Are you sick of spending too much money? Are you sick of spending too much money feeding kids under 12 years old? Are you sick of staying home, too? Well, Parasole, the local restaurant company, has heard your cry! They’ve rolled out an $8.95-a-person, kids-eat-free Sunday supper at three of their restaurants: Salut Bar Américain in Edina, Pittsburgh Blue in Maple Grove, and Figlio (I’d identify where Figlio is, except I figure there couldn’t possibly be one person reading this blog who doesn’t know where Figlio is). Have you been to Figlio lately? Would an $8.95 plate of lasagna and a large loaf of cheesy garlic bread entice you? How about if you knew you could add a bottle of Chianti for $13.50. How about if you knew that you could get free lasagna for your kids? No, this isn’t a late April Fool’s joke. It’s happening—really, truly, cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die—every Sunday from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. You can add roasted links of sausage to your lasagna for an extra $4, or wood-roasted crimini mushrooms for $3. Or, if the whole idea of doing anything on a budget irritates you, you can add white truffle oil for $8.
But, back to the budget thing: At Salut, the French-brasserie-slash-American-burger-joint, the $8.95 Sunday supper is served from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. and consists of two mini-cheeseburgers and a mountain of fries—plus a free burger for kids under 12. At Pittsburgh Blue, the Sunday supper is served from 4 p.m. to close, and consists of family-style platters of pot roast with Yukon Gold potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions. Again, kids under 12 eat free!
When I first heard of these promotion, I assumed there had to be some kind of catch: It took place only during harvest moons; it ended the day before they sent out the press releases; something. So I called up Kip Clayton, the public voice of Parasole, to ask him what the real deal was. “No, it’s not a limited-time thing. As far as I know, we’ll be doing it in perpetuity,” Clayton told me. “Typically, Sunday night is a quiet night for restaurants here. Midwesterners tend to stay home with the family that day. If you have kids, that’s the day you have dinner with your kids. So then the question is: Do you stay in or go out? We want to encourage people to bring their kids out. Given the economic times, it’s a good time to reach out and touch people—with value.”
Consider me touched.
Oh, in other Parasole news: Clayton tells me that the Grand Avenue Salut, under construction in the old Sidney’s space, is right on schedule. It will open in June, barring any unforeseen disasters. When it does, he expects it to offer $8.95 slider suppers, too.
If anyone tries these this weekend, definitely let me know how they are. I’m terrifically curious.
Salut Bar Américain
5034 France Ave. S., Edina
952-929-3764
www.salutbaramericain.com
Pittsburgh Blue
11900 Main St. N., Maple Grove
763-416-2663
www.pittsburghbluesteak.com
Figlio
3001 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis
612-822-1688
