Wow, it’s been a while. Is it possible that the last time we posted was way back in February? It’s not that we haven’t been eating out since then—we have! Highlights of the past few months include Ngon Bistro (fantastic, don’t know why it took us so long to get there) and Ghandi Mahal (very good), but for some reason we never got around to actually putting our fingers to the keys and reviewing the places.
But we’re back with our visit to Victory 44, the new gastropub located on 44th Street in the heart of the Victory neighborhood (get it?). Though the Twin Cities has its fair share of bars serving upscale bar food, my sense is that the gastropub—a pub serving upscale interpretations of British food—is a trend that hasn’t really come here yet (though I’m sure there are some who would disagree). For that reason, Sarah and I wanted to give Victory 44 a try, and decided to give it a visit on our anniversary.
The restaurant is laid out in a fairly pleasing fashion, although the decor doesn’t exactly scream “pub.” Maybe that’s a good thing. In any case, it was very inviting. Even though it looked like it might rain outside, we decided to chance it and snag a seat on the patio.
Our first disappointment came when we looked at the drink list. Victory 44’s website advertises “a fantastic list of tap and bottle beers, paying homage to the classic American brews as well as the latest craft brews from around the country.” Well, not quite. There were three tap beers, and maybe a handful of truly good microbrews on the bottle/can list—a couple Surlys, a Bell’s, a Victory, and a couple brews from a California brewery we’d never heard of called Firehouse. The rest was swill like Hamm’s (I guess that’s what they mean by “classic American brews”), and an admittely impressive wine list. Since Victory 44 is still pretty new—my understanding is that they only recently got their liquor license—they should maybe get a partial pass on the beer selection.
The menu features an impressive list of traditional pub snacks like Scotch Eggs and Devils on a Horseback. We went for the latter, cooked dates wrapped in bacon and drizzled with a brandy glaze. Salty, sweet, and just enough for two people, it was a good way to start the meal.
The entrees were another story. I’m sure that there are some very good options on Victory 44’s dinner menu—the sausage roll looked appealing, and I was also a bit curious to taste their take on traditional fish and chips with English peas—but we didn’t happen to order them. I ordered the fish boil, consisting of haddock, shrimp, potatos, and green beans in a tomato broth. Sarah, meanwhile, ordered the “Victory 44,” presumably the restaurant’s signature dish, another kind of stew with pork, sausage, and a lemon-jalapeno salad in bacon jus. Both were a disappointment due primarily to the overseasoning of the broth. Sarah’s was overly salty, and mine was overly lemony, in both cases completely overpowering the flavor of the actual ingredients. Mine in particular was so lemony and acidic tasting that it was almost unpleasant after a while.
The entrees were doubly disappointing in that there appeared to be a good dish hiding in there somewhere. The ingredients of both the fish boil and the Victory 44 were quite colorful, and the plating showed a great deal of intentionality on the chef’s part. My haddock and shrimp—what little I could actually taste of it—was very good, and Sarah was impressed both with the flavor of the sausage and the tenderness of the pork in her dish. But alas, the broth overpowered everything, and pretty soon we couldn’t tell what we were tasting.
For dessert was sticky toffee pudding: a spice cake made with Surly Coffee Bender and topped with homemade caramel and whipped cream. (“Pudding” is British for “dessert.”) After our bad experience with our entrees, this dessert put a positive spin on things again. The cake was moist, with just a hint of the Coffee Bender flavor, and the homemade caramel was a nice touch.
Sarah and Andrew’s Verdict: C+. We really wanted to give Victory 44 a higher rating, but we rate based on our experience, and our experience was mediocre. Our entrees were potentially good dishes gone very wrong, and the beer list was not as advertised. But it’s clear from our experience that Victory 44 has the potential to be a good restaurant. Service was friendly and attentive, and if our appetizer and dessert was any indicator, there is some genuine culinary skill in their kitchen. If we go again, we’ll be ordering something else and staying away from anything with broth.
July 6, 2009 at 8:51 am |
[...] on a WCCO piece about the Morton’s closing, The Food Court finally snaps back into action and gives Victory 44 a thoroughly mixed review, a harsh verdict on the Taste of Minnesota, and a guide to making your own limoncello. var [...]