Picasso - Champaign, IL

Date of dining experience: June 13, 2015

Place: V.Picasso Wine Bar & Restaurant

Location: 122 N. Neil St. in Champaign, IL

Appetizer: Prairie Fruits Farm soft cheese ($5) - served with Hopscotch bread, roasted charred grape jam, olive tapenade, and Hank's Honey from Willow Creek Farm. I love cheese! This was no exception. My favorite cheeses are usually the soft ones; the softer the better. The bread was also fantastic, but my favorite accompaniment was the honey. I know, it sounded a little weird to me at first as well. But it was all deliciousness. :-)

Entree: Pan Roasted Duck Breast ($23) - served with sweet corn risotto, brandied black berries, spinach, and a Willow Creek Farm 6 minute farm egg. This duck was prepared perfectly. Every bite was fantastic and all the flavors combined extremely well.

Wines: The best thing about this wine bar is that they have small "tasting" sizes.
1. Scarpetta Pinot Grigio 2013 from Fruili, Italy. ($4 taste size) - delicious!
2. Foris Pinot Gris 2013 from Rogue Valley, Oregon ($3 taste size) - also very good, but not quite as good as the Scarpetta.

Coffee: AMAZING! I ordered the French Press ($3). They brought a small, French press to the table still soaking up the flavor of the freshly ground coffee beans. This was by far the best coffee I've ever had at a restaurant.

The atmosphere of this restaurant was excellent, but the service was lacking. The waiter appeared to have just rolled out of bed, perhaps shaved in the car on the way to work (he missed a few spots), may have either been extremely hungover or high on some type of drug, and seemed to ignore the table a few times. However, don't let that discourage you from going to Picasso. I saw many other waiters and waitresses doing a great job. Plus this place has wine on tap. Yes, on tap. It is cheaper to ship in kegs than bottles and apparently keeps longer because it is not exposed to the open air.

Try this place out for yourself and let me know what you think. Enjoy!