Adam Platt: Family-Friendly Picks

Muffuletta lost its chef and culinary vision when J. D. Fratzke decamped for The Strip Club this winter. But I trust the Parasole folks and know that Muffuletta was successful enough, so I believe they’ll maintain this latest iteration—it’s one of the few chef-driven restaurants focusing on locally sourced ingredients that’s a comfortable dining spot for families. It’s simple upscale bistro cooking, embellished with local meats and cheeses, plus a few heritage staples from the restaurant’s early days (beer cheese soup). Service is quick and knowledgeable, mac and cheese carries the day with the little ones, and the park in front of the library is a great place to burn off some energy between courses. I’ve been eating at Muffuletta since my Macalester days, and it always feels like home.

I’m going to recommend A to Z (Pizza) even though my son calls its pizza “disgusting and freaky.” He’s wrong; it’s the ultimate family food roadtrip in our region. Based at a small farm near Stockholm, Wisconsin (about ninety minutes from the metro, a mostly gorgeous drive along Lake Pepin), it boasts two outdoor brick pizza ovens that cook enormous pies slathered with house-cured meats, locally grown veggies, and cheeses. The pies are on the doughy, saucy side, but are plenty robust. If pizza’s not your thing, farm animals are out back, chickens cluck around, and the dining room is a verdant pasture, literally. Your seat is your butt. The pizzeria operates Tuesdays only, year-round. Oh, you need to bring plates, napkins, utensils, beverages, salad. All you get is a pizza box. Pack in, pack out. It’s a national park with pizza. But national parks don’t take checks.

If we’ve got less than five hours for pizza, or it’s Sunday, Punch is our place. The pizzas come fast—faster than you can find a seat some nights. But the toppings are fresh and great, the crust sublime, the authenticity enchanting. Kids watch the pizzaiolos do their thing, peer into the 800-degree oven, or run around and annoy the couples on a date. It’s a loud Neapolitan party, at least at our Punch in South Minne. My son, whose tastes run to Papa John’s, suggests I steer your kids to the off-menu pulcinella, kind of a distended thin-crust calzone stuffed with salad. He says your kids will love them. They probably won’t, so get them the Bambini pizza.

Town Talk Diner is not really built with kids in mind, but families have adopted it due to a menu that speaks to the kid in all of us. Pancakes at dinner, killer cheese curds, garlic fries, pulled pork, hot dogs, milk shakes . . . need I say more? (There’s tasty adult fare as well, such as braised lamb or Fischer Farms pork chops.) The food comes quickly, the servers understand dealing with families, and, if the place is slow, there are probably seats at the tiny counter, which kids love. If not, get more cheese curds, and forget the state fair.