The Little Mermaid Cafe - Askov, MN

An absolute gem on the road north . . . 

I’m always on the lookout for local restaurants, especially on road trips.  On the way up to the YMCA Family Camp Northern Lights near Ely, with a mermaid/fairy/unicorn/rainbow/princess obsessed kiddo in tow, we HAD to give The Little Mermaid Cafe a shot

Askov has a population only in the 300’s and was originally settled by Danish Lutherans as reflected by the street names. Pulling up to the place it looks like a former elementary school, and walking into the restaurant was a surprise.  It's a bit bizarre.  So cool.  A restaurant shoehorned in a school atrium?, with pieces of the attached The Pine County Historical Society Museum displayed. Even a little library.  By how busy it was here vs the otherwise Sunday Morning ghost town of 300+ people, it looks like the place to be. Next time through we plan to tour the museum and eat there!  More pics at the bottom

We missed out on the Aebleskivers they serve on 4th Saturdays. I was curious how they compared to the Aebleskivers at Herbst Eatery in St. Paul. Oh well

But how was their food?  Perfectly fine.  Nothing special.  Bill was just under $40 for burger, chef salad, Special, slice of pie, and giant cookie.  At first I thought I was undercharged, but with the not huge portions, it was fairly priced

Their Cheeseburger was foodservice fine, though I have to say the bacon was excellent quality. The bacon again showed through in the Chef Salad. The Special of the day DID feel stingy with only three sausage hunks, but admittedly probably the proper amount of food for a meal portion.  I’m not complaining, just noting. I'll also note that the dinner roll was your basic cheapass dinner roll, and the onion/peppers were sauteed to within an inch of their lives

The pie and cookie were fine, nothing special

Still, we definitely plan to be back with time set aside to explore the museum

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https://pinecountyhistory.org/index.php/cafe  

https://www.facebook.com/pchminfo 

6333 H C Andersen Alle, Askov, MN 55704  

320-838-3783