4 Bells - November 17, 2015

I’m writing this on Thanksgiving so it is going to double as a post about that.

This year has been great, if the next month keeps the trend going, it might be my favorite year yet. A lot of it is a direct reflection of the people I met, and them drawing me out of my proverbial shell. I’m thankful for every one of them.

The first person I credit with this is Kat. We apparently followed each other on Twitter for quite some time, and she had apparently seen me at either Rookery or Travail once or twice, but for whatever reason, we never met in real life. Then in late May we both dined at Revival and were seated at tables next to each other. She looked familiar and she was taking food pics. My friend Rochelle leaned over and asked what she was eating because it looked good. The next day I saw the pictures on Twitter, asked if that was her, and it was. We’ve been friends and frequent dining companions since.

Sometimes one relationship ends up being the lead domino, not to say it falls down, but that it in doing so it exerts a force that can lead to other relationships, that lead to others, and so on. A lot of my new and dear friendships have come from that one night of recognition. That’s how this night at 4 Bells came about.

Somehow, a table of nine people that I wasn’t sure existed four months before, were gathered at a restaurant and we were carrying on like forever friends. Andrea I’d met previously through Kat at a dinner, Veronica and her husband Rich I met at Open Streets Nicollet. Sarah, Stephanie, Rachel (not a Rachel I’ve mentioned before), and a gentleman whose name escapes me I was meeting for the first time. Stephanie I’d interacted with on Twitter previously, Sarah I was aware of, but Rachel and the gentleman were new to me. Previous Rachel, Rachel the First, Rachel the High Priestess of Biscuits, Rae, is the same Rachel that was my “fellow diner” at our only experience with La Belle Vie before it closed. She did a great job orchestrating this get together.

Rachel is another person I’m thankful for this year. We’d only been following each other for a few months and one day she messaged a few of us to see if anybody was free for an evening at the opera, I enjoy recorded opera, and am generally free, so I said ‘why not?’ I was fortunate no one else was available and she treated me to a great first experience with live Opera (I’ll be looking at season ticket(s) next year.) Since then we’ve dined together a few times, had great conversations, and I got to bake her a cake for her birthday! (I’ll have a post on that later this weekend hopefully.)

Another thing that surprises me is the quality of the people I’ve met, I feel like most of them are genuinely good people. It’s nice to find that in the world.

Since there was a fair number of us, we chose to go with things we thought would be most shareable and go from there.

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Oysters Casino with Pecorino, Bacon, and Rapini: I didn’t personally get to try these (yet) but from the diners that did, they sound like they’re great.

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Boiled Peanut Hummus with aged cheddar crackers, and crisp vegetables: the peanuts do an admirable job replacing the sesame rich tahini normally present in hummus. I didn’t get a pic of the full dish, but this gives the general feel for what you’re eating looks like. The crackers were good.

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Snapper Ceviche with leche de tigre, chili relish, pine nuts, yogurt, and mint: again no dish picture, but this is what you end up with anyway. (I have a picture from an earlier visit.) Still as good as ever, this is a must on the menu.

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Baby Octopus with achiote, serrano, orange, pepita, and hearts of palm: Still good. I’m kind of conflicted lately about eating hearts of palm, I need to learn more about them. I might go into it on a later post.

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Southern Fried Chicken with Honey Butter, Delta Sauce, and Gravy: It wasn’t the best fried chicken I’ve had in town, that title is firmly in Revival’s hands, but there’s a few other spots I want to try, and rumor has it some other restaurants are trying to get in on the chicken game. One of the diners said that on a previous visit the chicken was way better and this might have just been a fluke, I’ll probably go in for a half bird soon and see if the results are better or consistent with this. (I don’t know when.)

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Scallop Hushpuppies on what I think is a green tomato agrodolce: These were good, maybe needed a bit more spice, the small bits of scallop inside were nice.

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Pimento Mac & Cheese with popped sorghum: Interesting, not my favorite mac & cheese, again the crown is held by Revival. Fun fact, Rae informed me that “pimento” is not pronounced with a hard “t” like you’d think, but ‘puh-men-ah.’ She grew up in the south where it’s a staple so I will defer to her, plus it’s more fun to say.

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Seared Scallops on a sweet corn cake with bacon, chicory, coffee-maple jus, and pecans: These were good, nice texture on everything, the sweetness from the scallops and the maple paired well against the nuttiness of the pecans, a little pricy for what you get, but might be worth the splurge.

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Bourbon Braised Collard Greens with Blue Cheese and Walnuts: this was an interesting combo. Literally all my notes say is “interesting.” I like all the components, but I’m not 100% sure they work together.

Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes and Gravy: solid. I’d be interested in seeing a playful take on the KFC famous bowl by a more serious restaurant, maybe 4 Bells could attempt it with these as the base?

Cauliflower Au Gratin: a tad too crunchy for my preference but the flavors are good.

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie with Caramel Whip, Old Grand-Dad, and Sea Salt: a little salty. I was expecting a slice, I appreciate the idea of a mini pie like this, but I think the crust to filling ratio sometimes gets messed up. I think this is just over the line of too much crust for the amount of filling. Tasty though.

Yellow Cake with Milk Chocolate Fudge Frosting and Pretzel Sticks: this is a little cold and tough to cut. The flavors are good, just make sure you get a bite of pretzel in with your bite of frosting & cake, it makes it oh so much more enjoyable.

Not pictured: Biscuits or the Steak.


I’m also extremely thankful I have the means and can make time to volunteer. Be it through Surly Gives a Damn, or Open Arms. I believe volunteering more has had a significant positive impact on my life. I feel way more empathetic to others. I work hard to be, and do, better everyday. It’s also made me begin to examine various aspects of my life that I haven’t really looked at in a long, long while. If ever. So far the results of that exam are encouraging.

I want everybody to know that even if I didn’t name drop you, I’m very thankful for you. Whether you know it or not, most of you have had a very positive impact on my life. I’m thankful for that, and I thank you for it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Piccolo - November 18, 2015

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Ramen Kazama - November 15, 2015