I’ll be honest with you. Wildebeest was not on my list of restaurants to try after looking at the menu. The only thing that looked remotely interesting to me was the Bison Carpaccio. But I DID tell Fannypack to pick the restaurants and for once she did! So I bit my tongue and went with it. So how did it go? Read on to find out!
The place was PACKED for a Tuesday night. We were seated in the basement where there’s a communal long table, with parties separated by a fresh tree branch of some sort.
Have a look at their cocktail menu when you visit. It’s very thoughtfully designed with sketches of each drink beside its description.
Fannypack must be becoming more decisive. She actually had choices in mind of what she wanted to pick and wasn’t waiting to pick the item I didn’t pick! Her choice for first course was the Bison Carpaccio. It was topped with arugula dressed with black olive & soy vinaigrette, and crispy burdock on top.
It was so flavorful. It’s unlike any other regular carpaccio of just beef I’ve ever tasted. The bison had that gamey flavor and you can just tell you’re eating meat. This was delightful to say the least.
I got the Sous-vide Steelhead Trout for my appetizer. The dish was plated with cubed beets, (a super tart) compressed apple, bergamot, and honey.
This was absolutely delicious, but more to the cold side. The fish was very moist from cooking sous vide. The inside was a medium rare and flavored throughout. The portion was huge also. The size of the filet could easily be an entree at a place like this. Needless to say, I really really enjoyed my appetizer.
Since Fannypack got first dibs on appies, she let me take my pick for entree. I chose the Angus Reserve Striploin and it was served with creamed leeks and salt-baked sunchokes.
I immensely enjoyed the creamed leeks. They tasted garlicky and chive-y and onion-y, all the best flavors combined into one. The first time I had sunchokes I thought they had a ginseng scent to them. Fannypack didn’t think so though haha.
As for the striploin itself, they were served medium rare (the server did not ask for my choice) which is fine, as that’s how I take my steak anyways. The pieces were tender but again, the temperature was quite lukewarm.
Fannypack’s The ‘Chicketta’ was delicious also. The chicken breast was wrapped in pancetta (hence the name) and roasted. Served on the side was roasted winter squash, Brussels sprout leaves, and lots of crispy bacon.
The chicken breast was extremely moist and tender…the most I’ve ever experienced with chicken breast. I’m quite aware it’s probably due to the pork fat from the pancetta, but this was just divine!
For dessert, we ordered two different choices to share. The Rather Lavish Bread Pudding was topped with an extremely rich dark chocolate ganache, and seated on a bourbon-maple anglais.
This bread pudding was extremely dense and hearty. I had never been a big fan of chocolate ganaches so we basically left that untouched. But I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of it. I’ve always like bread puddings.
The Wildebeest ‘Cheesecake’ was a light foamy mousse with cheesecake flavor. Strawberry sorbet, pastry crumble tops this cloud of delightfulness. It was smooth and creamy and the cheesecake flavor was prominent. Not overly sweet, this was the best dessert of the two.
I was extremely impressed with the food at Wildebeest. No wonder they’re so popular. And for $38 I felt I got my money’s worth and the food quality was up to par. I didn’t think the food was of a lower quality just because of it being Dine Out. Portions were also right up there. I would love to come back to try their cocktails next time.
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