So A and I went to Cafe Lurcat last night and before I forget all the delightful delicacies of the night, I wanted to get my thoughts down in cyberspace before I forgot. (Pictures to follow later...)
Cafe Lurcat is one of my favorites in the Twin Cities. Discovered almost one year ago to the day during a Restaurant Week outing, I introduced it to my group of friends and since then we have almost become CL regulars. It's an offspring of the D'Amico group here in Minneapolis, and they have never failed to deliver on quality and upscale cuisine.
Brother Richard D'Amico has a background in architecture and it shows. With the talent of his artful eye, he put together Cafe Lurcat in the heart of Downtown Minneapolis tucked in a nook overlooking Loring Park and the Walker Art Center. Every time I've been, it's been pleasantly crowded, and the open kitchen, exposed brick and high ceilings give it a grandiose yet comfortable atmosphere. The bar in the wing of the cafe is vibrant and lively, but A and I much prefer the cafe which is further back (seating about 75 is my guess), with it's dim lighting and much quieter noise level. There are huge windows so you have a great view of the evening landscape, and we were enthralled in watching the kitchen prepare each one of our dishes.
Brother Larry D'Amico graduated from Ohio State (go Bucks!) and runs the culinary and operations sides of things. Together, these two are a fearless pair and have done wonders for the Twin Cities restaurant scene.
Restaurant week has never failed to delight me at CL. I actually went last week with my friends and since they extended their restaurant week menu to become a month, I took A last night because I wanted him to see what all the fuss was about :) We shared a huge sampling of yummy food, and left happy and very very full.
First up: Course 1
Apple Cheese and Chive Salad
This one is one of my favorite salads by far. I get it every single time without fail when I visit CL and have thought about making it once upon a time (but I must say my knife skills are not quite up to par yet). It's a mixture of granny smith apples, manchengo cheese and finely diced chives. Add a little citrus to the mix to keep the apples from browning, and you've got a wonderfully juicy salad. Light and healthy too. Just when you bite into the crispy crunch of the 'shoe stringed' apples, you get the creamy sharpness of manchengo to complement. And the aftertaste of the chives lingers. Yum. Bonus feature: When we ordered, we mentioned to the waitress that we were going to split everything. She brought us each dish split up into two plates and let me tell you, the portions were bigger. I swear we each got our own salad for the price of one. Score!
Lurcat Crab Cake
CL knows how to make a good crab cake. With a hearty helping of fresh crab meat, you could really taste the freshness of the shredded good stuff. Plus, they put enough seasonings (cumin, red bell pepper, salt, a little cayenne) to add lots of bold flavor without really making it too salty (as can often go wrong with a crab cake). They lightly seared it to a golden brown giving it a good top and bottom crunchiness which was frankly, my most favorite part of the crab cake. Layered with some parsley as a garnish and a remoulade (that's a new term for me that we looked up thanks to my fun food dictionary from Jen: a French sauce made of mayonnaise and mustard very much the "french" tartar sauce and works well with pairings of seafood, just more refined in taste. All in all, I'd give it an A.
Next up: Course 2
Berkshire Pork Tenderloin with ham Hock Glaze and Artisian Cheddar Grits
Funny enough, I got the exact same dish when I went to CL just one week ago. It was that good. The Pork Tenderloin is fired right before they serve the dish, so the medium-ness (that's medium rare in pork lingo) maintains the pork's tender texture and seals in the flavor. It's braised, so it was still a little pink in the center while almost melting in your mouth every time you took a bite. Layered on top of a savory yet subtly sweet Ham Hock Glaze, it's a great dish. I'm not sure what I think about the Cheddar Grits. It's a conceptive idea, but the gritty (pardon the pun) texture doesn't bring a lot of texture and makes you feel like you're just eating chunky rice. I wish it had been a bit more refined. Tonight, I felt that CL's timing was just a little bit off. The normally amazing fries that we get were just a little cold and overcooked, and the tenderloin was not as smoking hot as what I'd tasted just the week before. We figured out the culprit: our other Course 2...
Lurcat's Seafood Paella
A new one to the menu, we tried this one off of the a la carte side. As connoisseurs of seafood, we wanted to see what CL's take was on this latin american dish and it wasn't bad. 2 Mussels and 2 clams in their shells, graced the plate of rice (could have been cooked a bit longer), chorizo, and other bits of seafood. Lots of good flavor, but not necessarily a memorable Paella.
French FriesTouted as one of the best french fries in the Twin Cities, I had to show A that this place could back up the talk. One of the most perfectly salted and textured french fries I've had, again the timing was off and the texture of each fry wasn't as consistent as I had normally had. Culprit was the Paella because it was the only dish out of the main entrees that came out piping hot, but no matter- the fries were still as addicting as usual and we had no problem polishing them off.
Final: Course 3: Cinnamon Sugar Donut
Another one of the "regular" courses that I have never passed up at Lurcat. These did not fail in any sense of the word and are still as amazing as last week when I had them. They are simple in scope, but by far not the easiest to execute. 6 mini donuts grace the presence of the white plate (did I mention how much I love the white plate?) and come out at a perfect temperature. The second you bite into them, you can taste the sweet cinnamon and sugar pairing, while the rest of the doughy goodness follows. You can eat it in three, two or just one bite if you prefer, which is what I love about the small delectables. Finally, the donut finishes off with a creamy texture that just melts and lingers in your mouth. Although A and I couldn't figure out what it was (he said baking soda, I said cream of tartar), my mouth waters everytime I think about it. I haven't found another cinnamon and sugar donut that quite compares.
Honorable mentions: CL has a great Miso glazed Sea Bass. This dish, combined with the Apple Cheese and Chive Salad and Cinnamon sugar donuts are the top three sellers at CL and many see them as CL staples that will never get old.
Overall, A and (not to mention myself) really liked it. It's our kind of place...quality food, chill and unpretentious atmosphere. Where you can wear jeans, eat good food, have good service, and pay for what you get.
