Grand Cafe

Address:
3804 Grand Ave., Mpls., 612-822-8260, grandcafempls.com

The Scene
Warm art and windows that allow diners to peer from room to room have made this restaurant interpretation—the third in as many years—the most appropriate and charming to date. The humbly spartan seating could use a few cushions and the pastry case is not as bullishly stocked, but you can now eat at the counter and it doubles as a bar in the evening. The large baker’s oven still dominates the front room, but it’s less imposing now that there’s more going on in the space. The net effect is more Beacon Hill than Belle Plaine. The candle lighting in the evening may be too dark for some, but with wood floors and a creamy tin ceiling, Grand Café is one of the more romantic spots around.

Our Take
Despite a more leisurely pace and a sparser menu than I typically favor, I really like the new effort in the old Bakery on Grand space from BoG veteran Mary Hunter and her husband, Dan. “Blunch” is served—meaning you can get a superior gravlax scramble or buttery scone right up to the dinner hour. Lunch was superb, with a chilled tomato gazpacho spiked with garlic and vinegar providing the ideal canvas for the shaved fennel and poached shrimp. Butter lettuce and tarragon salad came swaddled in a goat’s-milk-yogurt–and–herb dressing that is reason enough for a visit. Warm fish and shrimp tacos with hominy, sour cream, and lime were rock stars. Dinner also wowed, but everything needed salt, the Kobe beef brisket was gimmicky, and the cumin-crusted lamb chops were a dud.

Grand Café’s chef, Lurçat alum Justin Frederick, has what it takes to compete at a high level. Visits left me with the impression that with a little more time under his belt and some judicious self-editing, the food here could be really special. Frederick needs a partner in the kitchen—he seems to be doing it all by himself.

And Sara Begat Jacob . . . 
Let’s state the obvious, restaurants are incestuous. The Hunters have been working in the restaurant during all its tenures and now it’s theirs. Smartly, they hired a chef with experience at the best restaurant company in town, D’Amico & Partners. In addition to Frederick, D’Amico alums now include Cosmos superstar Seth Bixby Daugherty and the owners and operators of 112 Eatery, Solera, and La Belle Vie. The derivative nature of many restaurants is galling (the caesar salad and calamari syndrome). D’Amico chefs, however, have always been encouraged to call their own plays at the line of scrimmage, and when they go out on their own, their cooking manifests the quality of their lineage. Where would we be without training camps such as Cucina, Lurçat, Masa, and the dearly departed Azur? Or without the stick-to-it-ive-ness of the Hunters?