Reserve Wine & Food

If you are in the Grand Rapids and love food and good wine, you must visit Reserve Wind & Food. Wine on-tap, Indie Rock playing with a sleek and modern decor.  Not to forget the friendly hostess and knowledgeable wait staff.  
I walked in on a weeknight. The dress was upper-casual.  Not dressy at all for a early weeknight dinner.  I asked the waiter to bring me three cheeses and a wine of his choice.  He gave me a nice sparkling white wine and three of the most delicious cheeses. I never would have picked a sparkling wine on my own and was very pleased with the choice.  For dinner I had the Smoked Rabbit Ravioli which was fantastic!  I highly recommend visiting this wonderful restaurant.

It's been a while since my wife and I have treated ourselves to a fine dining experience. So on our anniversary night out we got dressed up and headed to a new place recommended in Grand Rapids magazine, Reserve.

It's situated in between the Van Andel Arena and the De Vos Center, so a wonderful location. We entered a deceptively small restaurant that manages to feel big. Wonderful pieces of art hang from it's high ceilings. it's white walls give a nice and light feel. The space is used very well with a counter in the center where people can drink and eat, a bar up at the top of the restaurant and tables either side. Everyone's wearing formal casual, shirts. some ties and bow-ties, all dressed up well to do folk! I feel richer than I actually am entering the place!

It was busy for a Monday night, but due to it's clever use of the space, doesn't feel crowded. We were seated along the side, the tables are quite close and I found the white plastic tables a weird choice of decor for such a swish place.

The service was lovely. I can't remember the name of the waitress but she was very friendly and helpful. The menu has a charcuterie & cheeseboard option, then starters and mains. The wine list gives an option of a taster menu, my wife goes for the Traverse City and I go for the Farmers Demise, you get 3 samples of wine.

We decide to go all out, we have a cheeseboard selection as well as starter and main; a washed cheese from France, head cheese and some aged ham from Tennessee. When the cheeseboard and wines arrive the table is a wonderful sight. The presentation is beautiful. A wooden tray holds the wine glasses with a card explaining each and the cheeseboard come in a wonderful long plate.

We tried our wines and gave each other a taste. The sparkling was the best of the Traverse City ones, I wasn't a fan of the Left Foot Charley and the Mawby was tasty. Of mine, the Maison Roche de Bellene was delicious.

The headcheese, which I've never had before, was initially uninspiring but grew on me. The washed morbier was not spectacular, actually it was rather muted and disappointing. The aged Tennessee ham was probably my favorite of the three.

The morbier set the tone for what I felt was a disappointing meal. For starters we ordered the venison terrine, which is spectacular, and probably the best thing I had the whole night. The pork fat fries were also something else. I could have eaten these two dishes all night.

For mains we ordered the Gnocchi and the chicken and dumplings. The Gnocchi was beautiful, but the rabbit, peppers and the rest were just an indiscernible mess. The chicken and dumplings were only ok. I'm a fan of roasting a chicken. My wife's rule with restaurant dishes is if can we cook it any better at home. I have to say, and I'm not blowing my own trumpet here, I've roasted as good a chicken as the one I was presented with. They add a nice crisp piece of skin, but it was also quite plane. The dumplings didn't taste of anything and the meal as a whole just tasted of chicken. The dishes they are presented in are beautiful big bowls of food which I wanted to take home with me.

We shared a dessert, the cheesecake, which was light but very rich, to such an extent, we only finished half of it. I skipped coffee as it was Madcap coffee, a coffee house I've visited twice and been extremely disappointed on both occasions.

The total came to $100. We had splashed out, but I have had much better meals for $40 less and without having to dress up. I've been to fine dining restaurants where I haven't minded paying the price because the food was so good. They charge fine dining prices, but I found the food fell flat in both imagination and flavor.  My wife, on the other hand, loved the meal and the experience. If she does write a review I've no doubt it will give a better report than mine. For me, a pricey and disappointing meal.

Best wine list in town and a wonderful charcuterie.