Zelo Restaurant - Fav!

Carl surprised me tonight on our trip to the Opera in St. Paul, and brought me to one of my favorite restaurants - Zelo!  I really love this restaurant.  Most of the food is Italian, but they have other choices like filet mignon, pork chops, seafood on the menu as well.  Not only does this restaurant have superb food, the atmosphere is cool as well.  There's lot of abstract art on the walls, dark wood, and deeply colored curtains.  Zelo is actually in Minneapolis, MN (about 20 minutes from St. Paul).  It's on this great street of shops and other restaurants in the downtown area.

We had a reservation, so we sat down right away in a round booth type table by a window.  Right away we ordered two glasses of red wine - sadly, we can't remember today what the wines were called...

This was on the first page of the menu, and I thought it was pretty neat - it totally in in sync with my philosophy on a balanced life...

Our dinner started with some warm and soft French bread slices with extra virgin olive oil for dipping.  Heavenly...

Our appetizer was barbequed, teriyaki chicken skewers.  I let Carl have two skewers, and I had one.  I think these were the best chicken skewers I have ever tasted.  The chicken was so tender.  They were cooked perfectly, and the teriyaki sauce was excellent. 

I ordered a small salad so I could get some veggies in my dinner.  This salad was called Ciao Baby and had tender greens, goat cheese, pine nuts, and a balsamic vinegarette dressing.  It was so delicious!  I know I keep saying everything was divine, but it's so true.  Everything at this restaurant is wonderful.  Nothing is overlooked in the kitchen.  Bravo the chef!

For my main dish, I ordered chicken and wild mushroom risotto.  Again, the best dish I've had in a long time!  The chicken was just so tender and flavorful, and I love mushrooms.

Carl ordered the chicken fettucini alfredo, which he thought was great too.  He wished he had asked for a double order.

What a great dinner!  Our waiter's name was Corey, who provided us with excellent service throughout the evening.  He offered to take a picture of us for our Facebook.

Thanks for the great surprise dinner Carl, and for the Opera tickets!  We had a great evening.  Sadly, I wasn't allowed to take pictures at the opera, and I had to leave my camera in the car.  That's okay though.  During intermission, Carl and I shared a chocolate chip cookie and a latte.  We looked out the windows of the Ordway building at St. Paul square where all of the trees were lined with twinkle lights.  Beautiful!  The show was superb, and it was so much fun to dress up and have such a lovely night.