By Jeremy Iggers
Star Tribune Staff Writer

Signature is making its mark

Former policy wonk finds new challenge at Prospect Park bistro

At long last, the Signature Café has a wine and beer license. That’s all the intimate little Minneapolis neighborhood café lacked to join the ranks of Marimar, n.e. thyme and St. Paul’s Chet’s Taverna as a full-fledged neighborhood bistro.

Those of you with really good local memories may recall the days when the little storefront on Warwick Street in Prospect Park was a grocery store and meat market. That space later became the original site of Tulips, and became the Signature Café when Tulips moved to St. Paul.

The Signature had an Egyptian owner for many years, and a Middle Eastern flavor to its menu. When Nathalie Johnson and her husband, Tony Parsons, took over in October 2002, they kept a few Middle Eastern items, such as the gyros, falafel sandwiches, roasted shawirma and spinach pie, and added a number of Italian and French dishes, ranging from a Tuscan pot roast and an olive tapenade to crispy ravioli with garlic shrimp and Portobello mushroom polenta.

In her previous life, Johnson worked for the later Sen. Paul Wellstone and as a domestic policy analyst in Washington during the Clinton administration. She has worked at other restaurants, but this is her debut as chef-owner. And it sometimes shows in occasional glitches.

On one visit, our sautéed saffron shrimp appetizer, billed as five large shrimp, turned out to be five small shrimp; Johnson, who sometimes doubles as waitress, apologized for their size as she delivered them, and hastily brought two more small shrimp to the table. A couple of glasses of rather expensive wine were badly oxidized; it turns out that the bottle had been open four days ago.

These are beginners’ mistakes, but Johnson’s enthusiasm and outgoing personality more than make-up for occasional lapses. When she delivered our cassoulet of goat cheese, leeks, and sun-dried tomatoes, and crème fraiche, she informed us that she knew the goats in question personally. They live on a farm near Delano, and all are named after women in the Clinton administration, including Hillary, Tipper, and Madame Albright. (But no Monica-I asked). She said the most inquisitive and assertive of the three-the one that tries to climb into her car, is Hillary.

For better and for worst, some of Johnson’s cuisines tastes more like American home cooking, and less like bistro cuisine, than the offerings at some of the other local bistros. The Tuscan beef pot roast, served with carrots and mashed potatoes, would be more at home at a church supper than a trattoria in Florence, and the lemon thyme chicken has a simplicity and heartiness that’s more Midwestern that continental. Same goes for an Amish chicken hot dish, served as the hot entrée on a lunchtime visit.

The best of the deserts I sampled was a three-berry pie, made with blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, which had a first-rate, all American piecrust. Johnson boasted to us that her mother, representing Kandiyohi County, had won a pie baking championship at the Minnesota State Fair in 1955.

Some of the most interesting dishes are offered as nightly specials, such as the breast of duck, a generous portion of boneless breast wrapped in prosciutto, which kept it very moist and juicy. Seafood specials have included a seared sushi-grade ahi tuna, served over sticky black rice with a mango salsa topping; and succulent sautéed scallops, accompanied by saffron-scented rice on a bed of fresh spinach. Also recommended, from the regular menu, is the tapenade trio (grilled bread and pita with spreads of artichoke, olives and a tomato and basil).

There were a few dishes that missed the mark, such as a pricey dish of lobster-stuffed ravioli with a filling that tastes like generic mushy seafood, and a cheesecake that may have been homemade but looked and tasted like a commercial product.

The Signature offers ample options for vegetarians, including a simple but satisfying portobello mushroom polenta, spinach pie (served as an entrée with tabouli, hummus and pita bread), and spaghetti with a homemade tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese. For carnivores, a hand-trimmed streak from Moonstone Farm in Montevideo, MN is featured nightly.

At lunchtime, the Signature offers a buffet ($7.95) with salads and a daily hot dish and fresh veggies, as well as an a la carte menu of soup, sandwiches, salads, and pizzas. A buffet brunch ($12.95) is also offered on Sundays, featuring eggs Benedict, French toast, strata, fruit salad, ham, bacon, sausages, fresh fruits, homemade blueberry scones, and a variety of other homemade pastries.