Quick take
Decent overall, but could use a little work in the frosting department.
Review
If you drive north out of Minneapolis, you will eventually come to Duluth. If you continue, following Lake Superior’s North Shore, you will eventually come to Lutsen, which is one of the largest ski areas in the Midwest. Between the “mountains” and the lakeshore you’ll find the Cascade Lodge and its associated restaurant.
In the summer, the lodge is full of hikers and motorcyclists. In the winter, skiers and snowmobilers roam the halls. At all times of the year, there are cinnamon rolls.
Cinnamon roll from the Cascade Lodge Restaurant in Lutsen, MN
I was in the area for a wedding, and when I stopped for breakfast at the Cascade Lodge Restaurant, I noticed that cinnamon rolls were on the menu. Naturally, I indulged.
The flavor of the roll itself was nicely balanced, but the icing-style frosting was rather mundane. Since the roll bread was wide, flat, and slightly flaky, the choice of icing rather than buttercream made sense. Still, the icing was more monotone than I would have liked. Yes, I know that icing is primarily sugar, but that doesn’t mean it can’t have some zing to it. The good news is that there weren’t off flavors in the icing, so it was a lot better than, say, the terrible icing that is in Pillsbury tube “cinnamon rolls”.
The bread was slightly on the tough side, but I’m not going to ding the roll for that, as I actually got the pastry to go and ate it later in the day. (The omelet I had for breakfast there was filling enough to make me rethink my plan to have the roll as desert.)
It was a decent cinnamon roll, just not spectacular. 7/10
Where to get it
Cascade Lodge Restaurant
3719 W Hwy 61
Lutsen, MN