Woolley's New Belgium Beer Dinner - November 15, 2012

We're super excited to be hosting our next Craft Beer Dinner at Woolley's. On Thursday, November 15, join us as we welcome New Belgium Brewing Company for a six-course dinner. Each course will be specially paired with the New Belgium brew that best complements the flavors of that fall dish.

New Belgium Beer Dinner
November 15^th -- 6:30 - 8:30pm

Social – Fat Tire Amber Ale

Fat Tire poached pear, crostini, sweet and spicy pecans, gorgonzola

1^st Course – Shift Pale Lager

Roasted beet and carrot soup, yogurt, seared scallop and crispy parsnip

2^nd Course – Ranger India Pale Ale

\Bib lettuce, apple cider vinaigrette, toasted pumpkin seed, prosciutto de parma, triple-cream bleu brie

3^rd Course – 1554 Enlightened BlackAle

Grilled venison tenderloin, local winter squash hash with apple and brussel sprouts, apple cider-lingonberry glaze

4^th Course – Snow Day Winter Ale

Smoked and braised lamb shank, cauliflower puree, braising jus and crispy sweet potato straws

5^th Course – Trippel Belgian StyleAle

Whiskey caramel bread pudding, Jack Daniels macerated black berries

Six different beers and a menu like that, and we're pretty sure that this is one event that you won't want to miss! Priced at just $45 per person, space is filling up fast, so make sure to call us today at 952-854-1010 to secure your reservation or for more information.

Hope to see you there. Cheers!

Fall 2012 - RESTAURANT WEEK: October 21 - 26

Mpls St Paul Magazine's Restaurant Week is back for their Fall edition. Join us once again for three-course lunches and dinners at a special price!

Lunch — $20

LUNCH ONLY: Free glass of house wine to start or non-alcoholic beverage

Appetizer (Choose one):

Soup & Salad Bar - Prepared fresh daily, featuring two house-made soups.

Entrée (Choose one):

Pasta Vodka - Ground spicy Italian sausage, roasted red peppers and Prosciutto ham, simmered in a creamy vodka tomato sauce, tossed with penne pasta and topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Minnesota Walleye - Grilled, Beer Battered or Panko Crusted with wild rice, vegetable du jour
Petite Martini Steak - A flat iron steak grilled and seasoned with all the makings of a martini (shaken not stirred) and garnished with St. Peter’s bleu cheese crumbles and green olives. Served with vegetable du jour and scalloped potatoes
Black and Bleu Pasta - Spicy beef tips sautéed with red onion, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and bacon. Tossed in linguini noodles with a Southwest sauce and topped with bleu cheese crumbles
Almost Famous Chicken Sandwich - Grilled chicken breast, jalapeno aioli, chicken fried bacon, butter lettuce, avocado, tomato slices, 7 grain Ciabatta.
Legendary Ken Burger - Ken Davis Sweet and Smokey BBQ, Cheddar, sautéed onions, bacon
Kielbasa Mac and Cheese - Macaroni noodles, knights vail gouda, cheddar, grilled kielbasa sausage and fried leeks
Pastrami Sandwich - Hot pastrami on Russian rye bun with horseradish mustard, Swiss cheese, spicy house made pickles and an over easy egg. Served with pasta salad

Dessert (Choose one):

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

Creme Brulee

New York Style Cheesecake

Dinner — $30

Bottles of wine from our award winning wine list are available all week at ½ price!

Appetizer (Choose one):

French Onion Soup

Caesar Salad

Classic Wedge
Winter Green

Entrée (Choose one):

Filet Mignon - 6oz center cut filet mignon, roasted shallot demi-glace, asparagus, roasted fingerling potatoes
Short Ribs - Slow braised short ribs, carrot ginger puree, foie gras butter, whipped Yukon gold potatoes, braising jus
Chicken Marsala - Chicken breast, classic marsala mushroom sauce, whipped yukon gold potatoes
Panko Crusted Walleye - Minnesota’s state fish hand breaded with parmesan seasoned Japanese bread crumbs, pan seared and served with lemon aioli sauce and rice pilaf
Grilled Salmon - Heirloom tomato-caper relish, lemon buerre blanc, fingerling potatoes
Top Sirloin - 8oz top sirloin on a bed of sautéed mushrooms and onions. Served with vegetable our famous scalloped potatoes
Kielbasa Mac & Cheese - Macaroni noodles, knights vail gouda, cheddar, grilled kielbasa sausage, fried leeks
Pork Tendorloin - Center-cut tenderloin, sweet potato hash, apple, brussel sprouts, apple cider lingon berry glaze. Candied bacon, cheddar ale biscuit
Martini Steak - A flat iron steak grilled and seasoned with all the makings of a martini (shaken not stirred) and garnished with St. Peter’s bleu cheese crumbles and green olives. Served with our famous scalloped potatoes

Dessert (Choose one):

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

Creme Brulee

New York Style Cheesecake

Sounds great, right?! Well, we hope you'll join us through Friday for Restaurant Week. Secure your reservations by calling Woolley's at 952.854.1010 or online at Open Table. 

Woolley's New Menu Out Now - Fall 2012

Without further ado, we're so happy to announce that Woolley's Fall 2012 menu is out for your dining enjoyment. After a huge thank you to our culinary team (and in collective appreciation for their creativity), we just can't wait for you to try some of the new dishes.

For starters, we've added some great fall salads to our menus, an Apple Proscuitto Brie, a Woolley's Steak Salad, and a Winter Greens Salad. For lunch, we also added several new sandwiches that are sure to please. We've got a Chicken Apple Brie that features an apple cider-lingonberry glaze, a Southwest Wrap, a Ham & Cheese with Knight's Vail gouda and grilled pear, and an Almost Famous Chicken Sandwich with jalopeno aioli and chicken fried bacon.

If you're more of a burger and fries guy or gal, you're going to love our new burgers. They're hand-pattied in house using our special beef blend and then accessorized with all sorts of delicious toppings. Our Bacon & Bleu Burger features that famous chicken fried bacon, while our Breakfast burger is topped with ham, cheese, and a fried egg! And don't worry, we're still featuring our lunch sized steaks priced right for a noontime feast.

Then, really warm up that appetite with some of our brand new Small Plate dinner offerings that allow you to try some of our famous dishes without filling up too fast. Remember the Marcona Almond Purses or our famous Short Ribs with carrot-ginger puree from events we've participated in recently? Great, because we added them to our Small Plates along with Duck Sausage, Sea Scallops, Pork Tenderloin, and even Foie Gras.

Sea Scallops - Seared scallops with heirloom tomato-chili jam, sauteed fennel, and candied bacon

Foie Gras - Crustini, apple cider, lingonberry relish

We've also added a great cold-weather favorite in the Pasta Category, Kielbasa Mac & Cheese! We toss our macaroni noodles with Knight's Vail gouda, cheddar, grilled kielbasa sausage, and fried leeks. To ensure you stay nice and warm, we've expanded our Comfort Foods offering this season as well. From our Chicken Marsala and Swedish Meatballs to our Pork Tenderloin and Deluxe Burger (with our special beef blend ground in-house), no detail is spared.

As always, we'll continue our weekly fish specials that give you a chance to try the freshest catch of the season offered at market price.

Not only have we updated our offerings for Lunch and Dinner, but we also revamped The Corner Bar Menu and our drink menus as well, so make sure to visit us for Happy Hour soon so you can check out any of our delicious appetizers and fun drinks at a great price.


For reservations, please visit Open Table online or call Woolley's at 952.854.1010. We'll see you soon!

WOWs -- Shameless Employee Recognition Post

It's been a while since we had some great WOWs on the blog. Not that our employees haven't been going above and beyond (because they have, they totally have), it's just that so much else has been going on that demanded our blog-worthy attention.

Here at Woolley's, we like to recognize WOW moments. These moments occur when our employees go out of their way to give our guests such a unique experience that they can't help but to say, "Wow!" While these moments don't always find their way to the blog, the comments do reach our managers' ears, so hopefully everyone knows how much we appreciate the extra effort.

In no particular order, here are last week's WOWs. A little late, but they definitely deserved to be shared. Kudos to the following individuals for going above and beyond, giving our guests one great night.

JAIME

Jaime waited on a gentleman who ordered an Old Fashioned Crown Royal, saying, "If it doesn't taste right, I'm sending it right back."  The guest later told Jaime that the drink was outstanding and that a lot of places don't make them like they used to. 

(Note: Our bartender, Chad, received a lot of compliments on his drink mixing skills that night too!)

GRANDMA SUE

One of the guests from a Surprise Birthday Party we were hosting came down from the piano lounge and said, "Your chef really knows how to fry a fish. He should be teaching others how to do it."

Grandma Sue presented a birthday card to Jim (the birthday boy) with the wait staff's signatures on it. Grandma also had them laughing with a few jokes, which really added to their experience. They said tonight they received the best food and service they had ever had. 

SHAWN & JESSE

Shawn and Jesse took great care of a Homecoming Party. They made sure the bar was stocked for non-alcoholic Strawberry Daiquiris, and the kids applauded when they found out. Shawn and Jesse also poured sparkling cider for the kids to toast and took several pictures for them. Finally, Chef Peter did a flambee and ice cream for dessert which was a huge hit. A few of the girls raved to me about the dinner and I also overheard a guest say, "This was the best night since ever."

Great job, everyone! We're so proud to be part of such a wonderful team. 

Woolley's LOVED Taste! Mpls. St. Paul's Ultimate Wine & Dine

Well, we may be a little biased, but we have to say Mpls. St. Paul Magazine's Taste! event was pretty awesome! This annual food and wine event featured 40 chefs, 300 wines, and 100 specialty beers this past Friday and Saturday. 

We sent our very own Chef Peter along with our culinary team to the Friday evening session. Armed with a killer offering of Zinfandel Braised Short Ribs with Carrot Ginger Puree, the Woolley's crew was well-prepared to wow the crowd. 

Chef Peter even got interviewed by Mpls. St. Paul Magazine, so make sure you check their site and next issue for any follow-up on the event. 

While we're certainly curious to see what the 'experts' thought of our Braised Short Ribs, we know they sure were a hit with event guests! We were busy all evening, as guests coming back for more.

We can certainly understand the attraction and hope to see all of their friendly faces in the restaurant for dinner soon.

If you missed the event, don't fret! While we don't have that exact dish on the menu, you have the opportunity to try the fantastic Short Ribs entree we do have on our menu at Lunch or Dinner. Our Short Ribs are served with Potato Gnocchi, Foie Gras, Wild Mushroom, Braising Jus, and Fig Balsamic Jam.

Did you make it to the Taste! event this weekend? If so, what was your favorite part? Did you get a chance to try our Short Ribs on Friday? We'd love to hear what you thought!