I like to meet one of my dealers in Minneapolis for breakfast to go over things privately before we head back to his store to do stuff with his sales staff. He has turned me on to a number of fun and funky places for breakfast in the Twin Cities over the years. On this trip to see him, we set up a breakfast meeting at another place I wasn't familiar with - The Bad Waitress. With a name like that, I definitely had to see what the place was all about.
When Christian Johnson moved to the Twin Cities to go to college over 20 years ago, his apartment was so cold that he spent much of his time at a neighborhood indie cafe drinking coffee and studying. He loved the cafe so much that when a chance to buy the place came up, he jumped at the chance. However, being that he was in his early 20's, he couldn't find the necessary capital to pull it off. His dream to own his own place vanished, just like that. But, in 2000, he found the financial resources to open a small coffee house - Spyhouse Coffee - which specialized in fair trade and organic coffee. But his dream of having a little cafe never left his soul.
A few years later, a small cafe a block down the street from Spyhouse Coffee became available. Johnson jumped at the chance to take over the spot with a new concept of semi-self-served patrons. In 2005, Johnson opened The Bad Waitress complete with movie posters and artwork from the 1940's and 50's. Customers had to seat themselves, they had to grab their own menus, they had to fill out their own orders, then they had to take the orders to the front counter. A wait staff member would deliver food and drinks, but that was pretty much about all they did for patrons. Actually, it was a great concept that people bought into right away. The place was always packed - especially during breakfast.
However, the coffee craze in the Twin Cities kept Johnson busy with Spyhouse Coffee - which had grown to three locations by 2012 - and it became quite evident that he had to make a decision on the future of The Bad Waitress. Another couple, Andy and Mary Cohen, came into the picture with a dream of their own.
For over 20 years, Andy Cohen had been associated with the Regis Corporation - the corporate franchise arm of Regis Salons which are found in over 40 states in the U.S., as well as in Canada and parts of Europe. He started with the company in 1991 as a public relations coordinator for the company, eventually becoming the director of salons for Regis in 1993. Five years later, Cohen became the VP of Operations for the MasterCuts division of Regis. After four years at that position, Cohen became the head of Regis' international division overseeing all the company's European expansion. And moving up the ladder once more in 2008, Cohen was named the president of the Regis and MasterCuts chains, a position he held for five years before leaving the company in 2012.
Mary Cohen had been a flight attendant for a number of years before she decided that flying the friendly skies, especially with two daughters who were growing up quickly. So, when the couple found out that Christian Johnson was looking to sell The Bad Waitress - one of their favorite restaurants - they took a cautious approach to see if that would be something they would like to do with their lives. Both came to the realization toward the end of 2013 that they could run the place and in the Spring of 2013 the couple took over ownership of The Bad Waitress. Changes were few, but the Cohen's did add beer and wine to the business.
Pictured at right - Andy and Mary Cohen. Photo courtesy Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
Expansion was something that wasn't quite on the minds of the Cohens at the start, but after running the little quirky cafe for a couple years they thought that they may be able to pull off something similar in a different area of town. Developers had renovated two old warehouses and turned them into trendy urban lofts and retail spaces on the northeast side of Minneapolis. The project - called 700 Central - was looking for interesting stores and restaurants to fill the ground floor spots in the building. The Bad Waitress was the perfect fit for the hip nature of people the developers were hoping to attract to the area. The Cohens signed up for a 3500 square foot commercial space in the building and expanded their bar offerings to include more contemporary-style cocktails. The couple had hoped to be open by the end of 2016, but delays pushed the grand opening of the second Bad Waitress location to February of 2017.
My dealer and I met up at the original Bad Waitress location in the middle of the Eat Street section of restaurants just south of downtown Minneapolis. (see map) Eat Street is the section of Nicollet Ave. that is home to nearly two dozen ethnic restaurants and unique cafes. I was able to find a parking spot just up the street on Nicollet from The Bad Waitress and we met inside.
The interior of The Bad Waitress is a funky little place with a counter, a number of booths along the window and decor that suggests a throw-back to the 1950's. Bright red walls behind the counter/bar sported old Coca-Cola signage above the serving window that looked back into the kitchen. There was a small dining area off to the side of the counter/bar.
We took a seat in one of the heavily-padded vinyl booths. The menus were on stands on the tables. I got a double espresso to start out while my guest got a coffee and an orange juice.
Breakfast is served all day at The Bad Waitress featuring pancakes, omelettes, breakfast burritos, scramble plates, French toast, and a vegan selection called "Trash Browns" that had broccoli, red peppers, onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes on top of a pile of hash brown potatoes. You could add meat to it if you didn't want to go full vegan, but they did have vegan sausage and tofu to throw on top along with cheese and eggs. For the lunch and later crowd who didn't want breakfast, sandwiches, burgers, wraps, soups and salads are available. A number of vegan dishes are available at The Bad Waitress. All of the food items are locally sourced and naturally-raised.
My guest knew the drill - he showed me the order slips on pads where we had to fill out at the table and present to someone at the front counter. I hesitated ordering for a moment as the French toast with blueberries sounded pretty damned good to me. But I usually don't eat much for breakfast - if anything - and I thought I'd better keep to that regimen for my diet's sake.
I ended up ordering the El Diablo - a breakfast sandwich with a choice of two eggs prepared to your liking, along with a choice of cheese and meat. I got the egg omelette-style - at the suggestion of the person behind the counter after I had put "scrambled" for my choice - and had it served with grilled slices of ham and Swiss cheese. I also had a choice of having the sandwich come on an English muffin or on a croissant. And it wasn't a small croissant. I also ordered an orange juice to go along with my breakfast.
My guest ordered the cheese and meat omelette - bacon and ham were his choices of the meat. Hash browns and toast came on the side with the omelette. The omelette covered the plate from edge to edge - and his plate was larger than mine. Had my wife and I been dining there we probably would've shared just one omelette.
My breakfast croissant was very good. I liked that they cooked the eggs in an omelette-style as scrambled eggs would have been falling out with every bite. The croissant was light and flaky, but held together well with the ham and melted Swiss cheese. At the end of the breakfast, I was satiated enough where I didn't think I needed anything again until much later in the day.
Once again, my friend didn't steer me wrong on a unique, fun and funky place to eat in the Twin Cities. The Bad Waitress is quirky enough that it may turn off some people who don't know the procedures of ordering on your own after you've seated yourself and gotten your own menus. But the food would satisfy anyone who felt that style of a restaurant was tacky. But tacky is what they're going for at The Bad Waitress. Don't expect anything fancy, don't expect to get pampered, and don't expect anything more than diner quality food. But it's good diner quality food - and the portions are very generous. The Bad Waitress is a memorable dining experience for people of all ages.
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