Tenant XV (Minneapolis)

Only about two days late, here is this week’s Twin Cities dining report. It covers dinner at one of our favourite restaurants in the metro, Tenant. In the last iteration of my Twin Cities Fine Dining Rotation I had them in the “Several Times a Year” tier along with Alma. However, this was only our first dinner there this year. This is partly because of all our/my travels in the spring and summer and partly because Tenant had gone into a different mode during the ICE siege of the Twin Cities, doing not their usual six-course menu surprise but functioning as a soup kitchen of sorts, feeding their community at whatever price people were able to pay. Since the summer they’ve retooled and returned to their normal format, but not exactly to what it was before. In place of the six-course menu they now do a four-course menu. You still won’t know what each course comprises till it reaches you at the counter or a table. In terms of the amount of food it appears to be the same as it was before. This menu costs $75/head and includes service. They also now have an optional set of supplements, served before, between and as add-ons to courses that adds on an additional $35/head. And there’s still an optional wine pairing as well at $45. Here’s how it all looked at our dinner just about two weeks ago.

We arrived a little before 8 pm on a Saturday and were by greeted by the genial Grisha Hammes. We had two of the six seats at the counter. Once the people in the seats next to us arrived it was a full house and service began. We were intrigued by the supplement option and opted to get it. And so, the meal, in the order it was presented to us:

Supplement 1: Caviar Parfait: caviar, miso yogurt, pickled cucamelon, red currant, lemon agrumato.

This was served in a tiny goblet/cup with a small spoon. It was a lovely and bracing start to the meal, though I have to say the caviar/roe didn’t make the hugest impression and that it was a bit difficult to eat the thing as the spoon was too large to go all the way in. But turning the cup over into your open mouth will take care of that problem.

Course 1: Melon Crudo: compressed watermelon, pickled beets, melon molasses, cucumber frisee, mint, herb vinaigrette

This was our favourite course of the night, with just perfect textural interplay between all the elements (which included salmon atop the compressed watermelon) and excellent balance of sweet, acidic and bitter elements.

Course 2: Brandade Ravioli: salt cod potato filled ravioli, mussel soubise sauce, grilled and poached fish, pomodoro sauce with olives and cornichons, swiss chard, grilled radish

This course featured a number of elements but we thought it added up to less than the sum of the parts, which were on their own all rather good. I might have enjoyed the ravioli more with just the pomodoro sauce or just the fish with the mussel soubise.

Supplement 2: Veal Tataki: nori, cucumber, radicchio, fennel, green peppercorn vinaigrette.

Served a la maki, this was rather good, though I thought it connected better to the previous course than to the ravioli that preceded it.

Course 3: Braised Lamb: risotto, manchego cheese, mushroom conserva, squash and zucchini, mustard jus

Served with Supplement 3: Seared and glazed maitake mushrooms, scallop.

Once again many very tasty elements but it felt a bit like two different dishes on the same plate: the braised lamb and risotto, and the scallops and the maitake mushrooms. At any rate, it felt like there was a bit too much going on.

Citrus Slushy

The usual acidic palate cleanser before the dessert proper.

Dessert: Peach Custard: marshmallow whip, streusel

The usual fruit custard ending to dinners at Tenant. This was a little sweeter than most of their custards but was as perfectly executed as always.

Ah yes, wine. Grisha kindly gave me the option of a mini-wine pairing, with three pours adding up to a glass of wine (which is what I was charged for). The first pour, which accompanied the caviar parfait and the melon crudo was a very nice cremant (I failed to get a picture of the label). The second, which accompanied the second course and supplement was a fruity sauvignon blanc from the Loire valley. Finally, there was a very nice Cotes du Rhone to accompany the lamb. The missus opted to get just a single glass of wine and she got a glass of that lovely sauvignon blanc.

For a look at everything we ate and drank, launch the slideshow below. I apologize for the quality of the photographs. The restaurant was on the dim side that night and the mixed light—from outside, from the dining room, and from the kitchen—also played up hell with my white balance settings.

Scroll down after for thoughts on service, to see how much it all cost, and to see what’s coming next on the food front.

As you know if you’ve eaten at Tenant, there’s no separate front of house staff; the courses are brought out and described by the chefs themselves. At the counter you get a little more interaction with Grisha and it all adds up to a very nice experience. Cost? With the supplements and tax the total came to just short of $285. Again, this includes service.

All in all, it was an interesting meal, as all our dinners at Tenant have been. The meal did feel a bit disjointed, as I’ve noted, with two separate threads—caviar parfait–melon crudo–veal tataki and ravioli-risotto–that didn’t quite get bridged successfully for us. But the highs were very high and every plate had tasty components. At our next meal we’ll probably skip the supplements, however, despite having liked two of them very much at this meal. It did seem like it became a bit too much food. Your mileage will likely vary on all these fronts.

I’m not sure when that next meal will be. I’d like to go back again this year, but with our not having eaten out in the Cities much at all in the first half of the year, we do have a number of places on our list that we want to get (back) to. We’ll be at one of those places tonight: Myriel. That dinner will be covered in my next Twin Cities report next week. Before that I’ll have reports from Seoul, Delhi and Bombay. And a booze review on Monday.