The girls and I had a dinner date out this month and it was my turn to pick. I was in a chill, wine bar sort of mood. The last time we had our girls’ night out, we tried to find a coffee shop after dinner. Kim discovered Studio 2, a coffee and wine bar in south Minneapolis. However, upon arrival that night, it was closed for a private event.

I decided this month was now the time to go back and give it a try!

At Studio 2, it’s more like a coffee shop in that you order at the counter. See that record standing up near my glass in the photo above? That’s the table marker. We had Guns N’ Roses. Drinks are served as you order; food is delivered to your table. As you can sort of see, there were no seats at the bar like a wine bar would have. This was truly more coffee shop in style.

Of course, I checked out the menu before I settled on this as my Dinner Night Out pick. From their website:

All of our food is made from scratch, using fresh ingredients sourced from local vendors and farms whenever possible. Our community kitchen is home to other local bakers and makers, our walls are open to local artists, and our stage resounds with singers, songwriters and speakers.

I had my eye on two of the dishes, too!

Jen and Kim both ordered the Grilled Cuban with Alexian ham, provolone, house B&B pickles and Dijon mustard on a multigrain baguette. They got their choice of salad or chips.

The bread was sort of dry and overall, not their favorite sandwich, nor Cuban.

I, on the other hand, was debating between the Chicken Laab, which is a Thai chicken salad with brown rice, carrot, cabbage, cucumber and a citrus vinaigrette, or the Autumn Bowl. It took the barista’s opinion to help me make my decision!

“The Autumn Bowl is nice and comforting on a night like tonight!”

This bowl was exactly that – comforting. For the record, I’m not a fan of sweet potatoes. But the bowl intrigued me nonetheless. And now that I re-read this, I think I actually assumed they were carrots while I was eating them! This dish had the perfect mixture of flavors and textures. The dressing didn’t saturate the dish. In fact, I might not have called it a dressing. It’s not that the dish was dry – far from it! It was more that it was full of flavor.

It was the perfect dish.

I also liked that their wine list did not include the usual suspects, but rather, some more interesting wines:

It had been so long since I’d had a Cahors-region wine! The also have a nice selection of bottle craft beers.

We dined a bit early because I read online that there was music that evening and I wasn’t sure about getting a seat. Just before that began, the place sort of transformed! The menu was covered up and a Specials list was posted. Only these foods would be available during the performance. I was so glad that we had come early. Otherwise, I might not have been introduced to that Autumn Bowl!

Also, stools were pulled out and put up to the bar, assumingly for people to have a closer view of the band. We heard them just fine, but were still able to sit and chat. Despite their housemade coffee syrups, I ordered a plain old Americano and some dessert. I had – get this – a Vanilla Porter Brownie! It was so good and a great ending to a meal.

Winter may have finally come, but I’m still dreaming about that Autumn Bowl at Studio 2.

Name a new-to-you comfort food or dish!

Cheers~
Carrie