I was one of the bloggers that was not only invited to take part in the Blogger Dinner at Two25, but one of the few who actually attended. Never to be outdone, I actually ate at Two25 two Thursdays in a row, but this was based primarily on a miscommunication of my usual proportions, in addition to corresponding with people using two different email identities, and the general persistent clutter in my head.
Anyway, I was quite glad to eat twice at Two25 because it provides a better basis for my review. (In case some of you are wondering, I actually paid for my dinner the first time - I did not scam two comped dinners off of the joint.) Initially, I had wanted to eat the first week as an
incognito restaurant-goer, but Katie blew my cover. I really liked the idea of comparing the food, service, and atmosphere when I go as a regular person and when I go as an invited potential food critic. However, unlike some bloggers who couldn’t be bothered to attend a free meal because of their "journalistic integrity," I never pass at a chance to eat out, whether I’m paying for it or not. And I’m sure that after you finish reading this review, you will know that I was not inappropriately swayed to gushing praise simply because they paid for one of my meals.
When I was first asked by Shane to come to the dinner, I asked him if he knew what he was getting into by inviting me to this dinner. I meant that in two ways; first because I have what some call a acerbic nitpicky way about me; and second, because I have a
very different dining background that the
average restaurant goer. I won’t expound too much on either one of those, except to say that the things that I noticed about Two25 that may be construed as criticisms are things that most average diners would not notice or care about.
And away we go . . . .
To make my evaluation complete, I ordered similar items both nights, but most not completely the same. So, at each dinner I had a before dinner drink, appetizer, salad, a glass of wine with dinner, entree, and dessert.
Service. The service was good both nights, but far superior at the "official" blogger dinner. Of course, that night, they had their "best man" Sam on the job and he did his job very well. I was also told that Sam was instrumental in choosing the wine list, which I was very impressed by, particularly because it included three Ridge wines. My only complaint about the service on the first night was that, even though I had ordered a glass of wine to go with my entree when I ordered the entree, the waitress did not bring the glass of wine to me until I was more than halfway done eating my entree. Wine goes with food and really becomes quite pointless if it isn’t there.
Before Dinner Drink. This is actually more a test of the bar than the restaurant and was one of the things I found lacking at Two25. I ordered a Cosmo the first time and a Gin and Tonic the second night. It is pretty hard to screw up at G&T, so that was fine. The Cosmo on the other hand, was not great. It arrived in a stemless glass (the wine was also served in stemless glasses, which is fine for a liquid that is not meant to be cold) and it was barely cool when I received it. Cosmos should be ice cold - the very best of them having a thin layer of ice floating on the top. Of course, the stemless glass didn’t help because the heat from my hand quickly eradicated any cold the drink possessed before it got to the table.
A Cosmo is a fairly common drink and easy to make. The bartender’s failure to make one appropriately speaks to either lack of experience or lack of good training. The next time I eat at Two25, I will probably skip any drinks other than wine.
Appetizers. The first night, the table had sauteed mushrooms and the second night, we had escargot. Both were good, not spectacular, but certainly good. The flavor of the mushrooms was nice but the presentation was lacking - it was really just a pile of mushrooms on a plate. The escargot were not in their shells, which I found odd, but were covered with a good sauce, toasted breadcrumbs, and bread. I thought the sauce was too garlicky (and I like a lot of garlic) and a little heavy-handed on the salt. I tasted another diner’s calamari and it was
very, very good . . . not chewy at all and full of flavor. The calamari will be my appetizer next time.
Salad. I actually had the same salad both nights and I was glad I did for the sake of this review because something happened that is one of my pet peeves about salads. I had the Pear Salad, which is mixed greens, blue cheese, sliced pears, walnuts, dried cranberries, and strawberry vinaigrette. The first night, this salad was exceptional. Everything was fresh, the greens were dark and healthy, not a single chunk of iceberg in the bunch (iceberg lettuce should be the death of any restaurant charging more than $10 for an entree). I ordered it again the second night because it was so good.
Ahh . . . the old bait and switch. The same salad was horrible on the second night. The pears were too old, had dark spots, and had gone gritty. The greens were about half "real" greens and the other half emaciated iceberg, as if they had run low on real greens and tried to "pad" the salad with filler. Yuck. In my opinion, if you can’t make something up to the standards you aspire to every time, you should take it off the menu.
Entrees. The first night I had the Pan-Seared Duck Breast with a Lingonberry Chambord reduction, baby carrots, and potatoes au gratin. This was good, I ate the whole thing, but I’ve had much better. The duck breast was a little tough and chewy, although it had a nice crust of fat on it. The Lingonberry reduction was way too sweet, which must be pretty hard to achieve since lingonberries are fairly sour naturally. I like the interplay between sweet and savory, but this was too heavy on the sweet. The carrots were good, not overdone which is very important. The potatoes were also good, but lacking in salt or other flavor.
The second night I had the Rack of Lamb with red wine demi glace, steamed asparagus, and the potatoes au gratin. The lamb had very good flavor, although it was a little fattier than most rack of lamb I’ve had. The potatoes were exactly the same. I love asparagus and this was good asparagus, perfectly cooked so it still had crunch. The demi glace was minimally important to the plate flavor-wise. My biggest complaint was that the meal had clearly been plated for a long time prior to the lamb being added and sat under the heat lamps because the sauce had a faint skin on it. It didn’t destroy the good flavor of the meal, but it did put me off a little knowing my dinner had not been timed appropriately.
One of the best things about both entrees is that I asked for medium rare and I got medium rare. This is the make-it-or-break-it test for me and restaurants. Yes, I mean
medium rare and when I get it, I am happy.
Desserts. The first night I had creme brulee, which in its most basic form is pretty hard to screw up. And this was good creme brulee - it had the requisite "break" when I tapped the sugar with my spoon. However, it was an exceedingly small portion made to look larger by placing it in a wide, but very shallow custard dish. I also tasted the chocolate mousse, which was passable. The second night, I had the caramel apple pie which was OK.
I have the following general comments about the experience.
First, the bartender needs to practice. The wine list is wonderful and the beer choices are probably the best in Peoria for this type of restaurant (too often fine dining restaurants eschew beer as some low-class drink. This is not so and I am glad Two25 understands this.)
Second, they need to get a better meat supplier. The duck and the lamb were both only OK, not great cuts of meat. The veal and steak I tried were also just OK. If you are going to charge between $24 and $42 for meat, you’d better back it up with some good meat.
Third, the menu is too long and trying to do too much. It should be considerably shortened and become focused on what the kitchen can do well. (As a side note, I noticed after writing this review that since we were there a week ago, the menu has been changed significantly. I hope a lot of thought went into this change.)
Fourth, they need a real pastry chef. The dessert menu screams "I was created by a professional chef who either can’t make desserts, doesn’t like desserts, or who didn’t take the pastry course in culinary school!!" There are chefs who are good at the dinner experience and completely lacking in the dessert experience. This chef is one of them. All of the desserts offered are things I could buy from the deli counter at the grocery store or make out of a box. Dessert is the last impression most diners get of a restaurant. I would hate to think these desserts are being used as that final message.
In conclusion, I think that most average restaurant-goers will have a good experience at Two25. Most people will not notice the things that I did and will come back again. I will certainly come back again, perhaps when they work out some of the kinks. It takes time to make a quality fine dining restaurant, particularly in a town like Peoria.
