Today is Wednesday. My favorite day of the week. I woke up this morning giddy with anticipation, even though I totally overslept and missed my shower... again. (I'm going on day 3. Shhh! Don't tell!) For the last 6 months or so, every Wednesday I eat the same lunch. The same wonderfully consistent, wonderfully economical, $4.49:



Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup!!

I'm an anomaly, you see. I am more than happy to eat the same thing day after day, sometimes twice a day. It takes years for me to get bored with certain tastes and flavors. Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup is one of those meals I could eat forever. I've been eating this regularly since age 4 and I haven't burnt out yet. TG!

Now I'll share my secret, because I think everyone should know about this. In the basement of Butler Square (100 N. 6th Street, Downtown Mpls) there is this wonderful little cafe/deli. It's called Kokapeli. They have made-to-order sandwiches, pasta salads, regular salads, soup, and the most wonderful thing of all: 3 different "hot meals" every day! It's like school lunch only way better! The portions are adult sized and you can have Diet Coke with your meal instead of milk. I don't remember all of the meals each day, but here's an idea of your choices: On Mondays you can get a mini turkey dinner with all the fixin's. Tuesday is spaghetti and meatballs with a caesar salad or a fancy tuna salad sandwich on a croissant. Thursday is BLT day. Friday is pizza day or tatter tot hot dish I think. But Wednesday. Oh Wednesday! Wednesday is the best. Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup for, like I said, $4.49. They also have a huge taco salad or a fishburger and fries for those who might be lactose intolerant and can't take the dairy intensive quality of the GC and TS. I've never eaten either. Probably never will.

What makes this meal even more enjoyable is its location. Butler Square is a beautiful building. After doing some research I discovered it was built in 1906. It looks plain enough from the outside. Here's a picture from the Minnesota Historical Society from like 100s of years ago:



Just kidding. It's from 1910. It hasn't changed much since. Except now the Target Center is across the street on the left side of this picture. The inside of Butler Square is a whole different story. It's a gorgeous exposed timber frame structure with 2 enormous eight story atriums inside. One side they've hung a large model plane that seems to be swooping down and turning back up towards the sky. The other has a sculpture hanging in the center of two people frozen in the midst of a circus trapeze act. There's a safety net and everything. All of the offices that border the atrium have floor to ceiling windows that look out. The ceilings of both atriums are huge skylights. It's beautiful. If only there were more fancy tenants occupying the building. Right now it's Champp's Sports Bar (ew), a daycare, a small market, and the rest I think is filled with offices. The only places that really fit the building are D'Amico Cucina and a trendy new workout studio called Steele Fitness.

I tried to take some pictures, but I don't think they do the space justice. Most of the pictures on this site are from my cell phone, so they aren't the best, but it's easier to snap pictures in public places with a cell phone then lugging my camera everywhere.

Both of these pictures show the trapeze artists. Where's Waldo?? This is the 2nd atrium.


Ok. I went back today (3/2) and took a better picture of the plane:


I also took a few more of the trapeze artists:



Next time you're in the downtown area walking through the skyways or taking in a show or a game, stop into Butler Square to take a look around. I promise you won't be disappointed.