AKICILJ: the French toast edition

[mrissa]

Snowy Saturday. So fond.

We watched Blues Brothers, which may be the worst movie in the world for triggering a cascade of movies I want to watch. This is mostly Dan Aykroyd's fault. I love Dan Aykroyd. Seriously, now I want to watch Trading Places and Sneakers and Ghostbusters and Grosse Pointe Blank and maybe even Antz and Dragnet. And I will have time for exactly none of that this week. (The schedule: it is scheduley.)

What I want to know, though, is what good breakfast or brunch places you people know of in the Twin Cities. I consider it completely possible that some of you have visited here for a convention and had good breakfast, so I didn't filter the post. I know Cecil's in St. Paul and Maria's in Minneapolis. What else is out there that you could recommend? Stuff that isn't in the far west suburbs is particularly useful, since it would be ideal if we could meet somewhere between Spring Lake Park and Eagan, with some flexibility in what "between" means. Downtown Minneapolis is fine. Minnetonka, not so fine. And we're looking for non-chain stuff if possible; we already know that Perkins and Bruegger's serve what they serve to the quality level they serve it.

One of the ways in which having people come to town turns out to be different from traveling to visit them, for me, is that I am extremely happy with long, detailed works of nonfiction when traveling, but apparently when I'm home they will get lost in the holiday shuffle. So that's a thing to remember, I guess. Good thing somebody lent me a stack of short, rather snappy mystery novels just recently.

Comments

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

i like the new louisiana cafe, at selby and dale in st. paul.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Oooh, Cajun breakfast for me and pancakes/eggs/etc. for people who do not like Cajun for breakfast (or any other time). That might be a winner right out of the gate.

(This does not mean that other people shouldn't speak up, though.)

One of the two best restaurant breakfasts of my entire life was in a Cajun restaurant.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

I suppose you can go to Cajun breakfast without me, but you have to promise to go to Cajun breakfast with me sometime to make up for it.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Of course.

[gaaldine.livejournal.com]

Y'know, once this vertigo thing settles down more, you could visit us in New Orleans and we could get you a cajun breakfast any time you want it . . .

Pr'bly some creole, too!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping for that, then!

[joeboo-k.livejournal.com]

http://twincities.citysearch.com/bestof/winners/breakfast

I've been to Fat Nat's and it was tasty but not too heavy. Sunnyside Up made me feel a bit sick and greasy after (and I do like my grease), so if you get that rec, be careful.

(obviously take that list with a grain of salt since anyone could vote for it and Hardees seems to get a crazy amount of votes on the Citysearch lists over the years)

[arkuat]

I'm fond of the Egg and I near Lynlake in Minneapolis, but I never order anything other than the eggs florentine, so I can't vouch for the rest of the menu.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Hell's Kitchen!

They have tea! Also, great food, but food is a damn sight easier to find in America. They're, um, you go out of the hotel and down the street and then across somewhere. They're in downtown Minneapolis near where they have Minicon. They have friendly wait staff and nice varied brunch food, and teapots and boiling water.

Also there is a nice place right next to Dreamhaven, with exposed pipes in the ceiling, where I have had some nice breakfasts and also lunches with Elise. And there was the time I was staying with Geri and nobody was going to be awake for a long time and I walked down there and had breakfast and Dreamhaven was going to be open in half an hour and I wanted to keep sitting there reading my book until then so I ordered a waffle, which was cheap and which I thought was going to be, oh, the size of my palm, rather than the size of Kansas. That's a nice place. They don't have tea, but you don't want it anyway.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

I'll second Hell's Kitchen in downtown Minneapolis. It's on 9th St. S. between Nicollet and Marquette.

[hypatia-j.livejournal.com]

Was that, perhaps, The Bryant Lake Bowl?

'cause that's what I recommend.

There is also, a block from Rice Paper and across from Dunn Brothers, a little breakfast and lunch place with a name that starts with Z. Um. I can't remember more, but they have nice frittatas.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've eaten there a couple of times before we quite figured out that Rice Paper closes in the afternoon. I don't remember if mrissa has.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmmmmm...does smferris like Rice Paper? Because if he does, and if rmnilsson and p_roqueforti do, I'm thinking I could endure the lack of winter lasagna there with a complete minimum of wailing and gnashing of the teeth sometime in January.

[pameladean]

That second place is the Bryant Lake Bowl. The food I've had there has been lovely.

P.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Dreamhaven isn't there any more, it's somewhere else. But we do still know where you mean.

[fgherman.livejournal.com]

Another thumbs up for Hell's Kitchen. Also, any one of the Keys restaurants will rock.

[sraun]

Any of the Keys was my second thought.

My first was Chianti Grill - Don & Margo keep dragging us off to there for their Sunday brunch. It's currently at Snelling & Larpenteur in St. Paul (in the same building as The Source). They're building a new from-scratch location at Har Mar - I'd guess it's going to be open sometime this spring.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

I'm curious as to more details on Chianti Grill's brunch, since there's one in Burnsville we hit for dinner sometimes.

[sraun]

Apologies - I've just discovered it's a Sunday brunch. To quote their web-site:

• Our Sunday Brunch includes a variety of our homemade pastas, fresh fruit, pastries, salads, an omelet bar, traditional breakfast items and delicious desserts.


• Stop in and enjoy our fresh all you care to eat buffet along with our Sunday drink specials!


• Served every Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Dinner service begins at 2:00 p.m.


• We accept reservations or walk-ins.


• Reservations are strongly recommended for groups of 5 or more.


• Adults: $12.95


• Children ages 4-12: $6.95


• Children ages 3 and under eat free.

Upon reflection - I've been there for Easter and Mother's Day Brunches. There was a wide variety of little pastries and desserts, the omelet bar, your standard breakfast stuff (scrambled eggs, various sausages, bacon), eggs benedict, waffles, maybe pancakes. And a couple of lunch entrees - sorry, I don't remember in particular what they were.

[aedifica]

The food at all the Key's Cafes I've been to has been equally good, but my favorite one for ambiance is the one just north of University on Raymond in St. Paul.

[daharyn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my first thought was Maria's, cause, Yum.

There's some good breakfast options at Vera's Cafe, which is near Intermedia Arts on Lyndale, as well as the Manny's Tortas location at the Midtown Global Market (a few of their other stalls also open for breakfast so there would be variety -- though my favorite there is Safari Express, which is a lunch/dinner stand only). I've also had good breakfasts at the Mercado Central on East Lake St. (OK, caveat: this was all in 2006.)

Also, I know you're looking for breakfast and not so much other meals, but you've been to Babani's, yes? It's my absolute favorite awesomest Twin Cities restaurant and I feel compelled to proselytize on basically any MSP food post... (http://www.babanis.com/) ()

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I have not been to Babani's, but it's on the list for the food safari project with greykev, careswen, and mmerriam.

Colossal Cafe

[1crowdedhour.livejournal.com]

Just off Cedar Avenue at 42nd. (1839 E. 42nd St., to be exact.) Open from six to three only on Wednesdays through Sundays. It is wee, but they do takeout. From the back of the menu: We will use only the most seasonal and best ingredients in making all our dishes from scratch.

And they mean it.

[caoilfhionn.livejournal.com]

A word on Hell's Kitchen, which I also recommend. It moved recently. Check the website (http://www.hellskitcheninc.com/) for details.

[rmnilsson.livejournal.com]

I believe hypatia_j was referring to Zumbro Cafe in Linden Hills. We've been there a few times and it was excellent.

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

Uptown Diner (http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&um=1&q=uptown+diner+minneapolis&fb=1&view=text&latlng=7759274132011831142). And although I haven't been there, I have heard amazing things about Triple Rock's Saturday/Sunday brunch (http://www.triplerocksocialclub.com/food/).

[aedifica]

The Copper Dome at Hamline and Randolph in St. Paul is a good breakfast place. I also recommend The Egg and I and the Sunnyside Up Cafe, and as mentioned above, Key's Cafe (any, but especially the one on Raymond).

If you're ever in Ames, IA, the Grove Cafe serves good breakfasts and will make you Mickey Mouse pancakes if you ask. Their normal pancakes are the size of a plate, but very tasty.

On a mission from Ghawd!

[jymdyer.livejournal.com]

=v= Mostly The Blues Brothers makes me want to crash a few hundred Chicago police cars. I think they missed a few.

[prettymuchpeggy.livejournal.com]

Day by Day Cafe, Keys (even though it is becoming kind of chain-ish).

[carbonel]

Uptown Diner, at 26th and Hennepin (formerly an Embers), has the best hash browns I've ever had, and has really good breakfasts. They do lunch, too, but I've always had breakfast, regardless of the time.

I also recommend Dixie's in St. Paul, for Sunday brunch. Particularly if the people involved are carnivores.

[laurel]

My favorite big brunch is at Santorini-- they used to be located off of 394 in St. Louis Park, but have now moved to Eden Prairie somewhere. We were going to go there for brunch when my brother was in town, but there are some weird laws in Eden Prairie so they didn't have the right equipment yet for brunch or somesuch nonsense so they won't be back to doing brunch 'til February IIRC. Or maybe it was mid-January. Their brunch has the usual stuff (made-to-order omelets, eggs benedict, bacon, sausage, waffles or french toast), but what I love is the huge array of salads (many of which involve artichokes). Plus they have homemade ice cream and bananas foster to put on waffles. And gyro meat and lamb stew and other more greek things. Spinach filled pastries.

There's this tiny place called My Kitchen in our neck of the woods that is supposed to have great traditional diner breakfasts, IIRC. It's off of Bryant & 38th or 36th or something like that.

The Turtle Bread place on 44th in Linden Hills area now serves breakfast & lunch (and has ample seating). We had lunch there with Dean & Laura recently and I had an excellent sandwich and D&L had excellent egg dishes. Looked like they'd have great french toast.

Love Hell's Kitchen, though haven't yet visited their new location.

We enjoyed the Famous Dave's Sunday brunch the one time we tried it at Calhoun Square. Crowded and loud with live jazz music and a very hearty meaty buffet (as you might expect).

Last year we were pleasantly surprised to discover on a Saturday or Sunday when we were at the Dome for an afternoon Twins game, that they made omelets to order in the Rally Room or whatever they call the season ticket holders restaurant place in the Dome (Mirrasou Wine Sun Room? Something stupid. Used to be Rally Room). Kevin always craves breakfast when we get to the Dome at 11am or whatever and on a lark we tried that place (which usually has carved sandwiches, nachos, hot dogs) and in addition to the usual stuff, they would make omelets and give you a side of fruit. Nifty!

It sounds like the brunches they serve at our new corner cafe could be good. We still haven't tried the place, I guess we're still mourning My-T-Fine (which had excellent french toast).

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

We had brunch at the Turtle Bread on forty-mumble and Chicago, which had many seats but also many customers. Their chocolate french toast with raspberry puree was excellent, but it was hard to navigate the space with the crowds and me vertiginous.

Thanks for all the other recommendations, though! Wow! You're very brunchy!