|
Tejas
|
||
| Southwest by Southwest | This is not how the west was won | |
| B and I wandered
a little further afield from our usual downtown-and-environs range,
partly as a result of my returning this morning from a business trip (to
New Orleans, if you’re curious). Tejas is in the 50th
and France neighborhood in Edina, just past the southwestern border of
Minneapolis proper. Although an inner-ring suburb, Edina has a certain
snob appeal that, depending on your elitist tendencies, may either
attract you to its establishments or keep you well away.
Perhaps befitting its location, Tejas hasn’t skimped on décor and ambience-enhancing touches, from a tiled water feature to a burning fireplace to southwestern objet d’art displays. Adobe-style walls and rough hewn timbers complete the picture, and it’s a pretty one. One pays a price—literally—for the look of the place. The first thing that struck me when I was handed the menu was the markup on beverages. A pint of Summit for over $5? Wine prices that appeared to be thrice the retail rates? And it’s worse by the glass, since instead of the standard fourth of a bottle price the ratio here is closer to a third. The lunch wine list appears reasonably priced, but that’s only because it largely is limited to cheap offerings. It’s possible some hidden gems can be found there, but the white burgundy I ordered was thin and soapy. The second thing that struck me was the attempt to get us to order more than we wanted to. There’s a rather good blue corn bread accompaniment that is complimentary, but we almost had to remind our waitress of it when she pushed the guacamole and chips. In the same vein, entrées are a la carte and you can get a side salad or french fries for about three bucks—but the waitress suggested the full salad to a guest we had brought along (she fortunately resisted; the side portion was plentiful). It wasn’t that our waitress was atypically pushy for the place; she was in training and under the watchful and approving eye of an experienced colleague. The waitstaff is attentive, however, and service is prompt and reliable. After my first and second impressions, the food provided some redemption. The menu is of course largely southwestern, but it has eclectic and creative combinations. One of the signature starters juxtaposes pureed black and white bean soups in the same bowl. You’ll also find Mexican ingredients like epazote, yucca, jicama, and chiles used inventively. I ordered the soup special, a southwestern onion soup that was strong and spicy and had nice croutons that retained their crispiness in the broth, and a soft chicken taco. This latter came on a bed of flavorful rice and with a dainty grilled onion cap filled with guacamole perched on top. The chicken itself was strips of breast meat that were somewhat dry, but the accompaniments made up for that in my mind. There’s a corporate-suburban atmosphere about Tejas. It has the gloss and marketing touches one expects from a polished upscale restaurant chain. Given my attitude toward elitism, I almost wish the food was worse! A |
Despite our
jaundiced view of the suburbs we seem to find ourselves in one again: Tejas
in Edina is our lunch site of the week. In mitigation it should be added
that Tejas started life in downtown Minneapolis where it garnered
some interest because of its early novelty. Those were the eighties when
southwestern nouvelle cuisine was chic and foreign. Now by relocating to
Edina, Tejas has lost some of its sex appeal and finds itself
ensconced in the bosom of middle class suburbia.
The restaurant, as you might expect, is decorated in a southwestern motif. There is the obligatory cow head; saved from being a complete cliché by a water stream springing from its forehead. Seating is divided between family-style booths and tables on the single main floor. The flora and colors are designed to convince us that we are somewhere warm – this can be a challenge, considering that it was the snowiest day of the year! The lunch menu, which changes weekly, is varied enough with specials that your server will tell you about. The wine list is poor and (what is worse) overpriced: $9.95 for a glass of Clos Du Bois Pinot Noir! This is especially puzzling because Tejas prides itself as being a wine savvy restaurant. I had a glass of Pearly Bay Cape Red, a South African wine whose time has not come yet and probably never will. I started with a cup of Tortilla soup, which was quite good even though the cheese in it had congealed into visually unappealing lumps. For my main dish I opted for the Peeky toe crab flautas which came with smoked tomato-tortilla sauce and guacamole. This dish is considered a specialty of the house and is quite good. The corn flautas were stuffed with crab. It was a little mild for my taste but perfectly acceptable. Some of the other items on the menu: grilled chicken soft taco, roasted chicken-poblano pesto quesadilla, sautéed gulf shrimps and a wide assortment of sandwiches. The lunch entrée prices vary from $7.95 to $9.95. We had an apprentice server i.e. someone else was in tow to make sure that she’d picked up the ropes. It appears that the wait staff has been instructed to push certain items at the diners, we declined repeated offers of tableside guacamole at $6.95 a go. This lunch was not a success for me. It was expensive and only marginally good. The wine list is atrocious in both choice and price. Our bill (for three) was around $59.00. Restaurant Abilene in uptown, owned by the same group, is supposed to be the budget version of Tejas, but for my money the difference between the two is not sufficient enough to justify the prices. If you work downtown there are so many better choices for your lunch dollar than Tejas – give it a miss. B |
|