Chatterbox Pub

You know the movie “Sweet Home Alabama” where Reese Witherspoon returns all New York-upped to her hometown, ending up in a bar where she sees a high school friend toting her baby on her hip? The classic line resounds: “Look at you, you have a baby… in a bar.” Now I suppose that Chatterbox is a Pub and not a Bar, per se, but I checked in with my British friends who duly informed me that children are not particularly welcomed in pubs either. So pub or bar, regardless, I was a bit shocked to see children running around the newest Chatterbox Pub. In fact, there may have been even more children there on the night I visited than adults. I had made a brief weekend day visit in the past to the Chatterbox location in the Longfellow neighborhood and didn’t see children. It surprised and disturbed me… until I sat down and really thought about it.

Maybe it’s the South Minneapolis thing. When you first graduate from the hallowed university walls in this region, you are ready to hit the big city so you put down roots in an inexpensive Uptown apartment with a roommate or three. Then, one night as you are either sifting through the crowds of First Ave basements or are blurrily enjoying the view from the Uptown Drink balcony, your gaze wanders and you lock eyes with your future spouse. A whirlwind romance and it is time to enjoy the upwardly mobile and more mature lifestyle of Downtown condo living, replete with cement floors and the infighting of condo associations. A few years pass and the in-laws on both sides start the epic influencing for grandchildren – guilt, legacy, even whining. When the lucky couple gives in and tosses the protection out of the bedroom, they look around and come to the realization that close proximity to Sexworld is no longer tantalizingly “dangerous” and instead make an exodus. To some this might mean the suburbs, but to most of my acquaintances, this has meant South Minneapolis: the land of happy, cute young couples with a toddler held on to by one hand an accompanying little sister in the stroller. Fresh lattes rest in cupholders as they stroll the banks of Lake Harriet eyeing the brands on the stroller competition, the perfect dog is following close at the heels. Yes, this is South Minneapolis; a generation of late 20 and 30-somethings creating suburban bliss in an urban zip code (all until the school district starts to matter too much...).

Now, I doubt that most of our Midwestern parents would have been caught dead taking us out to a pub, let alone a nice restaurant. It just wasn’t done. Personally, nicer restaurants were actually quite unknown and thus frightening to me until the Ivy towers of Princeton quite literally whipped that silly emotion of fear right out of me. I couldn’t imagine trying to admit such a ridiculous emotion out loud so I learned to suck it up and march in the doors head on – not just of restaurants, of course, but in trying new foods, travelling to new places, falling in love with the wrong people and in discussing arcane philosophical topics. Not a bad lesson to have learned, just an interesting passive aggressive environment to have learned it in.
But times have changed. The experts who visit my day job tell us that the dynamics are different now between parents and children. With both parents often on the job, the desire is for the kids to be involved in everything the parents do and to be friends with their parents, not just disciplined by them. And now here, finally, is my point:

Chatterbox Pub is smart. They somehow picked up on this. And have created a bar/pub that is welcoming to families. For goodness sake, there is even a children’s menu. This is a pot of gold if I’ve ever seen one. Stay-at-home Moms can meet up for a glass of wine while the kids run around playing classic video and board games that are idyllically cherished by their parents (note: no Twister). Dads can meet up with friends, toting the kids along to watch football and drink beer on Sundays under the several big screen TVs that adorn the Chatterbox space. It is the Chuckee Cheese for the cultured South Minneapolis and Edina crowd, for when mechanized animals and pizza won’t do. Why didn’t I come up with this goldmine? Assuming, of course, that there is nothing morally repugnant with drinking (in public) around the kids?

And the food. Pleasing. I barely sampled the menu as I only tried the grilled cheese (quite good – nice and cheesy with a pesto layer), but the options were made to feed anyone who could possibly be hungry. Pizza, mac and cheese, sandwiches, salads etc all for the taking. I will have to revert to the reading public on whether there are any specialties not to be missed.

So, here we have it. A pub, with games and kids. To me, games are fun. Stranger’s kids are not. Don’t get me wrong, I like kids and I am sure I will love my own someday when I too live the South Minneapolis life, but it is really really weird to be out for dinner at a pub, ostensibly on a date, and have kids running around playing video games in the background. Good thing I have all that practice just plunging into things I fear or that make me uncomfortable.

Thumbs Up: Great business model, fun games, fast service
Thumbs Down: “Look at you, you have a baby… in a bar”

Chatterbox Pub 4501 France Ave S Minneapolis www.chatterboxpub.net

The Strip Club

Have you ever typed "The Strip Club" into Google using your work computer? I sat in fear that the eyes in the sky were watching me as I researched the location for my Saturday night dinner. And then, when I clicked on the link to domeats.com, I almost felt dirty, like the link going to give me a virus or shame my vegetarianism through the simple click. Regardless, it was about time for me to get off my Minneapolis kick and venture across the river to the fair city of St. Paul. My new GPS system was also bored and needed a new location to scout out. Weird, I suppose, for me to target a steak restaurant but I had been wanting to try this Town Talk Diner spin off and even perused the menu in advance to make sure I would survive. I gulped at the message, "vegetarians regarded with benevolent amusement" but it all turned out okay.

The Strip Club is right off of I94, an easy find on a random highway exit. My GPS audibly sighed at the lack of complication. Good thing there was a snow emergency to ensure that I sat through dinner wondering if my car was getting towed away as we ate... in my nature, though, that I would think about versus actually get up and go check on or move the car. A barely threatening personal version of Russian roulette?

The restaurant is in an old thin space that used to be a grocery store and butcher shop, thus the Strip Club (referring to the steaks, silly!). It was warm, cozy and full of happy people. The buzz running through the restaurant held no hints of an economic recession as tables were full and people patiently waiting in good Minnesotan spirit. Our group of eight was led to a table on the second level balcony overlooking the restaurant, sidled up to a fake fireplace that was hysterically actually a hidden door (a busboy almost game me a heart attack coming out that door - I suddenly thought we were at the haunted Forepaugh's!). While initial service was a bit slow, no one was in a real hurry as we tucked ourselves in to perusing a menu that is quite heavily meat oriented.

We started with the french fries, served with bacon ketchup and a garlicky remoulade. The fries were excellent - a bit thicker than a Barbette fry but not a steak fry at all. I really enjoyed them with the garlic-y, mayonnaise-y remoulade. These definitely get added to the list of some of the best fries in the Twin Cities.

We then places orders and while doing so I shamefully admitted my vegetarianism to the server. He practically laughed at me while saying that they don't really hate vegetarians and that they would make me a delicious vegetarian entree. Smile. Sigh. All is good. The only negative on the server is that he told us that most of the small plates were the size of the bread and butter plates when in reality they were much larger. I way over-ordered in quantity.

To start I had the "Beets and Bleu" described as "creamy beet and blue cheese panna cotta, walnuts, greens and ciabatta." I had no idea that you could make a panna cotta with both the beets and blue cheese inside but The Strip Club certainly did. With the panna cotta on one side of the plate, the greens on the other, and the bread holding down the side, it was a modern deconstructed take on a beet salad. The dish was well-flavored and interesting although I will say that the portion was quite large in terms of blue cheese. Not sure anyone needs that much blue cheese!

As a small plate, I selected the "Beans & Toast", a take on one of my favorite British pub dishes. This variation was crunchy french bread with large cannelinis, sage, extra virgin olive oil and red onion. I think this may have been my favorite dish after the fries. Having been used to mild Heinz beans on deplorable British bread, this was a great find in terms of strong flavors and crunchy toasts. Once again, however, I had expected small things and the dish was huge to be considered small.

By the time I got to my "special entree", I was already full. Still, I had several bites of my chickpea and mushroom tomato garlic curry (the best name I can think of!). It was flavorful and lovingly covered in a sprinkling of watercress which added herbaceous bite. The dish was even better the next day for lunch. Was it the best vegetarian entree I have ever had in the Twin Cities? Well, no. But was it the best vegetarian entree I have had at a steak house in the Twin Cities? Well, now there is no doubt.

The steaks served at my table were generous and appeared well liked. I didn't see any meat being returned to the kitchen, only empty plates accompanied by satisfied grunts. WH was the most determined of all, finishing off a special on-the-bone 16 oz steak smothered in cheese sauce. We all stared as he conquered the entire thing, even the waiter. How you feeling there, WH??

All told, I don't necessarily think that The Strip Club is a great location for a fun group dinner but I will say that if you want a night out as just a couple or two AND you all love steak and meats done many ways, then this is a great place. Thanks to the location there is no pressure to hit the bars later and no scarcity of parking, just happy St. Paulites enjoying their meat.

Thumbs Up: Great fries, many small plates to choose from, cozy atmosphere
Thumbs Down: Small plates aren't all that small at all, random location

The Strip Club 378 Maria Ave St. Paul www.domeats.com

Saffron

Is dining out on Valentine’s Day actually worth it? My personal Valentine’s Days have been so distinctly unmemorable that I honestly can only remember two from my past that I truly enjoyed. The rest are either steeped in the pain of my childhood and the disappointment of not getting that valentine from the cute boy across the classroom or else just another forgotten day of twenties singledom shouldered up at a bar with other single friends. As the years have passed and marriage vows and baby carriages have become more the standard, the likelihood of a rowdy night out at the bar for Valentine’s Day has decreased significantly. And the last thing I wanted to do was spend the last Valentine’s Day of my twenties sitting on my couch watching episodes of Gossip Girl wishing I was 16 again. Thus, when I received an email from Saffron with their Valentine’s Day prix fixe menu, I got excited (a vegetarian tasting menu! And free champagne if I booked that day!) and preemptively just made a reservation for four assuming that I would find three other people to join me.

By the time Valentine’s Day arrived, I had found these friends, none of whom were actually single but all of whom were alone for the evening due to s.o.’s working or out of town. We dressed up and headed out on the town to Saffron.

Saffron is one of my favorite restaurants in town – creative international flavors, interesting and affordable wine list, true warm hospitality and an upscale, yet comfortable atmosphere. Things were just off on Saturday and I think it had to do with Valentine’s Day.

While the hospitality was still wonderful, everything was just so harried and “different”. To the harried comment, the waitstaff was obviously on edge and overworked, their body odor permeating the table every time they walked by, giving an unfortunate scent to the dining experience. Our bottle of champagne was poured once, then left on the table, the repouring left to us until the very last pour when the bottle was removed. I am still confused whether the champagne bottle should have sat on the table or been on ice. We were even handed and passed plates rather than them being placed on the table. For a relatively fine-dining restaurant, service etiquette just seemed to fly out the window for this one crazy night. As to the food, the edge-y Middle Eastern flavors seemed to be missing from the menu. While the food was fine, everything seemed mild and a bit unexciting to me, from the goat cheese fritter simply being fried goat cheese to the sorbets just lacking punch. I was also disappointed that the wine pairings for the vegetarian and non-vegetarian menus were exactly the same. The only pairing of the evening that I found perfect was the dessert pairing… the one item that was exactly the same across both menus. I think back to other tasting menu experiences at nice restaurants and this seems like a bit of a faux pas.

All that being said, other than the harried service, I understand the menu experience and partially blame myself. Shouldn’t I know better as a foodie not to go out to eat on Valentine’s Day? Restaurants want to make their February bills through this one day and they try hard by upping prices, serving simple, acceptable food and fitting as many people into the space as possible. I think Saffron even rented extra tables for the night. While Saffron’s prices were reasonable, I do hear that Restaurant Alma went a little overboard on their increased prices for the evening, angering one of their (and my) biggest fans. I smack myself upside the head for my own stupidity for even making these plans for February 14. Yeah, I didn’t want to be alone on Valentine’s Day but cooking for my friends might have proven to be a better move. I think I know what I will be doing for the first Valentine’s Day of my 30s…

So, I will just remember the wonderful company and fun that we had at dinner and not the rest of the experience. I take it as a lesson to myself to NOT dine out on Valentine’s Day. My expectations are maybe just too high to be met on such a busy restaurant evening. Silly, silly me.

Nick and Eddie

The gauntlet was set and the battle of the Butterscotch declared. 112 Eatery vs Nick and Eddie. The Butterscotch Budino vs the Butterscotch Pudding.

No one at the table knew that there was a war raging and that the dinner at Nick and Eddie was the final battle.

It was all in my own head.

At the very least, I keep myself personally entertained.

I had been waiting for an opportunity to eat at Nick and Eddie (my last visit had been right when they opened) and when that opportunity arose, I pounced, almost as viciously as the cougars at Redstone. I silently stalked by way through dinner and when there was the slightest threat that no dessert was going to be ordered, the whine in my voice declared no birthdays would be finished without dessert and, ever so subtly, I was insistent that the Butterscotch Pudding be ordered.

Each butterscotch treat in our fair city has its upside and downside. On the down side, both of them are incredibly, cloyingly sweet. They should be mini-dessert size; no more than three bites needed. On the positive side, the sea salt in 112’s Budino is a wonderful crunchy little addition. Speaking of wonderful crunchy little additions, the thumbprint-like cookies that come with the pudding at Nick and Eddie were better than the pudding itself. Oh, wait, did you catch that?? I think we found the winner…. 112 Eatery’s Butterscotch Budino wins in the battle of the butterscotch. Sorry, Nick and Eddie, but those little buttery cookies are still tickling the back of my mind so you did win my heart, just not with pudding.

My meal at Nick and Eddie was not only dessert, I also sampled the fried pirogies and had the risotto entrée. The fried pirogies were delicious – filled with creamy potato and served with sour cream and caramelized onions. There was nothing to not love about this dish except sadly finishing it and having to stare at an empty plate where once delicious pirogies sat. The risotto was less impressive. It was a squash risotto with figs, pumpkin seeds and pecorino cheese. I enjoyed the crunch and saltiness of the pumpkin seeds. The figs were a disconnect to the rest of the dish and also included so sparingly that I had to hunt them down in the mildly flavored risotto in the first place. The combination of ingredients sounded unique and exciting. In the end, it was a pretty bland disappointment.

Continuing this trend of some things being fabulous and others not so remarkable, I loved the bread basket – there were these wonderful yeasty parker house type rolls that I should have just eaten rather than my risotto. Then there was the chocolate roll up dessert – a boring, and somewhat dry, chocolate cake combination. Hit and miss. Hit and miss.

Same thing with the service. We seemed to luck out with fine, albeit frenzied, service but friends at a nearby table waited almost two hours for their entrees.

My personal conclusion: when and if I return, I will head to the bar for pirogies, the bread basket, cookies and, consequently, a carb high.

Thumbs Up: Carbohydrates - pirogies, fresh bread, thumbprint cookies
Thumbs Down: Frenzied service, blasé risotto

Nick and Eddie 1612 Harmon Place Minneapolis www.nickandeddie.com

The Bad Waitress

My book club has transitioned from meeting in people’s homes to instead meeting up in casual restaurants. Over the past year, we have found ourselves at such venues as Common Roots Cafe, Harvest Moon Coffee Shop, Wilde Roast Cafe and Punch. It is a great monthly check in at some of my favorites and at some new locales. And there is no pressure to clean my house and go appetizer shopping in order to host. To accompany our reading of the 1950s based Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, I thought that a diner seemed of order so chose The Bad Waitress Diner & Coffeeshop as the book club location. It ended up being a great location for a book club and the décor perfectly in theme… too bad the book was about as depressing as they come.

The waitresses are bad at The Bad Waitress because, well, there really aren’t waitresses. Instead you sit down, read the menus that are kept on the table, fill out a little form with what you want (don’t forget to put the name of your comic book hero or monster-identified table on it!) and take it to the counter to hand in and pay. If all that seems confusing, don’t worry, hop on to their website and it actually walks you through the order process.

The menu is vast and diverse, just like a diner should be, and I was personally excited because breakfast really is served all day! I just read yesterday that one of the food trends of 2009 is “breakfast for dinner” and I am all on board with this idea. So much that is breakfast is what I think of as comfort food – omelets, buttered toast, hot cocoa, pancakes etc. So, I bypassed the sandwiches, appetizers and other non-breakfast items, skipped right to breakfast, and then had a hard time choosing between the breakfast burrito, an omelet or a scramble. I ended up shying away from the breakfast burrito option because I would have had to customize the inclusions myself and that is just too much pressure – I would rather have something be the best… as the chef created it. Thus, I ordered the Spyhouse Scramble of eggs, gouda, tomatoes and basil accompanied by American fries.

And that takes me to talking about American Fries. Breakfast potatoes options can be confusing. My scramble (which was pretty much just like the description) was accompanied by the choice of American Fries or Hash Browns. I know what hash browns are and, well, I don’t love them much on their own. When I saw American Fries as the alternative, my mind immediately conjured up French Fries images and so I expected those… maybe kind of like Freedom Fries? Instead it was chopped potatoes with onions and the like. Bryant Lake Bowl calls a similar creation BLB Fries. I think I grew up knowing things in this category as home fries or just plain breakfast potatoes. Is there a solution here to put this poor potato diner out of her misery and confusion? Probably not on the part of the restaurant. I just need to do a better job sneaking glances at the dishes on tables next to me when I get confused.

Everyone’s food arrived quickly and as we discussed suburban dystopia, we filled our bellies with decent diner food. Based on my scramble and a perusal of my fellow diners’ dishes, the food was good; much better than your typical Grand Slam-type breakfast, but it wasn’t anything to go out of your way to get to Eat Street to discover. But if I craved breakfast for dinner and wanted a wifi signal to accompany it, I would go here for sure.

Thumbs Up: Breakfast for Dinner, fun atmosphere, good “service”
Thumbs Down: Potato confusion (but I think I put that on myself)

The Bad Waitress 2 E. 26th Street Minneapolis www.thebadwaitress.com

Leaning Tower of Pizza

Leaning Tower of Pizza just looks fun from the outside. It has a whimsical name and as one buzzes up and down Lyndale, the windows give a peek into a restaurant that seems to always be full to brimming. The crowds of people huddling outside smoking in the cold also just make the place look worth it. So, it was about time to give Leaning Tower of Pizza a try. Now I have gone twice in the past month, once to try the pizza and the other to check out the fries. My conclusion: Leaning Tower of Pizza is not somewhere to go for the food.

My first stop at Leaning Tower was a on a date. He was an artsy type so I dropped the designer sunglasses, stepped into a pair of faded jeans and attempted to show my Uptown cool. It ended up being quite a fun place for a Tuesday date as it coincided with pub quiz and the less you have to talk to each other on a date and the more you can attempt mundane trivia, the easier the date will be. We slid into a booth at the front of the room with a full view back at quiz-ful tables and a hopping bar on the side wall – the space is quite a bit bigger than one would guess from the outside. It also emanates warmth and friendly, casual fun. We ordered the Garden Pizza of spinach, mushrooms, onions, green peppers and fresh tomatoes. When my date said, “wow, spinach on a pizza! I have never heard of that before”, I should have been warned. The true red light came when he turned down Thai food on the next date, because he had never had it before and it seemed frightening. Poor fit for me and he is out of my life but let’s get back to the pizza. Trust me, the food is almost always more impressive than the men in my life. Anyways, the pizza: thin crust, cut in regular triangles (versus Minnesota squares) and the one word that keeps coming to my mind in retrospect is DRY. My mouth puckers. And the pizza just got drier and drier. By the time I hit the end of slice two, the butter knife wasn’t even breaking through the crust anymore. I am glad I have tried the pizza as now I have no need to try it again. No more pizza temptation on this corner of Lyndale.

Leaning Tower of Pizza deserved a second try because their menu is much more than just pizza – apps, pastas, sandwiches, burgers etc. On the perpetual hunt for worthwhile French Fries in my neighborhood, my choice of the Veggie Burger was mostly guided by the fact that it was accompanied by fries. The veggie burger itself was boring and nothing special (straight from the freezer) and unfortunately the fries smelled and tasted a bit fishy. Attempt two at Leaning Tower of Pizza was also a bit of a disappointment.

This place is always pretty full and there are a lot of people eating (not just drinking) so am I missing something here? Is there something special?

Thumbs Up: Fun atmosphere, good pub quiz
Thumbs Down: Unsmiling slow service, dry pizza

Leaning Tower of Pizza 2324 Lyndale Ave S Minneapolis www.leaningtowermpls.com

Picosa

When I first moved back to the Twin Cities a couple of years ago, a friend of a friend asked me to dinner on a beautiful Sunday summer’s evening at Bar Lurcat. How lovely, I thought, I will make a new friend! We enjoyed a nice dinner on the patio with a glass of wine. As the night fell, I started to notice that Lurcat was filling up and that a band had moved into place in the center of the bar. As things ratcheted up, salsa dancers filled all of the spare room in the bar and started in on the theatrics of some serious dancing. My new friend’s eyes had increasing anticipation so I now realized that this dancing spectacle was all part of her master plan for the evening because she, gulp, likes to salsa dance. Soon enough she was out on the dance floor, dragging me along and pushing me into the arms of men who were incredibly way-to-pleased to try to teach me to salsa as much as with their wandering hands as their spoken instructions. Basically, it was my personal hell. There is a reason my workouts involve yoga and not step classes, and that my mom cheered when I finally asked to quit ballet classes. It is due to my friend’s other wonderful qualities that I am still friends with her. And she just told me she is going to have an 80s band at her wedding and not salsa… phew, ANYONE can dance 80s.

So, why this diatribe on salsa dancing? Well, it all has to do with Picosa. Picosa is another one of these places in the Twin Cities where dancers converge on certain nights of the week to do a LOT of salsa. But, in addition to just dancing, there were Bachelorette Parties, too! Talk about hell. There is nothing wrong with participating in a Bachelorette Party but it doesn’t mean I have to enjoy running into them in bars, on the street or in restaurants. (Chino Latino turned south when they started asking them to come!) So, here I was with three friends. We were finishing up our entrees and Picosa explodes from a restaurant filled with curtained nooks and crannies into a wide open dancing bar. We stared in shock. And tried to leave. But the server apparently got lost amidst the dance floor and we ended up waiting half an hour to get the check and attempt to get out. It was like being dragged downwards again, but at least this time I was able to stay glued to my chair. It was all quite the show, and thus, helped me thoroughly conclude that Picosa is less about the food and more about the dance.

I was truly disappointed by the food and no one at the table appeared to disagree. My first hint of epicure suspicion came when we perused the menu to find the Latin American flavors interspersed with Chicken Tenders and Mini Burgers. Huh? The table started with an order of the pork empanadas and mariquitas with salsa. While we waited for the appetizers the server came back to the table (quite a while later) with a basket of bread and said, “Here is the some free bread for you.” It just seemed weird that she would say that. I would hope if you put something down on my table that I didn’t order that it would be free. We were starving so dove right into the bread, which ended up being a type of very heavy fried bread. It was heaven for the carb addict but obviously so unhealthy and then it sat in the stomach like a boulder. When the appetizers arrived, the pork empanadas were declared “a lot of empanada but where is the pork?” The mariquitas (fried plantains and I think they included some other starchy roots too) were incredibly greasy.

Moving on to entrees. The bottom of the Picosa menu says “Vegetarian Items available upon request”. So, of course I asked what my options were. I was offered a quesadilla (yawn) or that the chef would put a plate together for me. Looking for something a little more exciting, I went for option number two. The result was a combination plate of a lot of the sides from the rest of the menu. There were two large sweet potato flour cakes generously topped with a hot pico de gallo. Accompanying this was black beans and rice. This combination was arguably better tasting than the appetizers but the length of time we waited and thus the amount of fried bread and mariquitas I consumed kept me from being able to eat a whole lot of my entrée. But it just wasn’t good enough that I even considered toting it around the rest of the evening to bring home. There were no exclamations of yum! or divine! from the rest of the table. I didn’t even want to ask.

So, basically, if you love to dance salsa, go to Picosa. If you get hungry while doing it, order some food to keep your energy up. But I wouldn’t recommend purposely heading to Picosa for an evening of eating. For the price paid, you can get much better food in this town.

Thumbs Up: Salsa Dancing (if you like it)
Thumbs Down: Salsa Dancing (if you hate it), Slow Service, Not enough grease control

Picosa 64 SE Main Street Minneapolis www.picosarestaurant.com

Cafe Levain

Sundays are rough. They are still the weekend and thus set aside for enjoyment, however as Sunday night rolls around the fist in my stomach tightens as I start to think about the coming week and my Blackberry starts pinging with countries starting their workdays. They think that I should be working too. My normal routine is to actually pull out the laptop and start my week a day early. But, I have now discovered the perfect reason not to: Sunday Suppers at Cafe Levain.

Every Sunday evening, Café Levain offers a vegetarian ($20) and a non-vegetarian ($25) three course set menu. I had been wanting to try this for a long time but last weekend (a week ago), I finally made it to South Minneapolis and, I have to say, it was wonderful!

It was freezing outside so walking into the rich warmth was the first hint of good things to come. The second was the incredible smell. Overlaid on the smell of baking bread supplying Turtle Bread was the real scent of the foods we were about to eat. When the kitchen is so open and only cooking one or two items (especially stews!), it is just like being at your own Sunday Supper where the whole house is filled with the scent of cooking goodness.

The vegetarian and non-vegetarian selection only varied slightly with the main course on the weekend that I visited. Both were stews but there was meat in one, not the other. We started with an incredibly delicious frise salad with poached egg atop crostini. I do believe that truffle oil may have been involved. I ate every bite and then sopped up the remainder with the bread from the bread basket. The next course was a lovely vegetarian white bean stew rich with flavor and bright green with a variety of fresh herbs. The herbs truly made this dish come alive with hopes for spring. While the portion initially seemed small, it was perfect, especially once you sopped up the wonderful broth with more bread. And considering dessert was yet to come. Dessert was supposed to be a pear tart with black pepper ice cream but they admitted to more people coming for supper than they had planned for so the dessert turned into makeshift tart with figs. It was the only disappointing course although the ice cream was interesting. The black flecks made you think vanilla but the flavor brought you to a full stop. Just didn’t pair with the figs very well.

The service was not good. I assume that it was due to the unexpected number of guests but the waits were interminable for more water or even to just place our order. They were very apologetic and admitted the situation, which made me feel a lot better about the whole thing. Good thing there was no where else to go other than my laptop on a Sunday night.

Overall, though, it was probably the best $20 three course dinner I have ever had in the United States. So much better than most of the blasé Restaurant Week menus of salad, chicken and chocolate cake that cost $30. And it thrills me that they think of the vegetarian option as a menu, and not simply as an annoyance, and print it separately.

See you soon at Sunday Supper! (But I would make a reservation so they know how many to cook for…)

Thumbs Up: Wonderful smells, cozy dining ambiance, great deal!
Thumbs Down: A set menu is risky!, slow service

Cafe Levain 4762 Chicago Ave South. Minneapolis www.cafelevain.com