I was surprised at the size of the place, which is spacious, with 88 seats. There's something a little off about the lighting, mostly spots from the ceiling that gave the place a bit of a dining hall or cafeteria feel on a recent weeknight. A couple outside on the patio sat in almost complete darkness.A recent dinner started with cocktails, created by Jason Kosmas. You can choose from a classic list Old Fashioned, Negroni, Whiskey Sour or LTO cocktails. Naturally, we went for the limited-time drinks — a lightly frothy Claret Sour fashioned from rye, lemon juice, egg white and red Bordeaux so original and fun and a Lady Bird Daiquiri, with Cana Brava rum, apple cider, agave and lemon. The LTO drinks will change with the chefs.
We snacked on arrancini and a crab salad dressed up with bits of haricots verts, chives, tomato confit and tall leaves of Little Gem lettuce. Sweetbreads, another starter, uncommonly crisp, were set atop a slurry of gribiche and sauce Banyuls. That was as original as the Claret Sour.Though the pop-up lasts only four months, Grimm's menu has seen changes: The sweetbreads have been replaced with chicken lettuce cups; the crab salad with cornbread panzanella.Our main courses were less striking than the starters. I was surprised to find that baby lamb was a hulking lamb shank. Braised in wine, it was served with a fricassee of favas and chanterelle mushrooms. Nice idea, though favas are much more tender and tasty in spring, when they're in season. Asparagus spears laid on top felt completely wrong this time of year.
A grilled fillet of Gulf red snapper was set on a sauté of roasted oyster mushrooms, leeks and sunchokes; its Moroccan chicken sauce coalesced with a spoon-smear of watercress purée.Most of the savories we tasted suffered from blandness — they dramatically lacked salt and were in need of some kind of acid zing. Someone in the kitchen needs to be tasting the food. Besides the snapper and lamb, the main courses also include ricotta gnocchi arrabiata with squash; crispy-skin chicken with tabbouleh and eggplant caviar; beef tenderloin with blue cheese potato gratin and celery root; and other dishes.