Grand Café

Grand Café has the bones of a great restaurant. It has character, a point of view, and a commitment to good food. Last spring, Bon Appétit called out its brunch as one of the best in the country. Owners Dan and Mary Hunter, who met at the late, great Faegre’s in Minneapolis’s Warehouse District, are longtime food people who ran successful catering and private chef ventures before taking over Grand Café in 2006. In 2007, the Hunters hired Jon Radle to run the kitchen, and he seems to do so with meticulous thought and care. Take the signature eggs en cocotte—a delicious holdover from the restaurant’s previous life as Bakery on Grand. Radle tweaked the recipe to include a base of truffles, shallots, white wine, and heavy cream reduced to a rich, subtly flavored sauce served with poached eggs, locally sourced pit ham, and puff pastry. Breakfast sausage for robustly flavored red-eye gravy is made in-house, and biscuits, scones, and coffee cakes are baked fresh each morning. The restaurant doesn’t have a liquor license, but a sake bloody mary alongside a perfect crèma espresso more than does the trick.

3804 Grand Ave. S., Mpls., 612-822- 8260, grandcafempls.com. Brunch Sa–Su 8 am–2:30 pm.

Order: Eggs en cocotte, Kobe brisket corned beef hash, blueberry pancakes, pastries, and steel-cut oatmeal.

Libations: Coffee, espresso drinks, fresh OJ, mimosas, Bellinis, and sake bloody marys. (Coffee is served with a pewter cream and sugar set, charming.)

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