Last fall's Literary Scavenger Hunt took me twice to a place near and dear to my writerly heart: Open Book, home to the Minnesota Center for Book Arts and, the very first week, to both the Loft and Milkweed Press. That's just a whole lot of literary loveliness in one place (and feel free to visit my original posts to see how cool the actual building is), but there's another little place right on the first floor worth mentioning: the Coffee Gallery. Because all those literary arts types need nourishment and caffeine too.
The Coffee Gallery offers a full range of coffee drinks along with baked goods, and a solid lineup of hot and cold sandwiches, plus a couple of soups each day. There are choices for meat lovers, vegetarians, and occasionally some vegan items as well. Nothing fancy--just good food done nicely and reasonably priced.
Sorry for the craptastic picture. Really, it looked better than this. I had the Brently sandwich, a toasted cheese, sun-dried tomato, and avocado mix, with the vegan/gluten-free Mexican tortilla soup with hominy instead of tortillas. I'm often leery of vegan/gluten-free, because sometimes there's a sacrifice of flavor involved, but this was flavorful, with just a nice amount of heat that didn't make my nose run, but kicked up the taste level.
If you're wandering around Washington Avenue and want a quick and easy lunch, this is the place to stop. Bonus: you get to wonder which of the many writers floating around might someday become famous.
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