Mancini's grilled garlic bread: 100 Favorite Dishes

As a countdown to the Best of the Twin Cities 2010, coming this spring, Hot Dish is serving up a hundred of our favorite local dishes. Send your own nominations to hotdish @citypages.com.

No. 66: Mancini's grilled bread

Don't fill up on bread? Nothing could be more antithetical to the Mancini's experience. Steak dinner at the St. Paul Italian institution would be a shadow of itself if not for the homey accompaniments: iceberg salad (Thousand Island please!), baked potato, and relish tray--but especially the bread. The heaving bread basket comes full of white and rye slices, golden crisp with butter and darkened by swipes of char. Each bite is at once soft and crisp, buttery and garlicky, with an ever-present straight-from-the-grill taste and that satisfying acrylamide crunch. It goes down great with the restaurant's $4 glasses of house wine. And if it makes any difference, you've got company. John Mancini says the restaurant goes through about 1,000 loaves--which the restaurant buys from St. Paul's Rosemark Bakery--in a typical weekend. Steak? What steak?

Hungry for more? The dishes in our countdown thus far are linked below:

No. 100: Volcano Salad at Tiger Sushi
No. 99: Eclair at Butter
No. 98: Moussaka at Gardens of Salonica
No. 97: "Flappers" at Colossal Cafe
No. 96: Bento Box at Obento-Ya
No. 95: Sausage, salami, onion, and green olive pizza at Black Sheep
No. 94: Crab Cake at the Kitchen
No. 93: Passion fruit cake at Pardon My French
No. 92: Kafé 421 Signature Dips
No. 91: Lutefisk at Landmarc Grill
No. 90: May Day Cafe Croissant
No. 89: Dowjic at Babani's
No. 88: Osso Bucco at the Modern Cafe
No. 87: Chef Shack Hot Dog
No. 86: Adult Mac & Cheese at Good Day Cafe
No. 85: Ropa Vieja at Victor's
No. 84: French Toast of the Dead at Chino Latino
No. 83: Uni at Origami
No. 82: Bagel at Common Roots
No. 81: Jasmine Deli's bánh mì
No. 80: Pho 79's bò cuốn lá nho
No. 79: Sweets Bakeshop's Kettlecorn Cupcake
No. 78: D'Amico Kitchen's Chicory Salad
No. 77: Be'wiched Deli pastrami sandwich
No. 76: La Grassa's lima bean appetizer
No. 75: Bulldog NE Tater Tots
No. 74: Pop's Swedish Meatballs
No. 73: Hot Plate's Caramel Apple French Toast
No. 72: Grand Cafe's Ham and Cheese
No. 71: Galactic Pizza's Thailander
No. 70: Jackson's milk chocolate gelato
No. 69: Patrick's Bakery and Cafe's tiramisu
No. 68: Punch's chopped Italian salad
No. 67: Red Stag's smelt fries