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My fiance and I went to Root 174 for my birthday on Friday. I came to the decision to choose Root after much research, reading reviews, hearing things from other foodie friends, reading more about Keith Fuller, etc. So I felt like I was making a very informed decision. I was very excited to celebrate my birthday and try a new place with such great food.
I will start with the positives from the meal. The brussel sprout appetizer was amazing! Now I am not sure that they were overly complex, but I do love simple food done well, with simple sauces. This was that type of dish. The sauce was sweet but gave a great balance with the smokey, charred taste of the sprouts. The wine we had was also tasty.....a petite sirah I believe. And the bread pudding with nutella mousse also hit the spot. It was, again, very simple but done well. Not overpoweringly sweet.
Now the negative. I hate to say negative, because I am not a chef. Maybe my palate is not fully developed or maybe my meal just wasn't the best thing I could have had on this particular night. I had the tuna sausage. It sounded interesting and right up my alley. It came and it was presented beautifully on the plate. It had fried cockscomb and roasted potatoes with it as well. The sausage had a very strong, potent taste. It was heavy in flavor and texture. The potatoes were cooked perfectly but the cockscomb was greasy and flavorless. I have had cockscomb before, so I do have something to compare it to. My fiance had the heart sausage. He NEVER complains about food, but he literally felt ill after eating it. The sausage itself was good, but the slaw or whatever that was on top had an overpowering flavor that tasted like when you breathe in Pine-Sol when you are cleaning, that took over the entire plate. I took a few bites and just couldn't get past it. The beets that were on the plate were perfect and he definitely wished there were more simple veg with the sausage. His starter was the duck testicles. Neither of us have any experience with a dish like this, so it isn't even fair to rate it.
Overall, it was a disappointing meal, especially for my birthday. I was truly so excited to go to Root 174, and unfortunately was quite disappointing. We spent so much on this meal and neither of us were happy afterward.
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