Restaurant Tallent

After wincing at this ugly gray cinder block building for over a year, we decided to take advantage of a special b1g1 deal. Granted it's not quite as hideous inside as outside, it's pretty bizarrely decorated to say the least. The enormous terrible paintings on the ground floor have been replaced with some photographs I paid no attention to. Our trip upstairs took us by what looked like a side tour of assembly hall (were they trying to make the stairwell look like a basketball?). Passing through the room of blood (solid dark red walls) we were sat in the padded toile back room. Well, yes it was kind of ridiculous. So, the food... It was very good. The potato soup starter my wife got was really good. I got a Roballo (spanish fish) with risotto and an herb "salse verde" It was done very well for the most part; some really nice flavors. The risotto was maybe a little pasty and the wilty spinach was midly unappealing. All and all it was not better than any food I've paid less than half the price for. My wife got the coq au vin. It was pretty good. Not having anything to compare it too, I can only compare it to ather food experiences. It was good, but not heavenly by any means. Our dessert, a plum and fig crisp with black pepper ice cream was OK. But the tough, meaty fruit lacked any real pleasant sweetness or fragrance. The ice cream was interesting, but didn't ring any bells either.

The service was fine I guess, but when she failed to bring me my dessert port the illusion of infallibility was finally dashed. What was left was a par dining experience like any other, but less fun.

We enjoyed our wine recommendation alot. But really? Not $9/glass great.

So, the $85 bill warrants some nitpicking criticism. It was kind of a fun outing in some respects; new territory and it's nice to treat yourself once in a while. But what could have been quite a fun adventure, was squelched in the end by a haut-culture pretensions and my inability to deal with face-to-face fine-dining jargon without finally getting annoyed.

Granted, I went in feeling like a rube street urchin in a house of manners, but I've come away feeling that for what we got and what we paid, the stilted, take-yourself-really seriously because this is fine-dining atmosphere isn't worth it. So, if you really love this kind of thing (a little too masochistic for me), I'd say everthing they say about it is probably true. I've had my go. Not convinced.

Location: 620 West Kirkwood Ave
Phone: 330-9801

Roots

Took advantage of the heavenly lull in Bloomington commerce to visit Roots, Bloomington's new (only?) vegetarian restaurant last night. The decoration and atmosphere are extremely welcoming and comfortable. I'll chalk the slightly slow service up to slow-business inertia. I'd love to see more variety on the menu. Even still, it was tough deciding between 2 or 3 three really appealing looking items. I had a falafel sandwich, just because it's what I was in the mood for. My wife had a roasted portabello, spinach melt. We both had sweet potato fries. First and foremost, all the mostly local ingredients were fine quality and fresh. My sandwich could have been a little more generously seasoned, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. The portabello sandwich was freakin' awesome. It was huge! Every bite I was able to steal was moist and flavorful and everything in it worked well together. The fries were a little overdone for my tastes, but still enjoyable. We also had a fresh juice and a smoothy. The tropical fruit smoothy was really delicious, as was my carrot and orange juice. Definitely a high recommend and on our list for a 2nd visit, hopefully soon!

Location: 127 N. Walnut Ave.
Phone: 332-4040