Travail Kitchen and Amusements — Restaurant in Robbinsdale

This review is of Kua! (I will not encourage nor am I okay with the troubling trend towards irresponsible use of capitalization that the Travail team is promulgating here, but that is the only issue (aside from some of the beverage pairings) that I had even as remote a beef with as you might find in the Sand Hills) Travail’s Mexican pop-up in their Lowry Hill space (and to a very slight extent it’s a review of Umami, their Asian spot, but you can’t go there if you are not a manipulator of time and/or space).

Menu notes: Food-wise, everything was spot-on, no misses for me. It was more consistent than Umami, which had a few weak menu items (specifically the ramen). I wasn’t overly thrilled with the beverage pairing, which was a Cava and tea, a Chardonnay and a Nebbiolo from Mexico, and a Lambrusco and mezcal. The wines were all good, but I would have liked to see more adventurous, non-wine pairings. Maybe it’s just me being less of a wine guy and more of a beer and spirits person; I do get that there is an expectation of wine in fine dining, although if anywhere in the Twin Cities can get away with doing things differently, it is Travail.

First course: swordfish ceviche with rice paper “chicharron,” pork quesadilla, and actual pig chicharrones. This was good and I really enjoyed the rice paper idea along with some non-traditional ceviche flavors (soy, basil, pecan?).

First beverage pairing: hibiscus tea with Cava. Very nice, light, and a great accompaniment to the first bites.

The second course was the highlight of the meal for me. It was a chile relleno with a different take: an Anaheim pepper stuffed with potato, mushroom, beans, cheese, corn, and corn smut! You could call it huitlacoche if you want, but corn smut is just more fun. There was a corn smut sauce as well that was just delightful. Some wonderful synergy with the smut in this dish.

The second beverage pairing was a Mexican Chardonnay. It was fine.

Following the smut was a prickly pear sorbet with watercress leaves. Some nice intermissionary flavors here.

The next course was steamed halibut with a green mole. This was another win. Halibut isn’t something I think of with Mexican cuisine, but it worked very well with the mole, which was composed of a plethora of green vegetables, the particulars of which I certainly can’t recall.

Following the halibut were some grilled bites: elote, and chorizo. These were good, but lacked any real cohesiveness. Paired with this was an Indeed Mexican Honey Light. Shame, Travail! Shame! (Shame! Indeed! for the fact that this is a thing.) Mexican Honey Light, as far as I know, is watered-down Mexican Honey (which is an excellent beer). Shame! Shame!

Subsequent to said shame was a beverage great in form and flavor. Mango soda, topped with coconut foam, served in a Kafka-esque shot glass, resembling a beer in appearance, if not flavor. A splendid time was once again guaranteed for all.

Then came a pozole with corn nuts. Delicious.

The next pairing was a Nebbiolo from Mexico. Good.

As one would expect, there was a taco course, and it did not disappoint. Beef and mole lamb, with garnishes of pineapple, onion, and radish, were sandwiched in some really well-made tortillas. And oh! the salsas. There was a smoky jalapeno bordering on chipotle salsa that was really exceptional.

Following the tacos were tamales: chicken, and poblano. Good, but unremarkable.

Dessert courses were a whirlwhind. There was an horchata ice which would have been easier to eat as a sorbet. There was a very nice passionfruit curd. There were churros with chocolate, which would have been the highlight of most desserts, but the finale was an amazing take on a tres leches cake: three forms of chocolate, inside a chili pepper. This included a fresh chocolate cake, a rehdyrated dried cake, and chocolate mousse. Amazing!

Dessert pairings were a Lambrusco and a mezcal. I am not very fond of either of these beverages, so it is no surprise I found this to be the weakest.

Do not bring your children to a meal like this. Do bring your adult...

This is our first return visit to Travail since the latest remodel. This new space is a big departure from the first and second iterations of this restaurant. The first was really "out there", while the second version, with the ticketed reservations, was a huge improvement. The third version is different still. The room is very modern and filled with light from the big windows.

We somehow had not made our reservations correctly, but they were very gracious and accommodating, so we were seated in the main dining room - which had been our intent.

As expected, there were multiple courses, and the first was a double. Per the usual Travailian way, the foie gras was served like a lollipop but coated in a cherry glaze and topped with pistachio. Very unusual, and very good. The second dish was a scallop ceviche, served with cucumber, pickled onion, and a house made sour cream. Very beautiful in its presentation, and very light and fresh.

The next course was all about tomatoes - bruleed heirloom tomatoes and marinated tomatoes on a coconut milk flavored broth and topped with a tomato flavored cracker. Very summery and again full of flavor.

We had two palate cleansers- the first was a cube of compressed watermelon topped with liquid nitrogen frozen bits of yogurt. Fun presentation, and indeed very palate cleansing.

All things zucchini was the next plate, with a sauteed loup de mer, zucchini "salad", and a squash blossom stuffed with shrimp. Again, the plating was very elegant. This was followed by a blob of frozen passion fruit fluff. They really love using liquid nitrogen here!

My favorite dish was elote agnolotti served with fresh sweet corn, pepper flakes, and a corn-flavored puddle for dipping your pasta into. It is quite lovely, and is, to me, the essence of summer yummy-ness.

I also loved the chicken course. It was super moist, stuffed under the skin, and served with asparagus. The flavor was fantastic,

The next meat course was pork- which came as a round slice of meat surrounded by beets, and a beet puree. Beautiful plating.

Then came palate cleanser 2, essentially a fizzy drinkable creamsicle. Yum!

The final savory course was beef, accompanied by eggplant caponata and dried eggplant slices, plus a fried potato puff stuffed with beef. This was my least favorite dish - the sour caponata did not go well with my husband's red wine, and my beef was really tough. Too bad really.

However, all was good with the world when the desserts arrived. The first was a mini ice cream cone of coconut ice cream with a fruity jam. The second was a lovely slice of what seemed like cheesecake, topped with fresh strawberries, cava jelly, and frozen bits of strawberry flavored crunch. It was a perfect summer dessert. I did say the love liquid nitrogen!

Gone are the beer boots and singing - a good thing to have eliminated. Gone was the "field trip" to a back room for a game and some unusual dish or two, and that is fine with me also. They still clearly have fun with plating your dishes while you watch. They still play games - we did a meal-long trivia game. And everyone is happy to talk about wines and the food, making the whole evening quite jolly.

I do miss the completely crazy serving style - food that looked like rocks or that you had to eat off a suspended string. Still, evolution in how you cook, what you cook, and how you serve is a good thing. I still left with a big smile on my face, and the food was excellent.

Their cocktail program has not kept up with the cooking. The small "specialty drinks" at the upstairs bar all had the same flavor profile - sweet. There were only 7 listed cocktails. My husband had their old standby Ron Burgundy, but it was smoked out of sight, and it was too sweet. Maybe they are in a transition?

So go for the fun and the food, a nice wine selection, but not the cocktails.

Do go into the bathroom...very modern and fun! And do look up when you check in...knives above. Very funny!

Cost: $155/person. There is a parking lot, but it was full. There is street parking and a lot...

What happened to Travail? Our most recent visits have felt overpriced and lack-luster.

We used to love coming here and looked forward to an exciting meal paired with entertainment and delicious beverages. The last two times we’ve gone have really changed our views on this restaurant. My review will solely be focused on the Valentine’s Day Cooking Class we attended as that was truly the final nail in the coffin for us regarding the reputation of this restaurant. Though it was a splurge at $422, we thought it would be worth it to attend the cooking class paired with a “5-course feast” and pasta to take home.

The night of the event, we arrived and were given our first cocktail. It contained Aperol and was a bit too bitter for me to enjoy. The bartender informed us that we would receive two glasses of wine with dinner and a second cocktail later. As the room filled, small trays of appetizers were brought out to groups and people were invited to visit a gnocchi making station where they received instructions from a staff member. As this appeared to be a “wait to be called forward” system, we stood by the windows for appetizers and instruction while holding our empty cocktail glasses. Eventually, we received one of the two appetizers—a delicious wonton—and resumed waiting. Our second appetizer never came.

After four groups had visited the gnocchi station, an announcement was made to the room for everyone to come up and try their hand at piping some dough into the water. At this point, appetizers disappeared and the instructor left to prep things in the other room. This left the remaining individuals to form a line and pass along instructions to those behind them. I cut off four pieces of gnocchi into the water before I felt obligated to pass the piping bag of dough to the next person. My partner, seeing the size of the line, passed the bag along without giving it a try telling me “we’ll be doing plenty of other things, it’s ok if I miss this one”.

We were optimistic and entered the dining room to small plates of pasta dough and piping bags of filling. A demonstration was given showing us how to fold different pasta shapes: tortellini, pansotti, and sachetti. Unfortunately, we were each given only five sheets of dough and could not practice making these shapes more than once or twice. What became of our creations was to be our take home meal—ten small pieces of stuffed pasta.

There ended our ‘hands on’ portion of the cooking class much to our dismay. Then began what felt like a lecture. We all got a few pages of recipes and sat while the chef read the instructions aloud for us along with real time edits: “Oh sorry, this is way too much salt! Cut it back by half when you make this. Oops, this recipe wasn’t supposed to be included”. It seemed disorganized and unprepared.

To add to our disappointment, workers used the door behind us to exit onto the patio, exposing us to cold air as they left and bringing the smell of cigarette smoke with them as they returned.

On the bright side, we did receive food intermittently. However, five pieces of ravioli, a single scallop on rice, and a shared slice of prime rib with mashed potatoes wasn’t quite the feast we were expecting. Pairing with our dinner were two glasses that had only been filled with 2 oz of wine. Needless to say, we were still hungry by the time the final cocktail was served.

When advertised as five courses, it’s quite an insult to find that the appetizers and take home meal counted in that “feast”. Upon returning home, we ate our ten pasta pieces with some store bought sauce and reflected on how taken advantage of we felt. Going to Travail is considered a very special event to us and the Valentine's Day Cooking Class felt like one big cash grab and a waste of our money.

We brought our concerns to Travail in the form of an email the following day. A month later and we have yet to receive a response from the restaurant. Likely we never will.

Go to a restaurant that cares about...