Krause Dining, Lawrence, KS

Yeah, it's been a long time. There are so many places in my "to do" pile, I don't know where to start. However, on Monday night (1/4/10), we ate at Krause Dining, and I wanted to do a quick post while it's still kind of (emphasis on kind of - we were mostly thinking about enjoying the experience, and not making notes of details, so there are parts of dishes I can't remember) fresh in my memory. Also, I don't want you to think we only eat at burger places and bars, so this one changes the pace a bit.

While most of these posts (not that there have been a lot of them - sorry, been really busy) have several purposes, including helping you (the public) choose places to eat, this one is a little different. One major difference is that you will never be able to eat there. After I'm not sure how many years of operation, Krause is closing, and this is their last week. If you haven't already eaten there, I'm sorry to say, you never will.

Quick background on Krause Dining (this is all secondhand from a long-time resident of the neighborhood, so I think it's pretty accurate, but I didn't fact-check). For several years, Robert Krause operated a fine dining restaurant out of his home in East Lawrence. The city kind of turned a blind eye, even though it was a violation of zoning laws and hadn't been inspected by the health inspector or anything. However, some big food critic caught wind of this "underground" restaurant and came to eat there. He was very impressed, and wrote a glowing review (calling it the 4th best restaurant in the country or something like that). The publicity from this review made it impossible for the city to ignore anymore, and they shut it down.

For the next year or so, Krause negotiated with the city, trying to get the area re-zoned, etc. The neighbors didn't want it re-zoned, because although they didn't have any problem with Krause, they didn't want a whole bunch of businesses opening up in their quiet residential neighborhood. Finally, they reached a compromise and the city issued a variance specifically for Krause, allowing the restaurant to re-open.

Since it was now an "official" restaurant, they had to make some changes. I believe in the end they actually bought the house next door and converted that into the "restaurant". It still looks and feels like a house - you actually arrive and wait in the "parlor", and walk through the kitchen (saying high to Chef Robert) on your way to be seated.

End of backstory.

As soon as we moved to Lawrence and learned of this place, we decided we had to eat there before we moved away. We were reserving it for a special occasion, since it's a prix fix menu at $80/plate (plus wine pairings). However, Jessica got an email from them notifying us that they were going to be closing, so we knew we couldn't wait anymore. Luckily, we were able to snag a reservation in their last week of operation.

The experience was all we thought it would be - as I said, you arrive and sit in the parlor (they'll serve cocktails there while you wait if you want them), and then walk through the kitchen to your table. I think in the room we were in, there were about 6-7 other tables (sorry no pictures of this one - we didn't want to drag the SLR there and be all intrusive, and once we were in the experience, we forgot about my point and shoot). It was typical, high-quality fine-dining type of service, and there were no menu choices (other than an optional 3rd course, which we did, and optional wine pairings).

First course was a crab consomme. It was a dark, flavorful consomme, with a good hint of crab flavor (and some nice pieces of crab claw meat), but not overly fishy. Very good choice on a cold night such as it was.

Second course was (other than dessert) the highlight for me. It was arctic char, appeared to be pan-sauteed to crisp the skin. It was served over a cauliflower puree, with an avocado mousse on top. Yeah, it might sound a little different (unless you watch a lot of Top Chef), but it was really good.

The third course was optional. Since this was the last time we would be able to go there, we decided to go all out. There were 2 choices, and we each got one. Mine was foie gras over a brioche crustini and I can't remember the other ingredients. Jessica knew she wasn't going to like this - she doesn't like anything duck, and duck liver is not exception. I generally like duck, and foie gras is a good occasional dish, although I wouldn't want to eat it every day. This one was very good, but it was a little much. A little foie gras is plenty for me. The crostini was awesome, though, and helped temper the extreme flavor and texture of the foie.

Jessica's third course was her highlight of the night. I tried it, and I know why - it was probably better than any of the other things that I had (and I preferred it to the foie for sure). It was lobster cooked in butter over an asian sticky rice, and there was some mascarpone component that neither of us can completely remember. It had a nice spicy bite, and the lobster was of course cooked perfectly. It was probably my favorite preparation of lobster ever.

The fourth course was the main course. It was a rack of lamb, cooked sous-vide. It did end up pretty tender and juicy (which is the purpose of sous-vide method), and it was cooked to the right temp (med rare). There were a couple of good sauces on it as well, but neither of us can remember what it was served with. Jessica says it was the rarest lamb she's ever eaten, which is probably true. For me, it was good but not great. I think rack of lamb is probably not my favorite because there tends to be a lot of tendons or something in there, and even when the meat is tender, it is hard to cut and it seems like you leave a lot of meat on the bone. As I said, I think it was well-prepared, but it wasn't my favorite thing of the night.

Speaking of favorite thing of the night, next was dessert (2 courses). First dessert was a 3-layer frozen thing in a flute (the glass, not the instrument). The top layer was a cucumber and something sorbet, then there was a really thin layer of wasabi-flavored something, and on the bottom was a panna cotta. It was awesome - very refreshing. The wasabi bite tempered the sweetness of the panna cotta, and the cucumber (and something else - can't remember what the other flavor was) sorbet was surprisingly refreshing. Great palette cleanser, to prepare you for...

The best chocolate souffle ever. They brought it to the table still warm and steamy (of course), and poked a hole in it to fill with chocolate ganache at the table. At this point, I was a little full, but I took one for the team and finished it anyway. Jessica just couldn't do it - she was really upset about that, because she had enough to know that it was awesome. If possible, I would go back for that.

We also had a few (OK, most) of the wine pairings, and they really didn't serve any wine we didn't like. They even served a Chardonnay that I liked, and I hate Chardonnay. One thing they did very well was select and pair wines. We are hoping they still have the list (need to call them before they stop answering the phone), so we can try some of those wines again.

So, overall, how was it? It was a unique experience, and I'm glad we did it. It was also the most expensive (per person) dinner I've ever had, I think. I don't think it was the best I've ever had. Porter and Frye in Minneapolis, before the management change, was better, in my opinion. However, there is something about the family-business restaurant in an actual house that made it worthwhile. It was something we'll never be able to do again, we had good conversation with friends at dinner, and there is something about a dinner where they just serve, and you don't have any choices that makes it more interesting.

Our less-than-5-star impression of the food (only slightly less - don't want to give the impression that it wasn't good) may have had something to do with what they were serving that night - Jessica doesn't like foie gras (and I only like it in small quantities), and I think rack of lamb is just not my favorite way to eat that particular animal (and I really do like lamb). For my money, in the Lawrence-Topeka area, I think I would stick to the Rowhouse.

Since you won't be able to eat there anyway, I'm not going to give this one a "hungry emoticon" rating, but if you ever have the chance to eat Robert Krause food (and you might), I'd recommend it. He does own part of The Burger Stand (at Dempsey's in Lawrence), which I highly recommend, but that's another post. So, if you get a chance to experience something once-in-a-lifetime, do you do it? Carpe diem, I say.