More than snooty Ikea food

Our first (and not last) trip to Magnus was a full-service experience from great cocktails to wonderful service. Nice decor, the main dining room was open with a high ceiling and well lit.

Starting with cocktails, I had the Finn's #7 cup, a re-imagined Pimm's cup with local Death's Door gin, dry vermouth, Lillet, St. Germain in an old fashioned glass with apple and cucumber slivers as garnish. Very tart and refreshing, my kind of drink! Drew's Uptown Julep was sweet and tasty, with Bulliet bourbon, mint and a frosted rim in a martini glass.

Our first plates included a good deal of pickled things (apropos?). The Norwegian sausage and duck ham with pickled cabbage, cornichons and truffle mustard was a good marriage of flavors from fats to sweet to sour. Then the pickled herring, salmon, and shrimp with egg creme fraiche and cucumbers gave us even more pickled goodness. The seafood was all fresh and tart, the clean cucumbers and sweet/creamy creme fraiche bookending the flavors perfectly.

Our entrees were also winners; mine was the cardamom crusted sirloin with black currants, truffled cauliflower puree and spinach. The truffled cauliflower puree and spinach became a bit heavy-handed as the meal wore on as is often the case with truffle anything but the richness served as a good foil to the lean sirloin. The cardamom and currants worked well together, the cardamom never overpowering or too menthol. Currants are a good fruit for beef, they are not too sweet but slightly earthy, and they hold up to cooking.

Drew's cocoa nib wild boar tenderloin with wild mushrooms, pea puree and fig syrup was a study in decadent fatty/sweet flavors. When I tasted it, I felt that more pea puree was needed to balance the dish, the figs and cocoa were pretty strong. Overall it worked well because the pork was leaner and more gamey than your average loin or chop, the 'wildness' of the boar accentuated the wildness of the cocoa.

Dessert options looked incredibly boring, how many flourless chocolate cakes can one town have? So we went with savory over sweet; the jarlsberg cheese tart mixed salty/barnyard cheese with crunchy dough and sweet ligonberries.

Magnus has portion sizes and flavor combinations down. The dessert menu was the only flaw, but the menu is seasonal! We were well pleased by the fancy Ikea food.