Restaurant Club - Barbette!

Barbette was our first stop on my new Restaurant Club adventure. Being the food freak that I am, and having so many places in the cities that I still wanted to try, I decided to make a point out of going to some of them once per month with my friends. Hence, Restaurant club. You’ll have something to look forward to now if you live in the Twin Cities. Check back often to see where I’ve been going!

If you didn’t catch the hint from the name, Barbette is a French Restaurant located in Uptown. Let’s just say I wasn’t as organized as I wanted to be in scheduling our first night out, and only 3 of us made it out. In actuality, 3’s a pretty good number anyhow – no need for reservations and easy to try a few things and share! We made it in time for happy hour (just by the skins of our teeth) and ordered up 2 appetizers – or as Barbette called them “Amusements” – so cute. First on the menu was a cheese and fruit plate and pommes frites. If you’re going to go French, you must get French Fries (aka pomme frites – spoken “pom freet”). These were served with saffron aioli (think mayo dipping sauce) and were delicious. I couldn’t stop eating them. Then as for the cheese plate, it wasn’t anything extraordinary, but still better than if I made it. I think the trick to their cheese plate was A) the chef knew exactly what cheeses were the best when it came to brie and bleu cheese, and B) they were served at room temperature, which elevates the flavors so much more. The fruit, well, it was fruit. Still tasty between bites, oh and I should mention the cheese was meant to be eaten on slices of French bread – much better than crackers.

When it came to the main course, we decided to share 2 dishes since we were slightly full and were hesitant to spend $30 on a main course. Our choices were a slow-roasted pork shoulder served on a black truffle creamed corn confit with grilled spring onion and the second item was roasted kadejan chicken over succotash. I just googled "kadejan" and it's a local type of chicken in minnesota...good to know. As you can tell, we played it somewhat safe - my boy toy isn’t too adventurous when it comes to seafood, so we had limited choices when it came to dinner. Otherwise, I would have gone for the sole or steak. Funny enough, the chicken was highly recommended, but we ended up enjoying the pork the most. It was devilishly tender and the hint of truffle in the corn was ooh so yummy – I knew it was a luxury to have. The funny thing about going out and trying more and more restaurants is that I sit here and laugh at myself for the words I choose to use when describing food. Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be saying “devilishly,” “balanced,” or “elevated”. I’m sure I sound like a you-know-what, but suddenly my years of watching food network and top chef have slipped into my every day lingo. I can’t help it. And I’m doing it for you anyways. If it rubs off, I’m sorry. It’s not my intention to have you sound like a pain in the ass at your next social event. :) If you were hanging out with me, we’d be cool together.

The price for our meal at Barbette was a little high - it was good thing we got happy hour prices because the pork was $26 and the chicken was $24. With a few drinks, our bill for 3 was $80+. I have to say that you have to be up for an adventure and spending a little cash if you try out Barbette. Overall, I'd give it a 4 out of 5.