Signup: fine dining outing during Worlds week

Tournaments and Events
1

For those coming to Worlds, the Twin Cities has a fantastic dining scene. There’s already been some discussion on Slack and in the Worlds thread about general eating options, and several locals (including me) are planning to organize dinner events at good but not bank-breaking restaurants for those interested in exploring the scene. More to come on that front soon.

This is different.

I know there are a few people – I’ve heard from at least three – who are interested in experiencing the high end of what the Twin Cities have to offer for dining. I propose we go to Travail, which is one of the most unique dining experiences in the Cities and is unquestionably the best at its price point.

Travail is part dinner, part performance art. The kitchen and restaurant are totally open, so you see everything that happens. Sometimes a course has you walk through the kitchen as the chefs construct it on your plate. The food is incredible, and the drink pairings are invariably perfect. You can expect 10+ food courses and ~10 drinks, so this is a comittment.

If that sounds like your jam, let’s try to make it happen!

Travail works on a ticket system, and tickets for November aren’t released yet. When they’re released, we can buy food (and optional but highly recommended beverage) tickets for a given seating on a given day. Here’s how I propose to handle this:

  1. If you’re interested: post below whether you want food or food + drinks, and vote in the poll to indicate what day you like best.
  2. I’ll buy the tickets when they’re released, let everyone know what date / time we got, and people can pay me back via PayPal.
  3. If anyone who didn’t sign up wants to go with the group, they can try to get tickets for the same seating (Travail releases last-minute tickets for unfilled seats each week).

I’d prefer not to drive to this, so that I can do the drink pairings. Travail is about 20 minutes by car from Roseville, so I recommend a ride share service like Lyft.

The food ticket is $97, and the drink ticket is $99. They can get a bit more expensive than that depending on what day of the week it is. Gratuity is included in the food ticket, but you can tip on the drinks if you like, so expect to spend ~$200-250.

If you want to do this, please post whether you want food or food + drinks, and choose a preferred night from this poll:

  • Wednesday
  • Thursday
  • Friday
  • Saturday

0 voters

4 Likes
2

I’d be down for the Friday 8pm seating for dinner & drinks.
Edit: Seems like Thursday would be after KOS, so that works for me too.

3

I’m usually a dirty cheapskate, but I might just be down for this. I’ve never been able to make it up for world’s and this seems like a neat way to celebrate the first. Not much of a drinker (See: cheapskate), so I’d settle for just the food.

4

Strongly considering this right now. If I was to do it, it would only be the food portion, although typically I’d go for the wine pairing.

5

I’d be interested, food only.

6

I’m interested for both food and drink. Life is too short to not do cool shit like this.

7

If we did Thursday, it would be after King of Servers, right? I would be down for food + drinks option either Thursday or Friday (after I win the Thrones world champs, I’m assuming ;)).

8

Ok, I’m in. I have some very generous friends who are gifting me this as an early Christmas present. Currently undecided on the beverage pairing. Question for people - is there any interest in doing this at 5pm sitting? I’m up for both on Friday, just in case it suits people.

Edit to include this: Thursday appears to be $25 cheaper if you’re just doing food. Beverage pairing is the same across both nights.

9

Unless you run it later on THU, I’m voting FRI, as I have to cleanup after KOS.

Otherwise, I’m in for food and drink.

10

As in 8 on Thursday? I think this would be a nice end to the KoS day. If you need a hand with cleanup let me know.

1 Like
11

OK, we’ve got 8 people interested, which is the max group size. If any more people express interest, though, we can have a Thursday group and a Friday group to fit everyone in.

I see 8 food + 5 drinks, including myself in both. @Venali, are you in for sure, or still just a maybe?

I think the tickets will go on sale this weekend, they seem to release them about a month in advance. When they go up, I’ll get tickets and we’ll go from there. It’s possible we’ll be able to get our first choice, which based on the poll + people’s clarifying comments is 8 PM Thursday as a post-KoS celebration. If I can’t get that, I’ll get one of the Friday ones.

1 Like
12

I’m not sure how purchasing works, but maths tells me this will be a good chunk of money. Would you like folks to PayPal you in advance?

1 Like
13

Yup, down to paypal now so you’re not down a grand until Worlds!

14

You already heard my thoughts, but I’m in for food and drink, prefer earlier in the week to later.

15

I’m going to buy all the tickets at once, since that’s what they recommend if we want to be seated together. However, since I don’t know what day I’ll be able to get, I don’t know how much to tell you to send me! I’m OK with everyone paying me after I post that I’ve bought the tickets and what day we got.

@dashakan Travail isn’t open earlier in the week, but if you want to get dinner elsewhere earlier in the week, I’m 100% down. I’ll ping you on Slack.

1 Like
16

If @Venali is in, we have 9, not 8! So we’re going to have to split into two groups. And as long as we’re doing two groups anyway, I’ll bring my wife, so there will be 10 of us across 2 tables.

This is going to be awesome. :sunglasses:

2 Likes
17

Is there a dress code for this place? Don’t want to show up and need a blazer or something

18

No dress code. I usually dress about as well as I do for work, which is jeans and and untucked button-down.

1 Like
19

I was just reading the FAQ, and saw this:

For groups larger than 8, you will not be able to book a reservation directly through the Tempo Tickets website. We are open to private events/buyouts and ask that you email events@travailkitchen.com to inquire about pricing and availability.

Since we’ve got 10 people (10 food + 7 drink) and tickets aren’t on sale yet, I’ll contact them directly and see if they can set up a big table for all of us. I’m going to poke #general on Slack since I haven’t mentioned this there yet, but if no one else signs up this morning I’ll reach out to the restaurant later today.

1 Like
20

Wear at least a collared shirt, ffs.

… well, I may just do the blazer/t-shirt thing.

https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/t50.2886-16/10954130_791499814276773_1637450182_n.mp4