Silver Fern — A Bright Spot for Conversation, Togetherness, and Food That’s Just Too Good
Everyone has had the experience. It’s a hard day. Things at home may or may not be great, but things in your world overall are looking a bit bleak. Your projects seem stalled, your friends seem a little distant, and the world seems like … the world.
Then you move from that place to a place like Silver Fern Cafe and Wine Bar, and everything gets better. Much better. Welcoming surroundings and positive energy flow over you like a wave, and the world moves from being “here” to being “over there,” at least for a while. Is it the food? The food is great, but it’s not only that, it’s a sense of community and a genuine concern for the individual (that would be you) that sets Silver Fern among my top ten restaurant experiences.
Ben Parsell, owner of the cafe, relates the journey that led him to found Silver Fern. His background includes food and wine-related employment and music and education degrees from St. Olaf College and Western Governors University that led to a teaching career he loved, but which was overshadowed by a disenchantment with school administration. He found himself, he says, “At a crossroad. It was either get a corporate job or do something daring and adventurous.” Daring and adventurous won and Silver Fern came to exist almost exactly one year ago.
At Silver Fern, “We’re focusing on inclusivity and connection, community and conversation between people,” Parsell says. This goal led to an interior design that starts with an “intimate” lounge area in the front of the smallish but open-feeling 52-seat cafe.
“We also wanted to create a dining area to highlight the food, and get people a nice big dining table so they can share things and get multiple plates, and do wine flights and coffee flights,” Parsell says. “And we wanted to have some bar space so we could talk to people about wines as they’re tasting.”
Silver Fern welcomes community groups who need a meeting space, and the cafe is available on a paid basis for business and social functions. Parsell will even pull all of the tables out and create a cocktail environment for 70-plus guests. “We’re here to serve the neighborhood in whatever capacity is needed,” Parsell says.
Amazingly, this multi-purposed space flows seamlessly from one arena of experience to the next. At the time of my visit, three people were in deep communication with their laptops, several couples were enjoying the place’s smaller tables, and a group of four was noshing on Silver Fern’s outstanding brunch offerings. “We have all walks of life who come here — people feel that they belong here and that they can stay for a while,” Parsell says.
The food starts with the same inclusive philosophy. “We have lots of vegan options and non-alcoholic beverages. If there’s one person that doesn’t eat meat, if there’s two people who don’t drink, if there’s one person who’s gluten-free, there’s still plenty on the table they can all share,” Parsell says.
Head Chef Mike Walker, whose smile and enthusiasm for his craft light up the table, explains: “I grew up in Bakersfield, California, and while we didn’t have much, food was such a big part of things. It was made well, and it was people coming together at the table, much like what we do here — a community.” Walker “hit the ground running” as he entered the food world after a period of formal training at the University of Wisconsin, with stints in “all facets of the industry” at such notable venues as the DoubleTree downtown and the Convention Center. Pastries were his first love (and it shows in the fresh-baked goods that are part of Silver Fern’s offerings), but everything benefits from Walker’s wide-ranging experience. “I’ve been so blessed to work with some of the best chefs in the city, and some would say the country,” he says.
Like Parsell’s overall vision for Silver Fern, Walker’s real-world experience led to a concern for detail, quality, and accessibility in food preparation and invention. Starting with Parsell’s overall mission to provide food that’s “delicious and filling,” Walker created a menu as varied and diverse as Silver Fern’s clientele.
I started my brunch meal with an iced Bananas Foster latte (I specified whole milk), for which Parsell later noted he himself had peeled the bananas. Just-right sweet and lavishly smooth, It wasn’t just good — like everything I tried from the brunch menu, it was “too good.”
The breakfast sandwich, “simply made, but made well,” as Walker notes, includes egg souffle, aged gouda, mixed greens, confit tomatoes, pickled peppers and aioli. When I bit into it, my palette was greeted by a complex of savory and light impressions that blended into a pleasing whole. The egg souffle provided a creamy base for the bright notes of the other ingredients. This sandwich will meet anyone’s expectations for wholesomeness, sophistication, and down-home tastiness, all at the same time.
A deceptively simple-looking yogurt and granola bowl features orange honey complementing vanilla yogurt, fresh seasonal fruit, vanilla roasted strawberries, house granola, a honey drizzle, and toasted flake coconut. Its looks are a 7, but the taste is a 10, fulfilling the sweet promise of its lighter ingredients while providing the satisfying crunch-and-munch of fine, house-made granola.
I paused for a muffin that draws on Walker’s pastry expertise to provide a crunchy and sweet start on top of a rewarding but not-too-dense cake-like goodie down below. The generous size of this creation might have made it a meal unto itself for those desiring only a lighter coffee and pastry experience.
On to an intermediary breakfast-to-lunch offering with avocado toast that features a hearty multi-grain bread, a delicious avocado spread, cherry tomatoes, feta, arugula, hot honey and everything bagel seasoning. It crunched, it flowed, it was sweet, it was savory: it was eagerly (and perhaps a bit sloppily) devoured.
More on the lunch side, I enjoyed the Tuscan Panini, featuring focaccia, roasted chicken, mozzarella, confit tomato, arugula, nut-free pesto and a balsamic reduction. I’ve run out of adjectives. Just plain good. As I said, too good.
These offerings just touch on Silver Fern’s extensive menu of small plates (including dips and spreads, charcuterie boards, promising flatbreads and teaser bites), lunch offerings (like hot and cold sandwiches, salads and bowls — I’m coming back for the wild rice bowl), and even a selection of smoothies.
An important note: the wine selection is approachable and complete and features the vintners’ art from Croatia, California, France, California, Italy and elsewhere, and I didn’t have any wine at 10:30 in the morning. That’s another article.
So come to Silver Fern for the company, and stay for the food. You’re welcome here.
Silver Fern
114 E Hennepin Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55414
612.356.2679
www silverfernmpls.com
5100 Eden Ave, Suite 107 • Edina, MN 55436
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