celebration at Travail

I am having a rare conjunction of energy + thought, Quick, direct it to the blog immediately!

Wednesday my wife and I were treated to a fabulous dinner at Travail. They don't have website as far as I can tell so here is a link to a recent review.

Go ahead and read it if you want, I'll wait. Or not, whatever you feel comfortable doing.

Ok, if you read that review I need to make a clarification to it. Don't get stuck on the idea that you can get their 'ideal meal' when you go to Travail. The menu changes constantly, completely. What is listed on the chalkboard the night you go [lucky you] will be entirely different from the menu that is talked about in this article.

Anyway onto my 'review'. Travail was splendid. The 4 of us all got different dishes and we were all happy. The portions are on the small side [for the States], so if you arrive there starving do not hesitate to start with a salad or order something as a side as well as your main course. Or share the dessert tasting with the table, you'll have room for it and it's pretty amazing.

Be sure to not make assumptions about what your food will be, either let them surprise you and be ready to roll or ask. The cook/servers are happy to talk to you about the food. They are happy to discuss the wine as well. I had the Marietta old vine and it was exquisite. The beet salad lovely and the agnolotti sublime. They were stuffed with parsnips, marscarpone and and parmesan. I wish I could described what happened when I bit into one of them, but I can't find the words. foodgasm.

The Foie Gras is locally sourced and cage free, my writing partner who had said it was the best she has ever tasted. It was served with chocolate, cranberries, cashews and looked as beautiful as it tasted. The italian sausage sandwhich was lovely as were the fries and the scallops were enjoyed. I couldn't get all the details of the dishes at that end of the table.

I can't even begin to tell you everything that was in the dessert tasting, here is a random list of what I can remember. Doughnuts, nutella, coffee sauce, vanilla creme, cheese cake mousse, apples, plums, plum cake, lemon curd, cookies, brownies, white chocolate and dark chocolate mousse and more. I can't eat sugar and I was still impressed and entertained.

All in all it is well worth your time to visit Travail.

Some caveats: At this point in time Travail does not take reservations. If it's crowded, and I think it's always crowded, there is very little room for waiting. There is a bar area from which you can stare at the lucky diners. This will get worse as the weather gets bad; when it gets too cold to spill over to the outside. We went on a Wednesday night for this very reason and still waited 45-60 minutes. But we were prepared and it did not mar our enjoyment.

Also the room bounces the sound around a lot and with all those people waiting, there is a lot of noise, if you have anyone HOH in your group they will have issues.

If neither one of those things bothers you then you are ready for some fabulous food.
Buon appetito!