davepolaschek

Charlie's Cafe Exceptionale was a fixture in Minneapolis for most of its nearly fifty years. It was a favorite of my mom's, and she remembered the potato salad most of her life. I found the recipe for their potato salad on the web some time in 2005 (which is about when that recipe page disappeared from the web) and made a copy of it for myself. Shortly thereafter I made a batch of the potato salad for tailgating at a St. Paul Saints game, and took some to my mom the next day. She proclaimed it, “pretty darned close!”

The menu at Charlie's listed the potato salad as an appetizer, rather than as a side. For many people, the potato salad was the reason for their visit, though mom said that it went well with their small roast-beef sandwiches, which were roasted beef tenderloin with onions cooked just short of caramelized on the grill, topped with a dollop of horseradish sauce and served on a soft roll.

Here's the story of the recipe from the original web-page:

The true story of this recipe is that it came to my mother, who got it from her friend Candy who once dated the chef at Charlie's restaurant. Now you have to know, Candy was a knock-out back in the day. She was a hat model and entertained with celebrities who came through Minneapolis. She was, and is a hell of a lot of fun. Charlie's Cafe potato salad recipe was a closely guarded secret and several recipes exist out there; but this one is the real thing. You can check with a local author, who has just published a book on minneapolis restaurants and you'll find her version of the recipe at the StarTribune site. But folks who have had Candy's recipe and the origional as served at Charlie's, say they recognize the taste as authentic. And who's recipe are you going to believe? As mother says, "That chef was going to give out the real recipe for a piece of ass."

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