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A colossal pleasure – the Colossal Cafe opens

Yes, it is winter and it’s cold and it’s certainly dark too. But there is good news – another Colossal Cafe has opened in St Paul.

You may be familiar with their first outlet, situated on Cedar Avenue, which has built up a reputation built around the tagline ‘Made From Scratch’. The new cafe is in Saint Anthony Park, in fact in the former Saint Anthony Park Clinic.

The original Colossal was started in early 2005 by Bess Giannakakis and flourished to such an extent that it was snapped up in 2010 by John and Elizabeth Tinucci who have been running it ever since.

The joke about the original Colossal Cafe is that it is absolutely tiny – this place is definitely for eating, so leave your laptop and that fascinating article on lovemoney.com or The Times at home. There simply isn’t room for lounging around like it was your living room.

The new building is a somewhat larger so you will be able to taste their delicious meals without the danger of having to join the queue.

If you’re wondering what fresh food they serve, they describe it as the best sort of US cooking with a European twist. Highlights include Flappers, which make a delicious breakfast. Also, they have an amazingly delicious marinated pork sandwich – the marinade is something else.

The new cafe opened on December 20 and goes some way to make up for the spate of restaurant closures we’ve seen over the last few months including Il Gatto, Abu Nader and Sui Yep Cafe.

While we’re at it, Meritage has announced they have a new, updated menu. This uptown restaurant has a reputation built on quality and their superb Chef Klein, who trained in some high quality New York kitchens as well as studying at the French Culinary Institute in NYC with Jacques Pepin.