After taking up residence in the warehouse distict fresh out of art school, we'd strumbled into the Manto Carlo for a late night chaser or a Brunch after sleeping in on Sunday morning. This was a place you could take you girl to show her you still cared after a wild weekend -- or she could take you when the roles were reversed and you wondered where you lost her the evening before.
Monte Carlo set a standard for family-style Sunday Brunch - a formable weekly meal for warehouse dwellers accustomed to living all week off wine and cheese trays from the old Minneapolis art crawl or crusts of bread and bowls of soup at the New French Cafe. Waiters and waitresses would keep shoveling heaping plates of potato, eggs, ham, sausage, and bacon along with dark brown pumpernickle toast and pots of strawberry jelly for a fixed price as long as you were hungry. Joe Kaplan, chef/owner of Joe's Garage recalls those days and has styled his rooftop family Sunday Brunch after Monte Carlos.
Lunch and dinner are comprised of fairly standard American dishes served in large portions. On the dark paneled walls you will find B&W signed fotos of collegiate sports figures, Twin's players from the era of the old Met in Bloomington, and the Minnesota Lakers.
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