31 March 2024
Some not so great food stuff on this trip, including the odd and not-quite-there dinner at Harvester Kitchen in Sioux Falls. I headed off before dawn and there was some talk about snow, so I went north and spent part of the morning in eastern South Dakota before heading east back towards Minneapolis.
The weather held, but you can see the snow and ice melt was less and less as you got about half way to Minneapolis…then it cleared up more. I was shocked when I rolled into Minneapolis and the snow and ice was all but gone. Wow, did it rain while I was gone? In any case, I tried to catch up with some of my plans deferred from Friday.
It all went well until my rental car, a shitty Hyundai Kona – known for engine breakdowns – decided to die on a highway on-ramp. Lucky I managed to steer it to the shoulder. The rest of the day was ruined. Waited around for a tow truck to get rid of the car, and I took a Lyft to Owamni, my dinner destination.
I was early by 90 minutes and chose to sit at the counter, but they were fine. It was a busy Easter Sunday night at this popular eatery focused on indigenous ingredients and prep. I had been wanting to eat here for ages, so I was really excited about this dinner.
Odd, like last night, they don’t have a cocktail list. So I just went with wine and ordered a few dishes. I was warned they come out fast…
Almost too fast. This was the big plate I ordered, the smoked quahog clams. Really? The sofkee, which was good, was lukewarm. The clam/crab shred was cold, partly icy, and full of crab cartilage. It’s like they expected the sofkee to heat up the seafood, but it didn’t do that; instead it chilled the sofkee so the whole thing was this unpleasant cold temperature.
The venison tartare was far better, the right flavours and temperature. The chips were great.
I could not get my server’s attention for more wine. Took about a minute of waving like a madman to finally get it. Then the snack dish came out, popcorn and crickets.
This was good, but an odd mixture – especially the popcorn being sweet. Needed a spoon to eat this dish. But it was good.
That wasn’t bad, except for the big dish that seems off. But I’m ready for more!
After 10 minutes I’m no longer ready for more. I could not get my server’s attention as he was just standing around talking to his friends. I’m a big proponent of fair wages for servers, but when you take the tip incentive out of the picture, you start to get those who couldn’t care less about serving their customers. So I just asked for the bill after I had to approach another server. He finally came by and I said I was gonna order more food but couldn’t get his attention, and he had a lame “oh sorry” that he clearly did not mean.
This last exchange was so off-putting I paid and headed out for another extended Lyft wait. This trip is ending so fucking badly, from the rental car meltdown to this sad dining experience. I’m done. And as I was almost back to my weird hotel I realised I forgot my jacket on their coat rack. Damn. Screw it, I’m not going back there, that jacket needs to be replaced anyway.
What a shitty way to end a trip. Owamni could be really fantastic with some quality control – both front and back of house. Sadly there wasn’t enough of it this evening, and turned someone who had been in happy anticipation to someone drowning in disappointment.
Now for that 3.30am alarm…
Owamni
420 South 1st Street
Minneapolis, Minnesota
melhuang1972 