Kafe 421

I found Dinkytown

Kafe 421

421 14th Ave SE
Minneapolis

Restaurant Week Lunch Tasting Menu

Kafe 421 has two tasting menus; Lunch for $10 or Dinner for $30

Wonderful deals

1/2 price wine on Monday & Wednesday

Date Night on Sunday & Tuesday
2 salads, 2 Entrees, 1 Dessert for $25

Restaurant Week Lunch Tasting Menu

Lunch tasting menu consists of an appetizer and entree.

I choose the Spanakopita Triangle, made with spinach, herbs and feta cheese wrapped in phyllo dough. For the entree I went with Pastichio, a Greek casserole. The Greek noodle used in this dish is Makaronia. As you can see in the image they lay a huge layer of these thick noodles on the bottom followed by a layer of meat, then cheese and another layer of noodles glued together by cheese and topped off with tomatoes and garnish. The dish might look Italian but the taste wasn't.

I think I found Dinkytown, I have always heard about it. Years ago we ate at a restaurant in Dinkytown and as I was looking for this restaurant across the street was Vescio. Still getting use to the big city. Kafe 421 is not far from University Ave and very easy to find. The cafe has three seating areas; the front area with a couple of tables and a bar, the hallway with a long bar, and the back room with many tables.

al Vento Restaurant

Al Vento
5001 34th Ave S
Minneapolis

Fall Restaurant Week
Dinner Menu
$15

Larry requested to join me for this restaurant tasting. We had been there before but it had been a long time. We sat just tables from were we sat the first time. Our server was very nice too. Jason told us about Date Night on Tuesday night, 2 entrees, 1 appetizer and 1 dessert for $20. They also have 1/2 price bottles of wine on Sun and 4-6pm everyday too. The busiest days are Friday, Saturday, Sunday brunch and Tuesday date night.

What we picked for our tasting menu

starters
Stuffed Mushrooms with walnuts and mother sauce

Beet Salad with frisee hazelnuts and parmesan cheese



entrees
Ravioli with butternut squash and brown butter sage

Grilled Amish Chicken Breast with roasted root vegetables and mushroom sauce



dessert
Chocolate hazelnut tart with whipped cream and caramel

Vanilla Creme Brulee




The beet salad was heaven with chunks of white beets and slices of parmesan cheese. So many places don't give you a lot of beets on a beet salad but they did. This was the best beet salad for me so far. Careful on the Chocolate hazelnut tart, the whipped cream has a little bite to it but very good. You have got to try the olive oil, it has rosemary and other spices in it. The butternut squash ravioli was full of favor and yes the best squash ravioli so far. So two dishes that have pushed the envelope was the beet salad and butternut squash ravioli. I can see coming back to the restaurant many times.

Cafe Ena

Cafe Ena
4601 Grand Ave S
Minneapolis

Lunch tasting menu during restaurant week
$10 lunch

Entrees
Chilaquiles - Shredded tortillas cooked in a tomato chipotle sauce served with a fried egg, cream, cojita cheese and pico de gallo.

Tacos de Carne Asada - Marinated skirt steak tacos topped with onions, cilantro and roasted tomato salsa served with white rice and black beans.


Dessert or Appetizer
Homemade Butternut squash soup

Homemade key line pie with mango sauce

or

Churros with cinnamon ice cream

Sunday Night's treat

Sunday Night's Treat
Butternut Squash Ravioli
$15 tasting menu

Sunday's Treat

Sunday's treat

Not normally on the menu. This is something they make for fun and it was wonderful.

514 Studio email blast

Email blast 10/13

514 Studios
Square feet - 3,200 Ceilings - Arched ceilings peaking at 21ʼ with a full kitchen.

Corner Coffee is in the front of the building and we are just steps away from the back door of the coffee shop.

Props

What happen to kitchen tools when they go bad...

What do I do for fun.
Yes, I like to play with my food or in this case my props.

afternoon tea - recent work

Images from a photo shoot with Peter Strzyzykowski from Pete's food style, a Minnesota food stylist.

Sweet Potato Salad

From a Fall Food shoot