The case of the missing bison

Red Mountain Grill, I dedicate last night's coffee-cocoa dusted bison tenderloin dish to your sitcom-esque incompetence!  Don't get me wrong- the rich, slow heat of their red curry coconut mussel broth is my most favorite apres-ski pick-me-up, one I've never quite been able to copycat in my own kitchen (much to my dismay).

During our last visit, however, Jason was excited to see a bison tenderloin special with wild boar (!) sausage on the menu and was quick to order it.  As our food was delivered, Jason's arrived not only sans intriguing boar sausage, but also clearly a cut of meat that was neither bison nor tenderloin.  Never one to complain, Jason laughed it off and cut off a hunk of the meat and was bringing it to his mouth when, mid bite, the waiter lunges at our table and swipes the plate out from under his hovering fork!  "Wrong plate!" the waiter shouted en route to the kitchen.

A few moments later he returns flourishing a new plate.  A new plate, that is now the second wrong delivery of the evening!  Moral of the story, Jason never got his bison.  So inspired, I grabbed a couple of petite buffalo tenderloins from Whole Foods (home to the best, most high quality meat selection EVER) and scurried home to fill the bison void in my husband's life.

I've always wanted to try some sort of coffee-rubbed meat preparation, so I googled around and found a simple but flavor-packed home recipe using unsweetened cocoa and coffee, paired with a pomegranate reduction.  Combining Jason's grocery list request for asparagus and my insatiable passion for starches, roasted asparagus and brown rice pilaf joined the party.  Yummy!

Successes:

• Thanks to my beloved new cast iron skillet, I was able to achieve a serious sear for about the first time ever
• Brown rice = nutty, toothy goodness, the chopped dried tart cherries echoed the pomegranate reduction
• I actually ate the asparagus.  And it was...good!
• My ridiculous decorative rice towers!  As I waited 'just a few more minutes' for Jason to finish what he was working on, i scoured my kitchen for some kind of mold to use for the rice....not much luck.  Settled on a shot glass!
  

Failures:

• For the life of me I have never, ever been able to 'reduce by half.'  Be it wine, broth, juice - doesn't matter.  If you tell me it will be lusciously thick and syrupy after 20 - 30 minutes on my stove, let me assure you.  It will not be.  More time, maybe?  More heat?  Maybe I can blame the altitude.  Delicious flavor, but epic reduction fail.
  
• Related: pomegranate 'reduction' decorative plating drips...pooled around everything in a serious episode of drop containment failure.