Il Gatto

Meow.

I couldn't resist. How could I? Parasole took it to a whole new level in terms of how sexual connotations and cats can come together. I had no idea... but now I that I have been thinking about it, they just won't stop coming to mind. Darn my "family friendly" blog...

On my first trip to Il Gatto, it was the same day that I read about a restaurant in New York City that automatically gives 10% off to patrons that have to sit at the worst table in the house. Ironic that we then sat at arguably the worst table at Il Gatto. We didn't blame them, given our lack of reservation, but as we were seated next to the exit door and in the servers' path to the kitchen (and next to a rowdy table of about 8 guys), we both couldn't help but comment on how unseemly the situation was. AND LOUD. WOW, this is a LOUD restaurant, especially in that back dining room near the kitchen. Not quite Chino Latino level but still a decibel above where I would ever take my parents.

My pasta at Il Gatto on this first visit was so horrible that I was relieved to see that it was off the menu by the second visit. It was a beet fettuccine that was heavily laden with poppy seeds, red beet pieces, cheese, and, I think, apples too. It was extremely heavy, laden with so much "stuff", but also heavy in a "you really can't eat a lot of this" type of way. The flavor was not at all impressive either, the main thought coming to my mind being mushy and nothing about flavor. I was also not in love with the vegetable appetizers we had, although they were very cutely served in little jars. The artichokes didn't seem like they had marinated long enough to pick up the oils they were marinated in and the wood oven mushrooms were just nothing special. I walked away from this visit with not much love the new Il Gatto.

Before I wanted to write about Il Gatto, I decided that I wanted to pretend for a moment to be a real restaurant critic and actually go back to Il Gatto again and see if I could have a better time. I want the food at Il Gatto to be good, especially since it is so close to my house. This time I came alone and sat at the bar. Now here is a positive, the bar is a lot nicer than the one at Figlio - no more stickiness or awkward corners. Instead, straight and easy bar set-up, comfy seats and they told me that a foot rest and purse hooks were on the way. I learned about, and enjoyed, that the standard pour of wine was a glass and a half and then glanced through the food menu, already knowing I would try the pizza. This is when I duly noted that the beet pasta had been replaced by a three cheese ravioli (yawn, that is what Stella's serves across the street as their one vegetarian option, too!). The Margarita Pizza was brought and it was fine. It was certainly not as good as Punch but I ate it, as it oily as it was, as the bartender proudly announced that they make the mozzarella themselves.

To me, Il Gatto is an improvement for the eyes over Figlio, with the space more open, the bathrooms no longer in the middle of the service area and the floors a heck of a lot less sticky. But the food was just not that fabulous. I can only hope that it gets better with time.

Thumbs Up: Nice bar area, cleaner and more open than Figlio

Thumbs Down: Sexual cat references, so-so food, LOUD dining room

Il Gatto 3000 Hennepin Ave S Minneapolis www.ilgattominneapolis.com

Amore Victoria

I always seem to be running around to the new places in town, often without a look over my shoulder to places I have been to only once. Sometimes it takes other people making the plans for me to head not to the hottest newbie on the block but to someone just around the corner who you tend to ignore as just too close to home. Kind of sounds like the beginning of a sappy romantic novel, doesn't it? Except in this case, I wasn't swept off my feet by Amore Victoria but I also wasn't disappointed. It isn't Danielle Steele material but you will still enjoy it.

After a mediocre brunch there three years ago I was just never tempted to return. Is it a hint to restaurants that if you can't serve a brunch that is on par with your dinner, don't serve it at all. I feel like dinner is more profitable so don't scare away dinner diners with a paltry brunch? (correct me if I am wrong but dinner has wine, wine equals profit) In addition, if your space looks best under muted light and is a bit sticky and scratched up under full daylight, this is another good reason to ponder hard before opening for brunch. My memories of that brunch experience left me non-plussed to try dinner.

But here I was at Amore Victoria and the place didn't look sticky at all, instead quite pretty all decorated up for Christmas. Maybe things have changed?

There were a lot of interesting and tempting dishes on the menu - from small pizzas to ambitious pastas. As a table we started with the bruschetta. Garlic. Lots and lots of raw garlic. Thank goodness the other diners at the table were eating it too or else the rest of dinner would have been very uncomfortable. I like garlic, but that was more raw garlic than is ever needed. The dish had no flavor nuance.

I was pretty excited about my entree and I wasn't disappointed. I ordered what I am calling a Green Eggs and Ham variation on Eggplant Parmesan, called Eggplant Florentine. Lightly fried eggplant rounds sat atop spinach fettuccine all covered with ricotta cheese and a mushroom white wine sauce. I was torn between enjoying the white wine sauce (good in its own right) to having heart wrenching desires for real red-sauce Eggplant Parmesan, especially when I saw the size of the portions and anticipated that there could have been some amazing eggplant parm hoagies in my future. But back to what I was really eating, other than the offensive portion size, the pasta was prepared perfectly and the dish was unique and tasty. All in all, I never anticipated it at Amore Victoria but I was impressed!

If you want excellent pasta I will probably still send you to Broder's but if you want a lot of decent food at a good price, Amore Victoria is a better bet (and a better support of the community) than sitting with a pager waiting for a table at Maggiano's at Southdale.

Thumbs Up: Creative Italian menu to explore, Parking!

Thumbs Down: Portions are a bit offensive, overkill of raw garlic

Amore Victoria 1601 West Lake Street Minneapolis www.amorevictoria.com

Cooper

It seemed like overnight that the West End complex at 396 and 100 went from huge pile of dirt to fancy movie theaters and its first two big restaurants, Crave and Cooper. Crave is no different than the other better-than-average Craves about town but Cooper is a new concept that I was excited to check out. I even had warm fuzzy feelings since a friend of mine recently named her way-too-cute baby Cooper. Irresistible.

Right away, I have to say that Cooper is gorgeous. They really took the design of this Irish bar into serious consideration before opening the doors, with everything from the mirrors to the chandeliers to the chairs all obviously purposely chosen to do their job of reflecting a style that I would call "comfortable regency posh". I totally just made that phrase up but unlike other Irish bars, this isn't only about dark woods and hidden corners (The Local), it is brighter and more open, yet still comfortable. Their website is a catastrophe but from the one drawing on it, you can kind of see what I mean.

Cooper and Crave in the West End are both getting the reputationas the next Bacio and Redstone in terms of the older puma and cougar crowds and I saw nothing to dissuade me of such rumors. At lunch, it was the corporate crowd from the nearby office complexes and after work the lights went low and the age stayed hovering in the 30-40s range. Arguably entertaining to say the least.

I popped over with some colleagues for lunch where I was pleasantly surprised to see a veggie burger on the menu, called the Chauncy. I ordered one right up with fries. The fries were great - hot and thick like "chips" should be. Hopefully not cooked in beef fat... The veggie burger (touted as being housemade) wasn't quite as exciting. It had that problem that many homemade veggie burgers do that when you pick it up to eat it, the pattie smooshes out of the bun (imagine squeezing mashed potatoes) so basically it turned into a fork and knife meal versus a handheld burger. Overall, totally fine but I am nowhere near close to declaring it the best veggie burger in town.

This week I stopped back in to try out a later meal and see how the bar scene pans out. After a full day of working the real job, I appreciated the long wine pours and the efficiency in which the hosts dealt with the long wait for a table (pagers ready and all working, clear time of when tables would be ready etc). Once we sat, I ordered from the appetizer menu a mushroom and herb pub pizza. I have never heard the phrase pub pizza before, although I have been to a couple of bars in Northeast where they are happy to pop a frozen pizza into the toaster oven for you. This ended up being a cracker thin crust with a light sprinkling of all ingredients. It was okay although it could have used more of everything to keep it from getting completely cold on the way from the kitchen to my table. Cracker crusts don't exactly hold the heat so you need something like the cheese to do that!

So, Cooper. Terribly gorgeous, an interesting bar scene and okay food. Worth visiting for parts one and two and part three won't hurt you but you probably be more tempted to spread the word about the cougars when you leave rather than the food.

Thumbs Up: Beautiful design, open atmosphere, good service
Thumbs Down: Don't come for the food alone

Cooper 1607 Park Place Blvd St. Louis Park www.cooperpub.com

Sidetrip: Chicago, IL

I can't even remember the last time I went to Chicago proper not in the winter. For some reason, the Windy City epitomizes winter and the holidays to this Midwest gal. I think it hearkens back to when my Mom used to drive me (and often a girlfriend or two) from Detroit to Chicago to do some shopping (well, window shopping more likely) down Michigan Ave, where bell ringers are on every corner and Christmas tree lights twinkle around the Old Water Tower. Even with the windy cold and often slushy sidewalks, I can't help but love Chicago at Christmastime.

I landed on Friday evening and rushed to Lincoln Park to meet up with VG's family at the classic Italian restaurant, Vinci's, where we worked our way through a lovely bottle of wine and warm cheesy foods to fight against the cold outside. I stared at the pizzas on the menu and knew I was going in that direction so attempted to temper my appetite with a healthier salad first, the Arugula and Belgian endive with pears, pecorino, hazelnuts, virgin olive oil, lemon. It was a light and bright salad despite the cheese and nuts. Lovely. My verdure pizza with grilled vegetables and white truffle oil had a nice thin crust but it was a bit dry and the truffle oil was used so sparingly, I actually only tasted it in one bite of the pizza. Regardless, having been to Vinci's several times now, it wasn't about perfection at this meal, it was about eating dinner with parents and two daughters who never stopped laughing and showing their love for one another. It was the atmosphere, the tradition and the love that made it a wonderful meal.

Getting down to shopping business, we descended to the crowds of Michigan Ave on Saturday and then just as quickly escaped them by ascending to the top of Neiman Marcus in order to feast on popovers with strawberry jelly at their restaurant the Zodiac Room. While my grilled cheese with minestrone soup was crunchy, cheesy and delicious, it really was the popovers that stood out. They were airy, eggy and just plain perfectly served by a man with basket and tongs that wandered the dining room handing out popovers and thus making people very, very happy. I think I would like that job. Having just read that Good Day Cafe is serving them at dinner here in the Twin Cities, we know where I am heading soon...

We moved from one fun meal to another at the modern vegetarian restaurant Green Zebra. As a vegetarian, it is a real treat to be able to go to a restaurant like this but it is also extremely challenging. Most of the time in my regular dining adventures, I am choosing from just a few menu items but at Green Zebra I was overwhelmed with about 20 different small plates to pick from. Thankfully, everyone was game to share bites of their food so we managed to taste an awful lot of the menu. My only problem was that I forgot to grab my copy of the menu so I could be more accurate in what I tasted! But, to be frank, my food was good but not amazing. While menu selections were flavored with influences from around the globe, I went the Asian route starting with Grilled Mu Shu, eggplant, cucumber, spring onion, peppers, and pickles. The flavors were fun and the plating different but I stared lovingly at VG's burrata, which was the better choice. I then moved on to dumplings which were filled with eggplant and served with bok choy and lots of heat. I lost the nuances of flavor, overwhelmed by the heat. On the other hand, I really enjoyed the creamy grits ordered across the table. While the food was a bit hit and miss for me I did truly enjoy the fun, modern and open atmosphere of the restaurant itself. So many vegetarian restaurants feel the need to have chalkboards and exude hippie, thus maybe the revulsion some feel at my vegetarian choice? So, Green Zebra was a really nice change of scenery.

Ah, Chicago. Only a very short flight away.

Rinata

As it was pointed out to me, it has been more than a year since I first wrote about Rinata. I think my date wanted Italian but didn't want to divert me from my new restaurant course. Let's just say that he successfully diverted me.

First off, congratulations to the restaurant for hanging around!! I have actually been back several times since my last and each time, there are people in the dining room, which is a real coup nowadays. Second, I do want to say that Rinata deserves to stick around as they are definitely making some good food over there on Hennepin, better than when they first opened. So, if you have an Italian hankering and just can't imagine waiting at Broder's, Rinata is a nice alternative. And it is better than Il Gatto, but all in due time...

The eggplant involtini at Rinata is one of my absolute favorite dishes in the Twin Cities. I blame my time in New Jersey for the eggplant parm obsession I have developed and Rinata's version classes up the whole idea. I order it every time I walk in the door. Basically, it is eggplant rolled around creamy goat cheese that is filled with crunchy pine nuts. This is then laid on top of a sweet tomato sauce. So simple, so delicious. The textures are wonderful but the flavor's even better. On my visit last week, I just went straight for the kill and ordered this as my entree.

This past week, I also had a wonderful special salad that was filled with all sorts of the the good stuff, meaning not only simple greens. I crunched through fennel and sprouts and maybe even some pomegranate seeds. Sorry to my date.... I was very distracted loving my salad. What were we talking about?

Finally, the service has plain old gotten much better. On this last visit, our server (I think her name was Leah) was so ridiculously nice and attentive that I thought I had touched down in a 2 Michelin starred dining room. She made me feel warm and special. My date asked if she knew I was a blogger, to which I laughed and regretted telling him I had a blog in the first place.

I continue to be hesitant about dessert, however. A couple of months ago I tried the sambuca tiramisu only to taste no sambuca at all in the dessert. Not that that is a horrible thing considering my tendency to avoid anise, but considering the splashy variation, I do want to taste something of the description.

So, there we have it. Another peek in the door at Rinata. Things have steadily improved and if you like eggplant at all, you are seriously missing out if you haven't been yet.

Thumbs Up: Lovely service, eggplant involtini!, cozy and romantic atmosphere
Thumbs Down: Not convinced of the desserts

Rinata 2451 Hennepin Ave S Minneapolis www.rinatarestaurant.com

Good Earth

Parasole is THE name in the Minneapolis dining scene and despite the recessionary climate has been turning out new restaurants on a pretty regular basis - from the newish Salut in St. Paul to Pittsburgh Blue in Maple Grove to the new Il Gatto in Uptown. But before I get swept away in the NEW, I thought it might be good to check out what is going on with the old and stopped in for lunch at Good Earth in Edina.

While I have certainly spent a good amount of time in the Galleria (if my financial advisor is reading this, sorry?!) , I had never stopped in at Good Earth because it always looks so darn crowded and I never plan in advance. In addition, if I am hanging out alone shopping, I kind of want to sit at the bar by myself to eat and not at a table with families staring at me, pitying my aloneness. So, no Good Earth in my past and now it was time to put the name on the list and have lunch with AdS.

Once I went through the doors and in to the restaurant, I had to do an about face within my head and make sure I was actually in a Parasole restaurant. I am going to say it and some of you are going to hate me for it but it felt like Perkins!! It had worn out carpeting and light wood furniture. It just felt so, so not Parasole. I know they just gutted Figlio... I have a recommendation of what comes next. As a vegetarian myself and someone who loves places with so many natural and veggie options, it doesn't mean they have to look "crunchy" too. I hate that. And bars are good things! Thus, I was quite disappointed in the Perkins atmosphere at Good Earth.

The food, however, was a different story. I really enjoyed the food. There were plenty of vegetarian options but I decided to test them out with the execution of their "veggie burger" called the Good Earth Planet Burger with "adzuki and pinto beans, sunflower and sesame seeds, cashews and vegetables". I love a good veggie burger and oftentimes they disappoint, but this one was great. Parasole should just pop this on the menu at Burger Jones and call it a day. I loved the cashews, which added a nice nutty flavor and crunchy texture. I went to the monthly specials page to accompany my burger, opting for the Pumpkin Harvest Soup topped with craisins and diced apples. While the soup was good, I had an ah-ha moment with putting craisins on soup and have now been doing this almost everyday with the soups I eat for lunch. Just lovely!!

My companion went for the brunch menu and had a very well executed Ham and Cheese Omellete. I looked longingly at the fresh juice she was drinking. Dubai spoiled me for fresh juice at every meal (more juice, less alcohol...) and it was only after I had ordered my iced tea that I realized the Good Earth had fresh juice options.

So, the net of the matter is that the food was great but the atmosphere has a lot to be asked for. And they should put this as the other restaurant that they are opening in Calhoun Square. Great food for the Uptown area... and they would definitely want a bar there. Maybe cocktails made with fresh fruit juice? Call me, I got ideas...

Thumbs Up: Wide vegetarian choices, good food
Thumbs Down: Atmosphere of a Perkins

Good Earth Edina Galleria, Edina www.goodearthmn.com