Miineapolis Eats: French Meadow Bakery and Cafe

I love love love French Meadow's Hemp Bread, so when I heard that the bakery was in Minneapolis, and that it was actually more cafe than bakery, I knew I had to go. I immediately checked the menu online, and was psyched to find quite a few vegan options, all of which sounded delicious, and all of which were marked with a cute little 'V'. I determined FM would be my first meal in Minneapolis and a mere 3 hours after landing, I was sitting at a comfy table in the rather large French Meadow Bakery and Cafe, swirling an organic red wine, noshing on amazing fresh-baked bread (left) and awaiting some deliciousness. I love when a plan comes together!
















First up, I had the Greek salad without the feta. It may look like your standard salad, but everything was super fresh and the lemon-herb dressing knocks it out of the park. So yummy. For my entree, it was a hard decision, but I went with the Sweet Corn Arepas. These soft corncakes are topped with vegan sausage, red peppers, spinach and a balsamic sauce that is just to die for. Absolutely fantastic. I wish something like this was on a menu near me.

My pal and I were stuffed, but with something called Vegan Chocolate Turtle Cake on the menu, we knew dessert was a must. I mean - look at it! Moist chocolate cake with a caramel nut filling and topping. It's a damn shame we were so full, because the few bites we managed to eat were awesome. We just couldn't finish it. Sigh...

Dinner was so good, we decided to go back for breakfast two days later. FM does a brisk brunch business. No sit down service here; In the daylight hours, you order at the counter and then take a seat with your placard (ours contained pics of uber-hot vegan Zooey Deschanel) and wait for your food to arrive. When it does, you devour it, along with some of the best coffee around. We both got this vegan breakfast comprised of a most tantalizing tofu scramble, potatoes, vegan sausage, and more of that great bread - this time in toast form. If there is a better way to start I day, I don't want to know about it.

I thought that was to be the end of my French Meadow experience... but NO! As I was wandering around the airport waiting to head back to SF, scanning menus and finding nothing of interest for a pre-flight lunch, I turned a corner and saw:

Can you believe it? In the mutherbleepin' airport! MSP will forever be my most fave from now on. I happily walked in, resistied the urge to get the arepas again, and went for the simple Organic Green Salad:

Fluffy organic lettuce is dressed to the nines with balsamic, carrots, beets, and sunflower seeds. A light and super-tasty lunch, perfect for digesting on a plane. Thank you, airport French Meadow.

Yes, I did eat at places besides French Meadow while in Minneapolis. Stay tuned to find out where....