurant(or anything else) reviews. That was pretty in-depth and fun to read. Great write up.
I always wondered about the lightrail and if it disturbs the diners and residents in that building. I guess when they charge that much, it shouldn’t.