Annie D.
Yelp
A sunny Sunday brought me to Lake Harriet to try the new Bread & Pickle on its first weekend in business.
The setting is unbeatable. It's right on Lake Harriet, for goodness sakes! Casual and family-friendly, with the bandshell right next door. The no-frills menu is great for a concession stand, but I was expecting a little more frills given that Ms. Bartmann is behind it. You'll find hot dogs, burgers, black bean burgers (prepared with better ingredients and care than most concessions, of course), but nothing particularly inventive in terms of fixings or sauces. It's solid, albeit safe... and, regardless, it tastes just like summer.
I stepped up to the counter and ordered the cheeseworks burger, which came with a tangy white cheddar, chopped lettuce, tomato, special sauce and grilled onions. Kinda like a glorified Big Mac, and totally delicious. It was really good, but an amped-up sauce and more onions could bring it up to a 10 for me. I actually couldn't taste the onions at all and almost went back up to the counter to ask for some until my friend pointed them out (with a magnifying glass). Still, that didn't take away from the fact that it was a fantastically made burger. Yum.
We tried to order a basket of cheese curds to share, but they were out so we went with fries, which I wouldn't bother with again. Go for the Red Stag kettle corn with truffle oil instead. That stuff is MIND-blowing. OMG. They serve Izzy's Ice Cream, breakfast sandwiches, coffee, Mighty Leaf teas and little dog treats for the canine customers. I heard they are going to do picnic-style meals once they get into their groove, so I hope that rumor is true.
There's a small indoor ordering area in addition to the counter outside, plus outdoor seating only. It's not cheap ($8.75 for a burger a la carte, $7 for cheese curds), but can we really expect anything to be cheap on this real estate? Let's get real.