(Just in case you need to be reminded, this is not journalism they way you're used to it. In fact even calling it cyber journalism is a real stretch. As I stated in the sub heading, this is nothing more than my own rants and ramblings. So feel free to join the party and leave a comment or ask a question. If you think I'm wrong, then help me get it right.)
Twenty seven. That's the number of years since I first stepped on to the tundra of Minnesota. I got my first call to come to the frozen north in 1980 to open a restaurant called Winfield Potter's. Up until then, Minnesota was McCarthy, Humphrey and Mondale. And Minneapolis was Mary's town. What else would a Daly democrat and avid T.V. junkie from Chicago think? But you know what? I wasn't too far from wrong. At least as far as the state of restaurants existed in The Twin Cities at the time.
In the early '80's, there were three kinds of restaurants here. diners, supper clubs and very few white tablecloth or haute cuisine restaurants. The Twin Cities dining scene was a vast wasteland. Mache, chevre, and tira misu were exotic foods found only in the pages of Gourmet. They certainly hadn't appeared on any local menus yet. That is, I should say with one exception, The New French Cafe. Culinary pioneers Pam Sherman and Lynn Alpert opened their French inspired dining room in 1977. An in many ways started a quiet revolution that we are still enjoying 30 years later.
The New French Cafe was a real bistro in every way. A small intimate dining room, casual service from a friendly staff and a small approachable menu celebrating each season with food that was fresh, local (as local as could be had in 1977) and simply prepared. Since then we have seen numbers of these "bistros" pop up all over the Twin Cities from quiet mostly residential streets to bustling downtown street corners. They mostly all posses the qualities of inspired creation first found at The New French.
The latest in this lineage, that I hope continues for a very long time, is Cafe Maude in deep south Minneapolis at 5411 Penn Ave. S. First time owner, Kevin Sheehy, has created a real neighborhood treasure. His roots in serving cappuccinos from the counters of the two Dunn Bros. coffee shops he owns has helped him create a unique oasis that is trying, and succeeding so far, to be something for everyone. By day Cafe Maude is a local coffee shop where baristas steam out expressive drinks along with pastries and sandwiches. Then after five, Maude puts on her pearls and turns into a swanky little bistro with a Chef churning out tasty treats from his wood burning grill and bartenders shaking up cocktails of all sorts all done to a background of live jazz or recorded world beat music spun by the cities hippest DJ's.
I've only tried a few things while perched at the bar, my favorite spot, and they were mostly terrific. Even the one disappointment, the Chorizo Hash with grilled baby octopus, only slightly missed the mark. I was hoping for a spicier, smokier Spanish cured style sausage, but instead got a rather wimpy loose ground meat Mexican style version. The former would have played better with the grilled octopus offering more of a punchy counterpoint to the inherently mild cephalopod. Besides a great char grilled burger with mushrooms and taleggio, the shining moment was when the Grilled Blue Prawns arrived. There were three whole head on shrimp stuck on long skewers seared and slightly charred in all the right places. Once opened they revealed sweet firm flesh that eagerly soaked up the garlicky sauce pooled on the plate.
The wine list is another great feature at Cafe Maude. I thought it was cleverly designed with very reasonable selections from around the world. The recognizable and safe labels took a back seat to the adventurous selections. There were some of the expected boutique wines from California, but they were from lesser known vineyards. There were eve wines I had never heard of, a hard trick to pull off, from Spain, France and yes even Greece. I had just had a discussion with my favorite wine supplier about the lack of boutique wines from Greece and here they were. I will definitely return if not for the food, then to mine the depths of a very fun reasonably priced wine list.
Cafe Maude is just the latest in what I hope is not just a fad but a real trend in the Twin Cities. Neighborhood bistros mark the maturity of a city. They express the sophistication of the local dining scene that bigger flashier restaurants never will. Small Chef driven eateries have been around since Marie Antoinette demanded they eat cake and it took our own New French revolution to bring the Twin Cities dining scene out of the tundra and into the sun.
Comments