Pro-Fusion

You can argue whether globalization is good for the planet or good for workers, but when it comes to gastronomy, the influx of foreign flavors has definitely enlivened the local dining scene.

Mention fusion cuisine nowadays, and people are likely to think of the high-end stylings of celebrity chefs like Wolfgang Puck and Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Puck’s 20.21 menu at Walker Art Center combines East and West in dishes such as Shanghai Maine lobster with crispy spinach and Chinese risotto, while Vongerichten’s menu for Chambers Kitchen occasionally marries East and Midwest—as in a Berkshire pork chop with shiitakes and snowpeas, or a tempura salt-and-pepper walleye.

But look a little further, and you’ll find fusion everywhere: Somali restaurants like Safari and Hamdi serve roasted goat over Italian spaghetti, a legacy of Italian colonialism. When local Ecuadorians get homesick, they go to Charly’s Polleria in northeast Minneapolis, or the Guayaquil Restaurant on East Lake Street, and order a heaping plate of chaulafan-fried rice with ham and chicken, which they learned to love at the Chinese restaurants in Quito and Guayaquil. At BonXai in St. Paul, a Hmong family took over a low-rent steak house, and added Thai curries and Italian pastas to the menu—along with a seared tuna salad that probably came from Japan via California, but can now be found in different versions on half the menus in town. The banh mi sandwiches available for takeout at Vietnamese delis like Saigon Express and Vinh Loi are made on baguettes, and slathered with mayonnaise and pork pâté, relics of the French colonial influence. And Vietnamese restaurants aren’t the only places serving banh mi anymore: The new Blackbird restaurant at 50th and Bryant in Minneapolis serves banh mi on focaccia, alongside curried lamb meatballs, crawfish hotdish, and pizza topped with Brie and apples.

Then there’s a sophisticated type of fusion, as at Ngon, a stylish new Vietnamese bistro in St. Paul’s Frogtown. According to its website, Ngon “strive[s] to use locally produced ingredients whenever possible and do our best to support the local economy; from using organic Peace Coffee in our Vietnamese coffee mix to having an exclusively Minnesota beer list” (it also boasts a sophisticated wine list). The flavors here are distinctly Vietnamese—their pho (beef noodle soup) is one of the best in town—but you’ll also find such hybrids as Vietnamese beef over pappardelle noodles, a superb ahi-tuna mango salad, and a succulent lamb shank with pho spices, served over lemongrass rice.

Locally speaking, fusion isn’t exactly new; East and West have been meeting in Minnesota for decades. Minnesota chow mein, with its rich green slurry of stewed celery, minced pork and crispy fried noodles, is unknown in China, but has been a tradition here since at least the 1930s. Cooking teacher and restaurateur Leeann Chin has introduced generations of Midwesterners to the joys of cream-cheese wontons and Chinese chicken salad. (The bar menu at 20.21 pays tribute to this venerable tradition by offering both a Chinese chicken salad and mini-burgers of Kobe beef topped with a wasabi aioli.)

Back in the day, restaurant critics and food snobs like yours truly used to turn up their noses at cream-cheese wontons because they weren’t “authentic.” But one good thing about globalization is that it’s putting that whole silly conversation about authenticity to rest. What’s authentically Japanese? Tempura? Nope—introduced by Portuguese sailors in the sixteenth century. Tonkatsu? Another Western import, originally known as katsu retsu, which was how the Japanese pronounced cutlet.

The Japanese did invent teppanyaki cooking shortly after World War II as their own version of East-West fusion, but it really took hold in the U.S. thanks to immigrant chef Rocky Aoki, who built his Benihana chain of Japanese steakhouses on the premise that (as quoted in a Harvard Business School case study) “Americans enjoy eating in exotic surroundings but are deeply mistrustful of exotic foods.” And what about the spider rolls, rainbow rolls, and other specialty rolls served at so many local Japanese restaurants? They trace their ancestry to the California roll, invented in Los Angeles in the early ‘70s. Mt. Fuji, the Chinese-owned sushi and hibachi restaurant in Maple Grove, takes sushi innovation one step further: its “French-style” sushi includes rolls like the Treasure Island, filled with yellowtail tuna, blue crab, and crunchy tempura crumbs, topped with flying-fish roe in neon shades of red, orange, green, and black. This is a fantasy version of sushi that has never been seen in Japan or France.

At its worst, fusion is a dumbing-down of ingredients taken out of context, for instance when steak, chicken, or fish are slathered with sweet-and-salty teriyaki sauce. But at its best, it brings together ingredients from different cuisines in imaginative juxtapositions—or, through innovative preparation or presentation of traditional dishes, offers a new insight or fresh appreciation.

Saffron, in the Minneapolis Warehouse District, excels at fusion, even though Chef Sameh Wadi says he doesn’t like the term: “When I think of fusion, I think of wasabi mashed potatoes, and that turns me off.” But Wadi’s cuisine draws inspiration from all over the Mediterranean and Middle East: tagines and bisteeyas from North Africa; an eggplant dish from Turkey; a seasonal appetizer of white cheese and watermelon, popular in Egypt. (The menu changes frequently; don’t expect to find all those dishes when you visit.) The fusion concept is carried even further by combining those flavors with the aesthetics of contemporary cuisine. “In the Middle East we think about flavor only, and it’s not very pretty,” says Wadi. Best bets from Saffron’s current menu include the bisteeya, presented in a beggar’s purse, and the salmon and clam tagine, prepared with saffron, peppers, olives, fennel, and Yukon Gold potatoes.

Some of the most creative culinary fusions come about when chefs from immigrant backgrounds get professional training and experience. Wadi was born in Kuwait of Palestinian parents, trained at the Art Institutes International in downtown Minneapolis, and worked at Solera and La Belle Vie before opening Saffron with his brother Saed.

Hector Ruiz, chef-owner (with his wife Erin Ungerman) of the delightful new Café Ena in south Minneapolis, followed a similar path. Born in L.A. and raised in Mexico, he started cooking locally at Tucci Benucch in the Mall of America, and wound up in the Brown College’s Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts Program; that led to an internship with chef Alain Senderens at Lucas Carton in Paris (back before Senderens Restaurant renounced his three Michelin stars, cut his prices, and renamed the venerable restaurant after himself). The result is a repertoire in which more or less traditional preparations like the chile en hogada, a roasted pepper stuffed with ground beef, almonds and raisins, play off North American dishes like salmon croquetas, which are given a Latin flair. (At El Meson, Ruiz and Ungerman’s other restaurant, the menu has a more Caribbean flavor, but a similar versatility.)

Sometimes fusion is very personal, as is the case with Nina Wong, who is ethnically Chinese, born in Vietnam, and raised in Minnesota, and Thomas Gnanapragasam, who is of Indian ancestry and was raised in Malaysia. When they married, Wong renamed her restaurant, formerly East River Market, the Chindian Café, and added daily specials like Indian Madras chicken and Malaysian nasi lemak to a menu of Chinese stir-fries, Asian noodle salads, and Vietnamese spring rolls.

One of the most improbable fusions anywhere is the Ethiopian-Malaysian menu at T’s Place on East Lake Street in Minneapolis. Chef-owner Tee Belachew learned Malaysian cooking from his neighbor, Kin Lee, when Lee was the chef at the Singapore Restaurant in Maplewood; for a time, the two were partners at Singapore! in south Minneapolis. T’s Place offers traditional Ethiopian dishes as well as a sampling of Asian dishes prepared with Ethiopian seasonings. Lovers of steak tartare, for instance, will enjoy its Ethiopian counterpart, kitfo: chopped beef seasoned with clarified butter and light chili pepper, available raw, lightly seared, or fully cooked. Belachew’s Asian specialties, such as the spicy bean curd and spicy shrimp, don’t have the subtlety of versions you might find at Peninsula or Singapore! (where Kin Lee is again cooking, after a long absence), but for gastronomic adventurers they’re worth a try. Belachew struggled against long odds to open his own restaurant, and still faces big challenges, ranging from road construction on Lake Street to finding reliable staff, so I’m rooting for him; if the wait’s too long at the Town Talk Diner down the block, stop in at T’s.

With Azia and now Temple, chef-owner Thom Pham has created two of the sexiest and most sophisticated-looking dining spaces in the Twin Cities. I admire Pham’s effort to break out of the low-budget Asian restaurant ghetto, so I wish I could be more enthusiastic about the cuisine. Unfortunately, most of my experiences at both restaurants have been disappointing. The Asian fusion at Azia invites comparison with other Eat Street restaurants that have livelier fare and lower prices, including Yummy for Chinese, Peninsula for Malaysian, and Quang and Pho Tau Bay for Vietnamese. And Temple’s prices put it in competition with hot spots like 20.21 and Chambers Kitchen, but gastronomically it isn’t in their league. My suggestion: Try both places at happy hour (daily from 3 to 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.), when half-price appetizers and cocktails are more in line with value.

20.21 Restaurant & Bar by Wolfgang Puck
in the Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-253-3410; www.wolfgangpuck.com

Azia
2550 Nicollet Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-813-1200; www.aziarestaurant.com

Blackbird
815 W. 50th St., Minneapolis; 612-823-4790; www.blackbirdmpls.com www.blackbirdmpls.com

Café BonXai
1613 University Ave. W., St. Paul; 651-644-1444

Café Ena
4601 Grand Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-824-4441; www.cafeena.com

Chambers Kitchen
in the Chambers Hotel, 901 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-767-6999; www.chambersminneapolis.com

Charly’s Polleria
2851 Central Ave. N.E., Minneapolis; 612-789-9535

Chindian Café
1500 E. Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-676-1818; www.chindiancafe.com

Guayaquil Restaurant
1526 E. Lake St., Minneapolis; 612-722-2346

Hamdi Restaurant
818 E. Lake St., Minneapolis; 612-823-9660

Mt. Fuji
7094 Main St. N., Maple Grove; 763-315-5885

Ngon Bistro
799 University Ave., St. Paul; 651-222-3301; www.ngonbistro.com

Safari Restaurant
1424 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis; 612-872-4604; www.safarirestaurantmn.com

Saffron
123 N. Third St., Minneapolis; 612-746-5533; www.saffronmpls.com

Saigon Express
2538 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis; 612-870-7979

Temple
1201 Harmon Pl., Minneapolis; 612-767-3770; www.mplstemple.com

T’s Place
2713 E. Lake St., Minneapolis; 612-724-8868

Vinh Loi BBQ
2515 Nicollet Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-872-2282