I recently went to TWO in the space formerly known as Hawthorne Lane. We were there for happy hour, trying to grab a dinner between various hectic schedules. We needed a place within a pretty small radius downtown that served food and cocktails at 5. TWO fit the bill. Bonus prize was their “5 for $5″ menu on offer this month. It’s pretty self-explanatory (or, really, just very well named): each week they feature five of their regular dishes sort of pared-down (I imagine fancy garnishes are removed, for example) for $5. We didn’t end up ordering any of them simply because there were things on the bar menu – warm pretzels, house-made lamb sausage in flakey pastry, various pizzettas – that sounded better to our crew, but the very possibility of such a deal excited the whole table. Correction: it excited the whole table except for Ernest. He was excited by 1) the aforementioned warm pretzels and 2) the root beer we let him order. “Mama,” he said, “this root beer is almost as good as in Minnesota.”
Along with the pizzas and sausages and cocktails we asked to be brought to our table, I ordered a salad that I couldn’t quite imagine how it would taste:
Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad
Pecorino Cheese and Marcona Almonds
Garlic and Chili Vinaigrette
I figured if it was good it would be really good. It was. The tender shaved sprouts were completley coated with chili and parmesan and the crunchy almonds were their perfect foil. So I made it last night. A little less cheese and dressing than the restaurant version, natch. And I remembered there being mint in the salad, which there was not at the restaurant but which there was in mine and it was fabulous. A fresh, bright note against the rich almonds and spicy chile flakes. Accomplished cooks out there can probably use what I’ve said about it so far to go forth and make their own versions. If you’d rather follow a recipe, I’ve posted the one I made last night over at Local Foods, where I’ve called it Spicy Brussels Sprouts Salad With Almonds and Mint.
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