I frequent Victor's 1959, at the corner of Grand and 38th, fairly regularly. While I'm a big fan of establishing familiar haunts, every time I've gone to Victor's I've looked across the street a bit to Grand Cafe and reminded myself that I needed to give the place a whirl. Lucky for me, and thanks to the Twittersphere, I caught wind of a National Pie Day celebration there this past Wednesday and managed to not only enjoy my first trip to Grand Cafe, but celebrate a holiday I wasn't aware existed.
The interior of Grand Cafe is warm and romantic. It's a small spot, with two- and four-person tables and small booths tucked here and there beneath soft, rosy lighting. The evening was celebratory and the center of the main room held a table prettily decorated with pies destined for plates later in the evening. A $25 prix fixe menu gave one a vegetarian or meat-embracing option (I chose the latter) and finished with a "pie flight" of three gorgeous creations from local pie baker extraordinaire Christine Hoffman.
Cozied up in a booth, glass of Malbec in hand, the restaurant was the perfect balm against the negative temps swirling around outside. A duck canape on flaky pie crust (coupled by my exclamation that the only time I made duck I dried the crap out of that sucker to the point of being forced to gnaw it free of the bone) was a decadent way to kick things off, but the light radish and caper-adorned salad that followed balanced out the naughtiness with some fresh greens and fennel flavors. The pork tenderloin was a lovely main course but I think the highlight of that dish for me was the kumquat marmalade. Heavens. Can I just have a vat of that, please? I'd smear that on toast. Turkey sandwiches. Frittatas. Paired with the pork and squash puree, just divine.
The piece de resistance, of course, was the pie. I went for the lemon lime confection on the left, the salty honey, and a bourbon chocolate pecan. But I was lucky enough to not be dining alone and my companion went with the second flight option of cranberry walnut, apple with rosemary whip, and chocolate chess. I had the chance to sample them all and the hands down favorite for me was my salty honey. Perfectly light, sweet, enough salt to heighten that honey flavor, and a perfect buttery crust. As much as I loved the salty honey, however, I also couldn't stop stealing bites of the rosemary whip cream. What a wonderful companion to apple pie! Rosemary is strong stuff, but this whip held just enough of the aromatic to balance its sweet apple companion, an I am officially committed to trying my hand at that the next time I make an apple pie.
The interior of Grand Cafe is warm and romantic. It's a small spot, with two- and four-person tables and small booths tucked here and there beneath soft, rosy lighting. The evening was celebratory and the center of the main room held a table prettily decorated with pies destined for plates later in the evening. A $25 prix fixe menu gave one a vegetarian or meat-embracing option (I chose the latter) and finished with a "pie flight" of three gorgeous creations from local pie baker extraordinaire Christine Hoffman.
Cozied up in a booth, glass of Malbec in hand, the restaurant was the perfect balm against the negative temps swirling around outside. A duck canape on flaky pie crust (coupled by my exclamation that the only time I made duck I dried the crap out of that sucker to the point of being forced to gnaw it free of the bone) was a decadent way to kick things off, but the light radish and caper-adorned salad that followed balanced out the naughtiness with some fresh greens and fennel flavors. The pork tenderloin was a lovely main course but I think the highlight of that dish for me was the kumquat marmalade. Heavens. Can I just have a vat of that, please? I'd smear that on toast. Turkey sandwiches. Frittatas. Paired with the pork and squash puree, just divine.
The piece de resistance, of course, was the pie. I went for the lemon lime confection on the left, the salty honey, and a bourbon chocolate pecan. But I was lucky enough to not be dining alone and my companion went with the second flight option of cranberry walnut, apple with rosemary whip, and chocolate chess. I had the chance to sample them all and the hands down favorite for me was my salty honey. Perfectly light, sweet, enough salt to heighten that honey flavor, and a perfect buttery crust. As much as I loved the salty honey, however, I also couldn't stop stealing bites of the rosemary whip cream. What a wonderful companion to apple pie! Rosemary is strong stuff, but this whip held just enough of the aromatic to balance its sweet apple companion, an I am officially committed to trying my hand at that the next time I make an apple pie.
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