The crew at Demi.
First of all, I'm kind of breaking a cardinal rule of mine. I would never really write anything other than a sneak peek from a media preview dinner, because I understand that bells and whistles are pulled out specially for us at these events, but this is different. We won't be back until April (maybe), and bells and whistles are rather the point of this place.
Gavin Kaysen's new 20 seat tasting menu restaurant, Demi, opens this week in the North Loop, an alley away from Spoon and Stable. When tickets for the Feb-March seats went on sale last week, they sold out in 2.5 minutes, and I was not a lottery winner. There are no walk-ins, there is no bar to sidle up to in this one room W-Sa eatery. So this media preview dinner was the only chance to get an understanding of what Demi is all about.
Here's what I think: It's elegant, it's skillful, it's thrilling, and it's not for everyone. And that's okay. The chef agrees.
We were served the Barrington menu, which is the two hour experience for $95. Sitting around the counter, plates of beautiful food were brought out in a thoughtful order, explained by the chef who was responsible for the dish. It's not just Kaysen crafting madly at the center table, he's got a whole host of talented chefs working the space. Other hospitalitarians poured and discussed wine pairings and cleared and reset plates; there were enough people in that small space that were clearly there to take care of you.
Libby Anderson for Demi
Octopus civet with bacon lardon and red currants was served with a heritage wheat bun to sop up the sauce.
Right, I could wax on about the gorgeous food and wine, how silly great the pairing of local Sweetland cider was with the foie gras "jello salad" course or that the Teutonic Crows Riesling was indeed a magical moment with the black cod swimming in sabayon, dotted by these little pickly crabapple-boshi bits that almost tasted like olives. But since very few of you will be able to taste those plates, and they'll likely be different by the time you get there, it seems indulgent. So I'll just say: this isn't Kaysen's grandma's pot roast, and it isn't his homage to boudin blanc. It's the next level to Soigné, and that's important.
Many of you have wondered, in side conversations with me, who is this place for? Who's going to go? Coupled with the local media discussion on prices, that the top dollar for two people (with the full WC Whitney menu and reserve list pairing) could cost you $600+ for two, it feels like the sneer is on. I think as a city, it's ok to have nice things.
Plenty of people pay $180+ for a seat at a Vikings game, others shell out $250+ for a Billy Joel concert. Nobody writes controversial blog posts about that. Those things don't remotely interest me, but I have happily paid in those ranges for dinners that have astounded me, like the similarly coursed and priced Kaiseki Furukawa. Isn't it really all about what you value? I get that food is different. People access it every day on a very personal level and feel that it's a commodity, therefore not worth all the fluff (I make a great salmon, why should I pay $300 for a small bite of one?). For those people, it's not worth it. For the foodists who see and want to experience the beauty of a slightly scorched nub of king salmon lolling in a rhubarb-ginger-radish dashii, with linden honey made from flowers on the chef's farm? It's probably worth your wait and your scramble for tickets.
It's not for everyone, and we have loads of casual dining, burger, and pizza places that are. I equally love them for who they are. I am excited by the potential for food halls to bring lots of varied small and low-cost dining options into our midst. But we need other places that push food forward, and if they can no longer work as giant halls of fine dining, then they just might work as small spots that play to a smaller set. It's important. As a food human in this town, I want the rollicking tasting menus at Travail, which is the greatest food show we have. I want Kaiseki Furukawa to introduce an entirely different and honorable perspective on ingredients. I also want the small and intense tasting labs like Tenant, which is like watching the next generation of cooks building you sandcastles in their sandbox. And I want Demi, which seems to fit right in the mix, even though I will not be eating there often. I want a place in the middle of the downtown that pushes envelopes and tries to be something new and different. To me it has as much value to the worth of the city as that stadium. If you want the same, and value it enough to pay for it, it's for you too.
Tickets for April will go on sale, exclusively on the website, at noon on March 1st.
