Now John and I don't have a good
history with Cook. On our last visit a year or so ago, we waited for
what seemed like eternity to get our breakfasts. When they arrived,
mine was dried out and cold and John's---well,
we attempted several times to chisel through the cheese that was
burnt/broiled/microwaved? onto the side of the bowl so that we could
reach the rest of the 'food', but were unable to do so (and trust me, we
carry tools for eating....we really, really tried
to break through this cheese 'cement'). On that visit, unfortunately,
we returned the food to a somewhat rude server and left hungry. That
was a very poor expe
rience, especially given the somewhat glowing reviews that the place has received from local food writers.
But we always try to give food
places multiple tries. Having been in the 'food biz' for 7 years (and
Anne a lot longer) we know that some days just don't work out in terms
of the customer experience that you want to
provide.
So, here we go on 'Try 2' for Cook.
Since it was late morning and you could order breakfast or lunch, we started with the appetizer Korean fries to share.
Hmmmmm.....there just seems to
be some lack of 'customer-view' in some of the serving style here. The
fries were topped with serrano peppers, sour cream, kimchi, scallions,
and cheese sauce. OK---so I expected a
plate of fries topped with the rest of the goodies. I didn't expect
them in a basket just like the ones we used to serve sandwiches, lined
with a piece of paper. The kimchi and cheesy sauce had combined to
make a half inch deep 'lake' barely held in by
the paper basket liner. The effect was unappetizing, and 'soggified'
what might have been good fries. To make things worse, the server
handed us 2 plates from which to eat this. But there were 3 of us.....I
guess one of us was supposed to eat from the
basket. Well, make that 2 of us because one of the plates was covered
with someone else's leftover food.
Between the soggy 'lake' and the
overwhelming (really overwhelming) number of rings of serrano peppers,
the dish became quickly 'unapproachable'. If it had been served in a
more appealing way, with a reasonable number
of chiles, it would have been quite a serviceable appetizer. But
promise and presentation were the model for inconsistency here.
Update: we looked on-line at
photos of the presentation of this dish at Cook. It is normally served
on a plate. I guess they were out of both plates to hold the
appetizer and plates for customers to dine from on
this particular morning. Really, out of plates.....or just didn't feel
like having to wash plates on this day???
Anne has an extensive repetoire
in 'Mexican American' foods, so decided to check out the Korean spin on
the breakfast nachos. Served on a base of Koritos (like Korean
doritos????), these are topped with cheese sauce,
guajillo peppers, pinto beans, cheddar, serrano chiles, scrambled eggs,
scallions, and cilantro. Here, the role of consistency, not really in a
good way, came into play again. So you are serving a big batch of
Korean spiced nacho chips with beans and cheese
sauce and more....and the vessel you choose for presentation to your
customers is a sandwich basket lined with paper. Combine that with the
'consistency' of ingredients between the two dishes we've seen so far,
and you begin to wonder if there is any 'stretch'
in this restaurant's range with regard to Korean food. Frankly, we
had some difficulty distinguishing the taste differences between the
appetizer fries and the breakfast nachos (except for the scrambled egg
on the nachos). The flavor screamed 2 things:
a Korean sauce and overwhelming serrano peppers. And the other
common denominator: foods that should have been on a plate shoved into
a too-small paper-lined basket.
Update: Yup, we looked on line
and this dish is also normally served in a large bowl, with the 'sides'
served in little stainless steel portion cups. But not on the day of
our visit. Again, did they just NOT want
to wash any dishes?????
Many restaurants currently seem
to offer the 'flavor' of hot peppers. Overwhelming heat without some
accompanying interesting flavor profile is just...uninteresting. And
the presentation on both of these dishes was
'off-putting' at the very least. Anne almost missed some of the
ingredients because they were buried in the bottom of the basket stuck
on the paper.....she said she would have enjoyed the dish a lot more if
she had found these before she was essentially finished
with the dish. Disappointing. And I like serrano peppers....but
nobody needs that many serranos.
John chose the Bi Bim Bop...a
Korean fried sesame rice ball with several banchan (accompaniments) with
a poached egg and short rib (a good chance to contrast the short rib
with what was served at Augustine's in the short
rib taco). The best way to eat this is to pair a bite of the rice
ball with one of the accompaniments because the rice ball itself is
relatively flavorless (the sesame didn't really come through here). I
sampled the accompaniments and liked one with a red
pepper sauce on veggies. There were also: a Korean pickle, a pickled
slaw similar to what you'd find on a Banh Mi, bean sprouts & the
short rib cubes. None of these stood out in flavor or texture contrast.
I had 1 short rib cube...it was fatty and cold.
John described them as cold and tough. Also, if you look at the photo
from their website, John's quantity of accompaniments was far, far
smaller than represented in the photo. Overall, John rated this a
'meh'.
Finally, I chose the Mac and Chi
(as in macaroni and Kimchi). I imagined the kimchi livening up the
somewhat heavy consistency of the mac and cheese. The kimchi is
'butter-fried' and it's cheddar on cavatappi. Oops...did
I get the kid's meal mac and cheese? Cavatappi means corkscrew... a
noodle with many twists and turns in it....the kind that hold the sauce
for your enjoyment. My bowl had flimsy elbow macaroni (that's what
they serve for the kid's meal) with some,
at least, chopped kimchi. The flavor of the cheddar noodles was good,
but these certainly weren't cavatappi and the kimchi flavor was hard to
detect. The good part--both John and I received our food in actual
bowls : ) I'd have to say that the noodle
switch alone in this dish were grounds for disappointment. Combine
that with John's meal that didn't look any more like the picture than a
Subway sandwich handed to you in the plastic bag looks like the subs
overflowing with ingredients on their menu boards
and ads, and I'd have to say.....their substance doesn't match their
corporate food image & promise.
At Cook, I'd say the service was
somewhat attentive (but disconnected) and the food was delivered much
more quickly than on our last visit. And, this time, we actually were
able to taste the food. But it seems like
the attraction of Cook is supposed to be the Korean 'spin' on
dishes....but the spin appears to be heavily tilted toward a Korean
sauce and tons of serranos....at least on this day. Perhaps they were
out of other foods as well, so just piled serranos on everything.
I believe that this could be so much more than what appeared on our
table....both in terms of variety of flavors and presentation in
something from which you can, well, actually eat.
So I guess I don't know how to
describe the 'consistency' here....inconsistent serving 'dishes'....nice
bowls for the mac & chi and the Bi Bim Bop, while the other items
were served in less than optimal paper lined
baskets that were too small to accommodate what filled them. The
consistency was that the Korean 'spin' was a sauce and serranos....and
kimchi placed here and there to 'Koreanize' some American dishes.
Potential--yes; reached---I don't think so.
Final update: we emailed Cook St. Paul to describe our experience
so that they were aware of the 'shortcomings'. Since we've heard
nothing from them, I guess the quality of our experience (really
experiences) is unimportant to them. Let me just say,
if you spend $60 for breakfast for 3, you should at least be able to
get a plate. Cook St. Paul couldn't even do that. Conclusion:
Run....save your money....they don't care about your meal.
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