Deal of the Century

Josh and I stumbled onto the deal of the century last Friday. I’m not even sure how I heard about it, but students at the Le Cordon Bleu school run a restaurant for weekday lunches as part of their hands-on learning, and anyone can go and have lunch there. We thought it sounded cool and, despite not knowing too much about it, made reservations at The Minnesota Room.

Le Cordon Bleu classes are held at Brown College in Mendota Heights. Therefore, the “restaurant” is basically converted classroom space. They have jazzed it up with curtains, paintings, ambient lighting, etc.

The menu includes your choice of three appetizers, three entrees and two deserts. I had the fowl consommé with brunoise vegetables and dill spatzel and Josh had the nicoise salad with poached egg and tuna. The other option was veal sweetbreads with apples and cipollinis (who in their right mind would intentionally eat sweetbreads is beyond me). My soup was very good, especially the dill spatzel. Josh enjoyed his salad as well.

For an entree I had the meatloaf au jus with potato puree and Josh had the sautéed skate with white beans and romesco salad. My meatloaf was a bit dry, actually, and not out of this world by any means. I’ll give the meatloaf award to Great Waters Brewing in DT Saint Paul any day of the week. The pureed potatoes and au jus were good, though. Josh liked his skate, and even though I do not care for fish I tried it. I thought it was edible but not liking seafood is really a texture thing for me, and it definitely had that seafood thing going for it. The other option was roasted chicken with butternut squash risotto.

For dessert I had the apple financier with caramel sauce and Josh had the chocolate tart with crème anglaise. I liked the apple cake better, but we shared pretty evenly. We both agreed the chocolate tart may have been *too* chocolate-y.

Our server was extremely nervous, which made me feel nervous in turn. She did fine, though. In addition to your meal you can get a glass of wine: Josh had a J. Drouhin-Macon Villages chardonnay and I had a Luzon-Jumilla monastrel-merlot blend that was quite good.

It was a very good lunch and I was curious to see the bill because there are no prices listed anywhere. We were guessing maybe $30/person or so. The total was something around $40 total. What, you say?! How is that possible? The lunch itself is only $12.50/person. Can you believe it?! Really good food and such a deal. The wine was $6/each, and then add in sales tax. We tipped extra because all tips go toward student scholarships.

At the end they ask you to fill out a quick and painless survey, give you a chocolate mint and send you on your way. All in all, I’d recommend anyone check this out!