Another day, another new restaurant opened in Minneapolis. Last winter it seemed like restaurants were closing left and right, while this summer new restaurants are opening everywhere. About 2 weeks ago our little neighborhood got a new tenant, Brasa, a small rotisserie on East Hennepin in an old gas station which formerly housed "Betty's Bikes and Buns." Brasa advertises itself as inspired by diverse home cooking throughout the Western Hemisphere. This restaurant serves local and organic products. The menu is very limited however, only rotisserie chicken, from Glenwood, MN, and rotisserie pork, from Cottonwood, MN, as main courses with a handful of interesting side dishes. We split the 1/2 chicken and selected Collard Greens and Black Eyed Peas as our sides.
The food was good, but not great. Our server was very pleasant but he didn't seem very knowledgeable about the menu, which was disappointing considering we knew nothing about it either. Brasa also has a small selection of bottled beers and wines, although we refrained from indulging until we walked down to the Bulldog for a night cap. Brasa doesn't seem like it has quite made up its mind whether it is a fast food/take out or sit down/full service restaurant yet. Honestly, Brasa has a relaxing courtyard which makes a venture here appealing during the summer months, but it is difficult for me to see much business traveling out of their way to sit inside a small old gas station in the cold winters.www.brasa.us
