Lucia's

1432 W. 31st St.
Minneapolis, MN
612-825-1572
http://www.lucias.com/

Category: American Upscale/Breakfast (Organic/Natural)

Rating (Scale 1-10, with 10 being the highest):
Food: 9
Service: 7
Ambience: 7

Recommendation: Excellent. Lucia’s serves great food, made from fresh ingredients in a cozy bistro setting in Uptown.

We visited Lucia’s for brunch on a Saturday morning. The setting of this restaurant reminds us of a European Bistro, although it didn’t have as much charm as we would have liked. It’s in the heart of Uptown but tucked away a block from Calhoun square, away from all the traffic. There is outdoor seating available, but it was a sweltering day so we chose to sit inside. Lucia’s is a restaurant and wine bar and its selling point is cuisine made from fresh organic and local ingredients. The menu is in the hands of Chef Lucia Watson and you can bet that the frequently changing menu will offer you gastronomic pleasure any time you go.

We started our meal with popovers and muffins. The Popovers were nice and light and tasted good with butter and a drizzle of honey. The Muffin was a cinnamon swirl muffin which had just enough icing on top to give it a nice sweet finish. We both had Orange Champagne Mimosas that went down nicely.

For the main course, Natasha had the French Style Omelette with Hot Italian Sausage and Arugula Pesto. The Omelette was light and fluffy and the Italian Sausage was full of flavor. The potatoes served with the Omelette were well seasoned but a little on the dry side. Nick tried the Southwest Scramble. The eggs were moist and each bite was full of flavor from the onions, peppers and pico that comprised the scramble. However, the addition of the black beans that was served with the scramble really made this dish special. The portions were just the right size (European) and the service was quick, although some of the servers were indifferent.

For dessert we tried the Chocolate Banana Cake with Chocolate Banana Ice Cream. This was the highlight of the meal – the cake was moist and it had a pleasing but not overpowering banana flavor. It has just the right amount of cream frosting and the pecans in the ice cream added great texture to this fabulous dessert. The Mascarpone Tart with Raspberries and a Strawberry Champagne Sauce was ok at first but grew on us as we ate it. The dessert has a nice level of tartness which worked well with the creaminess of the mascarpone. The tart in our opinion was a little too crisp.

Brunch entrees are around $10.