128 Cafe

Jeannie and I had a nice quiet date at the 128 Cafe recently. It's a small, chef-owned restaurant in St. Paul near St. Thomas. The restaurant is located in the bottom floor of an older apartment building. The space itself is kind of odd. The tablecloths and flickering candles were an odd contrast to the shiny cafe  counter stools and wide knotty pine.

 The menu was relatively small, but almost every item looked really interesting. I had grilled vegetables with shrimp served with saffron cous cous. The cous cous included a variety of raisin I had never had before called golden raisins. They gave the dish a really nice sweet note..

The only thing I have against this restaurant was that it was cold. I wondered if the temperature problem was just because the season had just changed. The heater on the wall made me think the drafty cool atmosphere might be the normal state of things in the winter.

 I couldn't find any parking in the area so had to use their five dollar valet parking. Apparently all the side streets in the area are reserved for St. Thomas students. When I go back I'll have to figure out where I can find a parking spot in the area since I would rather spend the money on an appetizer instead of valet parking.

The restaurant was intimate. The food was very good. I wanted to order almost everything on the menu, far more than I could possibly eat. I'll be back again. Next time I'll wear a sweater or wait until spring.