The Premise
Sip n Sample is a series of tasting and wine sampling events connected with the City Pages and various sponsors. They pick a restaurant and arrange with the chef for him to present a wide variety of his specialties and to choose wines to accompany the meal that will complement it. What this translates into is a buffet-style arrangement with many small dishes to try and as many glasses of wine as you care to indulge in. It's a great way to be able to try and wide variety of food from a restaurant you've never been to before, so you can figure out whether you like it or not and what you like best. Tickets are reasonably priced - $25/1 or $45/2. Tickets to less popular venues become extremely reasonably priced on the day of, when they usually offer some form of trivia question, and the first 10 people who respond get 1/2 price tickets.

The Pictures


The Verdict
This is the second such event we've attended, and we liked the first one (Zeno in Uptown) better. This one took place in LoTo Life in downtown St. Paul (traffic was a hassle). The food was acceptable, with few things rising above or sinking below that standard. The raspberry bar was unpleasantly gelatinous. The turkey meatballs in a spicy sauce were the only standout; they were strongly spiced and had an interesting Moroccan flavor that was unexpected and delicious. Phil liked the vegetable pesto flatbread pizza for what it was. LoTo struck us as the sort of place that you might wander into for a few drinks and appetizers if you were in the neighborhood, but it didn't have enough standouts (in the limited selection that we tasted) to justify a deliberate choice to go there. This is sad, because location, pricing, and decor are all trying to make a better restaurant than the food stands up to.