Schwa

First of all, sorry for not getting around to finishing the Italy Conclusionary post sooner. It's finally done- see the post below this one!

Second- I've decided to expand the scope of this blog. It will now include restaurant impressions. I almost wrote "review", which is not what this is, because I want to blog about the places I eat in the same way I blog about the places I travel to- a kind of mind-dump in chronological order. I certainly don't expect this to be interesting to as many people as my travel posts were. Mainly, the food posts will serve as my own journal for my own use. But if this kind of thing interests you, by all means...

Schwa. Left to my own devices I probably would never have come here, which is part of what made it so much fun. Collette loves cool food so for her & Logan's birthday I offered to take them out somewhere fancy, and she chose it. It's a really strange place. BYOB with maybe 5 or 6 tables, four or five chefs toil in the kitchen mere yards away from you and are also the waiters.

We were excited about going to Schwa for months. It was too long a period of anticipation. Waiting that long for a *meal* just hypes it up far too much. There's a large danger of being dissapointed. Of course, with Schwa, waiting a long time was kind of unavoidable. You can forget about calling for a table next weekend, or hell, calling for a table at all. They have one phone they rarely answer, plus a voicemail that holds 50 messages before it stops working. The internet is filled with horror stories about getting a reservation. I pretty much called every day for two weeks before getting anywhere, but finally snagged a Thursday reservation. This was not my first choice, or my second, but it worked out well because that's actually Collette's birthday.

Heh, BYOB. You can imagine the challenge this would pose for me. I ran some google searches and bought some Federspiel Wachau Gruner Veltliner from Austria. I was very pleased, this wine was soooooooo good.



So, we arrived at the restaurant. I knew it was small, but this place is SMALL. It's not really decorated either. It's loud, and very very dark, and you can hear the kitchen the whole time. So, the environment was definitely a shock. The head chef welcomed us from the kitchen and gestured towards the only table that didn't have people in it. The best way I can describe Schwa is that the food is amazing, but that had better be what you're coming for. Luckily, it WAS.

If you haven't figured it out from the reservation "system", quality service is not exactly something they strive for- or at least, not conventional service. I mean, sure, we came in and were promptly ridiculed for bringing non-chilled wine. On the other hand, they brought us some from a different bottle that was already chilled. ...Strongly suspect it was someone else's wine. (They store everyone's wine in the kitchen) Yeah. Bizarre as hell. (Sidenote: the wine I brought was so much better than the other table's. Woot!)

One thing I was greatful for was that I think this guy realized we were being put off by his eccentric behavior, and he really backed off. He mostly concentrated on another table and we got served by two much quieter dudes. They do a pretty good job explaining all the food, and will answer all your questions.


OK- the food was amazing. I was a little peeved at first because the tasting menu was utterly different from the one on the website. However, after eating the food that was brought, you really can't complain. It was so tasty, and so different, and was made with things you had never heard of. At least, I hadn't. Apparently the one thing I really liked and questioned the cook about was something not-too-exotic. Collette finds this hilarious.

The list of amazing things goes on and on. Here's a sample: Quail egg Ravioli, pictured right. Oh my goodness. You've never tasted something so ridiculously delicious. Chicken liver (wasn't a fan, but the above-mentioned peanut brittle on the same plate held my attention quite well). Cauliflower tortelloni with cocoa consomme, dry cocoa nibs, curry, and birch-smoked cheese. Parsnip brick, veal sweetbreads, passion fruit puree, and lavender foam. Thank God Collette took the time to write all this stuff down. It was ridiculously good.

The wine didn't hurt either. I loved loved LOVED the bottle I brought. We made our way through our own two bottles ("You guys didn't bring enough wine! You're pounding this!"), not to mention half of someone else's bottle and some of a fourth bottle, whose origins I'm again not really clear on. I designated Logan as our driver early on, too, so mostly it was just two people going through all that-- yeah, we were in a good place by the end of the meal. I mean, if we didn't appear up to the task of drinking it, I imagine it would have ended up in someone else's glass, so... definitely didn't drive home that night.

So did I have a good time? I had a very very good time. I think there's a lot of "fine dining" in my future. I think though, next time, I'll want to go somewhere with a more pleasant dining room.