Christmas 2008 - Christmas Eve Dinner

A bit late with posting all of this, but better late than never, right?

First up, Christmas Eve. We went to a family dinner at the Nicollet Island Inn, a very fancy restaurant in Minneapolis. None of the menus shown give any indication of vegan food as an option, but I spoke to the executive chef and wound up with a wonderful five course all vegan meal.

First Course: Haricot Verts tossed with fresh ginger, balsamic vinegar, hazelnuts, and fresh herbs. *excellent*

Second Course: Parsnip Purée -- a variation on the parsnip bisque served to everyone else. Puréed parsnip with julienned Granny Smith apples in the center along with olive oil and walnuts and puffed wild rice. *beautiful* People at our table remarked at how much nicer the presentation was for our dish.

Third Course: Shaved Root Vegetables - presented like a slaw of sorts. Included: carrots, parsnip, sweet potatoes. *good* not the star of the night, but still tasty.

Fourth Course: Mushroom Risotto with black truffle and some other mushrooms. *excellent!* I am a huge mushroom fan, so this dish was positively delightful and delicious. My partner is not quite as big a fan of mushrooms, so I ate part of his dish as well.

Fifth Course: Passion Fruit Sorbet -- served in champagne glasses. *awesome* A delightful end to a fabulous meal.

Overall, it was easily one of the top three gourmet vegan meals I've ever had. Probably top two - Chamber Kitchen being the other. It was an excellent experience, and I would definitely consider going back for a special occasion. There are a few pictures up at the Flickr site, but I do not want to post them here because the quality is awful. The lighting was WAY too low to get a decent shot. Ah well, the food was so EXCELLENT. If you are willing to overlook the poor quality, the pictures are located HERE.