This summer the folks at
Cumin in East Hyde Park contacted me about trying their place out since they had a new executive chef. Matthew Cranert was new to Cumin and had previously been the Executive Chef at their sister restaurant
M Wood Fired Oven. It took me forever to get there to try it but we finally decided that our
3rd anniversary was a good reason to go!
Cumin is located in East Hyde Park in that cute little strip of restaurants, bars and shops. If I remember right - Cumin used to be an Indian restaurant but now they classify themselves "eclectic world fusion". You can decide what that means. :-)
We started out with bread and a flavored butter. It was a little cold and had a heavy olive oil/rosemary aroma to it. The bread was warm, crusty and very tasty.
I got an appetizer for us to share of the Summer Tomato Salad ($10). This was really nice - there was a ton of fresh mozzarella in the "salad" along with heirloom tomatoes, basil, olive oil and a blueberry reduction. We both enjoyed this one.
We also decided to sit outside - the times when you can sit outside pleasantly are so few and far between but this was perfection. Plus I love being right on the sidewalk - so many dogs walking by to say hi to!
Larry went for the Lobster with Butternut Squash Risotto. It's beautiful. Presentation was seriously spectacular on this - look at it. Gorg! Unfortunately we didn't love it. The lobster was undercooked and had this runny texture to it. Not a big fan of the risotto either...
I got one of the specials that night - coho salmon with smoked fingerling potatoes. The schmear was a pine nut puree and the salmon also had a pepper maple sauce on the bottom of the bowl. For me the salmon was a little overcooked and the potatoes lacked any flavor. The saving grace for this was the maple sauce. My mom always used to eat syrup on fried potatoes and it instantly brought that flavor memory back to me.
Why Should You Go? Unfortunately - neither of us really enjoyed our entrees. We were provided a $50 gift card to try it but still paid an additional $40 for alcohol, tip and overage - so it was a $90 dinner. I don't know that we'll go back - but I would like to try M as I've heard really great things about their pizza. I'm sure other things at Cumin are great - they also have a 3 or 5 course tasting you can do as well. For us though - it's a bit pricey when neither of us really enjoyed our dinners.
That said - I do have another $50 gift certificate for you! Enter below on the Rafflecopter giveaway and hopefully you'll have better luck than we did. It's a really beautiful restaurant in a great spot - enjoy!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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