Evening In Missoula
Book Club

Book Club

5411 Penn Ave S, 55410, Minneapolis, United States

Salads • Brunch • American • Breakfast


"I am writing this review because we had a much improved experience this past weekend. With that said, let's start off with some tips. Regarding reservations, I looked on OpenTable and the Book Club didn't show up in the search results. I then went to their website and I was pleasantly surprised to see I could make a reservation. The reservation functionality was easy to use and took me a few seconds to find an opening. Now let's talk about the most painful piece. Finding parking on a weekend can be challenging. The parking lot next to the Book Club is very difficult to get out of. You can barely see to your left and the street is very busy. In summary, it can be terrifying. Also, don't try to park on Penn Ave. There are multi unit houses that park outside and an ACE Hardware store so you could end up a few blocks away. The tip is to park on the east side of Penn on 54th. The west side of 54th is jam packed by customers going to Colita. In addition, there is a secret parking lot across the street from Colita. The business using this parking lot is closed on the after 5pm Monday Thursday and all day Friday Sunday. In summary, leverage this tips and parking will be much easier. It was a beautiful day so we decided to sit outside. Here is a new secret. The Book Club is using a large portion of the parking lot now for dining tables. This means they can take larger parties outside now. We sat out front near the railing. There is an updated happy hour menu with all kinds of appetizers and drinks. We started off with dirty martini and Pryes Pradmatic Pils (4.2% ABV). My wife accidentally forgot to ask for Greg Goose but when she tasted the martini she loved it. So whatever vodka they are using is quite tasty. Then I felt like a sandwich and the manager (or bar manager) recommended the Fried Chicken sandwich. I followed his advice and my wife ordered the 6 BBQ dry rub whole chicken wing (flat and drumette) with the white vinegar BBQ sauce. While we were waiting for our food, I saw a waitress bringing a fried chicken sandwich to a customer and my mouth dropped. It was gigantic! The food came out in less than 20 minutes. While I paused to come up a strategy on how to eat the huge sandwich, it was clear this sandwich deserved more than a beer. I then ordered the ruhbarb margarita (silver tequila, rhubarb syrup, fresh lime). Please notice they made a syrup from the rhubarb, not simple syrup. The fried chicken sandwich was cooked perfectly and the BBQ white vinegar didn't take the focus away from the chicken. So don't remove this the sauce because it enhances the overall sandwich. Please note this sandwich is the star so don't order anything else that will distract you from the main event. My wife was crazy about the wings. She said the wings tasted like a delicious BBQ flavored chip. She is a southerner so she is picky about anything claiming to be BBQ in Minnesota. Also, these are not small wings and could be a meal for one. My ruhbarb margarita arrived and I immediately took a sip through the straw. It was absolutely delightful. If your are like me, I hat overly sweetened margarita. The person behind this cocktail is a genius. It is now time for me take eat a little humble pie. In the past, I thought the Book Club was average. I was wrong and we plan on walking down to the Book Club for many more dinners. We look forward to seeing soon."