The Breakfast Sandwich from Bread & Pickle at Lake Harriet

Tricia Cornell / Heavy Table

This is a harbinger of great things to come. A hot, fresh egg sandwich, eaten by the sailboat moorings on Lake Harriet in the spring sunshine — a start like that can only lead to a fantastic Minnesota day.

And, for those who look forward to the opening of the Lake Harriet refectory as the beginning of the picnic and concert season, this year is promising to be even better than usual. Bread & Pickle opened a little less than a week ago, replacing an undistinguished popcorn-ice cream-hot dog establishment that mostly had nostalgia going for it.

Kim Bartmann, the force behind Barbette, Bryant Lake Bowl, and Red Stag (and now Bread & Pickle and the soon-to-come Pat’s Tap and Humble Pie, in the old Gigi’s spot), has gotten the tiny refectory kitchen ready to turn out fresh sandwiches, burgers, picnic fixings, and — most important to the dedicated lake walkers — breakfast.

Tricia Cornell / Heavy Table

Starting at 7am daily, the breakfast menu includes sandwiches, granola, scones, and muffins. The Organic Egg & Cheddar Sandwich ($4) is simple and nearly perfect: an English muffin, sharp white cheddar, and an overeasy egg with a fat, golden yolk, all dripping with butter — local, of course. (Perhaps best eaten after jogging or walking the 2.75 miles around the lake.)

Get a Crack Press coffee with cold press and sweetened condensed milk ($5), a Barbette favorite, open your laptop (yep, there’s wifi) and linger by the sailboats. You only have about 166 more chances until the season’s over — and you’re not going to want to miss a single one.

Tricia Cornell / Heavy Table

 

Bread & Pickle
Refectory at Lake Harriet

4136 W Lake Harriet Pkwy, Minneapolis, MN 55410
OWNER: Kim Bartmann
HOURS:
Daily 7am-9pm
BAR: None
RESERVATIONS / RECOMMENDED?: No / No
VEGETARIAN / VEGAN: Yes / Yes
ENTREE RANGE:
$4-9

17 Comments

  1. Jane

    I agree with ryanl. I went there for dinner, and while it was lovely to eat by the lake, $5 for a tiny paper cup of frozen fries was way too steep. The black bean burger was delicious, though!

  2. George

    Yeah, kinda pricey and more run of the mill foods. They’d do a lot better to copy the “Tin Fish” of Lake Calhoun.

  3. SarahinMinneapolis

    Agree with others, above. $6 for an egg and ham sandwich is too much. Whole menu looks over-priced. Stupidly priced. Not a menu that will encourage repeat business.

  4. Bruce

    $4 or $6 for a breakfast sandwich is a perfectly reasonable price to pay for actual food, you know, a locally sourced egg, local cheese, actually baked recently english muffin. An Egg McMuffin is not food, and it isn’t priced as food. And readers of this magazine likely know that. I think the food is actually comparably priced compared to Tin Fish, which, with the exception of the Mini Tin, is a pricey plate of loveliness. I’m very much looking forward to actual food at Lake Harriet, as opposed to the more low priced frozen panini, “taco in a fritos bag,” or crap ice cream novelties that dominated the place for years.

  5. Erika

    I’ve only tried a limited portion of the menu so far, but my take at this point pretty much echo’s what has been said – pricey for something that doesn’t necessarily blow me away. Tried the granola for breakfast one morning, and for the same price (and taste) I could have bought an entire bag at the co-op. And the ice cream, while definitely *good* (hard to mess up vanilla bean) left me wanting the traditional hard-scoop from years past.

    Does anyone know if they changed the popcorn? I see it still on the menu.

  6. Evan

    Stopped by this weekend and can agree with the above that it is certainly overpriced. I haven’t tried the food, but $4 for a cup of cold-press is a bit ridiculous. Can’t beat the ambience, however.

  7. Tricia Cornell

    I really appreciate everyone’s comments. I live in the neighborhood and love the park and I obviously want places like this to succeed, so hearing other people’s reactions is very interesting to me.

    But I’ve been baffled by the comments about price. So I thought back to what I’ve spent recently on food.

    The last place I had a burger was the Blue Door Pub: $5.50-$7.50
    Burgers at Bread and Pickle: $5.50-$8.75

    The last place I ordered granola was French Meadow: $6
    Granola at Bread and Pickle: $4

    The last place I ordered a cold press was Dunn Bros.: definitely north of $3, although I don’t remember exactly
    Cold press at Bread and Pickle: $4

    The last place I ordered an egg salad sandwich was Zelino: $7
    Egg salad at Bread and Pickle: $5.50

    The last time I ate a great meal on the shore of a Minneapolis lake was at Sea Salt: $11ish for a basket of seafood and fries
    A meal by the lake at Bread and Pickle: $9.75 for a cheeseburger and fries

    I think these are all fair comparisons, so I don’t find Bread and Pickle out of line at all. I do hope enough people agree with me.

  8. ryanl

    @bruce I used the egg mcmuffin to illustrate a point obviously it is not same deal. Plus who in their right mind would by a mcmuffin when the mcgriddle has been invented – it has syrup injected pancakes for buns!

  9. Stuart Cone

    I used to like Tin Fish until I saw one of the managers put out water for dogs, kiss and pet the first dog that came to get a drink, and then serve without washing her hands. I observed this a second time later that summer. Yuck.

  10. Nan

    Nostalgia or not, wish Kim would get the popcorn as good as it was before. We used to buy bags and bring them back to Minnetonka for a week of noshing. Not tempted these days, the current bag is less than satisfying!

Comments are closed.