Dinner at Dream Dance

It’s not that we don’t eat out anymore. It’s just that when you get away from writing, it’s really difficult to start up again. “I don’t have time,” my brain says. Or, worse yet, “I can’t write.” But I’m going to give it a try, as we have eaten some special meals lately that deserve a review.

I’ll start with last night’s extravaganza of eating. Have I written about Dream Dance before? We’ve eaten there before, but this was the first time at the new digs, in the new addition to the Potowatomi Casino in The Valley. Their menu features Wisconsin foods like locally-made artisanal cheeses and locally-raised venison. Chef Jason Gorman has received many accolades, and this year he is one of the 2009 Wisconsin Cheese Chef Ambassadors. Dream Dance has a separate cheese menu offering trays of 15 artisanal Wisconsin cheeses – my kind of place! I was drooling to the waiter, Troy, while reading of the Dream Dance Vanilla Goat Cheese, and he brought us two generous slices with some French bread to try it. A charming man.

The food was delicious and plated with the care of works of art. After reading a review on the web, I had decided to try the Sprecher Root Beer Venison Rossini with Lakeside horseradish potatoes ($40). With thick slices of mushrooms in a wine sauce atop the generous venison steaks and truly delicious horseradish-flavored mashed potatoes, it was an entre to die for. I ordered a half -bottle of 2005 Duckhorn merlot ($31) that was perfect with this rich dinner. Dream Dance tries to offer wines at about the price you would buy them in a liquor store. I searched the web. The cheapest price I could find for a full bottle of this wine was $50 and it went up to $80. $31 for a half bottle in a restaurant is a bargain. The wine list at Dream Dance includes quite a selection of half-bottles, which worked well for me, as I was this evening’s only red wine drinker of the four of us dining. The others at our table enjoyed a couple of bottles of a German Reisling kabinett (I think about $28 each).

Our friend, Mrs. Doc ordered the Diver Scallop Cordon Bleu, which was plated beautifully with trumpet mushrooms, Wisconsin’s Nueske’s ham pieces and a sauce made from Roth Kase’s Gran Cru Gruyere cheese ($38). It was beautifully done, though Mrs. thought it was a bit too salty for her taste. She and I did push our share of our bill over the top a bit by ordering two Baby Romaine Salads, served with the most delicious parmesan-crusted bread stick “crouton.” The red romaine leaves were drizzled with truffle Caesar dressing and garnished with two tiny deviled quail eggs. How can they prepare this for $12?

Doc and My Man got into the Big Red Meat part of the menu. Doc ordered a 16-oz. Kobe Style Beef Ribeye Steak ($48), at the recommendation of one of our servers. Doc said it was delicious, if huge. Duh. That’s a pound of meat. Doc also had a side of red cabbage ($6) and split the order of The Ultimate Baked Potato for Two ($18) with My Man. We frugal Milwaukeean’s think that $18 is an exorbitant price for a potato, regardless of its size, but the tray of horseradish sour cream sauce and strips of Nueske’s bacon did make it seem almost worth it. My Man polished off an 8 oz Black Angus Filet ($30). He said it was grilled perfectly, but he thinks he has had better filets at, believe it or not, Bonefish Grill and Point Comfort Place! Neither of these restaurants should take up ink on the same page as Dream Dance.

We finished the evening with coffee and a couple of desserts. There was no winner between the Chocolate Creams - three chocolates, cake and orange sauce ($10), and the even richer Marbled Custards ($7) towered over by a trellis of burnt sugar threads.

Twice during our meal Chef Gorman sent out individual trays of delicacies. On the first ones were three tiny appetizers, the best of which, and one of the hits of the evening, was chopped salmon sashimi on a cracker topped with a bit of wasabi flavored roe. Mmmm, mmm.

Our service on this Tuesday evening was not quite up to par for a restaurant of this caliber. Troy and our other servers, Peter and Ryan, were all very charming and knowledgeable. But we waited a bit too long for some of our wines and for the coffee to arrive. And when the coffee did arrive with our dessert orders, some of the dirty dinner plates had not yet been cleared.

But would I go back? You bet!

Stirring the Pot