Wilde Roast Cafe - NE Minneapolis

Wilde Roast Cafe has long been one of my favorite coffee NE Minneapolis spots. Slightly tucked away off of East Hennepin, this quaint little cafe honors it's namesake suitably. The interior is a fusion of passe and modern overall. With dark wood and a roaring fireplace, you feel the old world charm. Expanding on that theme are 4 soft, awesomely over-sized chairs, and matching sofa. Red in color, complete with antiquated floral design, and further flanked by a huge center ottoman decorated with a gold tray and candlesticks. People will seriously wait and sip coffee until these chairs become available. It is comforting to the max.

In addition to coffee libations, Wilde Roast has a full menu. Mostly famous for their desserts, they also offer sandwiches, salads, appetizers and pizzas. They do serve wine and beer, and hold cheap date night Mon-Thurs, where you can get a bottle of wine and 2 entrees for $28. Not too bad.

I've tried several menu items, and have been mostly pleased with them. The Curry Chicken Salad is savory and nutty with cashews, and you can also get it sandwich style. The meatloaf is comforting, and the Buffalo Chicken is no joke. On this day, I was curious about their burgers. With a few different varieties, I decided on the Chi Chi La Rue burger (corn salsa, avocado and cheddar on ciabatta, and I ordered the lean beef) and instead of chips, I opted for a cup of the french onion soup. I ordered my usual medium latte (served in a huge bowl of a coffeee mug) and sat down with my number, awaiting my food.

I started in on the onion soup first. It had a piece of crusty bread floating in with a blob of melted mozarella cheese. I found myself breaking it up, and just breaking down the cheese with my spoon so I wouldn't eat the whole blob at once. Overall, I found the soup to be really salty. But it was plentiful with tender onions, with nice little bursts of cheese and soggy bread. I ate it all anyways.

The burger was greasy. I'm not sure if they used lean beef. The guy who took my order did so immediately after taking care of a large order. So I'm not sure he got it right. The corn salsa was lacking. I didn't get hints of corn and spice like I though I might. And even though you can see the avocado here, it sort of got lost, as did the cheese. The ciabatta was good, nice and soft. But overall, this burger fell very flat for me.

Regardless of this entry, I would recommend anyone to go here. The food, drinks and ambience have a lot to offer, and this will definitely be a NE staple for some time to come.

http://www.wilderoastcafe.com/index.php