MSP - Anyone been to Grand Cafe? (formerly Bakery on Grand)

[Raka]

Hi fellow chowhounds,

Has anyone been to "Grand Cafe" which I hear has opened in the former "Bakery on Grand" space at 38th and Grand in Minneapolis? If so, how did you enjoy your meal? I am really hoping that Grand Cafe fills the niche that Bakery on Grand left when it closed.

Thanks!

- Raka

[sweetjohnny]

I have eaten at the Grand Cafe many times in the past few weeks and I love the place. The food is really good and the people are so friendly and warm. It is a great place to bring friends and family. I love it for a meeting a girlfriend for lunch or dinner with my husband and friends. We have gone for a Sunday brunch also. The wine list is affordable and good. My husband and I both love the brisket and the chicken. I woke up in the middle of the night and my husband was wide awake thinking about the brisket! My favorite is the bussels sprouts which is a side dish.
Elly

[Raka]

Since my original post, we checked out Grand Cafe for Sunday brunch. I am happy to report that it is still a great spot, and I look forward to dinner there.
The pastry case is indeed gone, but the bar that has replaced it is quite functional and opens up that space nicely. We got there at 10:30 AM, which was just ahead of the Sunday brunch rush.
The food was good -- kind of a rustic breakfast. I had poached eggs, thick sliced bacon and their roasted potatoes, which were wonderful. They are roasted with thyme and some onions that added a nice caramlized flavor. My only regret is that we forgot to order from their pastry section, and watched as steaming plates of twice-baked brioche passed us by. Next time, we will not make that mistake!

[Cassandra]

Yes, we went a couple of weeks ago and loved it!! I had the buttermilk chicken, which was delicious and fabulous and my partner had the daily special, which were delicious ravioli with mushroom sauce. Also, we were treated very well, with excellent service. Highly recommended.

[mcgeary]

I had quite a nice lunch there today. Grilled cheese (cheddar) and caramelized onions on not-too-sour sourdough, accompanied by a truly amazing soup: pumpkin-apple, which I was expecting to be creamy but was actually a lovely clear broth with a tiny touch of curry oil floating on top. I could've eaten a vat of the stuff. This was my first trip to Grand Bakery since it changed owners and I will be back often. Some of the other items on the menu: a few salads (roasted beet, caesar); a buttermilk chicken sandwich w/pickled onions and lemon aioli; Kobe brisket open-faced sandwich with blue cheese; duck pizza; buttercup squash ravioli. There's more, but that's all my brain cells can come up with at the moment.

[faith]

I went a couple of weeks ago, just had to try the buttermilk
fricasee chicken since I hardly ever see that dish in restaurants but have fond memories of an overnight camp (Orthodox Jewish in the Catskills, circa 1966) where every
Friday night for the Sabbath they had this incredible fricasee
chicken. Anyway, fast forward to the present and the chicken was great at Grand Cafe, with a nice kind of thick gravy coating on it which is the result of the fricasee, which I believe refers to pan-frying chicken with a flour based coating. I like the new interior layout even though they got
rid of the tempting pastry case that I used to make a beeline
for every time I set foot in there. Excellent bread as well,
and really good sweet butter- they initially gave me some homemade crackers that had herbs in them that were pretty good
but I was happy to hear there was bread too. I had some lobster
bisque that was ok, but I think I don't like lobster bisque that much, prefer steamed lobster in melted butter. Passed on
dessert. Very friendly people, I even went back and complimented the cook on the chicken. I liked the menu because
it didn't have the same old same old stuff, rather truly
creative selections done with care. Hounds, get over there
and report back!

[bluesman13]

faith,

I went to camp in the Catkills at the same time as you. Obviously, a Jewish orthodox camp would never serve buttermilk chicken (the whole non-mixing of milk/meat), but what was the name of the camp you went to? (you can contact me off list if you like).

Steve

[faith]

steve, I'm not sure how to reply to you off list. It was Camp
Aishel in or near Ellenville, and no buttermilk I guess but it
was indeed chicken fricasee. I was the only Reform Jew in the
group, kind of like an alien from another world.

[bluesman13]

Faith,

as I'm sure no one here wants to hear us reminisce about Camp in upstate NY, shoot me off an emailto:
bluesman13 at hotmail.com. Sorry, I thought we had a PM function here but I must be thinking of something else.

Steve

[katebauer]

We went about 2 months ago and thought it was fine, although we were extremely disappointed that the brie sandwich is off the menu. That was one of the main draws for us.