Tonight's foray took us to a little known spot called The Bachelor Farmer. It's one of the "hottest" spots to eat at in the Minneapolis foodie scene. As in, getting a reservation was something I'd been trying to do since March for Wine Club and we finally got one in October! As in, when President Obama recently came to the state ... this is the restaurant he chose to dine at. I had heard mixed reviews about the place, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.
It's in the Warehouse district and all signage is very subtle, so it's best to spot it by it's "farm-like" blue check awnings. Then you can't miss it.
Your meal starts off with what they call a snack. It's not your typical bread basket ...
It's a little bowl of radishes that you dip in some sea salt (and there is also some flatbread, that was on another plate for the rest of the group, since they all enjoy gluten.) They were so good, just a crisp, slightly peppery radish. I ate too many.
Before I get into the rest of the meal, I need to talk about wine. They have quite an extensive wine list, but the way they handle the wine is quite different than anything I had experienced. On their wine list, you could order any wine listed as a half bottle ... or if a bottle had already been opened, they had chalkboard that listed the wines available by the glass. (Or of course, you could always order a full bottle.) Half our table is white wine drinkers, so they ordered a bottle of white. Fortunately, my sister enjoys reds once the fall has arrived, so I had someone to order a half bottle of a light Italian red called St. Magdalener, from Alto Adige, Italy. It was a nice light, juicy red that would work with what we both planned to eat ... now on to what I ate!
One of the things everyone tells you to order at TBF is their toasts. They have a variety of toppings for their toasts. For me, they would offer it with cucumber slices if I wanted to try the toppings. I passed (but for the record, the rest of the ladies did say the toasts were phenomenal) and instead enjoyed beets roasted in duck fat, sprinkled with a dry-cured mullet roe and almonds, drizzled with lemon.
At first, they sort of reminded me of the beet chips you buy from the grocery store. They were okay ... but not something that knocked my socks off. Then I bit into an almond. Okay, I know it's just an almond, but when I took a bite of the beet with the almond ... then it was something special.
I followed the beets with grilled rabbit wrapped in bacon on top of vermouth-braised leeks and roasted cauliflower.
If you have never had rabbit, it's a very sweet light meat. (I didn't learn until later that D absolutely loves rabbit, and he was jealous of my meal. The server also told me it was her favorite dish. So clearly a good choice.) Let's just get one thing out in the open ... if you wrap anything in bacon ... well, perfection is easy to find. The leeks were a tad bit overcooked, but the roasted cauliflower made up for it. (For that is perhaps my favorite vegetable and preparation. If you've never had roasted cauliflower, you are truly missing out on something wonderful.)
For dessert, I ordered the Riesling-poached pear with currant Bavarian cream and walnut cream cheese. This was the only major miss-step of the dining experience, because when she brought it out, I started eating the cream (pictured on the right) and then I put my spoon on the golden mound on the left ... and realized it was phyllo dough. so I had to have her take it back. She brought me a new gluten-free plate and was extremely apologetic. But it was kind of a bummer to get my dessert last.
I also enjoyed a cup of coffee with my dessert, which I think I may have to do always going forward! To send you off, and so that you have fond memories the next day, TBF provides you a parting gift:
Overall, it was a lovely meal (I was quite full at the end) and of course, because the company was superb, I will have fond memories of the evening out.
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