Restaurant Alma

Last night I finally got to check one of the restaurants off my list that may have been on there the longest! Restaurant Alma is a tiny restaurant near the University of Minnesota that focuses on fresh, seasonal, organic and local ingredients. I was really excited to try it!

We figured we were there so might as well go for the whole experience with the three course tasting menu. For the starter I went with the Parmesan Flan which had fried almonds, olive oil, shaved celery & fennel. This was amazing, the flan was warm and had a great texture while the celery and fennel salad was cool and refreshing. I probably could have eaten three more plates of this.

The other starter chosen was the Roasted Cauliflower with crispy rock shrimp, warm lentils, spiced yogurt. This reminded me of an Indian inspired dish with great flavors. I think mine was better though.

For the middle course I choose the Farro and Beet Risotto, which in my quest to teach myself to like beets, was actually really good. Farro is hard to find at the grocery store but I really liked the texture it gave the risotto.

The Farro Penne with sweetbreads, demiglace, shiitakes & chard was very hearty and the demiglace was perfectly seasoned and gave a nice finish to the pasta.

For the entree I ordered the Slow Roasted Duck with spicy creamed chard & smoked mushrooms. Amazing. That is all I really have to say on that one. I love duck and often order it as restaurants since I have never tried to make it at home. And the sauce placed on the plate to look like a duck is pretty cute, I know its kind of cheesy but I enjoyed it.

The, Braised Beef Short Rib with glazed carrots, roasted shallot & red wine porcini jus was good but not as good as the duck in my opinion. When I go out to eat I want the full foodie experience and really enjoy trying dishes that I wouldn’t make at home or with unique local ingredients. The short rib was good but I felt like it could be replicated at home (and I may just have to do that).

Since it was a foodie dinner wine was a must and we ordered a bottle of Pesquie Cotes du Ventoux, "Terrasses", 07, Rhone. A blend of grenache and syrah and it was a really good bottle of red for a hearty meal on a really really cold night.

I left in foodie heaven. A really good meal with a great wine makes me one happy girl. I would definitely go back to Alma again when they change out their menu with the seasons. The small space lent itself to great people watching, you could see into the kitchen, the small tables close together were great for finding out what exciting things were going on in other peoples lives and our service was fantastic. Sigh. Foodie heaven is a place I need to be in more often.