First Course is one of the newer restaurants in south Minneapolis. It’s a little over a mile from where I live, a little longer than an easy walk but close enough that I think of it as a neighborhood establishment. I’ve been there several times by now. More often than not, if just barely, the experience is uniformly positive, somewhat adventurous fare that’s well prepared and complemented by good service, all at a moderate price. At other times, not all cylinders are firing smoothly.

If you haven’t been there before, the first thing that will strike you on entering the place is the unique paint treatment on one of the walls. Yard-wide stripes of different rich, high-gloss hues extend the length of the room. The opposite wall is exposed plywood (or at least looks like it). When I first saw it I thought it was a work in progress, but if it is it hasn’t progressed very far. The seating arrangements vary among high tables, a bench running along the multicolored wall, and a triangular. The small kitchen is visible across the counter at the back. There’s also a seating area outside, on the wide concrete apron that separates the restaurant from Chicago Avenue.

The menu is small, but it’s supplemented with numerous specials. Given the scale of the restaurant, one wonders whether they should stick with one or two of these rather than the half-dozen-plus that were featured this day: two appetizers, two pizzas, a burger, a salmon preparation, and a couple of pastas.

We were a party of four, my wife and a cousin visiting from overseas joining us, and most of us went with the specials. We started with a shared appetizer, chicken potstickers served with greens and a soy-hoisin sauce. The potstickers were fried crisp and the minced chicken filling, with hints of green onion, was moist and flavorful.

For my main course, I had another of the specials, a buffalo burger. This came with a Dijon mustard sauce on the side and thinly cut—almost shredded—deep fried onions. An appropriately small portion of a blue cheese was melted on the patty. The meat was dry, as is often the case with buffalo, but the sauce and cheese helped and I was generally content with the dish.

B, on the other hand, was not a happy diner. He went with a pizza special, a simple margherita with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. His choice was a more-or-less random one, since he was in a bit of a hurry and I had ordered what he really wanted. We all agreed that the pizza was bland and disappointing.

My wife had a pasta special, a butternut squash ravioli in a cream sauce. Her dish was probably the best of any at the table. My cousin went with an Italian sandwich, ham and salami and I think provolone. I didn’t sample this, but I’ve had a couple of their sandwiches in the past and they’ve been excellent.

Several beers and wines are available. I went with a local brew, a James Page pale ale. B refrained from imbibing, saying that he had partied too hard the night before. We think our server may have had the same problem, given the almost comedic errors he made. At one point he mumbled, "I may be upright but I’m still not awake."

First Course is far from perfect, and it would be a surer bet if it were to not spread its talents so thinly. But I will cheerfully admit a bias for restaurants that overreach. Ambition that exceeds ability is a vice when in the service of greed. Being driven by passion is a different matter. So overlook the foibles in this case and check out First Course. Besides, it’s good for the economy.

From my preamble you have probably guessed that The lunch goes to a restaurant in South Minneapolis – further from A’s house than he’ll probably claim in his review –, First Course. The location is idyllic: beautiful South Minneapolis – bathed in autumnal sunshine. Sun beats pleasantly down on leafy streets and Diamond Lake glints in the near distance. It would be all perfect but for the fact that the restaurant is located in a tiny shopping strip, albeit a very pleasant little strip. I had some difficulty in finding the restaurant, even though I had the exact address, because the sign is the same color as its background. I finally figured out what was what and walked in to find A already there with wife and cousin.

First Course offers alfresco seating that, under the prevailing weather conditions, looked very inviting. The inside is tiny and has an unfinished look. One wall looks as if it might consist entirely of plywood. The opposite wall is multicolored with vertical stripes of varying hues. The back of the restaurant is the kitchen area. If I had to sum up the space and décor in one word it would have to be cute!

The menu is slim but that’s only because there are so many specials. Our waiter took about five monotone minutes to rattle of the specials. I drifted off in the first minute; it was hard not to be distracted by his rather longish goatee and besides my mind was weighed by a very important post lunch meeting that awaited me back in the office. We started with a shared appetizer, chicken pot stickers. These were served with a hoisen sauce and were a bit overcooked to my taste. The regular menu has soups, salads and sandwiches. The specials included two pizzas, one surprisingly named Frank Sinatra – hope this isn’t a slight on Italians! A pasta special, salmon dish and a buffalo burger. There were, with all probability, other dishes on the special list but I didn’t have the heart to ask our waiter to repeat them. And I blame the confusion caused by our waiter for the dismal entrée choice I ended up making. I ordered the margherita pizza with tomatoes and basil, held together with a lashing of cheese. I had wanted to order The buffalo hamburger but was preempted by A on this score. The pizza was extremely bland and I tried my best to pass on slices to A and anyone else I could convince to try it. A gave me a bit of his hamburger, just a piece of cooked meat, and I thought it boring and without flavor, A did say that it improved when eaten with a bun and covered with blue cheese. The order taking could have been a scene out of a Kingsley Amis novel except that none of us were drunk (or hoping to get drunk). I chose not to drink anything because of my meeting, A, that lucky sod, had the day off and quaffed down a James Page beer. The other dishes ordered on our table included the pasta special and an Italian sandwich. Both were well received. A liked his burger so I guess I was the odd man out. Our bill came to about $53.00 for four.