Lola's Lakehouse

Waconia is not my normal stomping ground by any stretch of the imagination. For better or worse, I stick to Minneapolis for the most part, although I'm always anxious to explore outside my adopted Metropolis.

As my folks now live far (!) out west of the Cities, on a lake, with all that Minnesotan lake-ness, we found ourselves without a viable restaurant on Memorial Day. With so few choices in small towns, you have to drive to other small towns to find food.  But I was happy to land at Lola's Lakehouse with a view of Lake Waconia and a warm dish of steamed mussels to share.  As we had a vegetarian in our midst, it was great to see so many vegetarian options, and not just your standard veggie burger fare but additional flatbread choices.

After sharing a delicious bowl of mussels steamed in a white wine sauce with fennel and leeks, my sister's first mussel experience, I settled on the walleye cakes and a salad. I loaded those walleye cakes with Tabasco, but I think that's a personal preference.  The flavor and crunch of the cakes was great and the size of the plate was really perfect for supper when accompanied by the house salad (sucker for shaved parmesan). My mom enjoyed the fish and chips and I may have hypothetically, and happily, stolen a healthy chunk of one filet.  Lightly battered, these are just a solid rendition of the classic and a perfect vehicle for that malt vinegar.

I can embrace the smaller town life of my parents, as long as I can enjoy a view of the water and always head home to the city.

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