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| - Grit & Grace is a new addition to the downtown dining scene in the old space occupied by Taste of Dahntahn. What a transformation this space has seen! The entrance has floor to ceiling glass windows offering an unobstructed view of the city streets. The restaurant is comfortably albeit dimly lit with dark walls and copper-topped tables. There are two long communal tables at the front of the restaurant, with bar seating in the middle and booths in the back. The staff were very friendly and welcoming and, although the place was packed and all of the tables were booked, were able to seat us at one of the communal tables.
Now, the food. We weren't certain what to expect as we had not read any reviews about the restaurant. One unique offering is that they have staff who float from table to table with beautiful, tiny dishes of dim sum. Each dish is $5 and varies from pork belly in a General Tso-like sauce to delicate roasted beets. Each dim sum dish had a meat component, save for the beets, so vegetarians take note.
The meal-size dishes were not large but not so small either. The comment that my partner and I both made was, "Wow! The flavor!" The dishes we ordered had a wide variety of wonderful flavors and textures. I ordered roasted daikon which included some type of foam (isn't foam kind of passé by now?), tiny perfectly-cooked long-cut carrots, mushrooms that were intensely briny yet not overpowering. They were like small, dark buttons of concentrated umami-saltiness. There were about three vegetarian offerings for the small and not-so-small plates.
If you are starving and head to Grit & Grace, be prepared to shell out big bucks. The dim sum are $5 each and the small to not-so-small plates range from $10 to $17. We had two dim sum, two plates, two cocktails (which were absolutely wonderful and unique in that hip artisanal cocktail kind of way) and our bill came to $63.50, including tip. We loved our experience but we went elsewhere afterward and got more to eat.
Grit & Grace is a hip new addition to the downtown area. We think our next visit will be better suited for pre-show or before a larger dinner and we'll stop by for a great drink and dim sum instead of a full meal.
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