Friendship at The Bean

I had a fabulous night tonight!  Good conversation.  Good food.  Good live jazz music.  I found a new place that I will definitely be going back to.

My friend Tammy and I met for dinner at The Bean in Andover, MN.  It's a place I had read about and had been dying to try.  It's a cafe, bar, coffee house, jazz club.......  It's an eclectic place.  Visit their website for the menu, address, and business details - http://www.stateofbean.com/.  (They even have a drive thru for those morning coffee runs!)

At The Bean, you order your meal or drinks at the counter and then the server brings it to you.  Here's a picture of the bar/order counter.

There are a few tables and a few booths.  Tonight it was busy because they had jazz musicians performing.  They had to bring in tables from the outside patio to accommodate all of the patrons.

They have a pretty basic menu with hot sandwiches, salads, appetizers, soups and wraps.  Tammy and I each chose a hot sandwich.  Mine, the Jalapeno Turkey, had hot jalapeno jelly, with sharp Tillamook cheese and turkey.  Tammy had The Cherry Chicken - a chicken sandwich with bacon, cheese and cranberry/cherry mayo.  The sandwiches came with a side of fruit, kettle chips or tomato/sweet pepper salad.  I'm a "chipaholic" so it was kettle chips for me!

They have a nice variety of wines and artisan beers.  They also offer a full range of coffees and specialty drinks.  There are desserts and pastries.  Tammy and I each had a glass of wine to compliment our meals.

Tonight they had jazz musicians who performed.  It was a nice surprise for us because we didn't know they were going to be there!  I definitely am going to keep an eye on their website for future musical nights.

The next time I go to The Bean, I'm hoping it will be for one of their Wine and Canvas nights.  While tasting a variety of wines, you are taught to paint on canvas.  It's a pre-chosen painting so everyone in the class is painting the same thing.  One of the last was "Starry Night".  (Check out https://wineandcanvas.com/wine-and-canvas-calendar-minneapolis-mn.html for details.  The new calendar comes out on November 20th.)

So glad I got to try out this new place tonight and even more glad that I got to spend some time with my wonderful friend Tammy!

"The only way to have a friend is to be one."  -Ralph Waldo Emerson