The Skyway Gourmet

Au Bon Pain

July 20, 2009 at 9:33 pm | Posted in American, Soup/Sandwich | Leave a comment
Tags: Au Bon Pain, breakfast, coffee, lunch, Minneapolis, pastry, skyway

If you’re from Minneapolis, and you’ve been to Au Bon Pain, you probably went to one in the Skyway, since all three of the branches located in Minnesota are right in the Skyway!  Though its faux-French pastries may no longer be exotic to the American palate, it’s still a nice staple to have, and I’ve never encountered service in any branch of an Au Bon Pain that wasn’t friendly and snappy.  I often go to the 6th St. branch for breakfast, and the service there is friendly and snappy.  The morning crew knows that businesspeople are cranky at 8 am and need things to move along quickly.  If you want a pastry or bagel, you can just grab it yourselves from the shelf.  Breakfast sandwices are made to order, and while they have some weird, fancy breakfast concoctions (like portobello mushroom and egg on ciabatta), the standard egg & cheese on a bagel is pretty darn good.  There’s always several excellent coffees available, though I was very disappointed in their iced coffee.  Au Bon Pain also makes a pretty tasty lunch sandwich or wrap, with some interesting exotic flavors, like the Thai peanut chicken wrap or Mayan chicken hot wrap.  The ingredients they use are fresh and tasty, although maybe a little bit on the dry side.  The Baker Center location focuses on take-away items for those in a hurry, although they also have a small counter where they’ll make sandwiches to order.

Price: Reasonable

Speed: Fairly fast.  The Baker Center location has a large selection of pre-prepared food so that you can just grab and go.

Seating:  The 225 S. 6th location has gobs of seating.  Less in the Baker Center location, but still more than enough for the demand.

Check ‘em out: http://www.aubonpain.com/

225 South 6th Street

City Center, 40 South 7th St.

Baker Center, 733 Marquette Avenue