Thistles

Address: 
4168 Broadway Ave. W., Robbinsdale, 763-504-2541, thistlesamericanbistro.com

The Scene
Thistles is a simple neighborhood eatery with big-city ambitions that sits on a seen-better-days block of downtown Robbinsdale. The modestly appointed restaurant has a small bar in the back and an open kitchen with a high service counter that prevents diners from seeing anything but chefs’ heads and a wall-mounted commercial broiler. The restaurant is split into two rooms, one featuring a kitchen, wine bar, live music, and a host stand. To say the second dining room feels like Siberia is an understatement. The wooden tables and padded chairs are comfy, and the walls are littered with small votive candles, which are warm and welcoming notes in an otherwise cold and spare milieu. The crowd appears to be mostly locals.

Our Take
Thistles, where 13 Moons once operated, is a perfectly decent contemporary American bistro with competent café-style service. Salads, though average, are a good way to start a meal here. Grilled shrimp—perched in a martini glass, which is a bit dated—were tasty. Bruschetta was inedibly hard and covered in unripe tomatoes.  The house’s specialty hot crab-and-artichoke dip arrived lukewarm and tasted only of mayo. Short ribs braised in cider and ale tasted only of the potato mash they arrived on. The ribs were mostly bone, fat, and gristle—flotsam that should have been pared off before plating, especially at a restaurant boasting of the care taken with its food. Grilled tuna was crusted with spices, seared, and set atop a coarse-cut Asian slaw that was too large and too raw, ringed by oily fried won tons. Better choices would be the red lentil–crusted scallops or the grilled lime-and-chili-rubbed rib eye.

Big Hat, Small Cowboy
Thistles has the unfortunate problem of promising more than it can, or needs, to deliver. With a website that “promises unique and exciting flavors not found anywhere,” utilizing the “freshest ingredients,” I had high expectations before I set foot inside. It may boast of “a unique dining pleasure that is currently not available anywhere,” but cuts of meat and seafood I tried were all of generic quality. A sandwich billed as slow-cooked barbecue pork butt on brioche is really a pulled sandwich of salty commodity pork shoulder that arrives teamed with commercial sauce on a spongy hamburger roll that is quite tasty—but brioche, it ain’t. A Mediterranean pizzetta arrived on commercially prepared flatbread; the artichokes and dried tomatoes were from a jar. Have ambitions been lowered to make ends meet or for clientele who didn’t value the effort or is there simply not the talent in the kitchen to pull it off? From a diner’s standpoint, I guess it doesn’t matter. 

Fine Print GETTING THERE, GETTING IN: Reservations suggested for dinner on weekends. Parking is plentiful both on the street and in the rear parking lot. HOURS: Lunch M–F 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Dinner M–Sa 5–10 p.m. NOISE LEVEL: Reasonable. KIDS: Chicken fingers and plain pastas are available as are booster seats and highchairs. CARDS: AmEx, Discover, MC, Visa. ENTRÉE PRICES: Dinner $12–$43. EXTRAS: Live music nightly, with the endearing jazz pianist James “Cornbread” Harris Sr.  M–W evenings. Handicap Accessible.