My boyfriend and I decided to dip our toes into the NuLu pool for the first time yesterday. With it being Sunday, several of the restaurants were closed. We decided on Rye. When we entered the restaurant, we were greeted by a young man who asked us if we wanted to sit in the bar. It struck me as a strange way to welcome a patron. We asked politely for a table and were taken into the adjoining room. There wasn't much of a crowd as we were dining at an off hour. The same man that greeted us came to our table and poured water from a clear bottle. The water was warm, and we asked for ice, the first of two times we had to ask during our meal. He then delivered rolls and let us know that he would be our server. The rolls were light and fluffy and sweet, very tasty. They were served with a delicious, salty, soft butter topped with black salt.
We ordered cocktails from their very interesting cocktail menu, and shared them so we could both taste. We ordered an "Is this Heaven? No it's Iowa" and a "The Flying Hawaiian". Kitschy names but good cocktails. The Heaven was described as "corn whiskey, cynar, grapefruit, lemon, honey, and ginger beer". It was light, refreshing, and bitter in a really pleasant way. The Hawaiian was equally refreshing, containing "vodka, dry curaçao, grapefruit liqueur, pineapple, and lime". It was tangy with plenty of lime and lightly sweet but not overly so.
The dining menu was interesting. For starters, they had all raw seafood (ceviche, 2 oysters, and a shrimp "auguachile", which was a new term for me. I asked our waiter how they were prepared and he was very obviously either new, nervous, or both, and he answered my question by telling me that one of the oysters were larger than the other. Call us what you will, but we're not much into raw or partly-cooked seafood so we decided to skip a starter and go right to entrees. Keith ordered the Duck Breast "Garam Masala, Balsamic Roasted Black Grapes, Black Lentils, Anise Hyssop" with a side of summer squash. I ordered the Coho Salmon "Local Grits, Bistered Cherry Tomato, Fried Green Tomato, Black Olive, Radish, Basil" with a side of fries. The neighboring table ordered a cheese board and it came out and looked beautiful and their server took time to explain the components. Our hopes were rising.
The duck dish was super, nicely seasoned and used the balsamic in a really clever way, highlighting the sweetness and complexity of the combined ingredients. My salmon was underwhelming, slightly overcooked and underseasoned. The individual components were just okay, as they weren't really seasoned and didn't wow me. The side dishes were both excellent. Keith's summer squash was nicely blistered and cooked till just fork tender, served over lemony hummus and topped with chives and crumbled goat cheese. Fantastic. My fries were creamy inside, crispy outside, and served with a beautifully complex, slightly spicy lime chili aoili.
We ordered the Pineapple Express for dessert and it was divine. Warm grilled pineapple sliced thinly and served over tapioca with basil, pistachios, and cardamom. The only hiccup here was that my boyfriend bit down on what appeared to be a small rock. We let our waiter know and shortly after the manager (or chef?) came to apologize and offered to comp our dessert. We said it wasn't necessary but we wanted to make them aware. He explained that the cook who does desserts also does the oyster shucking, so that appeared to be what happened.
Despite our decline of his offer, our check came out with no dessert charge and came to a total of $102 (three cocktails, two entrees, and two sides). Overall it was a lovely experience and the food was beautifully presented and very well thought out, but it stopped short of amazing due to the server's lack of knowledge and/or enthusiasm, the strangely warm water and having to ask for ice, and my underwhelming salmon. I don't think I'll be dreaming about going back.
