Spill the Wine

Saturday evening found me at Spill the Wine on Washington Avenue in Minneapolis for dinner and drinks before a friend's birthday celebration. My last visit was a couple of years ago right after it had first opened (for drinks and an appetizer), so I was looking forward to further exploring the menu.

The atmosphere is perfect, offering just the right amount of urban-chic. In the evening, the candles and white string lights make it perfect for date night or intimate gatherings with friends (although not so great for snapping photos on my iPhone). And the wine barrels sprinkled about add a nice decorative touch.

I decided to go with one of the wine flights since I was in the mood for a little adventure, and I thought the price was pretty reasonable ($10 for a sampling of three). I went with the 'round the horn flight because it had two white offerings. Surprisingly, I liked the red the best. I thought all three were fine, but I probably would have been more satisfied if I would have just gone with one glass of something I knew I'd enjoy. O-well. At least I was adventurous.

Before I get into the specifics of the dinner, I'll just say that I loved, loved, loved it.

We chose two appetizers to share: the calamari and the potato gnocchi. The calamari was great - crispy and delightful.The gnocchi was delicious. The sauce was rich and creamy and made with gorgonzola, spinach and large chunks of chicken.

For the main entree, I went with the cobb salad. I will emphatically say that it was the best salad I've ever ordered. Period. I really liked the preparation of the roasted chicken, and (as I think is becoming quite apparent) I love gorgonzola.

To top it all off, we decided to share the molten chocolate cake, which was heavenly. It even came with a side of hot chocolate, perfect for dunking the already-very-chocolatey-cake. Scrumdiddlyumptious.