Cafe Latte

850 Grand Ave., St. Paul, MN - (651) 224-5687

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Posted By Michael Stern on 9/28/2007 9:10:00 PM

We staggered into Café Latte after spending a day north of the Twin Cities in Braham, Minnesota’s pie capital. We had just judged the small town’s pie-baking contest, and after sampling eighteen of the finest apple, rhubarb, and berry pies imaginable, all we could imagine for supper was a green salad!

Café Latte filled the bill perfectly. It is a breezy cafeteria that offers all sorts of fresh, healthy salads to order, i.e. Indonesian rice salad, grilled chicken Caesar salad, asparagus-lemon salad. It is entirely possible to eat a meal of which any nutrition warden would approve. There are lovely sandwiches available, different interesting soups every day, and small-size pizzas ranging from au gratin roasted vegetable to a “Mediterranean” with olives, cheeses, artichokes, and basil-flavored sauce.

What we forgot when we headed for Café Latte to find relief from our pie-eating pig-out was that this place also happens to make the best cakes on earth: chocolate banana, German chocolate, orange chocolate-chunk cheesecake, chocolate kahlua torte, English pecan triple sec fudge, and the king of all pastries, turtle cake. Inspired by the candy of the same name, turtle cake is three chocolate layers gobbed with an obscene amount of caramel frosting and loaded with walnuts. It is a dessert no sweet tooth can refuse, even after eating eighteen pies.

As the restaurant’s name suggests, all sorts of espresso-based drinks are available (as are wine by the glass and afternoon tea, the latter served with scones, cookies and little sandwiches). The fancy coffee beverage of our choice is a Mandarin cocoa latte with candied orange slivers and chocolate sprinkles.

Scorecard

Overall: Legendary - Worth driving from anyplace

Three Layer Chocolate Cake	any bread
Turtle Cake	Tortilla Soup
Tin Roof Tart	Chili
Caesar salad

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"The unbeatable combination of chocolate, caramel, and pecans here reaches its epiphany. Cafe Latte's turtle cake is so beloved that the restaurant has printed postcards featuring its picture."
Michael Stern

"While we tend to free-associate Cafe Latte with the most sinful of desserts, it is also a place that serves some mighty fine salads. Here is the house version of a Caesar salad, gilded with a massive amount of marinated artichoke hearts and Greek olives."
Michael Stern

"The sweetness of the chocolate in a tin roof tart is balanced by buttery caramel and and a dense layer of crisp, salted redskin peanuts."
Michael Stern

"A bowl of chicken chili is here accompanied by a Romano cheese-infused breadstick from the Cafe Latte bakery."
Michael Stern

"Can you see just how moist the three layers of this cake are? Each slice is huge and that, combined with its essential richness, makes this one whopper of a dessert."
Michael Stern

"Cafe Latte offers a variety of Caesar-style salads, including traditional and a house version that adds artichoke hearts, Greek olives, and sliced tomatoes to the mix. Each individual salad is made to order, so you can specify if you want a little more of this or that."
Michael Stern

"The cafeteria line is getting crowded just before noon. In our experience, though, there is seldom a wait. Sandwiches and salads are made fast, and soups dished out with alacrity."
Michael Stern

"Exterior photo."
ROBERT STEVENS