A couple of friends and I decided to have dinner together and we needed to find a good meeting point.

My friend chose BLVD Kitchen & Bar in Minnetonka.

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What? Another Twin Cities restaurant unbeknownst to me?

Granted, I don’t get over to the Minnetonka area that often. It’s not far, really. Now that I think about it, we don’t always hear about suburban restaurants. We discover them when we see them. Because they are talked about more often, we tend to be more aware of restaurants located in Minneapolis or St. Paul proper. {That is unless I receive an invitation to buy a Groupon to a suburban restaurant in my inbox.}

As usual, I checked the menu out online and was delighted with what I saw. The burger options looked enticing and although I don’t think I’d order a big burger at this stage in my weight loss, I almost felt bad that I wasn’t bringing Rob along with me. {Almost, but not completely.} 🙂

With all of the good-looking options on the menu, I knew it would make for a difficult decision upon arrival.

We walked in and HOLY HAPPY HOUR! The bar, centered in the middle of the restaurant, was in a nice square shape with folks seated all around it while sipping cocktails, house wine, and $4 beers. If you wanted a seat at the bar, you’d surely be waiting! It was quite lively, too. We were led to a booth and found that the tables situated around the perimeter of the bar were virtually empty. {We did find that they filled quickly after Happy Hour ended.}

Jen and I each ordered a glass of wine while waiting for another friend to arrive. This blog has me realizing that I’ve been ordering a lot of bubbly lately. You see, my husband isn’t a big fan of sparkling wine, so we never order a bottle of it when we are dining out. In addition, it used to be rare that you could find it served by the glass, so I’d order it whenever it presented itself. However, I’ve been noticing that sparkling wine by the glass or the split (187 ml) is being offered more and more lately. Yay me!

Jen asked me if I was familiar with one of the Zinfandels on the list: Lake Sonoma, Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. While I hadn’t had it before, I told her that Dry Creek Valley is known for high quality zins. It did not disappoint! I was quite impressed for a little wine by the glass. {I generally don’t order wine by the glass, sparkling wine being the exception, but I’ll post why on that subject another day.}

I eventually settled on the Grilled Organic Salmon:

I knew I wanted seafood and was intrigued by the saffron cream sauce. And I’ve just recently learned the wonders of risotto. I used to think, “What’s the big deal? It’s just rice!” {I know some of you are gasping right now.}

I do know now that risotto done correctly can be a thing of pure heaven. And it came pretty darn close here. What really surprised me was that I didn’t really care for the saffron cream sauce. It was just too much. I’m not sure if the sauce was off, if the flavor just didn’t suit me, or if my palate is just leaning more and more toward the healthier side. In any case, I finished nearly everything else. There was no practicing of the 50% solution here. I had intended to be more mindful, but I just got caught up in the conversation.

My friends ordered the Shrimp Risotto (photo did not turn out, sorry!) and the BLVD Royale with Cheese:

I had a burger on pretzel bun once before – in Milwaukee! It was actually my favorite part of the burger at that restaurant. And while I don’t think Jen ate the bun here, she said that the burger was oh-so-cheesy! It hit the spot for her that night. The fries were fine, but both Jen and I thought Rob might appreciate them a little bit more than we did. The gorgonzola dipping sauce was a nice touch; however, with the truffle fries it just seemed like the powerful flavors were competing with each other.

By the menu pictures, you can see that this place, like La Chaya Bistro offers many organic and locally farmed items on its menu. That’s something I always like. To me, it means that the staff cares what it is sending out to the diners.

Are there any places that you’ve been to that offer quality ingredients like BLVD or La Chaya?

Are there any restaurants you’ve been meaning to try lately?