Dance Food Dance! V2

Dance Food Dance!

With its high unfinished ceilings, earthy paint-job, and minimalist modern furniture, Food Dance, Kalamazoo's top-rated restaurant, is as hip(ster) as it comes. According to Food Dance's website, their menu is entirely local, and entirely free-ranged: this will clearly be a meal with a conscience.

Housed in a large red brick building, Food Dance is located towards the more industrial southeastern end of downtown Kalamazoo: don't worry though, there's plenty of parking within the immediate area. The inside is well-lit, and boasts a small waiting area, a sleek and well stocked bar, and a small store where eaters and non-eaters alike can shop for cheese, wine, olive oil, sweetmeats, and Kalamazoo paraphernalia. Shopping at Food Dance's general store on an empty stomach is not advisable: it is much safer to survey a $15 dollar pint of ice-cream after a well-proportioned meal. 

My initial impression of Food Dance is that it is not a quiet place. The bright paint and open interior   means raised voices well before sitting down, though the constant buzz did facilitate energetic and animated conversation for the duration of the meal. The atmosphere has a classy sort of vibe to it: immaculately clean and professional, yet far from the stuffy, quiet, and overly formal settings of traditional upscale restaurants.

In the name of keeping the prices down, me and my dining companion opted to steer clear of the drinks menu, and explore an appetizer salad instead. We settled on the Fruited Chicken Salad, which arrived promptly. Let it be said, Food Dance makes one hell of a Fruited Chicken Salad. The dish is huge, with mountains of crunchy, watery spinach that support well-sliced chicken strips seasoned with a tiny hint of lemon and topped with a tangy red wine vinaigrette. By no means an afterthought, the  strawberries, oranges, pecans, and crumbled blue-cheese, gave the dish a perfect blend of sweetness and saltiness. From a visual standpoint, the salad's presentation was just as appealing as its taste: lots of colors, and a good mixture of chicken, fruits, nuts and cheese to balance the look of the dish. Best salad I've ever had, no exaggeration.

Having had such an incredible salad, I was understandably excited to try Food Dance's staple dish, the Ultimate Macaroni. Although I had been advised to try the Ultimate Macaroni by one of friends, I will say that the dinner sells itself well enough on paper: pasta with caramelized onions, bacon, and fresh spinach, in a rich aged-cheddar sauce, topped with toasted bread crumbs.

As great as the fruited chicken salad is, the Ultimate Macaroni ($16) falls short of Food Dance's stellar reputation. Every spoonful was saturated with grease, and did not sit well in the stomach.  To be fair, each individual ingredient was fairly tasty. The bacon was perfectly sweetened by the onions, and it had a nice, solid texture that went well with the soft macaroni. Although the sharp cheddar provided all the necessary flavor for the dish, it was too oily and left a sticky feeling in the mouth. The most telling failure of this dish is that when left in a refrigerator, the grease from the dish solidified into pure fat. Imagine a soup cup full of noodles, suspended in grease. When reheated, the top half of the container looked like cancerous chicken noodle soup, and managed to clog the drain of a certain dormitory when poured down the sink, much to the author's chagrin. 

Thankfully, a well cooked Alaskan Salmon ($17), textured with spinach and accented with a citrus based dressing can do wonders for clearing the macaroni out of the mouth. I only had a few bites, as my dining companion expressed, in no uncertain terms, her desire to finish the dish herself. The Fruited Salad left more of an impression, but the Alaskan Salmon is a fine choice for those looking for a less-than-heavy dining experience.

Having surveyed the stores, eaten the food, the only thing left to do is pay the bill. Verdict?

1 Alaskan Salmon $17

1 Ultimate Macaroni $16

1 Fruited Chicken Salad $14

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Dinner                        $47

Tip                             $15 (cheapskates, please take note)

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Total                          $62

While the prices aren't unfathomably steep, a casual eating habit at Food Dance could prove fatal to the average bank account. Two people can eat very well and keep the damage to around $60 bucks, but cocktails, desserts, and appetizers, can complicate the situation.

With so many good things going for it, and such a solid reputation (often referred to as one of Kalamazoo's finest restaurants) Food Dance should be held to the highest of standards. The building, the service, and the meals are all indicative of Food Dance's potential for being a truly special place to eat, but it falls short of being excellent simply by having such a bad dish featured so prominently on the menu ( the Ultimate Mac is listed under Great Plates on their menu). While this stance may seem harsh, this restaurant deserves to be taken seriously by merit of its amazing food. This, coupled with a commitment to local economy in a market swamped with faceless corporations, propels Food Dance to standard of which it falls just short.   B+