Have I ever mentioned how much I love Girls’ Dinner Night Out?! It’s the perfect opportunity not only to try restaurants with girlfriends, but we often end up at places that Rob would have no interest in a;sdjlfalksdjdining.

Enter Mill Valley Kitchen

Located in St. Louis Park, Mill Valley Kitchen is a restaurant I had not heard of yet! When we asked Kim how she found it, she said, “Open Table,” which is an online restaurant reservation service. I always forget to look there. It’s a unique and innovative place if you ask me!

From MVK’s website:

Mill Valley Kitchen is a restaurant and bar featuring Northern California inspired cuisine served in a comfortable and refined setting. We use fresh, local and sustainably sourced ingredients to create our menu, and we include nutritional information for each menu item. Our light and flavorful cuisine is designed to enhance the healthy lifestyles of our guests.

I ordered a glass of bubbly rosé because it is not often that you find one from France’s Loire Valley on a menu by-the-glass, much less for $7.

By the suggestion of our server, both Jen and I started with the Orange Salad:

I absolutely adored this salad. It was so refreshing and the perfect way to start a meal. Alas, as I look at their menu right now, the Orange Salad is no where to be seen. Farm-to-table restaurants are both a blessing and a curse. 😉

Kim also ordered a salad:

Let me stress that I think these salads appear bigger in the photos than they actually are. They were the perfect portion sizes pre-entree. Speaking of entrees, the menu item that I found online that I was considering was not available. But something else caught my eye…

I am a huge scallop fan, especially if it isn’t prepared with bacon. And they were offering one prepared with lavender? Sign me up!

This dish just sang to me! The scallops were perfectly seared and the combination of flavors was thrilling. And yes, that is popcorn on the plate! It added a little bit of crunch.

Jen nibbled on a Spinach, Chevre & Sweet Onion Flatbread to which she added Shrimp. Kim chose the Sea Bass, which I believe is the miso-glazed one on the menu at the time of this writing.

And because we saw some miniature desserts being brought to other tables, we knew that this was a place where we absolutely had room for dessert and coffee!

Each miniature dessert was served in something slightly larger than a shot glass – the perfect size! I went with the Triple Chocolate – duh! And of course, I loved the mousse-y goodness. However, they also had a Carrot Cake miniature that night. Since that is one of Jen’s favorites, it was an easy choice for her. That one was topped with a bit of candied ginger.

Kim chose the gluten-free Chocolate Brownie, which was actually two brownies. They were dense, so good thing it came with a side of milk!

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For me, this was the perfect meal.

Because it was so busy the night we dined there, our only complaints were about where we were seated – in the bar area. We had reservations and arrived a bit late, but we called ahead. Normally, I don’t mind sitting in the bar area at all. But the chairs were uncomfortable. And because the place was so busy, there were people standing up between the tables sipping drinks, almost on top of us. Some were so loud that we couldn’t hear our own conversation.

What I did like is that they had their one TV tuned to The Cooking Channel, rather than sports. Although it was changed to hockey later. Hey, we live in Minnesota!

I sat back and thought about if I’d ever take Rob to Mill Valley Kitchen. Normally, it wouldn’t really be his sort of thing. I mean, because there are no fryers in the joint, burgers are even served with greens. {<–My kind of thing!} But the beef would be grass-fed and high quality.

My thought would be to take him on a Monday during Happy Hour. From 3p – 6p and 9p – close, all burgers are $5. That’s a steal because that even includes their $14 Bison Burgers. And Mondays are half-price bottle of wine night!

When and where have you had a perfect meal?

Cheers~
Carrie