A restaurant with an airy patio isn't just the perfect place to stare directly into solar eclipses; it's also a delightful spot to meet friends and share Burton Gilliam gossip. For $25, today's Groupon gets you $50 worth of eclectic, seasonal cuisine at WA Frost and Company. Honored with the 2009 Readers' Choice Award for Best Outdoor Dining by Minnesota Monthly, the charming restaurant features an outdoor dining patio, seasonal menu, and cozy ambience.

Focusing on fare sourced locally from family farms, the WA Frost menu features dishes dictated by the growing calendar and micromanaging harvest gods. For the nonce, you can sample small-plate selections such as homemade rutabaga gnocchi tossed with Brussels-sprout petals, Parmesan, sage, pancetta, and truffle syrup ($8.50), and marinated diver sea scallops bedded in a grapefruit, apple, and radicchio salad with verjus vinaigrette ($9.50). Grilled sustainable Wisconsin rainbow trout ($21), monkfish chioppino ($25), and Norwegian grilled salmon with black trumpet mushrooms and cabbage ($24) all star in WA Frost's featured dinner entrees, with assists from collard greens and smoked ham hock, vegetable mélange, or Yukon Gold potato puree ($6 each). Follow up the feast with a sophisticated sweet ending like the organic carrot cake ($6.75) mounted with chevre-cream-cheese mousse. WA Frost also boasts an impressive wine list with a strong representation of Bordeaux, California cabernet sauvignon, and chardonnay, as well as a wide range of vintage and non-vintage champagnes and sparkling wines.

Whether you opt to dine inside or alfresco, WA Frost's historically romantic setting won't disappoint. On the outdoor patio, one can recline on comfy patio seating, safely shrouded by a lush canopy of trees and sleeping Ents. The interior dining room, meanwhile, features high ceilings, oil paintings, and admirable antiques. Reservations are highly recommended, so place yours by phone or skywriter.

Reviews

The Star Tribune praises WA Frost and Company's new chef, Wyatt Evans:

• At this enduringly popular restaurant, Evans' extensive menus are by their very nature crowd-pleasers, in the best sense of what can be a cliché-ridden genre. He's doing beautiful things with locally sourced meats and poultry, most notably duck confit spread on a flatbread with oven-dried tomatoes and chèvre, fabulously crispy pork belly that's nicely paired with a hearty fig puree, and a sublime roast chicken with collard greens and a yam puree. – Star Tribune

[Minnesota Monthly] gave WA Frost its 2009 Readers' Choice Award for Best Outdoor Dining but says the food deserves equal billing:

• With roaring fireplaces, oil paintings, and Oriental rugs, the six dining rooms recall Cathedral Hill’s heyday: cobblestone streets, railroad barons, and luxurious Summit Avenue mansions. But Frost’s is more than just a pretty face; its kitchen turns out as much substance as style. – Minnesota Monthly

Citysearch included it on its Best of Citysearch 2006 list for the city's most romantic bar. Citysearchers and Yelpers give it four stars:

• This is one of my favorite restaurants in the Twin Cities. I love the historic building with its high ceilings, beautiful antiques, exposed brick, and wonderful outdoor patio. Even the bar area is beautiful. The atmosphere, service, and food are all consistently fantastic. – bfreschi, Citysearch