Travail in Robbinsdale

This little storefront on Broadway in Robinsdale may not seem like much, but it has a whole lot going on inside. Travail Kitchen and Amusements is best described as a cutting edge type of restaurant. They continually have their menu changing and are always highly recommend. Even my prison like cubicle work buddy was raving about it. Well, you don’t have to tell me twice when it involves food. The following day I planned to be there right when they opened at 5pm.

I made it right around 5pm (even with a gps I still can’t get directions right!) and was surprised that there was already a large group starting to enter. Luckily, I was able to get a spot at the bar overlooking the kitchen, and in honor of my brother Steven, bought myself a Surly Furious beer. I also told the waitress that I was well prepared and knew what I wanted, the 10 ..that’s right….10 COURSE TASTING MENU!.....On a side note, this was designed for a couple, but hey, I’m a food blogger that’s not about to share.
And so begins the journey! Great thing is they decided to get the veggies out of the way right off the bat. Yes everyone, that plate has beets on it. I can never recall ever having one, but these were just incredible! The beet had such a sweet flavor to it and was really soft. Also on the dish was a cinnamon cake crumble type of thing that added a nice contrast to the salad.



This little gem to the left was a steak ceviche with I believe a mandarin orange. Such a small dish, but it was packed with flavor. I honestly think it may have been my favorite of the night. This was accompanied with a carrot soup foam shooter. Sorry for not getting a picture on that one. I heard the word shot and tapped into my inner Iron Ranger and guzzled that thing right down.



The lollipop fella there was an interesting food item. Basically, it was an escargot with some type of breading and poprocks. Reminded me of eating bubble gum. It was pretty chewy but not really flavorful. The poprocks were a nice twist though.
This one is pretty cool. Here we have a salmon tartare that was topped with ice cream and some sort of salad off on the side. The ice cream paired with the salmon created a smooth and cool sensation within my mouth. It was incredible. I’m not a fan of salmon, even the ever popular smoked salmon, but in this form with the ice cream it became something I’d order again.
On the left we have cured bacon. The bacon is actually cured in house and is accompanied by corn bread. The corn bread I wasn’t all too crazy about but could have eaten a plate of that bacon all day long. On the right we a beautiful garlic soup. I know it doesn’t look too tasty but it was really beautiful before the flooding occurred. I wanted to lick the bowl clean, but I’m a little too self conscious for that.
Being this can’t be 20 pages long, we’re going to speed things up a bit. Next up I had a ravioli type dish with mandarin oranges, prosciutto, and goat cheese. Picture 2 is a scallop dish that was pretty good, but I think they could have cleaned them better as it seemed a bit gritty. Taking you back to your childhood days was the avocado puree with dippin dots that you ate with a baby spoon. This was followed by another fish dish that was pan seared.
This dish may have been my favorite. They did veal a few different ways. There was veal sausage, veal steak, and carpaccio, with mushrooms. I love it when you get to experience a few different ways. It really shows the versatility of the chef and that they really know what they’re doing. After that I was given another dippin dots dish before dessert.
Dessert had a 2 parter.
First we have a chocolate gnash, dippin dots, and a strawberry foam drink. Next was a play on grapes: grape foam, grape sauce, and just regular grapes with pastry ravioli with a cream filling. Excellent!
This place is incredible. It’s an adventurous type of menu that’s a lot of fun. By coming here, I’m sure you’ll experience foods that you’ve never had before. The staff there is pretty awesome and was very friendly. I recommend getting the seat at the bar by the kitchen, best seat in the house!