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| - Executive summary: salad was fantastic, seasonally rotating vegan AND gluten-sensitive entrée available, server was cheerful, helpful, and funny, atmosphere is cool, restrooms were clean, downtown = no parking. For my full review, read on!
I'm not usually a fan of salad as a dinner but their sweet corn Caesar salad was AMAZING! The beet soaked hard boiled egg was a nice touch and the poblano-caesar dressing was delicious.
They have a limited gluten-sensitive menu and since they don't have separate friers the frites could be an issue depending how sensitive you are. They do have the local herbivore which is a seasonal rotation of local produce made completely vegan AND gluten-sensitive. The night I was there it was a north African style dish with red peppers, cauliflower, parsnips, and carrots. Since I dislike two of those four veggies I opted for the salad instead, sans-croutons and baguette. My friend had the local herbivore though, and she loved it.
Our table also shared the cheese curds and frites. I've had better curds so I only had a few. They weren't worth risking the gluten. The frites were only ok in my opinion. I prefer crispy and these were pretty soggy. The ones at bottom of the cone were especially soggy and oily. The malt vinegar aioli was delicious though. Although, because malt vinegar can contain barley, rye, or wheat it's not gluten sensitive.
Our server was great: cheerful, helpful, interactive, and funny. She was also patient. She brought my friend at least 3 samples of beer because my friend couldn't decide which one to order.
The restaurant itself is long and narrow with tables on one side and a bar on the other. It's got a cool atmosphere, all old wood and exposed brick. The restrooms could be better lit. And the women's room only has two stalls but I think for an old building downtown that's the best you're likely to get. They were clean and well stocked and in the end, that's the most important.
Parking downtown is usually a hassle, especially right on the square so plan on parking in a ramp and hoofing it.
I might stop here again in a different season to check out the next local herbivore offering, or the next time I'm hankering for a sweet corn Caesar salad...man was it yummy!
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