Chef Maccaroni takes the helm

Partners in the Sample Room announced today that they have promoted Peter Macaroni to executive chef. Macaroni worked at La Bec Fin in Philadelphia and Barlays in Atlanta, before coming west to serve as executive chef at Tiburon. He’s been sous chef at the Sample Room for a few months now — which, so far as I’m concerned, is the most important squib on Macaroni’s CV. I happen to have taken a group of people there on Father’s Day: bottles of wine were half-price (as they are every Sunday and Monday night), the service was spot-on, and our food was fantastic. I had a roasted vegetable salad with Stickney Hill goat cheese that managed to be simultaneously light, earthy, and filling. And I recall that night commmenting to my friends that the Sample Room — long one of my favorite spots in the Twin Cities — just keeps getting better. Maybe that’s Macaroni’s influence and the upswing will only continue. . . .Boaters should know that the restaurant is opening the Rockway Docks in mid-July. Forget Highway 94. Soon, you’ll be able to ride the Mississippi directly to the Sample Room, walk up the bluff, and claim your table.