Icehouse - January 1, 2016
(Not going to lie, it feels weird typing this year’s date on one of these.)
Earlier in the week, the group of us that were going to Grand Cafe kicked around the idea of grabbing brunch on New Year’s Day. Most of us had never been to Icehouse, but the ones among us that had recommended it. I’d been meaning to go for a while since I see it across the street every time I go to Pho 79, but I’d never made it a priority. I was talking with Shawn about this briefly, and until 2015, I’d only eaten on the west side of Nicollet twice, once at Pho Hoa to check it out, and once at Evergreen Chinese. Both of those were years ago. 2015 saw me dine at Kyatchi for the Nighthawks Hotdog battle, Blackbird when Nighthawks was too busy, and Ramen Kazama soon after they opened (I need to get back there).
While my westward wanderings have been woefully wee in the past, this year I plan on dining at more establishments on the side of the street that the sun sets. Since we were doing brunch at Icehouse, 2016 started off with one of those westside watering holes. I’ll definitely be back because I especially want to try the assorted tasting menus offered by Icehouse. Given my fondness for tasting menus I might make them a focus this year.
Bloody Homer: A Bloody Mary with bacon and a donut. It’s as good as that sounds. The glaze on the donut is a bit sticky, and the number of accoutrements in this bloody are fewer than some of the other bloodies in town. But this is highly rated, and it’s easy to see why.
(Kat’s Pic - Shawn’s Pic - Andrea’s Pic)
Feature Breakfast Pastries Royale: We ordered two of these to share amongst the eight of us. Details below.
Garlic Knot Pull Apart: Good flavor and textures.
Apple and Cheddar Scones: I wish all scones had this moisture. Tasted great too.
Biscuit: Served with an orange/pear jam and some honey butter. It was a good hybrid buttermilk drop biscuit.
Glazed Donut Holes: These were like crack, some of the diners started bargaining away bites of their main courses to try and curry more of these. They’re really solid. I kind of want to see them used in a bread pudding or some sort of croquembouche mashup.
Ginger Pear Bread with a Bourbon Sauce Glaze: Tasty. Good moisture and a little residual alcohol heat from the bourbon, almost like a rum cake.
Crispy Pork Biscuit with Sausage Gravy: Good. I think the server said that because it used a brown roux based gravy, that made it unique in town, since most biscuits and gravy are using a white gravy. I’m not sure they should make that claim anymore though, because the last four biscuits and gravy I’ve had in town have been non-white gravy. Surly had a red-eye, Tiny Diner had a brown roux, here brown roux, and in a write up soon, Saint Dinette also uses brown roux. Don’t get me wrong, tasty, but hardly unique. The schnitzel like pork cutlet was a nice addition though, still juicy, great flavor, good crust.