Common Roots

#Amuse @commonroots THE place 4 bagels & coffee. Go w/ espresso; drip coffee is so-so, as are non-bagel bfast items goo.gl/8eSWk

— Josh Page (@ILikeFoodJP) November 5, 2012

A few friends and I had dinner at Common Roots shortly after it opened in Summer 2007. The consensus around the table was that the ingredients were fantastic, but the preparations were unremarkable. I had similar feelings when I got around to having lunch at the cafe—I had a burger, and it was good, but nothing special. I’ve since tried other sandwiches, to the same result.  So, when my then-wife-to-be Letta suggested breakfast at the Common Roots, I was ambivalent. As expected, our dishes sounded incredible, but were just decent. But then we tried the bagel. Eureka! Chewy on the outside and soft on the inside, substantial but not too big, and covered with just the right mix and amount of seasoning—this bagel was a little revelation.

Since I moved to the Twin Cities and up until that morning, I’d been bagel-starved. Life without my favorite breakfast food was incomplete. But…  finally… I’d found it! Topped with cream cheese and local, organic veggies, Common Roots’ bagel is simply awesome. When lox and capers are added to the mix, the volume goes up to eleven.  Nearly every weekend since that fateful morning in 2007, Letta and I have gone to the cafe for bagels and coffee. The endearing staff probably all know our oh-so-standard order, only varying on whether I get lox that day, and we always go for espresso drinks or cold press coffee (they stock Peace Coffee, with the espresso outstripping the drip coffee; as a side note, my vote for best espresso in Uptown goes to Bull Run). As the picture to the right so clearly demonstrates, the bagel-coffee combo at Common Roots makes me stupid happy—and it’s relatively cheap, fully legal, and available to all.

 Theme Song

Commodores, “Easy”