The Write Ingredients

No Longer A Bank...

We took some clients to lunch last week to celebrate the holidays, and I used it as an opportunity to check one of the new restaurants in town. We chose Bank, not for any one reason, but because it's new and in the heart of downtown, which can always be fun. (You will have to forgive me for the lack of photos, but I didn't think it appropriate to pull out the camera and start shooting my client's meals. I'll try to describe things the best I can.)

Bank is in the former home of, yes, you guessed it, a Bank. My bank, in fact. I remember sitting in the huge space after my checkbook was stolen, trying to remember the last place I wrote a check. They kept much of the space intact, and even store the wine in the vault, complete with the thick vault door.

The food, which was good, was not as memorable as the space. For appetizers we had the calamari (served with a darn good miso mayonaisse) and the deviled eggs (served with a thin slice of truffle. When I noticed a client pull the truffle out of the egg and set it on the edge of the plate a small part of me died. But there's really no way to say, "Ahem, you gonna eat that little sliver of heaven that you just disregarded?"

I chose the mushroom risotto for my entree, with the fear that it would be too big, or too salty or too rich. But it was none of the above. It has the essence of mushrooms without being overpowering. Though it would have been nice to see more than shitakes. The menu said oyster mushrooms were in it as well, but I didn't see any, even after explaining to a client that no, oyster mushrooms are not the same as oysters.

Dessert is not always a priority with me, and certainly not after a bowl of risotto, but its the holidays so we splurged. We ordered three (there were 11 of us): A grapefruit bombe served with dark chocolate pretzels, a frangelico chocolate cake, and my favorite, the crepe served with bananas, apples and caramel sauce. And then, a silver rack of shot glasses appeared before us. Called the banker's dozen, Bank serves a rack of nine shot glasses, each with a different dessert inside. Lets see if I can remember them all. Panna Cotta, Raspberry Crips, Cashew Caramel, Pumpkin Pie, Carrot Cake, Chocolate Cake, Cheesecake, German Chocolate Cake, and yep, I'm missing one. The server brought us each a small spoon, which we were too use to scoop a bite and pass them around. But really, we're not that close. So we each chose one that sounded good and scooped a bit out. Most of them were good, yet not award-winning, except for the concept. That was surely a winner, and something to bank on!

(Sorry, couldn't resist.)