date: 5/20/08
location: minneapolis
grade: b

one of the first thoughts i has about the modern cafe when i walked in was that it was what edina grill (highland grill, longfellow grill, etc. ) tries to be, but it seems more.... authentic here. not trying too hard, like it can sometimes seem at the grills. not that the grills are something i hate, mind you. but they're too... bright and shiny and new, maybe.

this place has been around for over a decade. it's a neighborhood place, that was about half-full on a tuesday, which says something in not so nice economic times. it's solidly above average place, the kind i wish was in more neighborhoods, actually, with decent food, and good service (good water fill rate on the tiny glasses, for instance).

the menu's kind of brief- maybe a half dozen each of salads/appetizers, entrees, and sides. there are a few vegetarian options, but maybe one entree, though it looks like they dropped the 'no substitutions, no separate checks' bit off the new menu (the web site one still has it listed, along with some interested dishes i am kind of bummed about missing) so you may be able to work a few things out.

and by the way, speaking of the web site, if you go to the front page, you can't see the rest of the pages. you have to google something like 'modern cafe minneapolis menu' to get into it. very odd.

but back to our dinner at hand.... i was going to go with a duck pate. i was told there was mushrooms in it, that i'm fine with, but i did inquire as to the porkiness of it. and indeed there was some. i can't say i was too surprised, most duck pates have pork, for one, and they also had a trout (i think it was) dish that had sweet pork listed in the ingredients. i've not seen that before. bacon and fish, yes, pork and fish, not so much.

but as my taste buds are a bit off (more so than usual is what you're thinking, no? heh.) due to a bit of a cold, i opted for a bowl of the soup of the day ($4.50). if i heard right, they said a cream of potato, but it wasn't anything like i thought it would be. it was very light in taste and in texture, and didn't taste like you were eating a butter-filled baked potato. strangely delicate, in a good way.

and if it was cream of celery, that would make that statement very funny, no? it didn't taste like that, either, and i didn't ask as i kind of liked the ambiguousness of not knowing, so hey, big surprise in my weird level. not.

with it, i got the fries. they were $4.50, which sounded like a lot for a side, but it was a large basket of fries, with a bit of parmesan and fennel pollen (why fennel pollen, i don't know, it was just there, and didn't need to be) and served with saffron mayo. decent and all, but they were lacking crispness. below average.

someone else had the spinach salad with donnay farms chevre, chutney, and curry oil ($8.75) was served cold. when you read the description, it could go either way, no? since the cheese was good, the salad was... well... made by it. (just be happy i didn't go with a 'toss your salad joke, ok?). an interesting flavor combo, especially the cheese with the chutney.

they also got the chicken wings with ginger sesame sauce, celery and herbs (seven wings for $5.00) which were a solid effort. me, i like dipping wings into, well, mostly blue cheese dressing, but dipping them in general, and there was no opportunity given for that.

we finished up with a cheeseball (not a cheezeball, note) ($6.75). it was the donnay farms chevre (i think whipped a bit) and topped with some toasted nuts and parsley, in port syrup and honey, served with ritz. we used the bread instead, as i had throughout the meal, as it was the good stuff from rustica (their whole wheat tasted like sourdough, in a good way. discuss!). it was a nice-sized dessert for two. i would've liked more honey than port syrup, but that's personal preference.

had i not been tanked up on allergy meds and other decongestants (at the same time), we may've split a bottle of wine. tuesdays are half-priced wine nights, and there are some very good deals to be found. they also have a nice selection of by the glass pours, too.

maybe i just need to move to be closer to better restaurants... who knows. in the same hood there's erte (pretty much right across the street), psycho suzi's and the sample room aren't too far away...