Against the Grain

Ahead of her family's arrival and my impending trip to Florida, the Baroness and I went out on a school night and feasted at downtown Saint Paul's A Rebours, which means "Against the Grain," I believe.

Glorious food! We drank cosmopolitans to start. (They were served with a rather refreshing twist of lemon zest.) We ate micro greens with goat cheese and blood orange slices. We ate steak diane and rack of lamb. We drank a gorgeous bottle of Jean Louis Chave Saint-Joseph--98% syrah, and with an acidity that evaporated shortly after pouring...I was stunned to taste wine that really did seem to open up; I'd thought that was just silly wine talk.

(Later, I realized that Chuck from Solo Vino was seated at the table next to us. Perhaps he sells some wine to A Rebours?)

And we finished it off by splitting a slice of ginger cake served with a raisin compote and a bit of lemon-buttermilk ice cream.

Dear god. Food like that....A Rebours was a wonderful experience. The server was intimidating in her knowledge of the wine list and the intricasies of the food (though we did wonder if her take on the "bacteria" argument revolving around fresh vs. farmed salmon was actually a miscue and she'd intended to say "mercury level"). The food was filling in that way that really well-prepared, well-presented, really really good food is--it sneaks up on you. You think you're eating a small portion. You eat slow. You talk too much. You cover your mouth when you laugh because there are other people trying to have conversations around you. You take another few bites. Suddenly, you know you've had too much. How did I get so full on what seems to be so little?

A wonderful night. And it afforded some photo opps later on...

The Jaded Scientists





Trying to Be Jaded



Never Jaded