41st Anniversary Lunch

Since I had the day off (July 5th, 2010 was the 'observed' July 4th holiday), Lynn suggested we go to Mill City Cafe for 'Brunch'.  However, as we checked into whether it was 'open' or not, we discovered that it is always closed Monday.  I started looking for alternatives using the City Pages 'critic pick' list.  A lot of these, however, were also closed Monday or only open for dinner (after 5pm).

We ended going to Kings on 46th and Grand in South Minneapolis. This was on the 'critics pick' and I had just read an article in Minn Post about it.  When we got there a little after 1:00, it 'looked' closed: the door opened, but the only one in there was a guy washing windows. But just as we were about to leave, the waitress on duty came to the door (from the outside) and invited us in. (She had just moved her car for some reason).  Although there was a strong smell of ammonia from the window washing solution bucket, we took a table and proceeded to have a really good lunch. (Thankfully, the window washer was done before any of our food came). As our lunch proceeded, a few more folk came in as well.


We shared the Ratatouille for an appetizer -- Lynn had the Braised Beef Short Ribs, I had the Pulled Pork Sandwich. The flavors were exquisite (especially the 'balsamic reduction' for the Ratatouille)  and portions were right-sized. Although it won the City Pages 'Best Wine Bar' this year, we just had coffee and water.

Lynn was checking out the Sat/Sun Brunch Menu (our church is just down the street at 45th and Colfax):  the waitress came by checking to see if she was looking at dessert ;-).  We ended up splitting the apple crisp with Sebastian Joe's Ice Cream.

This was a fine way to highlight a very low key anniversary (which is often the case: we almost always go to the annual Danebod 4th of July party and need a 'rest day'.)

Who knows, this may be the start of a mid-day anniversary meal tradition - just might suit us better than going out for 'dinner' and staying up too late ;-)