Seven – Minneapolis, Minnesota

The night was cold, the wind sharp against my face. Bao and I had just pulled our rental into a car park, $10 to park yourself, $10 to valet… I chose to park myself, it seemed cheaper.
112 eatery was our destination, however it was not meant to be. 30 minutes separated our arrival with the opening of 112. Our hunger forced us to walk the streets of Minneapolis in search of food.

After 20 minutes of aimless wandering and countless ticket scalpers we came across Seven Restaurant. A steakhouse, come sushi bar, come go-go dancer bar spread over three floors. Way to diversify.

The décor of the restaurant was modern, marble countertops encircled the bar that greets you as soon as you enter. A short chef greeted us and offered us the specials menu. Instantly we were interested in the hamburger special. We asked the chef to swap out the prime rib for Kobe – the deal was struck and we were seated in the furthest seat from the door.

Appetizers; Beef Carpaccio & Lobster Bisque

The Beef Carpaccio came out first, slabs of beef dressed with arugula and parmesan shaves. The flavor was pleasant, save for the slabs of beef that made me gag when I tried eating one whole.
The lobster Bisque was graciously offered instead of a salad. The bisque was warm, hearty but a little too salty. I was unsure if the spilled bisque on my cup was part of the dish.
Entre; Kobe beef hamburger, with sautéed button mushrooms, foie gras and black truffle.
The irony of this dish was that the button mushrooms were the best component. The black truffle was replaced with inedible sautéed purple lettuce. The foie gras were but two slivers juxtaposed with a pound of matchstick fries. We ended up eating our hamburgers open face.

Dessert; Doppio Espresso and Crème Brule

It was a shame that my white-haired waiter did not know what a doppio espresso was. I had to shout out “double” to get him to understand. Further to my discontent, the crème Brule arrived, though it had not set. My espresso arrived, it too had been spilled down the side of the cup – perhaps this is a style or just the product of not using a tray.

Final thoughts;

Before we got the check, our little waiter friend came out to see us. Sporting his tongs and an unmistakable pride for his work we got talking about his cooking. Let me admit, I lied when I said it was good. Before we wrapped up our little cook friend talked about his steaks. I do not like prime rib as it is fatty. To contest this our waiter friend decided to cook us a sample of prime rib, to show just how fatty he can cut a slice. Moments later our cook returned to our table, a plate of meat swimming in Au Jus. We take a bite each…salt, not just salt but really really salty au jus. There was too much meat left, so to not insult our chef we had another bite each, carefully wringing it out before eating.

Our chef reappeared for the final time at our table. I asked him the secret of his Au Jus… He responded with Carrots, celery and onions. You could see the color drain from his face as I interjected with the word mirepoix. Alas the chef had the upper hand because the secret ingredient was yet to be reviled…

Imported bones…. Let’s just pause as we take in the significance of this.

The au jus is made Monday through Friday – unfortunately we arrived on a Sunday. Clearly our au jus had been reducing since Friday as it was salty as the sea and not good at all.

In closing;

Overpriced, sloppy execution and just not good food. This place should find a specialty and focus on it, instead of being a steak, sushi and go-go nightclub bar all at the same time.