Review: Barrett’s Quality Eats transforms casual cafe into fine dining for limited dinner series

CORALVILLE — Barrett’s Quality Eats, the casual concept opened in July by a chef with TV chops and national awards, is finally making good on its tagline: All Day.

For the past seven months, the restaurant that was almost called “Barrett’s All-Day” has served breakfast and lunch through quality pastries, a full sandwich and salad menu, deli case and luxe desserts.

Chef Cory Barrett, who opened the restaurant after three James Beard Award semifinalist nods, 17 episodes as a sous chef on “Iron Chef,” and a 2019 win on the Food Network’s “Spring Baking Championship,” wanted a joint with wholesome but convenient foods he didn’t have to dumb down — stuff he would make for his own family at home.

It’s a dreamy menu, but leaves dinner diners to simply dream after it closes at 3 p.m. every day. Barrett’s After Dark, a limited dinner series launched in January, changes that.

“We make a lot of delicious foods throughout lunch and breakfast, but we have a lot of people on staff who have done fine-dining dinners,” Barrett said. “It’s a fun piece to explore and get back into. We all have a passion for that type of food as well.”

With the first few dinners sold out, the dinners offered twice a month have given chefs and kitchen staff a chance to branch out with new embellishments, well-executed research and a sense of finesse that comes naturally to those with culinary talent.

The theme for Jan. 26, “Milan & Beyond,” lived up to its name. At $80 per person, the five-course meal included a cocktail, wine and beer. Other dinners range from $55 to $100 per person.

“When we thought about doing an Italian dinner, it was like, ‘You can do olive oil or butter,’ ” Chef Cory Barrett said as he introduced the evening’s theme.

During a cold Iowa winter, a rich butter fits the bill.

Amuse-bouche

  Buy Photo

A five-course meal starts small with a Negroni Sbagliato, strong enough to put anyone’s anxieties to bed on a Friday night, and a citrus cured salmon that made a meal of one bite.

A lovely flower bud presentation in bright color arrives topped with microgreens. Bright citrus and green on the top reassures you that winter never lasts forever, ushering in a bounty of nature’s best seasons as salmon jumps out of the river into a sprinkle of dill.

Only a dip of my toe into the river, this amuse-bouche, or however you might say the French term in Italian, did its job in making me hungry for more as my eyes adjusted to the bright cafe walls dressed under dim lighting.

Antipasto

  Buy Photo

Barrett concedes that the first part of the antipasto course, arancini, is not from northern Italy. But not even America’s most well-rounded chefs can resist fried rice and cheese.

His style of narration through each course, both informative and conversational, is on brand for the restaurant’s approachability with a sense of humor that eases the casual diner’s apprehension.

A savory tomato zest greets the nostrils as it softens the crunch of the fried shell, where another dill accent — present in the first three courses — sits on top.

What’s done well here is not just the rice and mozzarella cheese inside, which on their own are a harmonious moment. The depth of the sauce on top, which builds a crescendo of peppery notes long after you’ve swallowed, is a lesson in tolerance for spice-avoidant palates.

If I were alone, I would have licked the plate.

  Buy Photo

Next, a warm bagna cauda is placed over the candle at our table, keeping the “hot bath” of oil and tuna dipping sauce warm for a plate of raw and roasted vegetables. Traditionally, this hot dish from the Provence region of southern France — just over the border from Italy — is made with anchovies. In Italy, it’s often served as part of a buffet for Christmas Eve.

The plate arrives with a cross of two thin grissini breadsticks wrapped in Speck ham — similar to prosciutto.

Moments like this — raw vegetables being dipped into oily tuna — can be a defining feature of higher-end dining that pushes you out of your comfort zone with ingredients you already know, presented in a different way. Turns out that uncooked vegetables are decent when dipped in tuna.

All the while, the head chef and owner is serving tables and collecting plates alongside the other front-of-house staff — perhaps a metaphor for what this dinner is doing vis-a-vis approachability.

Primo

  Buy Photo

Winter minestrone arrives at the table in a clear, almost peach-colored broth with a little oil on top and another dill accent.

This is shockingly light and refreshing for a “winter soup.” Maybe Italians work on their fitness as Iowans bulk up to survive winter.

White beans, carrots, fennel and butternut squash offer a prelude in this “elevated presentation” of minestrone that culminates in a tortelloni. The truffled treat is demure, allowing the heritage of the fresh pasta to speak for itself.

Overall, a nice palate cleanser between courses.

Secondo

  Buy Photo

The main course of the evening presents a family-style feast of osso bucco, a Lombard specialty of veal shanks slowly braised in wine, vegetables and broth. With a slightly different flavor, it delivers the tenderness of a beef bourguignon.

This is the part of the meal when the room got quiet for a “wow” moment.

A savory base sharpened by the gremolata’s parsley and lemon flavor swims in the broth of a near-gravy consistency around an island of mascarpone polenta. Imagine this polenta as the love child of grits and creamy, whipped mashed potatoes.

Together, they’re a true “manna and quail” moment — a provision of divinity. At the end of the meal, a shank remains as proof of purchase.

A side of soft bread slices, far from an accessory, completes the meal with a dense accoutrement to soak up a sea of excess. Even when dipping into new territory at this restaurant, the folks making the meal don’t stray from what they do well.

Dolce

  Buy Photo

The final course pulls you out of a heavy plate by the branch of a lemon tree through panna cotta.

Delightfully bright, the lemon perfectly pleases both the “tart” and “sweet” preferences of a crowd as perfectly ripe fruit trails behind with rays of sun on the back end of each bite.

A basil honey drizzle around the edge of the plate — a surprise not listed on the menu — completes the composition of fruit as the limoncello sponge cake, while high quality, is a surprisingly minor player. The drizzle, Barrett said, was added at the last minute using ingredients on hand before delivering plates to tables.

“It’s a great example of being able to cook off the cuff,” he said, which complements the fulfillment back-of-house staff have found through these dinners.

A decadently smooth texture completes a final course in a way only Italy could do, as a mint leaf bids you arrivederci.

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.