12/23/2017 Augustine, 1668 Selby AV, St. Paul

At this busy time of year, eating out sometimes begins to dominate what little free time we have.  So it was in the 2 days before Christmas.

I'll start by saying, the one good thing about Christmas Day falling on Monday meant that apparently almost no one was dining out on Saturday night.  I think we could have hit any one of many popular spots, found parking at the door, and been seated instantly.

Such was the case at Augustine's on Selby Avenue.

The concept of a bakery and bar had me imagining dunking croissants in a beer.....actually, not a very pleasing food image.  Luckily, there's some variety at Augustine's.

First off, I love the interior of the space.  Tons of windows, tall booths or tables with mismatched chairs, dark wood and tile floors, high ceilings, great light fixtures, plants dangling down into the booths.....what's not to love about this place?   It was dark out, so we saw cars going by and a quietness because there were only 2 other parties in the place on this Saturday night before Christmas.  But I can imagine it's a beautiful space in the morning, with sun streaming through the east windows and traffic humming by on Selby.  I'll have to experience that sometime soon (along with the pastries and coffee).

But tonight, it was a (somewhat) quick dinner, trying out a couple of the menu items to see what Augustine's had to offer.

The lack of business on this quiet night had upsides and downsides.  Instant seating, maybe not quite so instant service, and a chance to enjoy the atmosphere.....    But this lack of food turnover may have had some detrimental effects on a couple of the menu offerings.

We started with the harissa tomato soup.   Since harissa can be a fiery condiment, we inquired about the level of heat in the soup.  Our server said it was not very hot at all, but just a little heat at the end of the bite so you know you had some harissa.  We gave it a try.  The soup had some potential, but we fear that it had been on the burner too long.   It had an overcooked taste and any of the 'harissa heat/flavor' had cooked out of it earlier in the evening.  The croutons floating on top were flavorful.  The accompanying bread had good texture, but not much flavor to recommend it (disappointing in a bar/bakery).  There was a slight bitterness to the soup....all clues that it would have been better several hours before we arrived.

John decided to try a short rib taco as his first course.   Again, I think timing is everything, and the timing on this taco was sometime earlier in the evening.   The short rib was cold and the whole taco was a dripping mess.   It's hard when your plate gets so covered with liquid that there's no place left to set your taco without making the outside of the taco just as 'drippy' as the inside.   This one missed the mark---and at $6 for one taco, was disappointing.

So, we had a bit of trepidation as we waited for the main course that we planned to share.   Fortunately, the food tide changed for the better as this dish arrived.

We ordered the squash risotto with arugula and parmesan salad.   Excellent!!!!   The risotto was cheesy and still had a little 'tooth' in the grain.   The squash was cut into small dice, which was the perfect size for risotto.   But the absolute highlight (and John raved about it all the way home) was the arugula salad with parmesan that was perched atop this risotto.  The kitchen nicely divided the dish into two bowls for us, and each was beautifully adorned with arugula salad.   Neither of us could eat our 'half' order of risotto (it's waiting for us in the refrigerator for later) but there wasn't even a tiny shred of that glorious salad left in either of our bowls.  Nicely dressed, with good cheese....a perfect foil for the arugula.   Well done.

So, a pleasant visit marked by inconsistency in the quality of the food. 

Our conclusion, give Augustine's a try.   It's not cheap ($6 taco), but they are offering 25 tap beers, attractive pastries (I hope they taste good, too...we'll test that in the future) and a really pleasant dining environment.  We hope the inconsistency in our dining experience on this evening was due to the holiday 'slow-down'.  A future visit will help us figure it out.