This week was Restaurant Week in the Twin Cities, and I wish I'd had the time and opportunity to take advantage of more of the offerings. I only made it to one, and it's someplace I've been many times, but not recently.
I was glad to be back.
Campiello in Eden Prairie. Campiello's been here for, oh, I don't know--a very long time, in a strip mall-type location near a business park. But it still manages to be an attractive place, and I give them points for taking what could have been a dreary side yard overlooking Shady Oak Road and turning it into a lovely outdoor spot:
A perfect place (in a couple of months, anyway) to enjoy one of Campiello's stellar martinis. They used to have a drink called the Bone-Dry Martini, which is still my favorite of all time--Grey Goose vodka with a splash of Glenlivet Scotch, and a lemon twist. Oh, that's a nice martini.
No martinis on this visit, however, since it was lunch on a workday. I thought Restaurant Week was supposed to mean special limited-time offerings, but Campiello had their regular lunch specials as the highlight of the week. On the one hand, that's kind of lazy and not quite in the spirit of things; but on the other hand, it means I could go back again and have this same lunch for $9.95 again.
They cheated, but we cheated too, ordering calamari off the regular menu.
Lightly battered, with a zippy lemon-parsley aioli. Yum.
The lunch special offers a choice of soup or salad, and I went with the Campiello House Salad.
Greens, olives, boiled egg, tomatoes, and feta, with a red wine vinaigrette.
There was also a choice of several entrees. DH went with the penne with chicken, artichoke, basil, garlic, and lemon.
He said it was good, not astounding, but tasty.
Mine was delicious.
A tuna tartine "Nicoise" salad on toasted Tuscan bread with radishes, cucumbers, and boiled egg (yes, I hit my egg quota for the day). On the left are housemade potato chips--and they were amazing, sliced sliver-thin and fried perfectly, crispy but still a little chewy. Could have used more salt, though; they are chips, after all.
The tuna was wonderful. It had a flavor I couldn't quite recognize, and the server finally clued me in: basil. Surprising--it didn't taste like basil at all, but added an unexpected kick to the sandwich. I loved every bite.
So, yes, while they could have done something unique for the week, the bonus is that I could--and definitely would--go back and have the tuna again.
Campiello is a lovely spot:
With one big problem: the noise level is excruciating. The restaurant was busy--glad to see that, on a weekday at lunchtime--but not completely full, and no large raucous parties, yet DH and I could barely hear each other, and even the server (stellar service) had trouble hearing us. I wish restaurants like this one could find a way to mitigate noise more effectively, because it does put a damper on an otherwise charming place to dine.
The tuna, however, helped make up for that.
Did you take in any of Restaurant Week? What, where, and was it good?
