Carnevor

You can't say that The Man Who Is Still Working and I aren’t doing our share to stimulate the economy. Not only have we hired half of Waukesha County’s labor force to repair our decrepit house (more on that in a future episode), but we continue to do our share of stimulating the local restaurant economy.

Last weekend we extended our generosity into downtown Milwaukee. And we weren’t the only ones to do so. Carnevor Restaurant was packed on Saturday evening, and one might assume that everyone placing orders had noticed the prices on the menu. Entres range up from $34, which includes some of Carnevor’s toppings and sauces, like bearnaise or blue cheese, but many of the sauces are extra, like the oscar topping for an additional $9.

I suspect you’ve all heard of Carnevor and you probably know it is situated among other lovely restaurants and clubs on Milwaukee Street. All of the establishments along this block just north of Wisconsin Avenue share a much appreciated Valet service. Inside, Carnevor’s sleek, clean, modern decor includes clusters of bamboo poles surrounding the light fixtures and large, curved wood ceiling joists – Kay said it felt like sitting inside a whale. Considering this whale's interior is pretty narrow, the tables are graciously spaced, and the noise level does not overpower conversation.

The service is good, and not intrusive. And the food is as delicious as you'd expect. I’d read the menu and some reviews on Yelp.com before we went, so we knew which dishes had received raves. One of those was, believe it or not, the Mac and Cheese ($11), a small plate to be shared around the table. We started with that as a sort of appetizer, and all agreed – it was delicious. The menu says it has goat, maytag, pecorino, nutmeg and cinnamon. Interesting. My Man, the Connosoir of Kraft Dinner in a Box, thought it was good. No raves, but good. The rest of us thought it was yummy. Let’s see: I followed that course with the Lobster Bisque ($9), which is not to be missed. As with all of Carnevor’s dishes, it is RICH, and loaded with hunks of lobster. Kay started her meal with a tasty Beet Salad ($8) with arugula and goat cheese.

For my main course, I ordered the Scallops ($27), six huge sea scallops which were perfectly pan seared and served with a butternut squash puree (I could live on that stuff, happily) and a few steamed sugar snap peas. The Red Meat Man and Doc each had an 8-oz filet mignon ($34), while the 10 oz. Lobster Tail ($45) was calling to Kay. For side dishes we tried the creamed corn ($7 and okay), the truffled mashed potatoes ($11 and very good), and the mini twice baked potatoes ($5 and not worth more).

Did I mention that the wine list at Carnevor is REALLY outrageously expensive? Often the four of us share a bottle of wine – or two. But at Carnevor, buying wine by the bottle would be enough to stimulate the Bank of America! The cheapest bottle was $60, with an average bottle running about $150 - $300 and some were over $1000! Not all of these bottles are of fancy wines. For instance, the Merryvale Starmont '05 merlot that Carnevor offers for $80 a bottle is available all over the web for under $20. Carnevor’s prices for wine by the glass are also ridiculously expensive. I had a glass of Rodney Strong Pinot Noir ‘07 for $13. It sells for $15- $20 A BOTTLE in your liquor store.

Let’s compare Carnevor to another of Milwaukee’s great restaurants: Dream Dance. Carnevor has a very good chef, but he/she is not as creative with ingredients as is Chef Gorman at Dream Dance. The prices are comparable, EXCEPT for the wine. Dream Dance states that they are not trying to make their profit on the wines, and this seems to be true. As one of their less expensive wines, Dream Dance offers a bottle of Ridge Geyserville Zinfandel ‘06 for $34. This is exactly the price for which I found it offered on the web. And while Carnevor offers over 100 wines by the bottle, Dream Dance offers over 700!

And if you are looking for the Best Big Red Beef Filet in town, The Big Red Meat Man still contends that Bonefish Grill is right up there with the best. For $19, he contends it is just as good as Carnevor’s filet mignon.

Hmmm... Maybe Bonefish Grill is just the right sized restaurant stimulus package to offer, at least while we are also stimulating several construction trades.

Stirring the Pot