I visited Purple Cafe with a group of about 15. We enjoyed the gigantic table in the private back room. The decor of the Purple Cafe was somewhat gothic modern, with dark smooth lines, and heavy iron chairs. The service was prompt and attentive and did a good job serving our large group.
The menu looked like something that I would absolutely love, but I was disappointed several times. I found the food consistently dry. This was especially true with the flank steak appetizer and the seafood skewers. Both of these dishes looked promising, but were dry and consequently relatively flavorless.
The standout dish was the vanilla brined pork tenderloin with a basil mango glaze. The flavors in this dish were incredible, although I would have liked the pork to be a little more on the rarer side of medium (we weren't given an option), and the fingerling potatoes to have been cooked longer.
They also were out of 2 of their 5 desserts by the time we ordered.
Of course, the reason to go to Purple Cafe is their list of wines by the glass (I think I heard someone mention over 100). A great selection, with some truly good wines in the mix. They also offer a number of wine flights, with a particularly fun 'brown bag' flight. This flight features 4 unknown wines selected by the bartender, along with a card for you to guess the varietals. Guess them all correctly and you win a $25 gift certificate. Otherwise you are just entered to win a $150 gift certificate. I was disappointed that the feedback wasn't instantaneous - we apparently have to wait until sometime the day after to find out how we did. Note to Purple Cafe, it would be tremendously more fun if we could find out how we did while at the bar so we could taunt / be taunted by the other guests.
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