Station 220

Update to my update!

Went to Station 220 for a late Valentine's dinner with my lady. We decided to splurge and go with the tasting course, which I've been wanting to try forever. My date is a bit picky, and doesn't eat pork, beef, rabbit, duck, etc. Only chicken and seafood. Stu and the rest of the kitchen staff handled her preferences excellently and didn't allow her choices to affect the quality of any of the dishes. For the sake of this review, I'll only speak to my dishes though.

Eight course tasting menu. I won't remember the details of everything, but here goes:

1. Duck confit crepe. What a way to start the meal. Delicious. I'm a big fan of duck and was hoping to get some in at least one dish, so I was pumped when I get duck for the very first dish.

2. Frisee salad with crab meat and beets. Again, delicious. I really don't like beets, but I wolfed them down in this course. The crab meet was extremely salty, but I found that when I constructed the "perfect bite" of crab, greens, and beet, it was an ideal taste.

3. Chicken dumpling soup. This was an asian-inspired chicken dumpling nestled in a bowl of delicious chicken consomme, which was poured over after the dish was brought to the table. It featured a deep and spicy korean barbecue sauce that complimented the rich consomme.

4. Lobster risotto. Lumps of sweet, fresh, lobster meat over an excellent risotto. Topped with a sweet potato chip that -no lie- may have stolen the show.

5. Pork chop, beans, pork belly, polenta, sweet potato mash. This was a barnburner of a dish. Everything on the plate was delicious. The little cube of fried polenta was astounding, and the sweet potato mash was light and flavorful.

6. Beef cheeks. This was similar to the entree. The chunks of beef cheek literally melt in your mouth. The consistency of the fat is something that I imagine requires a long cooking time, and I'm extremely grateful that the chefs at Station 220 are so committed to their craft.

7. Brioche, plum sorbet, syrup. Imagine the best funnel cake you've ever had. Now imagine it was made with local ingredients, prepared by a real chef, and served alongside some of the "plummiest" plum sorbet you can imagine.

8. Chocolate brownie, orange marmalade, vanilla ice cream. This is how a tasting course should end: with chocolate. Decadent is a good word to describe both the brownie and the ice cream. I wasn't crazy about the marmalade, until I combined it with a bite of brownie and ice cream. Bang. To top it off, Chef Stu was kind enough to bring out a couple glasses of raw milk to complement this dessert.

All in all, a huge success. The weak link was the chicken dumpling soup at #3, but that was still very good. I typically don't like sweet potatoes, but I was munching on them all night, as they were featured in at least three of the courses. For me, the winner was the pork chop course. It just hit all the right buttons for me.

Another home run for the guys on Front Street.

This is the highest quality food and the best service I've found in Bloomington. The lamb was so good I actually had to restrain myself from licking my plate. Station 220 is a great place for a nice anniversary or birthday dinner.

After endless days and nights riding a Ducati through Midwestern towns filled with nothing but fast food chains, I calculated how successful an annual vintage "film festival," (that consisted of nothing other than re-runs of old McDonalds and Burger King commercials) would be in this part of the country.  I was starving most of the time, yet surrounded by restaurants that served poison manufactured to taste (and look like) food.  After a while auditory hallucinations of Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" echoed incessantly in my head ("Water, water, everywhere / And all the boards did shrink / Water, water everywhere / Nor any drop to drink.")

And then, as miraculous proof the hunger gods were on my side during my one night in Bloomington--an oasis in the middle of a culinary desert:  Station 220.   I ordered a Hendricks and Tonic with bitters, which perfectly complimented the savory Lemon Puree Halibut w/Tomatoes, Broccoli and Braised Spinach.  I was both content and received a large dose of the vitamins and nutrients I desperately needed to recoup energy and silence the haunting voices of Coleridge: the albatross around my neck was no more.

Also, thanks, Nanam!  (Truly an ambassador of goodwill if there ever was one.)