MSP - business breakfast near the U?

[mpls_duponter]

First - howdy and thanks for all the great reviews and discussions. I've been a lurker for months.

I'd love your help identifying a breakfast place (weekday) for a meeting with "corporate types." It needs to be very near the University because we'll be showing them around the U right after. All I can think of is Al's (won't work for 6-8 people who need to talk for 1+ hour) and the restaurants at the Holiday Inn and Radisson hotels. Bleh. Any suggestions?

[mpls_duponter]

Thanks, everyone. I was considering Birchwood, had forgotten about Maria's and didn't know about Jay's so this is helpful. I don't know these folks well enough to know how they'd react to Hard Times Cafe and Seward Cafe!

[AnneInMpls]

Welcome, mpls_duponter! I agree that you need to avoid those nasty hotel breakfasts.

I suggest Maria's Cafe - great food, with standard choices for the conventional and exciting food for the adventurous (corn pancakes and huevos pericos). Plus, with three rooms, there's sure to be space for a small group on a weekday morning. Maria's is about half a mile west of the West Bank Mpls campus, on Franklin north of Cedar Ave. Plenty of free parking, too.

A bit further off campus is the Birchwood Cafe. This place might work if the group is only 6 (not 8), and if these "corporate types" can loosen their ties/pantyhose for a boho-casual breakfast. The Birchwood is ideal for a casual meeting of 2 or 3 or 4, especially mid-morning, but it's order-at-the-counter-style service (which doesn't work well for groups) and is quite non-mainstream. The food is great, though.

I won't suggest the Egg & I East, as I stopped going there because of bad food (like burned pancakes and dangerously raw-in-the-middle french toast). That was several years ago, though - if anyone has a recent good report of the place, I'd love to hear it. Especially because it would work well for your group, space- and menu-wise; plus, it's halfway between the Mpls and St. Paul campuses.

Anne

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Birchwood Cafe
3311 E 25th St, Minneapolis, MN 55406

Maria's Cafe
1113 E Franklin Ave Ste 102, Minneapolis, MN 55404

[churchka]

Good Breakfast at both the Seward Cafe and Hard Times Cafe, but pretty grungy. Both have plenty of space though.

I would second Maria's, but it can get loud if it is busy. Ask to go to one of their other rooms if you can. They tend to only open in sections

I'm having a hard time with this one. Does the U not have good breakfast places because U students don't get up early?

[KTFoley]

Still working on that Egg & I link...

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Jay's Cafe
791 Raymond Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55114

Egg & I East Restaurant
2550 University Ave W 125, N St Paul, MN

[KTFoley]

Link to Egg & I

[KTFoley]

Is Jay's Cafe, on Randolph near University Ave., too far away?

There is an edition of the Egg & I Cafe a bit further west, where University crosses 280.

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Jay's Cafe
791 Raymond Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55114