The Birchwood Cafe, Minneapolis

The Birchwood Cafe, a short walk from the Mississippi River in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis, serves delicious fresh, natural, locally-sourced foods, beers and wines. The Birchwood Cafe runs many other admirable eco-friendly programs to reduce their waste and carbon footprint, so guests can dine with a clear eco-conscience.

In a eco-friendly mood, I cycled from my home in downtown St. Paul to meet some friends for dinner at the Birchwood Cafe in Minneapolis' Seward neighborhood. I thought the bike ride would balance out one of the Birchwood Cafe's incredible cakes or pies.

At the Birchwood Cafe, the menu changes weekly. The Birchwood Cafe always uses seasonal ingredients, most are locally sourced, and sustainably grown. Many ingredients are organic, the eggs are free-range and more exotic ingredients are obtained through fair trade.

And talking of ingredients, many of their dishes have a lot of them. For instance, the Zucchini "Scallops" on the menu when I visited included pan-seared zucchini with kohlrabi mash, spicy brown rice, red beet salsa, sautéed garlic green beans with mapled almonds, balsamic reduction and Birchwood baguette. The combination worked perfectly.

The cakes and pies are simpler, but just as good. The brownies are the size and weight of cinder blocks, dense yet fluffy chocolate slabs. The Key Lime Pie is the prettiest I've seen and tastes as good as it looks.

Local wines, beers, coffee drinks (I could drink a gallon or two of Chai Latte) and Izzy's ice cream are also on the menu.

Maybe it was because I biked over and back, but I wish some of their menu items were a little more filling. I'm wanting to raid my kitchen a couple of hours after dinner at Birchwood. I appreciate that ethical food is more expensive than the regular kind, but it makes some of their dishes feel like poor value, especially when other menu items are great, filling and well priced.

It would take a couple of meals at the Birchwood Cafe to get a feel for what dishes are the best value, and make a better choice according to appetite. I'd happily return, and I didn't mind filling up on one of their brownies I bought home when I was still hungry after my entree.