I had the opportunity to try a restaurant in Minneapolis a few weeks back that was really delightful and I could not believe how long it had taken me to check it out. The restaurant is Cafe Maude http://cafemaude.com/ at 54 and Penn Ave in Minneapolis. A link to a menu can be found here http://cafemaude.com/?page_id=2. The ambiance in the restaurant was really warm and inviting. It felt like the neighborhood joint I have been longing for in St Paul and here it was right in S Minneapolis.
Next my table mate had the seared sea scallops with corn and roasted mushrooms on quinoa. This dish was super tasty as well. The corn was amazing fresh and the quinoa was perfectly done. The mushrooms gave the dish a beefy flavor that really added to the scallops and mate it feel super hearty yet light. I was a little sad that for $24 there wasn't another scallop on the dish but that was only because it was so good I wanted MORE. 
We started out with the hoisin spare ribs which was small plate priced at $9. The ribs were awesome. They were gingery and sweet. The rib itself was very moist and fell off the bone but was not mushy - the thai basil garnish was a nice surprise.
Next my table mate had the seared sea scallops with corn and roasted mushrooms on quinoa. This dish was super tasty as well. The corn was amazing fresh and the quinoa was perfectly done. The mushrooms gave the dish a beefy flavor that really added to the scallops and mate it feel super hearty yet light. I was a little sad that for $24 there wasn't another scallop on the dish but that was only because it was so good I wanted MORE. 
The next dish we had was the mac and cheese and the burger. My husband is super picky about his burger and this was very fresh and had a big beefy taste. I am starting to think you can judge a restaurant by the quality of their burger. Do they have good beef, is the bun fresh and do you want to eat the bun? The Cafe Maude burger had all that and more. It was tender, juicy and beefy and the bun was really fresh and yummy. It was a good value at $9.50.
The macaroni and cheese was good but I LOVE the stuff and am somewhat of a connoisseur and I have to say I have had better. Their sauce was flavorful enough with cheese and garlic but it was runny and there wasn't any kind of baked crunchy crust it was more like a fettuccine served with some dry bread croutons thrown on top. Again, its hard to mess up mac and cheese and it did taste really good I just thought it was kind of a lazy presentation but don't get me wrong - I ate the entire plate, liked it I think actually!
The drinks were fun http://cafemaude.com/?page_id=2, my friend ordered the Sazrec and if I was a whiskey drinker that would be my drink all night long. You can tell they have put lots of care into the beer and wine list. I had a delicious Cava and I really liked the short beer list as I thought it had lots of variety that complimented the food well.
I am really looking forward to a cold snowy wintry night in S Minneapolis when I can visit Cafe Maude again. The food was fresh local, prepared well and our server was fun and pointed out lots of options for us to choose from and was super confident in her recommendations which I appreciated.
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