Of course I was eavesdropping, and wouldn't you know it? The diner seated at the table immediately to my right seemed to be reading my mind.
"I wish this restaurant was in our neighborhood," she sighed to her companion.
I wanted to lean over and say, "I'm with you," but that felt like crossing a personal-space boundary that causes anxiety among Minnesotans.
We were all enjoying another satisfying meal at St. Paul's Colossal Cafe. If that sounds familiar, it's because the restaurant's Minneapolis sibling (the name is tongue-and-cheek, as the place is seriously tiny) has been serving up some serious short-order breakfast-and-lunch fare for, what, six years?
The Tinucci family -- John and Carrie and their daughter Elizabeth, proprietors of the long-running Tinucci's in Newport -- bought the place from founder Bess Giannakakis in 2010. While preserving much of what made the Colossal so special -- the yeast-driven flapjacks remain the best-selling a.m. dazzler that they've always been -- they've also made considerable improvements.
Their most ambitious moment came late last year, when they moved into St. Paul's St. Anthony Park neighborhood, adding much-needed elbow room, beer and wine and, most important, dinner service. The result? The jack-of-all-trades destination that should be within walking distance of every Twin Citian.
The retaurant's motto, "American scratch cooking," isn't a shallow marketing ploy, it's the real thing, from baker Jason Ermer's well-made breads to chef Andy Lilja's vibrant, flavorful cooking.
Lilja sticks to his locavore instincts -- his past gigs included a tenure at Heartland -- while managing to hover in the neighborhood cafe price spectrum. He will never be able to remove the über-succulent, teasingly smoky pork ribs from the menu, they're that hypnotizingly good. Those in search of a simple chicken dinner have an oasis here, with a generous portion of crispy outside, juicy inside bird and all the right (roasted fingerlings, butter-drenched sauteed spinach) trimmings.
