Bites Nearby: Travail Works Hard To Please

Travail is French for work or labor (as in childbirth).

Spawned by the efforts of a team of chefs, a bouncing baby restaurant-Travail Kitchen & Amusements-was born last year on Robbinsdale's main drag. Just before its first birthday, it was bestowed fourth place on Bon Appetit magazine's list of Best New Restaurants in America.

Like proud godparents, Twin Cities diners can't coo enough about its gastropub fare.

What a grocery list those Travail restaurant chefs must write each week. I was astonished at the array of ingredients involved in what a friend and I chose to eat from the chalkboard menu (at the urging of our waiter, who assured us it was the best deal): The 10 course tasting menu for two, $35 for each of us.

Though I scribbled notes as fast as I could, I lost track as about 15 different portions arrived at our high-top table, if counting all the amuse-the-mouth extras.

Tall wooden stools aren't condusive to lingering, which may be management's trick to turn tables, totally essential since Bon Appetit's blessing. We got there at 4:45 for the 5 p.m. opening (only on Tuesdays through Saturdays) and stood in line, getting the last available table during the first rush through Travail's doors. 

Those who came any later were forced to mill around drinking Surley beer or modestly-priced wines, amusing themselves by playing bean bag toss. The din was deafening, barely allowing us to hear waiter Matthew's hurried description of each dish.

Sometimes a chef trotted a course to our perch, and when we commented that a fried Parmesan garnish was bitterly overdone, he came back with two properly-sauteed tidbits.

So you can see the frenzy of chefs at work, Travail's kitchen is open, and for a front row seat, you can dine a a table-height counter next to the action.

This is not a restaurant where you go with friends for a leisurely chat over food. The focus here is on the food itself -- and eat it fast because more is ever forthcoming. You can order individual items, but for a first timer, the tasting menu reveals the kitchen's artistry.

Yes, we were stuffed after 10 plus courses, but two share one plate each go-around, so it isn't as gourmandy as the numbers suggest. Our only wish is that clean sampling plates were issued occasionally.  Course after course of sauces were smeared on square salad-size plates until they became a collage of flavors -- and frankly, quite messy.

Matthew explained that the tasting menu changes weekly -- or by whim, so I won't outline our entire meal. But here are highlights, and if you go soon, some might still be featured.

The absolute standout was a mini-tureen filled with sweet potato soup -- light-textured, creamy, flawlessly seasoned. But that wasn't all. Our spoons discovered pistachios and balsamic-cured onions, and a sweet striation as a maple marshmallow within melted.

We loved the heirloom tomato salad draped with both raw and deep-fried prosciutto, manchego cheese and crisp green beans with an almond viniagrette. Are you getting the picture of how inventive and complex each dish is?

Fried shrimp with whispy crumb mantles paired with a kimchee reduction, avocado, radish slivers and crunchy bean sprouts was another to-die-for experience.

Beef carpaccio was mated with an array of condiments, including a white substance that Matthew described as bacon powder. When I inquired how it was made, Matthew said, "If I told you, I'd have to give you the keys to the place."  

We didn't exclaim over the mushroom agnolotti. But Travail redeemed itself with the next courses, sauteed sea scallops enhanced with mango, juniper and jalapeno, and pefectly steamed sea bass on a bed of cooked and puffed wild rice. Next came quail stuffed with hashbrowns, sauced with corn butter.

I met a totally unknown ingredient, Yuzu, which Mathew said is a Japanese fruit somewhere between a lemon and lime. A puree was served icy but not puckery on a spoon to clear the palate for the final plate -- blood rare beef tenderloin with at last six garnishes including potato pave and fresh date rolled around an orange reduction (if I can trust my notes -- by them I was food-bleery).

Matthew brought what we thought was dessert, but he said was "pre-dessert" of miniature meringues, creamy brownies and something I can't recall. Dessert itself was a white chocolate creation with almond cream and blueberry sorbet drizzled with orange sauce. I was officially comatose at that point.

Customers scribble their names and messages on the blackboards, and I inquired about the largest sentiment -- "Tingleybutt." Matthew explained that his former football coach, who often said that a good play on the field gave him tinglybutt, was so impressed by Travail's food that he wrote that compliment for all to see. I agreed -- whether it was the food or that hard wooden stool that caused it.

Really, it was the food.

To find Travail, go to 4145 W. Broadway in Robbinsdale. Their phone is 763-535-1131, but don't bother to call ahead for a reservation unless you're bringing a large group. Just stand in line, toss bean bags and wait to have the most stunning and bargain-priced food experience in these towns -- and according to Bon Appetit, in the whole country.