STARCH: a gastroblog

We celebrated Taco Man’s 30th last night at a new-ish place called Lenior. If you haven’t been yet, make a reservation and check it out!

It’s a cozy little restaurant in the S. 1st area. The dining area is not much bigger than my living room, barely able to seat 30 people, but I kind of liked it that way.  It made the dinner feel a little more personal.

The food was great — creative. They do a three course prix-fixe menu for just $35. The best part is about Lenior’s prix-fixe is you don’t have to choose the customary salad, entree, dessert.  They allow you to pick ANY three items that you want.  I chose a salad and two sea entrees. The sweet potato salad was served with this yogurt-chive foam. I’m telling you, it was delicious.  It doesn’t sound that exciting, so just take my word for it. Next I had the bowfish caviar atop a melt-in-your-mouth savory flan in clam broth.  I ended my meal with the shrimp ravioli — it was thin and crispy and perfect. Sometimes it’s difficult to describe flavors, so I’ll just say that Lenior has almost perfected this little thing they call UMAMI. Some of the dishes may have been a touch on the saltier side (according to Eric), but I like salt so it didn’t bother me.

I also need to mention the wine.  I had THE BEST GLASS OF WINE I’ve ever tasted. It was a Frappato wine from Sicily.  I’d never heard of this variety before last night. I’m no wine connoisseur, so I pretty much sound like a babbling idiot when I talk about wine, but here’s my best go — this wine was very light bodied for a red wine, not too sweet, not too dry, not too tannic. Not too heavy, not too thin.  In the words of Goldilocks, it was juuuuuuust right.  Unique and easy to drink, the Frappato was a great paring for the lightness of the dishes I chose.

Overall, I really enjoyed my night at Lenior. The price was right for high-end dining. The atmosphere and course timing allowed for great conversation. And of course, the food (and wine) was a hit, too!