600 E. Hennepin Ave October 2007 Update - We've heard that Brasa now delivers their meats to nearby Toast Wine Bar, which serves the meats on its pizzas. Two of our favorites in the area teaming up, this can't be a bad thing!
Minneapolis, MN 55414
612-379-3030
http://www.brasa.us/
Category: American-Casual, International
Rating (Scale 1-10, with 10 being the highest):
Food: 9
Service: N/A (we did take-out)
Ambience: 7
Recommendation: Excellent. Given its tiny menu, this restaurant has to excel in its food preparation and we can safely say that it more than lives up to the “premium rotisserie” its name implies.
This new restaurant in Northeast Minneapolis is the brainchild of notable chef Alex Roberts of Restaurant Alma. The menu is inspired by North and South American cooking and is high on the use of natural free range meats, organic produce, and fair trade products. Our first impressions of this restaurant were overwhelmingly positive – maybe it was the mustard color the interior was painted in or maybe it was the realization that this used to be an old garage (look for the three bay doors). The dark concrete floor and espresso colored furniture accented the walls and the ample natural light gave this restaurant a very open and inviting look. Although it’s not a large restaurant by any means, it does have both indoor and outdoor seating as well as take-out. As much as we wanted to sit and take in the ambience, the A/C was not switched on when we went and the outside temperature was 90+ degrees – we thought better and ordered takeout instead.
The menu doesn’t give you many options – its either pork or chicken but you can accent your entrée with two of a dozen sides. We ordered large individual plates of both the chicken and the pork. The Marinated and Spice Rubbed Rotisserie Chicken (Kadejan Farms) was cooked to perfection. Although not heavily spiced, the crispy skin did exude subtle flavors – the meat under the skin didn’t have much flavor but was moist. The Slow Roasted Berkshire Pork Shoulder (Six Point Cooperative) was rich, moist, and flavorful. Both dishes were served with a Cabbage Salad – a coleslaw-type salad with fresh flavors of cilantro. Each of the sides was fabulous – the Fried Yuca was airy and not at all greasy, the Corn Grits with Sharp Cheddar was creamy and the Sweet Plantains were delicious. The Black Eyed Peas with Berkshire Bacon lacked a distinct flavor, but Nick liked them (he’s a sucker for black eyed peas). We didn’t get to try any dessert this time. The restaurant also serves a nice selection of beer and wine. The take-out service was good – the food arrived quickly and the cashier was friendly and helpful.
$$. At $40 for two people this place isn’t cheap, but the price is warranted given the quality of food this restaurant serves. Lots of parking available in this neighborhood.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Brasa Premium Rotisserie
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1 comments:
After reading raves for Brasa maybe we were expecting too much. We got there early last Friday and it is good we did; within 20 minutes the place was packed with people waiting. The do a lot of take out and it appeared to me as if that got priority over seated customers. I watched that because it ended up taking 30 minutes from order to delivery of our dinners. During that time nobody stopped by the table to ask if we wanted more drinks or anything else. I questioned a server when she came to bus the table next to ours and she said she would check. Our food came out very shortly after that and one of my dinning companions noted that a table seated before us still was without food. Both the pork and the chicken were moist and tender. Neither was very flavorful. The side dishes were all interesting. A couple of them, the grits and the corn bread, were pretty good but nothing outstanding. Mediocre was the word that cropped up as we discussed our meals. Just OK, not worth going out of your way for.
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