Sanctuary, 4/4 stars

Executive Chef: Patrick Atanalian
903 Washington Street South
Minneapolis, MN

What can I say about a restaurant that provides exquisite silent service, impeccable food, and a soothing atmosphere? Anything less than phenomenal wouldn’t come close to doing the place justice. Here’s how my dinner started:

I was a half hour late for my dinner date due to the lovely closing of 35 W and no appropriate detour. My friend kindly used his GPS to help me get back on track. The owners had a pomegranite martini ready for me when I arrived – much needed of course. It was perfecto – cool, ever so slightly tart, and sneakily smooth.

The appetizers we ordered were a fascinating mix of unexpected combinations:

Sweet potato egg rolls and roasted soy beans with a red peppercorn soy reduction, $7. These were SO light, so crispy, and with a little kick in the soy reduction. You get four halves of approximately 2 inches each. A perfect starter.

Roast golden beet salad with garlic chili goat cheese and lavender sweet pedro ximenez sherry vinegar, $6. The beets were just firm enough without being fresh off the farm. This dish highlighted each ingredient in harmony. Wonderful.

So after we ooohhheedd and ahhheeddd over the starters, we eagerly anticipated the main courses. Honestly, it was so amazing, I couldn’t bear sharing any of it (but I did!):

Salmon and sauce red vin chaud with green onion and gold chanterelle mushroom risotto and red tobiko caviar, $25. Oh my, oh my. I started with the risotto, a flavor of which I hadn’t tasted since my Italian grandfather made it for me years and years ago. The piece of salmon was probably 2” by 2” on maybe a cup of risotto. The salmon was buttery soft even when cooked well as I requested. Personally I could have done without the caviar as I’m not a big fan of it. It didn’t distract from the flavor though. The plating was clean too.

Certified Angus filet, apple cider crayfish sauce, scotch bonnet mashed potato and ginger braised chestnut apple, $32. Can’t say I tasted this because I was so wrapped up in my salmon. Sorry folks! BUT, I can say my friend finished every last morsel and swore it was good. The plating was clearly a fall type presentation.

At this point, I wasn’t quite full, but definitely wanted to try some dessert. So I went with the coconut marguerita panacota with berries and ice cream, $7. TO DIE FOR. The panacota had just enough lightness and firmness, the strawberries were perfectly mixed with mint, and chocolate ice cream was more like gelato.

My friend had the prickly pear tiramisu with crème anglaise and espresso
vodka shot, $7. It was delicate and light. I can’t say much more on this since I was, again, wrapped up in my own dessert.

The service was what I would expect from a Michelin award restaurant. Ariel was our waitress and she quitely cleared the table and checked in with us so unobtrusively. Loved that.

But what I loved most about this place was that I could taste every flavor and texture without it being doused in salt or being overcooked. It is so refreshing in the TC market to find a place that appreciates the naturalness of ingredients and then combining them in unexpected ways. That’s cooking!

On parking, I had no problem finding a spot at 730 pm on a Saturday night. Lots of street parking and one lot on each side of the place.

Cafe Maude, 1/4 stars

Executive Chef: Aaron Slavicek
5411 Penn Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419

I don’t like reviewing restaurants when they first open because everyone is on their best behavior. Café Maude is a perfect example. IF you have money to throw to the wind, have a hankering for salt, and you’re on a diet, Café Maude is for you. Their food represents a whole new level of minimalism – even the bread was minimalist. Let’s begin:

$12, 3 slices of tuna not much larger or thicker than a quarter on what seemed to be melba toast: Ok, so we thought maybe this is a starter…..so we moved to the salad that we heard so much about……

$12, Crab – Endive Salad with a piece of crab not much larger than 2”x1”x1” and 4 tiny leaves of lettuce, couldn’t find the asparagus: My friend asked to substitute apple for the asparagus and was told later by the waitress that they could not do it because the salads are premade. As I said, we could not find asparagus on the salads….

At this point we were both starving so we asked the waitress what the largest portion was on the menu. She stated the pork or beef. Hmm, we thought, that’ll be a little heavy at this point and the waitress recommended the scallops. When asked how many were on the plate she said 4 or 5 on top of pasta. Well, then, that sounded perfect.

$22, 3 black scallops the diameter of a quarter and perhaps a half, maybe ¾” inch thick with 1/3 cup of pasta in a watery sauce with no flavor except salt (You would do much better at Palomino where the scallops are perfect.) The waitress checked in with me when the dish arrived and I asked, what part of 4 or 5 on top of pasta does this represent? She offered to bring me another scallop. I accepted. The additional scallop tasted nothing like the other three.

When asked to split the tab, the waitress, whose name shall not be shared for obvious reasons, said she wasn't sure she could do it. This was the same waitress who apparently could not figure out the difference between 3 scallops and 4 or 5.

Also, the presentation was boring to say the least – everything blended into the plate. There was no originality whatsoever, every dish was in a pyramid format and looked like the last.

Needless to say your caloric intake is drawn from the evening ambiance and music and not from the food. $84 tab and still hungry.