At the fresh and sexy Mint, hedonism can be good for you - 04/02/04

Kevin interviewed here today:

At the fresh and sexy Mint, hedonism can be good for you - 04/02/04

Review

At the fresh and sexy Mint, hedonism can be good for you
By Molly Abraham / Special to The Detroit News

BIRMINGHAM — Cars jockey for the coveted parking spots along north Old Woodward, moviegoers dodge traffic as they head for the Palladium and strolling couples window-shop. Just a normal weekend day in the heart of downtown Birmingham.

Inside the Mint Cafe, Edith Piaf’s voice on the sound system masks the street noises and puts the scene into a totally different dimension.

It could be Paris if the setting weren’t so pastel, pretty and smoke-free, with its blond wood floors, chic furnishings, and off-white and green-striped banquettes where patrons leaf through People, not Paris Match, while they sip frothy cappuccinos and lattes.

This particular cafe bears no resemblance to the caffeine corners that have dotted the landscape ever since Seattle started the coffee craze a decade or so ago.

It’s truly an oasis, with its walls hand-decorated in impressionistic style in soft, ombred greens melting almost imperceptibly into shades of yellow, pink and blue, its lights suspended from wrought iron rods, its red velveteen armchairs, and art works including a massive rough-cut pink marble slab set against a skyline scene that melds London and New York.

The Mint is also a quirky hybrid, a place for Illy espressos, and coffees, yes, but also for assortments of pungent European cheeses served on marble-patterned trays, and still-life salads dolloped with pecans and toasted walnuts.

It’s one where fruit and vegetable smoothies with names such as Kornikova Passion (guava and lime juices, mango, banana and strawberry) and Gorgeous Skin (carrot juice, aloe vera juice, yogurt, mango, papaya, apple and ginger root) are served in tall, soda-fountain-style glasses.

Surely Parisians wouldn’t ask to have wheat germ, bee pollen, cod liver oil or brewer’s yeast added to their drinks, but it is possible at the Mint Cafe, where hedonistic and healthy are not mutually exclusive concepts.

Sam and Rossi Hamdan, cousins originally from Lebanon, opened the cafe on Valentine’s Day, and hope it will be the first of several.

Although the cafe does have a carry-out clientele, the premise is certainly not to rush in and out but to be as unhurried as possible, hence the magazines on the two-tiered tables in front of the curving, couchlike banquettes.

For those looking for more than a coffee or a smoothie, I can recommend the salads, especially the goat cheese-crowned plate of mixed field greens, basil, dried cherries, tiny halved grape tomatoes, artichoke hearts and slices of Granny Smith apples in a subtle balsamic vinaigrette, one of several excellent house dressings.

Then there’s the salad named after the town of Santorini, Greece, this one topped, of course, with feta cheese and including cucumbers, parsley, bell peppers, toasted sunflower seeds, beets and Kalamata olives, and the fresh mozzarella, basil, tomato and black olive combination that can be either a sandwich or a salad.

Dressings arrive on the side in shallow little glass boats. Like everything here, all the table appointments seem individually chosen, including the Illy collectors’ cups in a variety of whimsical patterns, and the variously shaped plates and cheese trays.

The cheese assortments include either three ($12) or five cheeses ($18), chosen from a list that includes Parmigiano-Reggano, Stilton, Gorgonzola and a couple of soft-ripened varieties, accompanied by Italian bread, fruits, nuts — and included in the price, not coffee but a choice of one of the Mighty Leaf teas, presented in a big, wooden chest.

Patrons may stay as long as they like, and on weekends, that means until nearly dawn. Rossi Hamdan says he hopes to lure the club crowd by staying open until 4:30 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Nothing like the juices of apples, lemons, with banana chamomile and ginger root, to stave off a hangover.

The only drawbacks: some of the attractive, black-clad servers are a bit shaky at this point, and the menu descriptions are overly effusive.

Still, it would be hard to find a more enthusiastic host than Rossi Hamdan or a more attractive place to sip coffee than the Mint Cafe, the prettiest place to open in Birmingham since Forte unveiled its stunning architectural look in 1996.


You can reach Molly Abraham at (313) 222-1475 or abraham67@comcast.net.