Zander Cafe

525 Selby Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55102
(651) 222-5224

Category: American-Upscale, French

Rating (Scale 1-10, with 10 being the highest):
Food: 8
Service: 8
Ambience: 7

Recommendation: Excellent. Zander Café is a cozy neighborhood bistro serving a seasonally changing menu of nicely done beautiful dishes. (February 2008 update - after a decade of being in business, this restaurant has closed).

Chef-Owner Alexander Dixon’s Zander is located on a stretch of Selby Avenue in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood of St. Paul. There are cute little shops and other restaurants such as WA Frost, Moscow on the Hill nearby, as well as the Cathedral and the Capitol. We went last weekend and the place was under renovation…they are creating a jazz club next door so the restaurant itself had a bland carpet covering its wooden floors. This didn’t ruin the experience though as the place is still done up really well. As you enter, there is a lounge area that looks more Middle Eastern than American along with a small bar with some seating. The restaurant itself has a very warm feel to it with stucco walls and high exposed ceilings.

They have a nice, reasonably priced wine list. The menu changes with the seasons but there are a few mainstays. The Three Soup Mosaic was absolutely beautiful (too good to eat) and delicious. Three soups – Roasted Red Pepper, Cream of Parsnip, and Sherried Black bean were arranged like a mosaic in the same bowl. The presentation was beautiful and the soups tasted great. The Red Pepper has the right amount of flavor, not too sweet, and the Parsnip was rich. For appetizers, we had the Chilled Angus Beef Carpaccio, which was a strip loin of beef marinated and served with garlic, capers, parmesan, and balsamic. It was excellent. The Escargots, which were baked in a red wine garlic butter and topped with a crusty piece of bread were delicious. They were nice and juicy but we found them a little too greasy. The complimentary bread that was served with olive oil as well as the olives were great.

For entrees, we had the Steak Dianne ($25) and the BBQ Grilled Diver Scallops ($22). Both were excellent. The Steak was an 8oz New York Strip with all its fat removed. As a result, it was served medium rare. We asked it to be served medium instead and the kitchen did a nice job accommodating our request. The steak was juicy, succulent and cooked really well. It was served with a Maderia wine herbed wild oyster mushroom along with parmesan roasted potatoes (delicious!). The scallops were grilled and served with a mustard honey and BBQ sauce. The sauces were not too over-powering, there were hints of the BBQ flavor which we loved.

Service was excellent. Our server knew his stuff, was very willing to make recommendations, and was very attentive.

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