Last night was the second in the 2009 Sample Circuit series, held at Seven in downtown Minneapolis.

Looking back, and editing through the photos, the thing that stands out to me about Seven is how well their decor complements the food. The palette is simultaneously subdued and vibrant – the browns and reds of the seating, the soft blue lighting on the columns and walls, the back lit yellow table tops – which makes for some really nice photo backgrounds. The sushi in particular looked great in that setting, which makes sense because the event took place upstairs, not in the steakhouse space downstairs.

You can check out the entire set from the evening here, but I thought I’d put a few of my favorites here as well.

More at chrisbohnhoff.com

Adrenaline junkies. Coffee fiends. Workaholics.

Ben Blanchette, sous chef at Seven Steakhouse

Certainly chefs love food, and the pursuit of the new and creative consumption thereof. But it’s not all ingredients and traditions and pretty platings; there’s another side to life in a restaurant kitchen, and that side is the addictive flow of a kitchen in full swing.

At least, that’s the only way I can explain Ben Blanchette, one month in to his tenure at Seven, saying he pulls 14 hour days most every day. I asked him what he does when not working, and his answer was instantaneous: sleep.

But that’s the downside. The upside: a gorgeous workplace, providing high-quality dining to the theater and club crowds (including grass fed steaks from Thousand Hills farms, which is pretty cool), living inside the late night rat pack world depicted in the photos on Seven’s walls. At least I can see how that would be an upside.

More at chrisbohnhoff.com.