The Essential Guide to Twin Cities Restaurants

Crystal Grobe is a local food writer who loves trying out new restaurants to gain inspiration for cooking in her own kitchen. She loves Minnesota and is always on the go in search of new foods, events, music, and friends with her husband, Ryan. Find more of her work on Café Cyan and Bite of Minnesota, where she blogs for WCCO.

When I think about Spill the Wine, I tend to think wine and appetizers, but thanks to a recent visit, I will be thinking wine, appetizers and dinner. But first, there must be wine!

Spill the Wine offers several wine flights featuring different types of wine. Being a fan of Spanish reds, Viva Espana was the perfect flight to try. Arriving in a specialized wine glass carrier, the pours were generous and a great price of $10 for all three.

As for starters, I have heard great things about Charlie's Crab Cakes and they did not disappoint. Light and crisp breading on the outside and tender flakes of crab on the inside, even the non-fish lover enjoyed bites of these crab cakes. Served on top of a refreshing salad with a dollop of lemony tartar sauce, these were great accompaniments to the indulgent appetizer.

There are two camps when it comes to bruschetta: traditionalists prefer tomatoes, basil and a drizzle of olive oil while modernists embrace adding mozzarella cheese and other ingredients to the mix. Spill the Wine put a modern twist on its bruschetta by not only adding mozzarella cheese, but olive tapenade and balsamic vinegar as well. This resulted in bites of fresh, salty, creamy and sweet and gave us a new way to think of bruschetta.

Spill the Wine has menu full of meat and fish options as well as "pasta of the moment" that is made fresh daily depending on the chef's choices. When we dined, it was a seafood fettuccine full of mussels and shrimp tossed with fresh herbs. While the pasta sounded great, instead we went for a hearty dish of sea scallops on top of garlic mashed potatoes.

The tender scallops were pan seared perfectly and tossed with cherry tomatoes, basil and garlic oil to make a bright and juicy flavor combination. Another great flavor component was the au jus surrounding the dish. Not too salty or strong, the sauce went extremely well with the mashed potatoes and mellowed out acidity in the tomatoes.

While the scallops and risotto were excellent, our favorite entrée of the night had to be the Black Angus Tenderloin. Stated on the menu as eight ounces, what appeared in front of us had to be slightly larger, which was plenty for sharing. The tenderloin was flavorful and juicy, causing silence at the table while we enjoyed every last bite. The fried onions on top were true onion rings, not thin onion straws and the garlic packed mashed potatoes made another appearance as the anchor for this dish.

Both the service and atmosphere are great at Spill the Wine. Dark woods compliment the open and airy feel from tall ceilings and large windows full of light. There is always activity in the event space adjoining the main restaurant where groups of any size can pick custom menus for private events. From a glass of wine to a filling dinner, Spill the Wine has you covered!

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