This past Saturday Josh and I went camping in Savage. You heard that right, camping in Savage. There’s a little RV park and campground hidden behind the Tin Shed which can hold tons of RVs and a few tents. Being that our usual camping spot was under 25 feet of water I went on a search for other local spots which would be close and not flooded.
Anyway, after a day of bags, beer, and hot dogs we met up with Joey at the nearby Windmill Cafe on Sunday morning for some serious breakfast. Back in February, MSPD reviewed the Windmill Cafe as a place which cured many of his hangovers and provided him with a respite from modern America as if this cafe, perched on the cusp of MN-13, was placed there just so that people could take a step back in time and enjoy life as it was always meant to be.
As we walked in we halved the average age of the patrons inside. Most were huddled around chatting with each other over steaming cups of coffee while, as Joey later put it, solving the world’s economic and social problems from their counter-side stools. I immediately noticed the upper right-hand rack of mugs sporting a windmill and the name of the honor-bestowed patron who owned the mug. My mind wandered and I wondered what ritual hazing was required to receive one. Did those men earn them on their 7301st day of eating the #2?
While the outside of the Windmill Cafe is a simple tan paint covering what used to be bright baby blue cinder block, the inside is pleasantly decorated and comfortable. The staff were lurking in the back working hard to shovel huge plates of food out from the kitchen to the hungry regulars circling the counter and first few tables near the front. Most of the men at 8 AM were there to chat, some only finally ordering food as we left 40 minutes later, this is more than just a cafe, it’s a meeting and gathering place for many from around the South Metro.
The waitress was extremely prompt, friendly but not overbearing, and took our casual head bobs and looks around the restaurant as silent cues that we needed assistance. We ordered a coffee and an OJ while we waited for Joey who arrived soon after 8 AM. I had spent an inordinate amount of time looking over the menu of mainly breakfast items but several lunch items. The prices weren’t unreasonable by any means but most items were not inexpensive either. I was surprised by this figuring this would be a $3.50 breakfast but clearly they put a little more love, attention and care into their food than the exterior would lead you to believe.
I ordered my usual two eggs (sunny side up), bacon, hash browns and toast (sourdough). Josh went with biscuits and gravy with a side of hash browns and Joey with eggs, ham steak, and hash browns. The three of us spent out time chatting and watching as more and more tables filled up. Plenty of fathers and sons, fathers and daughters, and other groups of men doing the same thing people have done in here for decades. The vibe was wonderful and something which no other local restaurant I have visited in the last 8 years provides.
Our food arrived on platters sized to feed for two and was presented in a no-nonsense manner. My eggs were done to perfection, the bacon was just the right crispiness, and the hash browns didn’t appear as if they had fallen out of the back of the Sysco truck. My decaf coffee never hit bottom throughout my entire visit and I had no problems scarfing all of the food down after dousing it with the provided ketchup and Tabasco.
Josh’s biscuits and gravy, something I normally abhor, was actually quite tasty. While Josh prefers his with some kick in the sausage he understands the lack of such a draw for Minnesotans. He was very pleased with it and it was the first time in a very long time I saw him eat the entirety of such a huge portion of food.
Joey’s meal of ham, scrambled eggs and pancakes also seemed very good. His ham steak was the size of my kitchen cutting board and was thick enough that if he had cracked me upside the head with it I’m sure I’d be sporting a black and blue today. While Josh and I powered through our meals, Joey took his sweet time savoring every last bite.
Even though I had very high expectations for the Windmill Cafe in Savage, they went above and beyond my every thought over the last eight years and elevated themselves into the inner sanctum of places which I seriously would visit daily if my commute and personal Budget Nazi permitted. I could seriously see myself becoming a newspaper man, or doing the modern day equivalent–in direct violation of MSPD’s daydream–with my iPhone, sitting at the counter sipping coffee and chatting up everyone around me about how the Vikings should be glad they had a bye week so they could at least try and get their acts together before it’s entirely too late.
Have you ever eaten at the Windmill Cafe in Savage? If so, what did you think? What do you like there best? When do you normally eat there (breakfast, lunch, hangover cure)? What other local restaurants remind you of the Windmill Cafe and are worthy of a visit? Whatever you have to say about the Windmill Cafe in Savage go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say.
Address:
Windmill Cafe
5367 Hwy 13 W
Savage, MN 55378
Phone:
952-890-9838
Hours:
Monday to Friday: 4:30 AM – 2:00 PM
Satuday and Sunday: 6:00 AM – 2:00 PM
See all the pictures from the Windmill Cafe on Flickr here.
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October 6th, 2010 at 8:27 am
Ya know, I’ve driven by this place 1000x at least – but never stopped. Would I be out of place I wondered? Well, now I know, we MUST get in there – soon!
Thanks for the heads up!
October 6th, 2010 at 8:44 am
Great review.
October 6th, 2010 at 9:55 am
Keep beating the drum! As with the last writeup, I suspect there will be a lot of posts like darcie’s saying, “I’ve driven by but never stopped.” Put it on your calendar, day timer, Outlook reminders, whatever…a morning breakfast at the Windmill is a step into a dying world that’s being replaced by frou frou places with names like “Grille” and “Eatery”.
As I mentioned before, and you touched on re: the sausage in the biscuits and gravy, the Windmill is hot food, not haute cuisine. Everything is mid-grade, free of cutesy slices of underripe cantaloupe or worthless parsley, and generously portioned. It’s as much food for your soul as it is your belly.
Here’s my recipe for a perfect Fall weekend this Saturday — get up 30 minutes earlier than normal, throw on a work outfit, fuel up at the Windmill, put a college football game or whatever on the radio, and go to town on your Fall yardwork, raking, or whatever.
Heaven.
October 6th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Not totally on topic, but I think it illustrates what MSPD is saying.
I had some friends in town a few weeks ago, and we stopped at Matts Bar for some beer and Jucy Lucy’s. One friend ordered a beer and asked the waitress to bring him a lemon to put in it. Totally deadpan, she looked at him and said “We serve beer here, not fruit.”
October 6th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
EVERY time I drive by the Windmill Cafe, I also think I’ll have to stop one day. My husband and I LOVED this review. Thanks!
October 6th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Do they take plastic? Lots of small places like this don’t. Though some do. Usually depends on if the Grand Kids are running the place yet or not. Old timers balk at the fees.
October 6th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Mikeh, yes they take plastic.
October 6th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
And it’s not run by the grand kids.
October 6th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
Bill, you “let the cat out of the bag” on this one. This place IS the perfect example of the perfect “stuck in a time warp” ma and pa small town perfect farmer’s breakfast cafe. I’ve been there AND love it!!!! Thanks.
October 6th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
Good biscuits and gravy are hard to find in Minnesota. The gravy is usually way too bland. This sounds like a spot I’ll have to check out.
October 7th, 2010 at 4:44 am
[...] visits and digs the Windmill Cafe in Savage, Safari Express is going to start serving camel burgers, a rundown of the Saturday lineup [...]
November 2nd, 2010 at 7:32 am
[...] MSPD for lunch at a place I have been passing but not stopping, much like the recently reviewed Windmill Cafe, Wally’s Roast Beef. Open since 1969, this is a Bloomington lunch-time institution and one [...]
December 23rd, 2010 at 10:55 am
[...] Porter Creek Hardwood Grill 2. Windmill Cafe 3. Valley Diner 4. Junior’s Sports Cafe 5. Chateau Lamothe (closed) 6. India Palace 7. [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 2:36 pm
I’ve been in all 50 states and in 23 countries, and as one of the lucky few who has his own mug in the corner, I’m still more fond of the Windmill than almost any other restaurant I’ve had the pleasure to eat in! Getting a mug isn’t too hard, you just have to eat (and tip) at the counter enough times to become “First Name friends” with the waitresses. A handful of us regulars were presented with the mugs as Christmas gifts. Look closely at the mugs, and you’ll see our nicknames or our favorite “overused phrase” printed on the backside.
The chicken fried steak and eggs over easy never gets old for me, the eggs are absolutely perfect, every single time. The only thing that makes me sad is that people seem to be discovering it at a faster rate than it takes us old timers to die off! Be extra nice to the taller brunette waitress with the glasses, she owns the place. Introduce yourself and soak the place in; it beats I-HOP by an American mile!
January 4th, 2011 at 6:16 pm
Does writing a nifty article about them count for anything?
January 4th, 2011 at 7:56 pm
Maybe The Windmill is in on the “MSPD’s-writing-wins-nothing” conspiracy.
January 4th, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Who isn’t?
January 5th, 2011 at 7:11 am
Is it really a conspiracy, or just more of a good policy?
January 5th, 2011 at 8:14 am
Ahhhh, the “Entitlement Generation” rears its head… “I wrote an article so I want my mug right NOW!” Sorry kid. You gotta earn it. It ain’t hard; it just takes time.
January 5th, 2011 at 8:16 am
kjw, he’s joking.
January 5th, 2011 at 8:39 am
Groan. kjw, maybe if you read the article I wrote you’d see that, clearly, I’m not part of the “entitlement generation”. I, too, have been going to the Windmill for the better part of 20 years, dating back to when I moved to Minnesota.
And, yes, I was joking. I hope you were too.
January 5th, 2011 at 9:25 am
Yes, I read your article. Your article had the link at the bottom that took me to THIS article… I, too, was joking. :)
January 5th, 2011 at 9:31 am
Ah. Good to know.
To extend the olive branch, if you’re ever on the other side of town near South St. Paul (and haven’t already been), check out Stockmen’s Truck Stop off of Concord/Hardman Ave. Not the same as the Windmill, but in the same “near-death” breed of great American restaurants.
I’ve invited the purveyor of this Web site over there to check it out.
January 5th, 2011 at 9:40 am
That guy is a jackass. The only reason you’d do that is so that you can get in his good graces and maybe win a website contest for once.
January 5th, 2011 at 10:19 am
I’m man enough to admit when I’ve been owned.
Well played, Bill.
(Although now I’m not picking up your lunch tab)
January 5th, 2011 at 10:24 am
5 of the 6 members of our hunting party reside in South St. Paul. My buddy Kip who used to work the stockyards there took me to the Truck Stop once. Good times! It’s not quite good enough to lure me the 40 minutes away from my home in Savage, but it’s damn good!
January 6th, 2011 at 9:23 pm
You guys are kidding about Stockmen’s right?
I guess if you can get over the smell of dead rotting cattle insides & and errr women we phrased lot lizards hanging out everywhere…then it might not be so bad? Last time I even drove by that place I had to stop and was my car.
January 7th, 2011 at 10:17 am
No, I’m not kidding about Stockmen’s. There is no smell of cattle as the stockyards have closed long ago. And joking aside, there are no “lot lizards” there. They have taken an active role in making it clear that kind of activity is not welcome there. I’m not a truck driver, but I’ve spent thousands of hours driving cross-country and still to this day, use CB radio and truck stops, and consider myself more in tune with the trucking industry than average.
As for the issue at hand: If you like truck stop food, it’s a very good representation. In fact, they make quite a lot of their food from scratch. If you like corned beef hash (the real kind vs. canned), it’s one of the few places in the Twin Cities where you can get it. They have a small, but well-stocked case of house-made pies by the slice. Burgers are made from non-frozen meat.
It may be time for another visit JaLurker. To me, the Windmill and Stockmen’s (as well as the Lastrack a bit south on Robert St in IGH) are very satisfying representations of the blue collar/truck stop style restaurant.
January 8th, 2011 at 11:20 pm
I need to try it again. It has been along time since I have even been to that area.
What year did the stockyards close, because I swear I can still smell that smell on a hot summer day.
February 14th, 2011 at 10:15 am
I ate at the Windmill a week or so ago. There is nothing in the review here that I could add to. It was solid, down home service and food at a fair price and everyone there was pretty old. I will go back, even though it is a hike.
Oddly, because I was running morning errands over near Eagan Town centre, my route to Windmill had me drive right past 3 different El Loro restaurants. Funny.
November 23rd, 2011 at 10:11 am
I drive by the Windmill every day, and with a day off from teaching, I decided to stop for breakfast. Bill, you hit it on the head. A great “old-fashioned diner”. No frills, no fuss, just good diner food!
November 23rd, 2011 at 10:32 am
Ryan, glad you enjoyed it. I need to go back and soon.
January 17th, 2012 at 7:02 am
[...] been driving by The Buckboard in Lakeville for years and always wanted to stop in but, like the Windmill Cafe in Savage, I never had the opportunity. Well, at 8:30 AM on a blustery Saturday morning we did and [...]
November 1st, 2012 at 9:37 pm
[...] anything like standing and waiting for a table at Mickey’s or stepping back in time at the Windmill Cafe. What it feels like are any number of other faux diners which have cropped up around town over the [...]