We finally made it to Hope Breakfast Bar
After several tries, we finally made it! Hope Breakfast Bar on a late Sunday afternoon. No
crowd, able to park (well, on the 3rd try) right in front. Time to give
it a try.
The Hope Breakfast Bar's mission:
Bringing people together for the most important meal, no matter what time of day...starting your day with optimism
Ambiance of Hope Breakfast Bar
Great atmosphere, with tall firehouse ceilings, painted black. Gold
vases on each table, adorned with fern fronds...gold tableware, too.
Egg-shaped salt and pepper shakers seem appropriate for a breakfast
place, standing in a tidy holder.
Attentive service right away...but disappointment within minutes.
John wanted a Pink Raspberry Passion Lemonade , but they were totally out
of lemonade, so he settled for water.
The lack of lemonade was only a slight letdown but John was whiny and made it into a really big disappointment. Whatever. Everything else was excellent.
Our choices at Hope Breakfast Bar
We ordered the Cheesy Grits as a starter. They were delish...creamy,
not grainy, with plenty of cheese. My drip coffee was also delish...so
my side of the table was a winner....wonderful grits accompanied by
full-bodied, flavorful coffee, without a hint
of bitterness.
It was served in a deep cup with an interesting
decorative edge....a very enjoyable coffee, including refills.
Many intriguing choices on the menu, so we just needed to pick our
starting place today. A salad and an egg dish were our first test of
the food. How did they do?
The Brunch Salad was terrific. One of our favorite meals a few years ago was
at the Fig Cafe in California. Everything there was California fresh
and wonderfully composed. This salad could have easily been presented
to us there. Mixed, greens, brown rice, lightly 'pickled'
sweet peppers and red onion....chopped in thin and interesting
fashion...both colorful and delightful in texture, and, for once,
adequate amounts of quinoa throughout. Nothing is worse that ordering a
salad that should have quinoa or wild rice or farro...only
to have to search to find the 3 or 4 bits of grain that you're looking
for. Here, the balance was perfect, the slicing was beautiful, the
flavor was light and not overdressed.....served in a beautiful deep
white bowl that made it easy to fill your fork with
your desired selection of ingredients for each bite. Simply
wonderful.
John chose the The Farm Grazer. This hearty bowl of
ingredients was overflowing with perfectly prepared heirloom
fingerlings....all blue, red, some that looked like LaRatte...not
sure...but absolutely perfectly prepared. There was 'crisped'
spinach....John
didn't quite like the texture....it had been crisped but now was
somewhat more 'wilty' in texture. I thought it was a good texture
contrast to the potatoes and egg. John had
expected over-easy eggs,
but they arrived a bit too browned and clearly over-medium.
John said he would have enjoyed a few more root veggies in proportion
to the number of potatoes. I'll have to agree that a few more veggies
would have added color, texture, and flavor. We found the root veggie
part a bit overcooked. But I thoroughly
enjoyed the wonderfully prepared fingerlings...I made sure to have one
of each color!!
Overall Impression of Hope Breakfast Bar
Overall, we would describe our meal as excellent. The Cheesy Grits
were on par with the grits at Breaking Bread in North Minneapolis (which
unfortunately closed...at least temporarily in July----we'll watch to
see when/if they re-open). So if you
want excellent
cheesy grits, Hope Breakfast Bar is your best best right now. The
Brunch Salad was fantastic...among the best salads I've ever eaten.
The Farm Grazer was excellent in concept...it fell just a bit
short in execution. A better root veggie/potato
ratio would make it more desirable, matching the over-easy eggs to what
is listed in the menu is necessary, and the root veggies should be
cooked as appropriately as the potatoes...they were just a little beyond
what was acceptable in texture.
But we'd say, give Hope Breakfast Bar a try. John had the
disappointments of the day, with no lemonade and an unbalanced
dish....that needs a bit of tweaking. I was the winner, with
full-bodied delicious hot coffee, a truly wonderful salad that was easy
on
the eyes and wonderful on the taste buds, plus my share of the
well-prepared cheesy grits. My only challenge was parking the car
(plus watching the 'parking enforcement' officer out the front
window...trying to figure out if we were, for sure, in a legal
parking zone). Thankfully we were, because having to get out of that
parking spot and squeeze into another spot would have been a definite
downer to my dining experience). Fortunately he checked some cars and moved
along.
Our server was excellent and we shared a few stories at closing time
that made the experience even more memorable. An excellent meal all
around.
Details:
Not Recommended: Red Luna Taco Factory
