I’ve had a soft spot for Bobino ever since it opened. I work within easy driving distance of it, and it soon became my favorite place to take visitors out to lunch at. If you’re attempting to impress a cosmopolitan visitor with your city—a job candidate perhaps, or a potential customer—having her associate Minneapolis with the likes of Jax or Nye’s wouldn’t do the trick.

Bobino remains a favorite, even as the restaurant scene in the Twin Cities has blossomed in all directions. It’s not so much the food as the fact that it’s a civilized, almost European oasis where it’s easy to forget the contentious meetings you’ve come from or the deadlines that await you.

Its décor is a large part of Bobino’s appeal. As you enter there’s a small seating area in front of a bar, and a short hallway where you wait to be shown to your seat. The main dining room is behind the bar, and there are nooks with one or two tables also available if you’re not in one of those "see and be seen" moods. The walls are a pleasant rose and peach sponge/rag job and the art currently includes oils of women in languorous poses beckoning the diner to relax and partake of a leisurely lunch. In the summer an outdoor seating area, on one side of the restaurant and set off from the street, is quite popular and a welcome alternative to the crowded sidewalk seating areas that are the usual al fresco option.

The wine list provides a generous number of by-the-glass choices for each color, and it’s easy to nibble on the excellent french bread and sip your wine while you let the atmosphere of the place pervade you and help you forget your worries. B and I both went with reds, as is our wont. He had an Italian wine that I found weak but not thin, almost a watered down version of a robust Tuscan. I had a fruity tempranillo that was vibrant with red berry.

The menu is small but it changes frequently. On this visit the listed starters included a soup of the day, three salads, imported olives in (what else) olive oil, an antipasti platter, and an artisan cheese selection with organic honey and seasonal fruit—this is always on the menu although the selection varies. The five entrées were a grilled ancho chile and lime marinated hanger steak served with dirty rice and guacamole; linguine and clams steamed in white wine with tomato confit and basil pesto; a foccacia sandwich with Serrano ham, roast poblano pepper, and gruyere; a lemon risotto (B’s pick); and grilled salmon with saffron couscous, roast peppers, shaved red onion, and mizuna.

I started with a frisee salad which came with roasted beets that were sweet and succulent and cabrales, a Spanish blue cheese that maintained a nice compromise between creamy and crumbly, mild and pungent. The salad leaves hadn’t been properly washed and the occasional jarring note of fine grit intruded on what was otherwise close to being a perfect appetizer.

For my main dish I ordered the grilled salmon. Mizuna, it turns out, is a Japanese salad green—if I’d known I would have skipped my starter. The salmon was done just right, barely undercooked at its center and with lightly charred grill marks on the surface. The dish also came with two pieces of grilled bread with a tasty tapenade spread. The Israeli couscous was clumped together and a little gummy, although the flecks of saffron in it lent a nice fragrant and mellow tone. I’ve noticed that restaurants are increasingly, and misleadingly, using couscous as a generic term for both the regular and Israeli varieties. These are two very different things and this isn’t the first time I’ve ended up with something other than what I had thought I was getting.

The dessert menu included a novel item, a raspberry funnel cake with alderberry sauce and cream. This was tempting but our portions had been substantial enough that we desisted. I settled for my usual espresso.

In the new era of food-forward places, Bobino may paradoxically have become a little behind the times. This reviewer nevertheless likes to frequent it. Perhaps he is by now rather set in his ways and seeking familiar, civilized environments to while away middle age.

Bobino’s is the best of the new breed of fashionable restaurants springing up north of downtown Minneapolis. The walls are softly colored in a pink and yellow hue; the soft-pastel colors work perfectly with the sunny-golden tables and wooden floors. The restaurant is split by a large bar that rumor has it is smoke-free on certain evenings of the week. Dining is also available on a (nicely) sheltered side-patio complete with umbrellas. For a romantic assignation try and get a table in the side alcove.

The lunch menu is small and changes everyday. There is a good selection of wines by the glass, about nine each. I chose the valpolicella, a weak Italian wine that proved to be a disappointment. I started with the soup of the day, a coconut chicken curry with apples and currants. The soup was rich and the sweet apple and currant flavor worked well with the piquant coconut chicken – a dash of salt helped a lot. For my entrée I had the lemon risotto with fresh fava beans and summer herbs. This dish was satisfying without being spectacular; some more flavorful additions would not have gone amiss. Some of the other dishes on the menu: grilled salmon; foccacia sandwich with serrano ham; marinated hanger steak served over dirty rice.

Bobino’s kitchen may not compare favorably with some other restaurants in the area, notably Restaurant Alma just down the road, but it more than makes up by its ambiance, service and general sense of bohemian well being. Regrettably lunch is a short affair – one could sit all day at a bar like this, trying the various wines on offer and nary a smoker in sight! Bobino’s is twinned (across the patio) with the Starlite lounge, a Euro style bar with eclectic art on the walls and a continuos projection of slides. Next time you’re feeling down and feel that life’s not all that it’s purported to be, lunch in the unhurried, calming atmosphere of Bobino’s and feel better. The cost of lifting my blues: $48.00.