Location
3544 Grand Ave., Minneapolis
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Ratings
| Location: | ★★★ |
| Atmosphere: | ★★★ |
| Coffee: | ★★★★★ |
| Food: | ★★★★★ |
| Service: | ★★★★ |
| Vibe: | ★★★★ |
| Overall: | ★★★★ |
Pros
Excellent coffee, extensive menu of brunch and baked goods, great service.
Cons
Really hot, slightly crowded-feeling space.
Review
If I even knew Butter was here, it was only in passing. SLP had mentioned it a few times, but in general I always thought of this small commercial strip as simply being the home of a laundromat and homeopathic herb shop Present Moment (the latter of which I was mostly familiar with from its public access cable quasi-infomercials about a decade ago), a strip I drove past frequently when I lived in Uptown but had never bothered to turn down Grand Ave. to examine more closely.
Once again, now that I’m here, I’m glad I made the trip. Although my first impression upon entering was an assault of unpleasant heat, after removing my jacket and getting my bearings, I found Butter to be a comfortable, if somewhat cramped, place to be. Apparently they frequently feature live music, and I find it hard to envision how the space could accommodate much of a performance, but its counter service, along with a good number of 2- and 4-top tables, allowed us to find a place to sit immediately despite a fairly sizeable crowd.
Service was quick and friendly, and food and coffee drinks are delivered right to your table — a nice touch, and a good way to prevent a cluster of customers standing by the barista waiting for their orders. My cappuccino — possibly the best I have tasted in all of my reviews to date — arrived within a couple of minutes, and the excellent and (perhaps too) generously-portioned food items arrived a few minutes after that. The food is excellent as well. Today is the third day in a row that I’ve had some variant of huevos rancheros for breakfast — first, made by me on Saturday (not so good); second, at Day by Day Cafe in St. Paul yesterday (very good); and now today at Butter (wow!).
This is called a “huevos burrito,” which may or may not be “a thing” in Mexico; I’m ignorant of that. But regardless of whether it’s common fare south of the border or is Butter’s own twist on huevos rancheros (I’m guessing it’s the latter), it’s excellent. The tortilla is fresh and tasty, it’s stuffed with a nice blend of eggs, fried potatoes and salsa, and it’s topped with vegetarian chili and shredded cheddar. Yum…
SLP ordered a biscuit sandwich. I’d like to see McDonald’s produce something like this!
I need to stop writing this review now, because it’s going to take me the rest of the day to finish my food and the jumbo bucket of cappuccino I ordered to go with it!
