Kafe 421 and Ginger Hop: restaurant week review

Before robins and tulips, the first signs of Spring for me are:
1. A sighting of someone wearing shorts, while the snow is still on the ground,
2. A motorcyclist all bundled just to be the first on the streets and
3. Minnesota Monthly Restaurant Week!!

Last week, I got to visit 2 restaurants that were offering special tasting menus: Kafe 421 and Ginger Hop

Kafe 421 421 14th Avenue Southeast Minneapolis, MN 55414-2005 (612) 623-4900 www.kafe421.com $15 Dinner Menu Starter: Greek Salad—Romaine hearts, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, green peppers, feta cheese, kalamata olives and oregano vinaigrette This was a just fine Greek salad. Nice crisp lettuce, with cheese and kalamata olives. Always a good way to start dinner and get that stomach ready for more! Entrée: Vegetarian Moussaka—Layers of potato, eggplant, zucchini and tomato topped with a thick béchamel and parmesan crust served with pomodoro This was so good and I didn’t see it on their regular menu so this was a treat! The sauce was much more tomato than bechamel (a white sauce of milk, butter, flour), but lovely and rich. Dessert: Ouzo scented crème brulee Baklava a la mode Well the dessert was suppose to be the crème brulee, however the server told us they just ran out and will have to substitute with the baklava (a la mode!). I may have been too excited upon that news! I am not a crème brulee fan, but baklava? Stand back! Overall: I wish I would remember to go here more! Good wine list, good food and the parking lot off 5th St SE validates (so I only had to pay $2). They also have a meal deal on Tuesdays and Sundays – check out the website for more info.

Ginger Hop 201 East Hennepin Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55414 (612) 746-0305 www.gingerhop.com $15 Dinner Menu Starter: Three cream cheese -OR – cream cheese and onion wontons I picked the three cream cheese and it didn’t disappoint! There was just the right amount of cream cheese so I wasn’t left with a pile of fried dough with no cream cheese to eat with it. Entrée: Sweet Green Curry -OR- Thai Fried Rice This was a tough choice, I am not sure how much I like Thai curry, but this was the night to try! So I ordered the Sweet Green Curry. It is not sweet! It is the spiciest thing I had in a long time, in fact I was pretty surprised how spicy it was without giving a person any warning. However, I can say I like curry when it is a coconut curry dish like this was! The crisp, fried tofu blended in wonderfully along with the red pepper, peas and eggplant. Dessert: Ginger ice cream with a ginger snap cookie Lovely finish, a nice creamy ice cream with a soft delicious gingersnap cookie Overall: The service was pretty lacking this night and I wish they took reservation instead of just call ahead. The sweet green curry is real spicy, with no warning, hoping that next time I can order with a reduced spice level. However, I learned that if I see coconut curry on the menu, I will ordering it again and again!

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