By the time we got to our last course, my 4-year-old was a food critic-in-training. Nibbling away at a crunchy chocolate chip cookie that was about the size of his face, he proclaimed, "It tastes like love."
The cookie was the pièce de résistance in a kid-friendly tasting menu at Tilia, a three-course prix fixe meal that encourages little ones to eat alongside adults in a very grown-up way.
My kid began with the cheese plate: slices of sharp cheddar and apple, with bowl of smooth peanut butter for dipping. I ordered shrimp with fermented black bean and chili sauce. For our entrees, he tried the fish and chips, I enjoyed the petite tenderloin. And for dessert, he ate his weight in cookie while I had a dark chocolate and passion fruit tart. My meal came to $55; his was $12.
This was dining for youngsters at its finest.
It was nothing like the kid-tailored meals that have become standard on restaurant menus. Pizza, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese plus mountains of fries and bottomless ketchup — and a fruit cup on a good day — are usually the choices.
And it's easy to see why. Kids menus offer smaller portions, lower prices and, usually, food kids are guaranteed to eat. No one wants to see a bowl of broccoli go in the trash and, for many, dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets are a far more appealing option.
But lately, more Twin Cities restaurants have been catering to another kind of eater — foodie kids. Or, at the very least, foodie parents who want to expose their children to some of the flavors they enjoy.
"We love going out to eat, so it was important to us that our daughter was interested in the choices she had," said Stacey Kvenvold.
