I can't believe I haven't posted anything about Bacchus yet! Oh my! Bacchus is one of the Bartolotta restaurants and is hands down my favorite restaurant in Milwaukee.
There are a number of places that have great food - but Bacchus is truly an all around experience. Not just great food, but a great environment and exemplary service.
Last night Casey and I had a wonderful night out and enjoyed a dinner at Bacchus. The evening started out with our favorite server Cassidy greeting us at the hostess stand. What is really cool about this is that every time (up until last night)- I have requested Cassidy when I've made our reservation. She is the sommelier at Bacchus and only acts as a server when the restaurant is really busy. I didn't think she was serving on Saturday nights. Well the reason I bring this episode up is because Bacchus keeps notes in their computer about their customer's preferences. Even though I hadn't made the note about Cassidy when I booked the reservation on line - someone noticed that she was our preferred server and put two and two together and made sure that we were dining in her section last night. For all of the crappy customer service I receive at so many establishments, having someone go above and beyond was greatly appreciated.
One of the great things that Cassidy has "schooled" us about is that it's OK to share plates. She said that when her and all of her foodie friends go out, they do it all the time. It's a great way to be able to experience a wider variety of food during your dining experience. Sometimes we do an entire meal that way. It's awesome. Just a few bites of each thing. Last night we decided to order a couple things on our own and split one plate.
For our first course I had roasted butternut squash soup. They place an empty bowl on the table and bring the soup in a little canister and pour it right at the table. It is served over a pecan "cracker". Casey had pork belly It's amazing how they can prepare a small slab of bacon and make your mouth water! That is served with greens on top and a little glaze on the plate. One of the things I love about Bacchus is that they don't give you the super sized portions. They give you a portion size that you can actually eat and not feel full after just one course. My soup was between 1/4 and 1/2 cup ----perfect amount. You've never seen Casey as happy as when he's eating bacon!
For our second course we decided to share a plate (and please note that when I say share a plate that doesn't mean that they bring out one plate and 2 forks for each of us to eat off of it-----they split the portion and you get your own serving). The shared plate was ricotta ravioli served with a cream sauce and mushrooms. Delicate, handmade ravioli. There is nothing like it. Just a hint of garlic - the mushrooms giving the whole dish a very earthy tone. I very rarely eat mushrooms - and I ate the mushrooms with this dish. It was divine.
For our entree course I had a filet. I have tried almost all of the entrees and can honestly say you can't go wrong. I'm just partial to steak. The filet is no more than 5 ounces (which is perfect for someone watching portion sizes). It was prepared to a perfect medium temperature (as requested). I love the fact that rather than putting a slab of meat on the plate, they slice it and place it over yukon gold potato puree. The steak is served with a bourbon peppercorn sauce. There's just enough sauce drizzled on the plate to get a taste-----but not drowning the meat. Cassidy knows that I don't like the sauteed mushrooms that come with the filet so she took the liberty of substituting broccolini for me. Again, the portion sizes - spot on. Between 1/4 up and 1/2 cup of potatoes and 4 broccolini spears. I love being able to enjoy my dinner the way it was intended to taste and not taking it home and eating it as leftovers. The steak was like "butter". Perfect! Casey had the braised short ribs. This is one of his favorite entrees. The meat is so incredibly tender. His entree was served with brussell sprouts and sweet potato puree. There was nothing left on either of our plates.
Casey enjoyed a glass of wine with each of his courses. He loves to ask Cassidy to pair it with his food. He always goes with her recommendation. As a little side note- 2 years ago I took Casey to Bacchus for his birthday and we had an entire meal that basically revolved around the wine choices that Cassidy presented us with. It was an incredible experience.
Casey treated himself to dessert (well that's really a no brainer). He had a chocolate cappuccino mousse. I may or may not have had one bite. Delish!
I highly recommend this restaurant if you are someone who really has a passion for great food and wants to enjoy an experience. This is not the type of place where you will be herded in and out to turn over the table. Plan on at least 2 hours for dinner. We had the pleasure of looking out over the lake and a view of the full moon last night. It was beautiful. It's a true testament to the quality of a restaurant that even though we would love to experience other great restaurants, we KNOW that we are going to get the best there, so we just keep going back.
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