Tilia

Visited on Tuesday, January 1st

Ben's Review

To fully utilize the time my parents were watching Annie and Luke, we wanted to go out to breakfast on New Years Day after our sushi dinner the night before. We struggled for a bit deciding where to go, knowing we wanted a place that was NOT close by, since we didn’t mind the drive with nothing else going on in the morning. Also, we struck out on a couple places that didn’t appear to be open on the holiday.

I was looking over our list and randomly clicked on Tilia to see what it was, and they helpfully had an updated web site that showed they were indeed open on New Years Day. Located in Linden Hills, it also fit the bill for not being close by, and Erin had been wanting to check them out, so we were set.

We arrived around 9 o’clock to a restaurant that was about half full. I appreciated the heavy curtains on both sides of the door that did an effective job of blocking any cold air from coming in when people entered or exited, very smart.

The host attempted to seat us near the door which, in spite of the curtains, was certainly colder than NOT being by the door, even though there were far better tables available. I asked if we could instead sit closer to the exposed kitchen and the host complied, but she certainly seemed a touch annoyed. We weren’t having seating luck on these New Years Eve restaurant outings.

Our server stopped by soon after and got our coffees going. When our coffee was brought out, I was immediately in love with the coffee mugs. They were white, simple, easy to hold, and had a thin rim. I loved them so much that I located them at Crate and Barrel and have since bought us four of them :) They’re only $4 each too.

The coffee setup was cool too, with a nice matching cream cup, and large hunks of brown sugar for Erin to get her fix. The actual coffee itself was just ok, it tasted a bit burnt to me, but the mug more than made up for it :)

Looking over the menu, I came across their Cuban breakfast sandwich and knew that I was done looking. “¡El Sapo en la Cubano!” has your typical Cuban ingredients of pork, ham, pickle, mustard, and they add a runny egg on top. Either the mustard had horseradish in it, or they added horseradish on its own, because there was a ton on the sandwich that nearly made some bites inedible it was so strong.

Other than the occasional hit of horseradish, this sandwich was amazing. The people leaving at the next table over helpfully told me to just break the egg and use a fork and knife, and that was certainly necessary. The sandwich is humongous and would be difficult to eat as a normal sandwich (and I hate getting my hands messy anyways). Tilia uses high quality ingredients in their food and it definitely showed with my dish, it was absolutely superb.

While we ate we had a chance to check out the restaurant and I really want to make it back in the evening for dinner sometime. The entire restaurant is well decorated with a rustic, vintage feel to it, and the bar is no exception. They have a great list of tap beer and a large wine selection as well. The quality of our brunch makes me think the dinners are also excellent. We may have to venture over to Minneapolis again soon to give it a try.

Erin's Review
I was really excited to find out that Tilia was actually open for brunch on New Year's Day. I've been wanting to try the place since they opened, but we very rarely got over to Linden Hills, and I knew that the chances were slim of getting a table quickly if we did have time for brunch - the idea of waiting for a table with 2 little ones was not appealing! We have been able to go out for brunch a few times on weekdays, but none of the good places are open then. This time, we got lucky!

I was really surprised at how not busy it was when we got there. As far as I know, this is still a pretty popular spot, but maybe people were like us and just assumed they'd be closed. Their loss, our gain! I was glad that we decided to move over the side of the restaurant by the kitchen since it was freezing outside and the vibe on that side was much more pleasant and bustling. I loved the decor here, everything was very simple but felt very thought out and worked well together with the beautiful bar and the open kitchen. We saw some kiddos and it looked like they had some little fun stuff for kids to play with which is awesome.

We immediately ordered coffee and I got a cinnamon roll since I was starving. The menu had many enticing options, but I can never turn down a benedict, and the Reuben one on the menu sounded amazing. I went with that, and enjoyed the coffee. The coffee was ridiculously strong, so it took quite a bit of cream and sugar for it to be prepared to my liking, but I made do. The cinnamon roll was pretty good, but I've had better and it would have been a lot better if it was warmed up a bit.

Our food came out pretty quickly, and I had to chuckle at the couple who came over and told Ben how to eat his cuban - the instructions were great, but the fact that they name dropped the chef as if they were best friends (and, I guess, maybe they are??) seemed like a very Linden Hills thing to do. It was good, because Ben honestly did look a little confused as to how to proceed, so he clearly needed some direction.

My Reuben benedict were simply amazing. The corned beef hash croquettes were the best part, along with the perfectly poached egg and delicious hollandaise. Sooo, everything was the best part. It was just delicious. Definitely the best breakfast dish I've had in recent memory. We lingered over our food for a long time, and I had a few more cups of decaf as well. It was so nice to enjoy a nice long breakfast without having to manage the kids.

I loved our meal at Tilia, and would definitely go back. I'd love to try their dinner options, but wouldn't hesitate to go back for brunch or lunch or any meal for that matter.

Deets
Tilia
2726 West 43rd Street
Minneapolis

Colossal Cafe

Visited on Friday, September 28th

Erin's Review

Our 7th wedding anniversary was September 24th, and because we had a few weddings in the weekends surrounding it that required babysitters for the kids, we chose to celebrate it by both taking a day off work and going to breakfast and then to the Ivy Spa Club to spend the day there (you can use their facilities all day by booking a service, it's awesome!).

When I sent Ben the list of breakfast options available, I realized just how slim the pickings are getting on our list. We have plenty of options should we ever want to have a nice dinner out, but very few for breakfast or a casual dinner. I guess it just goes to show just how many new places we've been to since we started this blog!

We settled on the new-ish outpost of Colossal Cafe that opened in St. Anthony Park, which is one of my favorite neighborhoods in St. Paul, and happened to be somewhat on the way to downtown from our house anyway. It was a beautiful fall Friday, and we were both in good moods with the anticipation of our spa day.

I was somewhat surprised to see that this was the type of place where you order at a counter versus table service. I'm not sure if that is always the case, but it was for the weekday breakfast. This to me makes it a good option for kids, since the food tends to come a lot faster. I made a quick decision to order an omelet with bacon, green onions and cream cheese as well as a mammoth cinnamon roll which they heated up for me. They are "famous" for their pancakes, but I was told by 2 people to avoid them, so I did just that :)

We sat down, got ourselves some coffee from the self-serve coffee station, and I enjoyed a few bites of my cinnamon roll before I started to lose my appetite and feel a little ill. I had a slight cold and headache going into the day, and unfortunately it was only getting worse. Ben and I seem to be plagued with these random bouts of flu-like feelings that only last a day, and always seem to happen at the exact same time.

By the time our food came, I had zero appetite and started to even feel queasy so I just nibbled at my toast while I downed some coffee to see if caffeine would perk me up. I did end up feeling okay for awhile, but not well enough to eat my food. Luckily, it kept well (the toast was amazing actually), and when I finally regained my appetite later in the day, the omelet really hit the spot. The combination of green onions, cream cheese and bacon vaguely reminded me of one of my favorite absolutely not authentic sushi rolls, the Philly. Delicious! Far too rich to enjoy while feeling icky though.

Colossal Cafe in St. Paul is a cute little cafe - it looks like they probably have remodeled the whole place, and I really liked the completely open kitchen. We'll definitely be back, especially since I love the neighborhood and it's so close to our house!

Ben's Review

For our anniversary we had planned to go to the spa at Hotel Ivy in downtown Minneapolis, with a stop for breakfast beforehand. My getting LASIK delayed our spa day by a few days, but the day finally arrived a few weeks ago. We dropped the kids off at daycare and headed to Colossal Cafe in Saint Paul for breakfast.

I wasn’t feeling too great that morning, it felt like a cold was coming on, but since we had the day off with breakfast and a day at the spa planned, I figured it would still be a good time.

We arrived at Colossal Cafe around 8 and headed in. You order at the counter, about halfway into the restaurant, and they give you a placard for your table to identify you with your order. There was no line, though plenty of other diners, so we quickly made our decisions from the blackboard menu. I opted for a sausage breakfast sandwich on a biscuit with a cup of coffee.

I like the model of ordering at the counter and having self serve coffee. I’m not much of a breakfast guy in the first place, and I would just as soon be in control of my own coffee refills rather than wait for the server to come back around.

We got some coffee and just enjoyed being out to eat without two little kids :) Colossal Cafe is a cutesy place in a cutesy neighborhood, so hanging out waiting for food among the laid back crowd isn’t a bad place to be on a Friday morning.

Our food came out rather quickly and my sandwich looked delicious. However, what I had noticed in the minutes between ordering and the food arriving is that my headache and ill feelings had gotten a bit worse and my appetite was literally non existent.

It’s rare when I can’t even bring myself to have a bite of food, but that’s how I felt at this moment, and I was really sad about it :( The sandwich looked so good and I WANTED to enjoy it, but at that moment the thought of eating it made me feel even worse. Erin hadn’t felt great either and HER appetite was minimal at best as well.

Having never ‘failed’ at breakfast before, we were pretty bummed. Luckily we thought that our food would keep ok, so we drove it home before going to the spa to enjoy later.

Eating my sandwich later in the day, while still not feeling well, was certainly better than having it in the morning when I felt awful. I’m happy to report that their breakfast sandwiches stand up well to being refrigerated for a couple hours and reheated in the microwave :)

We’ll be back to Colossal Cafe so we can give it a real try in the near future, if for no other reason than to erase the bad memories of the day when I couldn’t stomach breakfast.

Service: The service was good and everyone was friendly.
Food: We need to go back, but what I had was pretty good.
Drinks: Small list of beer, but it’s got several local options and a couple on tap.
Ambiance: This is a low key breakfast spot in a low key neighborhood.
Convenience: Plenty of street parking and bus routes. Didn’t see any bike racks, but they can’t be too far away.

Deets
Colossal Cafe
2315 Como Ave
St. Paul

Caribe Caribbean Bistro

Update on May 16th - Caribe closed due to Light Rail construction and is trying to re-open in Northeast Minneapolis - you can learn more and donate to help them rebuild here!


Visited on Tuesday, December 20th with Erin's family

Erin's Review
It felt like an ordeal to pick a restaurant for my family birthday dinner this year. Since we were going on a weeknight, it needed to be somewhere relatively close to our house to avoid traffic because we'd be going at the height of rush hour. I really wanted to go somewhere new, but felt we'd exhausted the family friendly options in St. Paul and eastern Minneapolis on our list. Thankfully, after close examination of our list (which caused me to finally update it to delete all the places that closed and add a bunch of new places - it had been awhile for sure!) I remembered Caribe, one of those places that is so close to our house that I just apparently forget about it completely.

After conversing on twitter with one of Caribe's biggest fans (@AlecGraham), I decided to risk it with Annie even though it seemed not the most kid friendly place (small menu with no real kid options, small space, dark, etc) and figured she could eat off our plates and that if I brought enough entertainment she'd be okay. It turned out to be mildly stressful, but when is eating out with a toddler ever not?

We got there right at 5:30 and my parents were already seated at our table that we'd reserved a few days prior (they ask for reservations for parties over 6) - we did specify that we were a party of 6 plus a toddler, but were seated at a normal 6 top - luckily it was easy enough to squeeze in a high chair. We waited about 10 more minutes for my sister and brother-in-law to get there, after hearing the specials.

I'd already pretty much decided on the lobster mofongo if they had that, and was DYING to have some of the mango and cheese empanadillas. Perhaps it's pregnancy hormones, but when the server told us they were out of those after I attempted to order them, I was near tears. Yes, irrational. But I REALLY WANTED THEM. Plus I'd had about 10 minutes to get extra sold on the idea since we'd gotten there too. They were also out of 2 of the entrees as well (or just not serving them, not sure which) - note to servers and restaurant owners everywhere - if you KNOW you're out of something, tell the tables immediately so they don't get their heart set on something. It seems like an obvious thing to do when listing the specials. Anyway, through my sorrow, I managed to squeak out an order for the conch fritters instead.

The fritters came out fairly quickly, along with our beverages (I just had water and did try a sip of my sister's sangria - I liked it but she thought it tasted too much like black licorice, which I think was really the black cherries - whatever). I did really enjoy these, they weren't overly fried and the dipping sauces were very tasty. Annie also loved them, especially dipping. We probably could have eaten another order of them even, but wanted to save room for our main dishes.

We had eaten the fritters in record time, so the wait for our main dishes seemed pretty long. I'm not sure if it REALLY was, but I was getting mighty impatient by the time they finally came out, mostly because Annie had decided she'd had enough of sitting in her high chair (no food = no thanks for her) - she was fine one I got out the secret weapon - grapes - but that basically meant she wasn't going to eat anything substantial that evening. It did give me confidence that the food was prepared to order (mostly at least), which is a BIG deal to my Dad - I always like to try to find a place that he will enjoy for our family dinners and he did seem happy with his meal - success! Everyone seemed very happy with their choices.

 Brother-in-law's Piñon

My dad's pork tenderloin special

As soon as I got my lobster mofongo, I dug in, and gave Annie a few beans and pieces of it - she ate it up until getting a huge piece of lobster that apparently frightened her and she decided she was done with eating for the night (except for a mountain of grapes). The mofongo was excellent - it is described as a classic Puerto Rican dish made with plantains that are first fried,then mashed with garlic, salt pork, olive oil, salt, and pepper,using a mortar and pestle; then stuffed. It reminded me of a cornmeal type casserole dish in texture. It was stuffed with the lobster meat, and as pictured was on a bed of black beans with other veggies. I ate way more than I should have and felt seriously uncomfortable the rest of the night, but it was worth it! I need to remember that no matter how good something tastes, I AM 7 months pregnant and my stomach space is limited.

After we finished our meals, I was waiting and waiting to hear what the dessert special was... finally, my mom and sister finished and our server told us it was coconut tres leches cake, which excited me greatly. Since going to 112 Eatery, I love tres leches cake - and it's one of Ben's favorite desserts (I even made it for his last birthday). We originally were going to get 2 for the table, but decided on 3 and that was definitely a good choice as we devoured all 3 pieces extremely quickly - Annie would have for sure eaten all 3 pieces herself if we let her. This was delicious - almost like pudding and perfectly coconut flavored. A great way to end the meal! They usually have just one dessert option so it's luck of the draw - most that I heard of sounded great to me though.

I'm so glad we finally went to Caribe - we can get there without taking any major roads at all (aka University) but thankfully, light rail construction in our area is done so traffic isn't even a major issue like it was all spring/summer. I have heard awesome things about the brunch - they have several delicious sounding benedict options, so it'll probably be another one we hit up after I have this child - although Ben is already planning a return visit for lunch just to have the Cuban sandwich. It's debatable how kid friendly it is during dinner, but it would be fine during the day. It is a really cute place that's different from the usual spots - I highly recommend giving it a try!

Ben's Review
Erin struggled to find a place to go out to eat for her birthday this year, as we find ourselves going to the same places over and over again when we go with Annie. It’s just easier to go someplace that we know is kid friendly, rather than tempting fate with an unknown location.

She got several good recommendations about Caribe on Raymond Ave. in Saint Paul, in the old Jay’s Cafe location. (We never made it to Jay’s before it closed, though we live about a mile away). We got reservations for six adults and a toddler and headed over on Tuesday night.

To say that Caribe is small is an understatement. I think there’s room for about twenty people total to eat at once. In spite of the small size it didn’t feel cramped, nor did I feel like I was intruding on the other tables’ conversations. The lighting was dim but, again, not in an annoying way.

The dinner menu is small and fit on one page and while I was salivating the prospect of their Cuban sandwich, that was only on their lunch menu :( That just ensures that we’ll be going back at least one more time. Erin had been eagerly anticipating the mango and cheese empanadillas and was devastated when he told us they were actually out of them. He also mentioned that they were out of two of their entrees as well, the mahi mahi (which I was considering ordering) and the shrimp (which Erin’s mom was considering ordering). It’s a little frustrating when they have a small menu to begin with and then they have several items that are unavailable.

Luckily there were still plenty of items to choose from, so we made it through unscathed. I was tempted to get one of the specials, but Erin was already going to order it, so she convinced me to get the Jamaican Rundown, a coconut stew with some vegetables and crab served over rice. We all ordered and then played the game of trying to keep Annie entertained until our food arrived. Erin had some gifts to open and with six adults it’s a little easier keep her occupied than when it’s just Erin and me.

Our food came out two people at a time, with a few minutes in between each serving. This was good and bad, because it gave a little confidence that the food was prepared fresh, but it also meant that the first people to get served were over half done with their dish by the time the last people got served, oh well. My stew was a good, hearty winter dish. It actually reminded me of a non-spicy Thai curry, but with crab meat. The serving size was not huge, but certainly enough to fill you up. I thought Erin’s dish was better than mine and since she couldn’t finish hers I had ample opportunity to compare the two. In addition to hers tasting better, it was also the more interesting dish of the two, as mine was soup, more or less :)

I enjoyed our dinner at Caribe and will be going back for sure to try their Cuban sandwich. I would also be tempted to go back on a Wednesday night as it’s half price bottles of wine. I think this would definitely be a fun place to go without a kid next time.

Service: Our server was friendly and knowledgeable, just wish he would have told us what wasn’t available right away.
Food: Delicious food that is freshly prepared.
Drinks: Decent beer and wine list and half price bottles on Wednesday.
Ambiance: Despite the small size that I normally don’t care for, I really liked the ambiance, it was nice.
Convenience: Just north of University on Raymond, it’s probably much better now that the light rail construction has subsided.

Deets
Caribe Caribbean Bistro
791 Raymond Ave.
St. Paul

Victory 44

Visited on Sunday, December 11th with Kate & Kyle

Ben's Review
Erin made plans with Kate to meet for brunch this past Sunday so we headed over to north Minneapolis to try out Victory 44 at Kate’s suggestion.

I had heard of Victory 44 but didn’t know much about it. Erin described it as having two rooms, one a coffee shop and the other side more of a dining room. We arrived and found Kate and Kyle already seated on the empty dining room side as the tables there were better suited for four adults and a toddler. Oddly, at 10 am on a Sunday they had the Black Keys CRANKED up in the dining room, but they thankfully lowered the volume at our request.

Having not had coffee yet we quickly ordered some while we checked out the menu. The prices at Victory 44 are surprisingly reasonable. Eggs Benedict, which I have a hard time finding under $10 elsewhere, was $8.95 and after confirming that it was indeed two eggs and on Kyle’s recommendation I ordered it. Our server came out a little later and apologetically let us know that since they were out of ham, we’d have to have real bacon on ours instead. This marks the first time I’ve ever heard anyone apologize for having to serve bacon.

Checking the place out while we waited for our food, they seem to have a nice selection of beer and wine on hand and a good looking dinner menu. The dining room started to fill up while we were there and there was a healthy din to the place.

Our food came out and the first thing I noticed was that the portions were not the typical restaurant size, they were actually the size that human being SHOULD eat. Two smallish pieces of crusty bread were used for the eggs Benedict, with a poached egg and bacon. Rather than hash browns it came with a side of cheddar tots, which were hot and delicious. The hollandaise sauce was awesome, with a hint of mustard flavor that was perfect with the runny eggs.

I enjoyed Victory 44 and would love to try it for dinner sometime. If the quality of food matches what we had for brunch I won’t be disappointed.

Service: Service was good, I had a weird vibe at first, but our server was friendly.
Food: Excellent food and normal sized portions.
Drinks: Good looking beer list and good coffee.
Ambiance: Loud music at first, but they turned it down for us. Seemed friendly enough while we were there.
Convenience: For us, not very. It was a 20 minute drive from Saint Paul, but well worth it.

Erin's Review
Kate knows of my intense love for eggs benedict, and being also pregnant, knows that it's one of the saddest things to abstain from (for me at least) - she had been to Victory 44 several times, and thought the brunch was delicious, and had several amazing non-benedict options so invited us to join her there. I was very annoyed to find that my camera battery was just about dead when we got there, but I squeezed out enough photos and supplemented with iPhone pics for this review.

Kate's biscuits & gravy - the dish that caused her to recommend the place to me.

I was a bit confused about where the brunch was - if it was in the main dining room that opens at 11am (which seemed much fancier on the website than it was in reality) or in the cafe - it turned out it was served from the cafe, but since that area was full when we went, they seated us in the dining room, where Black Keys was blasting. Kate said they had just turned it up, and sadly for them, we asked them to turn it down. We're turning into "those people" (who am I kidding, we've always been "those people").

When perusing the menu for that day, I got a bit flustered dealing with Annie and just quickly chose the "malted waffle" - when I asked, she said it was a sweet waffle with a bit of malt powder in the batter, basically just a regular waffle - good to know :) I ordered Annie the yogurt parfait as there weren't any sort of muffins or anything available, which would have been a bit cheaper of an option for her since there was no sort of kids menu or pricing. I also ordered a vanilla latte, after seeing Kate's twit a few weeks prior that showed the beautiful design on the top of hers.

Regular coffee came out really quickly, but Kate and I had ordered lattes which were taking a lot longer. It was after 10am and I hadn't had any caffeine yet so I was pretty close to tweaking out about that. Luckily, it was worth the wait - they pour the milk tableside and somehow create the design on the top. Probably because of this, the lattes weren't super hot, but I think I've been a bit spoiled by ordering them "extra hot" everywhere else I go.

You can see the design even better in my iPhone pic

Our food came out pretty quickly - Kyle and Ben had both ordered the benedict, as if to taunt Kate and I - and it looked amazing. DEFINITELY a spot I'll be returning to when I am not with child just to have that. My waffle was very pretty as well - you can tell presentation is important to them, even for what felt like a casual weekend brunch. The server did comment that they made the parfait "child friendly" for Annie by putting it in a plastic cup instead of a wine glass - definitely a good choice :)

I was starving, so basically inhaled my waffle but from what I can remember it was light, crispy and fluffy - perfect. I was still hungry after eating that, so also had some of Annie's parfait, since there was no way she'd finish that. The side of cheesy tot things from the benedicts were enticing, so Kate and I ordered another side of those to split. They came out quickly as well and were piping hot. Definitely a good choice - after those I was pleasantly full. Annie really enjoyed them as well, as she does with most things involving cheese.

If I lived closer, Victory 44 would be an excellent option for a fairly affordable brunch (unless you order a bunch of extras like I did - like a more expensive drink, a side order, etc). I've also heard excellent things about their dinner as well. As mentioned, I'll be making the trek at least once more to try the benedicts!

Deets
Victory 44
2203 44th Avenue North
Minneapolis

To learn a lot more about this neighborhood, check out the post on Minneapolis 81.

Wilde Roast Cafe - New Location

Erin visited on Tuesday, December 6th with Rebekah

Our original review of Wilde Roast Cafe was written over 3 years ago now, and since that time I have been there quite a few times - for breakfast, just for coffee, and for dinner. It is one of my favorite spots in northeast for sure.

This past summer, Wilde Roast announced that they were moving to Main Street, along the river. This certainly appears to be a good move for them - lots of foot traffic in the summer, larger space and along with that a larger kitchen. However, convenience for many was definitely sacrificed. Parking is now a complete pain in the butt - unless you are lucky enough to get one of the metered spots out front. There are a few nearby ramps, but it does seem like this move will put an end to people doing several hours of work there while sipping coffee for the most part.

On Tuesday, Rebekah and I did make the trek over to Wilde Roast to check it out, do some work, and also grab lunch. We parked in a ramp a few blocks away that is attached to the Riverplace that is $2.50 during the day on weekdays at least, so not too bad. The space is much larger, but is a bit awkwardly laid out. There is a lot of dead space in the entryway, and then it seems to be divided into 2 areas - more of a cafe, with smaller tables and the couches and armchairs, and then a few steps up is the dining room. We sampled both areas during our time there. It is a beautiful space, with a lot of brick, dark wood, and tons of Christmas decor right now. It was still pleasantly busy, so the parking situation must really not be a drawback for most.

Despite the more upscale feel, it's still counter service - we ordered our lunches at the counter and moved to the dining area. My Reuben was one of the best I've had, and the fries were amazing. It all came out piping hot. The food at Wilde Roast has always been a hit for me - breakfast, lunch or dinner and this was no exception.

While it is a bit more of a hassle to get to Wilde Roast in their new location, I would definitely suggest making the effort. I'm interested to see how they change in the summer months with their new patio space - to me, this has always felt more like a cozy winter spot, but I'll be sure to come try it out in the summer months as well!

Deets

Wilde Roast Cafe

65 Main Street East

Minneapolis