question about Travail

[soccermom13]

I will be dining with Mr. Frugal, so can anyone tell me about prices and portion sizes at Travail so that I can properly prepare Mr. Frugal for what lies ahead?

Thank you.

[getgot211]

I believe this is the latest...

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi...

[soccermom13]

Great info! Thank you so much.

I've been reading other posts re Travail and I think I would like to try the 10 course tasting menu for 2. I think I would love it. I can work on Mr. Frugal to convince him it's a good value. But will Mr. Frugal leave hungry?

[semanticantics]

Is Mr. Frugal a big eater / person?

10 courses of small portions is still 10 portions of something. I'll try to make an educated guess of what you'd be given:

Beet Salad
Figlets
Beef Tartare (unless you request otherwise)
Blue Cheese Tots
Soup
Agnolotti
Scallop
Chicken
Steak
Dessert

You could always double down on the Tasting Menu idea and get the Dessert Tasting with your 10 course, at $9 for 4 courses, it's actually quite the bargain.

[moomon]

ive attached the pics from when i went there last week.

- the first dish is beet salad .. 4 buck .. just ok in my opinion
- the second dish is fliglets .. 4-5 buck .. this dish is really good.
- the 3rd .. charcuterie .. 14 .. very very good and well worth the money
- the 4th .. chicken .. 8 .. kinda small and i think it was kinda bland
- the 5th-8th .. dessert tasting for 9 buck .. soooo good and worth every penny

I and my friend also had the tofu plate .. it was two chunks of tofu with kimchi and something else. it tasted so good that i forgot to take the picture and well worth 7 buck.

[semanticantics]

I had the Tofu once presented as a deconstructed Banh Mi, and it came with Kim Chee and Soft Scrambled Eggs. It was bonkers-good.

Is that Carrot Cake? Oh man, I'd love to try their interpretation. The pastry chef has a bright future, and I don't think she's old enough to drink yet.

[moomon]

the dessert that day was banana bread on the top of creme brulee, chocolate cake with belgian chocolate (or something like that), cream cheese marshmallow, and yes .. carrot cake. Everything was sooooo good. I would really like to go there just for the dessert tasting.

[semanticantics]

The Hamburger and the Sausage Pate' Melt are sizeable sandwiches that come with fries and those are $10. The Charcuterie Plate is designed for 2 and runs $14, and looks like a good value. Almost everything else changes so much it's hard to pin down what will have a bigger portion one week to the next. The Agnolotti is house made and always a decent portion for $7. $4 for a Microgreen Salad probably won't do wonders for Mr. Frugal. "Steak" is usually about a 4 oz. portion (total guess), and I think generally $8. The Blue Cheese Tots are really tasty. a good portion / filling, and a nice value at $4. My personal strategy is to usually get the Tots (maybe the Beet Salad) and the Pasta or Tofu. $11 check for two well executed / fun dishes is pretty good.

You could go all-in on their 10 course, 2 person tasting menu for $60. That's total, not each, and certainly not bad for the culinary tour you'll be taken on.

Their Facebook page has a picture of their most recent menu. You could try searching Flickr for photos of "Travail Kitchen" too.

[BigE]

I will re-iterate the point about the burger or pate melt being the best choices for someone who might be otherwise put off by portions that don't overflow the plates. These two are really tasty and should be plenty filling.

The other dishes are much more artsy and might be written off by someone expecting sports bar like portions.

[bboss]

prices are $4-$14. priced so you can try a few differant things with out blowing the bank.