Headed to Minneapolis next week...any KKFers want to meet?

[Zwiefel]

I might show up a bit earlier. 7ish. Just fyi.

k.

After the week I've had...I'll be there at 7 too. I'll be the one looking super-tired and lost.

supermegaultra looking forward to it.

NOTE: soft, old guy operating on <2 hours sleep.

In other news: I'll be in Minneapolis next week too.

Could anyone possibly offer to drive me back to my hotel in Eagan after the gathering tonight?

[Zwiefel]

Had a great time with senor Drinky, Heldentenor, justin0505, and chuckles. Hope I was better company than I felt.

Got a few photos....though i did, once again, wonder how many KKFers are wary of being photographed.

Will share tomorrow when I'm a bit less thin.

[heldentenor]

Nice to meet you, Danny--hope you got some well-deserved rest!

[Zwiefel]

Sorry there more aren't and better photos...light was tricky, as was my conciousness

Apps: pork belly skewers with shredded green onions and apple compote

Very nice...super crisp, plenty of unctous fat, little bit of sweetness...very well balanced.

House made pasta noodles (can't remember what they were called), citrus cream sauce, spinach, little hit of crushed red pepper:

This was a really good combination. The red pepper with the citrus and cream...the noodles were prefectly cooked, and the spinach added a bit of welcome greenness.

Drinky's Wootz Slicer....nice bit of kit:


The pool table of lust:


Obviously, playing with the toys on the pool table was a highlight of the night....but so were the various people who walked by the table who were visibly uncomfortable.

Was really great to meet everybody and spend a few hours getting to know each other better. Sorry I couldn't make it downtown, hope you guys had fun.

----------

I'm headed out to 112 Eatery tomorrow for dinner, en solo....unless someone else is looking for an excuse to eat well and hang out a bit (more).

Also, I'm here for most of the week if anyone wants to get together on a week night (subject to customer demands, obviously).

[Zwiefel]

Just realized I forgot the swordfish dish b/c I didn't get a pic of it.

Grilled Swordfish steak over parsnips with crispy parsnips on top, in a pool of bacon broth. Was delightful...esp with a bit of bread to sop the broth.

[Chuckles]

Attachment 17717FWIW

[mr drinky]

First of all, thanks Zwiefel for giving us another reason to hang out, drink, talk knives and generally neglect the other people in our lives. I wish I could have made the pool table blade layout -- that looked awesome.

And a special thanks to Charlie for once again providing an amazing venue and food. All three dishes were amazing, and that consommé with the fish was so tasty I was craving it the next morning, the next day after that, and right now as I am writing this. Good stuff. It was sort of pleasantly odd that these were items for the new menu and the servers had never tried or probably seen the dishes before. There was definitely some envy hovering around that table.

And for those of you who paid for everything I ate and drank that night, many thanks.

k.

[heldentenor]

You're doing everyone else credit but selling yourself short, Karring. Charlie's food and generosity as a host deserve tons of thanks, but much of what we drank came from your wine cellars--and MAN was that Denner Mother of Exiles good! Zwiefel, Justin, always a pleasure.

Oh, and based on first impressions, Jon's new Gesshin Badass line might be the value of the year.

[Zwiefel]

You're doing everyone else credit but selling yourself short, Karring. Charlie's food and generosity as a host deserve tons of thanks, but much of what we drank came from your wine cellars--and MAN was that Denner Mother of Exiles good! Zwiefel, Justin, always a pleasure.

Oh, and based on first impressions, Jon's new Gesshin Badass line might be the value of the year.

correct on all counts.

I'm lusting for a Kagekiyo now....the F+F, grind, taper are all superb...and that handle is very cool and unique. Hell, the box kicks @$$ too!