Just a quick reminder that the Mill City Farmers Market is open tonight from 4pm to 8pm for the first of its new summer Thursdays gig. Sounds like a good place to spend happy hour.
Word is, there are some kick-ass mini-donuts skulking around….
ps…last night’s Top Chef wasn’t worth yapping about, but tune in next Thursday and we’ll see how my bff Brian fared….
AOL Radio is featuring some tasty tunes on their Blogger Radio station. That’s thanks to Josh Friedland of The Food Section who pulled together 100 of his favorite food-related songs. It’s a very cool buffet, something for everyone (a little Snoop, a dash of Dizzy Gillespie, some Carole King, a pinch of Fat Boys). They’re only up until June 16, so tune in soon.
I personally would have added “Cold Beverages” from G. Love and Special Sauce … “Starfish and Coffee” by Prince … “Cigarettes and Coffee” done by Otis Redding. Personal fave: “Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)” ala Squeeze.
Josh’s Top 100
All That Meat And No Potatoes by Fats Waller
All You Can Eat by the Fat Boys
Artichoke by Cibo Matto
Augustus Gloop by Danny Elfman
Augustus Gloop by The Poozies
Banana Boat (Day-O) by Harry Belafonte
Beans And Cornbread by Louis Jordan
Beef Jerky by Cibo Matto
Birthday Cake by Cibo Matto
Black Coffee In Bed by Squeeze
Bowl Of Oranges by Bright Eyes
Brown Sugar by D’Angelo
Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones
Candy by Cameo
Candy by Morphine
Candy (Drippin’ Like Water) by Snoop Dogg
Candy Shop by 50 Cent
Catfish by Bob Dylan
Catfish Blues by Jimi Hendrix
Chicken Grease by D’Angelo
Chicken Noodle Soup by Webstar n Young B
Chicken Soup With Rice by Carole King
Chocolate Buttermilk by Kool n The Gang
Chocolate City by Parliament
Chocolate Factory by R. Kelly
Choux Pastry Heart by Corinne Bailey Rae
Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk by Rufus Wainwright
Cookin’ by Clifford Brown
Crawfish by Elvis Presley
Days Of Wine And Roses by Henry Mancini
Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On The Bedpost by Lonnie Donegan
Drinks by Twista
Egg Man by the Beastie Boys
Eggs And Sausage by Tom Waits
Fried Chicken by Ice-T
Giblet Gravy by George Benson
Gimme That Wine by Lambert, Hendricks and Ross
Gin And Juice by Snoop Doggy Dogg
Glass Onion by The Beatles
Gone Sugaring by Mirah
Green Onions by Booker T and The MG’s
Grits by James Brown
Ham ‘N’ Eggs by A Tribe Called Quest
Happy Meal II by The Cardigans
Home Cookin’ by Horace Silver
Honey by Moby
Honey Pie by The Beatles
I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl by Nina Simone
I Want Candy by Bow Wow Wow
Ice Cream Castles by The Time
Ice Cream Man by Tom Waits
Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice
It Should Have Been Me by Ray Charles
Jail House Rap by Fat Boys
Juicebox by The Strokes
Juicy Fruit by Mtume
Know Your Chicken by Cibo Matto
Lady Marmalade by LaBelle
Le Jazz Et Le Gin by Coralie Clement
Le Pain Perdu by Cibo Matto
Milkcow Blues Boogie by Elvis Presley
Milkshake by Kelis
Mother Popcorn by James Brown
My Sweet Potato by Booker T and The MG’s
Old Joe’s Place by The Folksmen
One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer by John Lee Hooker
Orange Crush by R.E.M.
Oregano Flow (Gumbo Soup Mix) by Digital Underground
Otha Fish by The Pharcyde
Pimp Juice by Nelly
Pot Kettle Black by Wilco
Potato Head Blues by Louis Armstrong
Potato’s In The Paddy Wagon by The New Main Street Singers
Pour Some Sugar On Me by Def Leppard
Pulling Mussels (From The Shell) by Squeeze
Quiche Lorraine by The B-52’s
Rapper’s Delight by Sugarhill Gang
Red Apples by Cat Power
Red Vines by Aimee Mann
Salt Peanuts by Dizzy Gillespie
Salt Peanuts by Joshua Redman
Savoy Truffle by The Beatles
Shanghai Noodle Factory by Traffic
Spanish Grease by Willie Bobo
Straight, No Chaser by Thelonious Monk
Struttin’ With Some Barbecue by Louis Armstrong
Sukiyaki by A Taste Of Honey
Sweets For My Sweet by The Drifters
Taco WIth A Pork Chop by Ray Brown, John Clayton, Christian McBride
Tacos, Enchiladas And Beans by Doris Day
Tea For Two by Ella Fitzgerald
Tea For Two by Fats Waller
The Coffee Song by Frank Sinatra
The Lemon Song by Led Zeppelin
Too Much Sugar For A Dime by Merle Travis
Watermelon Man by Mongo Santamaria
White Pepper Ice Cream by Cibo Matto
Wild Honey by U2
Yes! We Have No Bananas by Louis Prima
You’re Not The Only Oyster In The Stew by Fats Waller
I am PSYCHED about these guys landing in the Western Metro. I know they’ve been shopping spots in the Twin Cities for a while, but it looks like Minnetonka (Hwy 7/Shady Oak by Lunds) is the first lucky recipient of a HomeMade Pizza Co.
You could just poo-poo it as another take-and-bake concept, but you would be a sad and hungry poo-pooer when you realized how cool these guys are. Never mind the props from Oprah and Brooke Shields, never mind that chef-on-the-scene Grant Achatz calls it a personal favorite, it’s really all about the ingredients, my friends.
The guys behind HomeMade Pizza Co. have an idea that the ingredients should be the best available and all-natural and that the pizzas should be made from scratch. That means chopping fresh basil for your personal pie. Huh.
Plus, they seem to have a knack for putting the freshness to work. The Georgia has Santa Fe chicken sausage, poblano peppers and ricotta cheese … the wild mushroom pizza is complemented with creamy Fontinella cheese and fresh thyme … and their signature sausage and onion utilizes all-natural Itaian sausage, carmelized onions, Asiago cheese and a hit of sage.
Also check out their Cutie Pie Kit, in which you take home a box of fun for pizza making with the kids.
They aren’t open yet, but they are hiring, which means it will be soon, very soon …..
something lovely from celeste?
First off, did you see this piece on kids’ menus? I’ve been noticing the ‘chicken finger pandemic’ myself for a while now, but thankfully there are places that try to feed kids, not just pacify them. Craftsman, with their finger-free kids’ menu of fresh but friendly food, comes directly to mind. I have to say, my kids aren’t saints or elite eaters by any means, but because our home dinners are not restaurant-style (no special orders!), the 4 year-old has grown up eating tilapia, zucchini, goat cheese and spinach with the rest of us. It’s actually easier than trying to make meals to fit everyone.
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I wandered into the new Wayzata Eatery the other day. They’ve just opened with a “Fine Casual Dining” motto in the old Louie’s Habit spot. The space has been made a bit more comfortable, but it still has a dark and clubby feel. The menu looks interesting: Nueske’s BLT, parm crusted grilled cheese, wild mushroom lasagna, and an $11 Wagyu burger. The first menu wasn’t proofed very well, but crispy leaks and pine nutes are forgivable. Word is, the owners have a history in foodservice, but more on the commercial/supply side. Apparently this is their first restaurant, but they have plans to turn the old Shelley’s Woodroast into a seafood restaurant later this summer. Let’s hope it’s nothing like the Billfish concept that failed across the street.
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Always looking to give something cool and different to the grad, this year I’m bringing personalized, stenciled chocolates from Chocolat Celeste. That and a fat check.
Gaelic mythology tells of a hero known for his amazing perception. As a young lad, he was ordered by his master to cook a magical salmon which would impart all the world’s knowledge to its eater. During preparation, the young hero burned his finger on the fish. Quickly putting the sore finger in his mouth, he unknowingly swallowed a scale from the salmon skin, passing some of the fish’s power onto him.
I can’t say I’m smarter from the salmon I ate last night, but I am happier. There is some great salmon out there right now, Alaskan King (aka Chinook) and Copper River Sockeye are two of my favorites.
For the first time last week, I had some ivory King Salmon. The white fleshed fish is a bit of a prize, you won’t know it’s an ivory fish until you cut into it. I first ate it sashimi style: sliced and raw, the pale flesh carried a slightly rosy hue and was unbelievably soft and delicate. I also had it simply broiled with a dusting of seasoning: the firm yet flaky flesh was luminous and the flavor was so subtle, so cleanly oceanic.
last night’s dinner
(the hub’s 40th birthday)
herbed bamboo rice
zucchini/asparagus with leeks and basil
ciabatta
Alaskan King salmon
… When buying filets, ask for the bones and the skin to be removed. Treating the fish simply is best, in my mind. And I also like it medium to medium rare. I set the filets on a rimmed baking sheet and brushed them with olive oil, Maldon sea salt and a little black pepper. In a pre-heated 425 oven, the two 8oz. pieces sat for about 20 minutes and came out perfectly medium.
Our story begins with a hungry young lass on her way to lunch at a new restaurant. She’s dragged along her lunch date to see what all the fuss is about, but upon entering the establishment, she feels a certain unease. The place is packed, and she is assured by a less-than-sweet hostess that the wait is a solid forty-five minutes, even for a bar table. A generally unfriendly atmosphere causes our heroine to grab a takeout menu and leave, sputtering a fabricated story about returning for dinner another night with some large—very large—group.
But she’s still hungry, and her date is getting cranky. While she straps him into his car seat, she is forced to make a decision: She’s losing time, losing a three-year-old’s patience, and losing ground in the battle for a good lunch. It may be time to settle. Heading to a nearby place we’ll call Smartguy Bagels, she orders a standard PB&J for her date and a chicken Caesar salad for herself. With her first bite, she discovers the chicken is still frozen. Alerting the good people at the counter to this tragedy, our plucky girl watches as the chicken is lifted off the salad, tossed into the microwave, then plopped back onto the greens. It is this display of fast-foodsmanship, coupled with one more bite of alternately searing-hot and semi-frozen chicken, that leads our defeated young woman to conclude: It is what it is.
Yet, there is a happy ending of sorts to this tale. The plight of our stunningly beautiful heroine grows increasingly rare these days, because of the hottest trend in the restaurant industry: fast-casual dining. Coined in the mid-’90s, “fast-casual” or “quick-casual” describes restaurants that fill the niche between fast food and casual dining, between McDonald’s and TGI Friday’s. These restaurants offer expedited service, but with better food and a more comfortable ambience than fast-food outlets. Diners usually order at a counter, with the food either picked up at said counter or delivered to the table. Not a surly hostess in sight.
Not that I think this tolls the death knell for full-service restaurants. People still enjoy being tended to and consulting with knowledgeable servers. But frequently, the quick café fits the bill: when you’re running late, when you have kids in tow, when you refuse to eat in the car, when you want something healthier than fast food—which means most of the time for most of us.
Big players on the fast-casual scene include the familiar Panera, Noodles & Company, and Pei Wei Asian Diner, a chain mostly present in the Southwest but with a few outposts here.
In addition, the fast-casual trend has caught the eye of local culinary types, so the local scene promises to get better and better. Tim Niver and Aaron Johnson, the boys behind Town Talk Diner, are shopping for a site for a fast-casual Italian restaurant; and Alex Roberts, of Restaurant Alma, is opening Brasa, a saucy, south-of-the-border-flavored rotisserie joint in Northeast Minneapolis, sometime this summer. I desperately want to name two other industry players who are looking and scheming, but they still need their day jobs, so all must remain hush-hush for now.
Not that there isn’t already plenty of fast and fresh food available around town. Lucia’s Bakery & Take Home is one of the more recent and welcome additions to the market. Pop in for some sweet or savory crêpes, freshly made soups, and daily bread specials. Most of her sandwiches feature meats and ingredients from local farms and producers (as if you’d expect anything less from Lucia). Meanwhile, at Yum Kitchen and Bakery, the menu changes about every three weeks—a distinct departure from the big chains’ fixed menus. You’ll always find innovative sandwiches, like the hot turkey mole with manchego cheese, and they’re courting the dinner crowd with entrées like seafood stew and ribs. Take home a whole chicken dinner with two sides if you’d like.
Pizza, of course, fits the fast-casual bill to a T. Punch Pizza, which started as a full-service restaurant in St. Paul, has expanded over the Cities with express locations. Simply order your Toto pizza (this model is beautifully smothered with prosciutto, arugula, crushed red pepper, and goat cheese), and, by virtue of that nine-hundred-degree wood-fired oven, it’s ready in a flash. Slower to arrive, but bigger, are the classic New York-style pies from Snap!, like the Snaparooskie, piled with sausage, pepperoni, onion, green pepper, and mushrooms.
Step out of the rut and try Sea Salt for seriously high-quality fast fish. A po’boy or a grilled marlin taco with a side of clam fries in Minnehaha Falls park will heal any memories of bad lunch. Or step away from the burrito and check out Kabobi in Eden Prairie. Meats, seafood, and vegetables, fire roasted in the Persian tradition, tucked into flat bread with brilliantly spiced sauces and snappy sides should be a welcome change for any palate.
One quick-casual joint I’d be happy to have in my neighborhood is The Bad Waitress. With a snarky twist on fast-casual, diners grab a table and fill out their own ticket (choosing a monster or superhero name as an identifier), which they bring to the counter. The food delivered is comfortably familiar and always tasty. If I lived nearby I’d be there for the pumpkin pancakes at breakfast, the grilled-cheese deluxe at lunch, and the mac & cheese at dinner (plus late-night hot dogs).
According to the National Restaurant Association, Americans will spend some $150 billion this year at quick-service restaurants. As for our amazingly witty heroine, we can be assured that her portion of the bill will be spent thoughtfully. No longer satisfied to accept “what is,” she’s quite excited to see “what will be.”
SHOP TALK
Get ready, get set … summer festival season is kicking into gear. Whether you’re planning to brine cabbage for Henderson’s Sauerkraut Days (June 22-24), toss back a rhubatini at Lanesboro’s Rhubarb Festival (June 2), or train for the milk run during Willmar’s West Central Dairy Days (June 1-15), check in at ExploreMinnesota.com to get all the tasty details … Beginning June 7, the Mill City Farmers’ Market will be open Thursday evenings from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Given their track record with the Saturday morning market, this could make Thursday the tastiest night of the week … When it comes to learning the basics of baking bread, you can’t get much more basic than the class at Historic Fort Snelling on June 9, which focuses on the brick-oven and iron-kettle baking techniques of yore. Plus, while your bread bakes, you can churn butter and make preserves for that freshly turned loaf (www.mnhs.org) … Classic cars go nicely with burgers and shakes, wouldn’t you say? With the coming of summer, these nostalgic treats can be enjoyed at such throwback joints as St. Paul’s Dari-ette Drive-In (1440 N. Minnehaha East, St Paul; 651-776-3470) and the Minnetonka Drive-In (4658 Shoreline Dr., Spring Park; 952-471-9383), both of which play host to hot-rod buffs and the onion-ring cognoscenti alike.
CUISINE SUPREME
Saffron
A table here will soon be as prized as the spice for which it is named. Saffron’s brightly colored and inviting dining space has already attracted a small but loyal group of devotees, but the masses can’t be kept from this kitchen’s delectable dishes for long. Playing with traditional Middle Eastern and Mediterranean flavors, the cooks devised a menu with contemporary edge. A beautifully pale veal-tuna carpaccio is touched with brown butter vinaigrette and hazelnuts. The salmon-clam tagine celebrates fennel. The blue-crab salad with avocado balances the heat of curry with a kiss of citrus. Treat yourself to some hibiscus lemonade or the Saffron version of a bloody mary (the Harissa Mary, oh yeah) if you find yourself waiting at the bar for a table—a practice you’ll have to get used to here. 123 Third St. N., Minneapolis; 612-746-5533; www.saffronmpls.com
Manana
Nestled on the corner of Seventh and Arcade streets in St. Paul is Manana, a small pupuseria. If you’re muttering “pupusa-wha?” you’re not alone. Pupusas, though popular in El Salvador, are rarely seen this far north. Made with a thick and puffy handmade corn tortilla, they are stuffed with creamy melted cheese and your choice of chicharonnes (chicken) or loroco (a briny vine-flower bud from Central America). You’ll also find fresh Mexican tacos, burritos, and carne asada on the menu, as well as Salvadoran favorites like flaky empanadas, tasty pasteles (beef pie), and crispy fried plantains. Since everything is under three dollars, ordering up a mess of pupusas with chilled rice milk horchata will make you feel virtuously frugal, happily fed, and in the know. 828 Seventh St. E., St. Paul; 651-793-8482; www.mananarestaurant.net www.mananarestaurant.net
Naviya’s Thai Kitchen
Dwelling in the shadow of a Richfield water tower, this restaurant retreat endeavors to create dishes that heal the body and soul through the traditional five flavors (hot, sour, salty, sweet, bitter). Somehow “creamy” might be added to that list, as a taste of Naviya’s lightly herbed cream-cheese wontons is certainly palliative, and possibly addictive. The lunch buffet offers a nice sampling of the regular menu, including a pungent coconut lemongrass soup. The Bangkok hot plate features a lovely abundance of garlic. The crispy fish cakes come replete with a zingy, sweet-and-spicy cucumber sauce. Heck, the teas alone are reason enough to visit. Check out the oolong graced with an essence of orchid, or splurge on a pot of pu-erh vintage cave-aged tea. 6345 Penn Ave. S., Richfield; 612-861-2491
Read Stephanie March’s blog at www.rakemag.com/today, find more restaurant reviews at www.rakemag.com/restaurants
I liked Rick Nelson’s Taste 50 in the Strib the other day…but I want to add a few more.
The breads from Rustica Bakery in Mpls are something I think about often. Craving a crusty baguette with a fluffy, airy center or a dense pugliese with purpose right now.
The U of M Arboretum is responsible for the Honeycrisp apple, bringing in Michael Pollan as a speaker, and pioneering hardy wine grapes. Check out their summer programs for kids which teach them about growing food, and the new Summerhouse which provides a place to buy their tasty wares.
Town Hall Brewery are the unsung meisters of beer. They consistently put out award winning beers that challenge the average drinker. Their growler program is genius and their seasonally available Retreating Darkness (made with local Peace Coffee) is the only way to suffer being a Northerner.
The slab of Nueske’s smoked bacon as a side dish at Manny’s Steakhouse. Yeah, it’s not really good for you, but man is it gooooood.
Sue Zelickson. More than just chatting on the radio and writing about restuarants, Sue Selickson is a force in the food world: she has worked hard to feed hungry kids, she has inspired and supported countless women in the culinary fields, and best yet, she shows no signs of stopping.
Voodoo Doughnut, that’s who.
Not only is this possibly the coolest doughnut shop on the planet, it’s a lesson.
It’s a lesson about quitting your job and finding your life … about putting out a great and attention grabbing product … about having fun.
Do you have a voodoo dougnut in you?
Just some things to chew on …
Yesterday I caught a slip of the Today show in which Matt and two lady doctors sat and chatted about which “healthy” foods might or might not be reeeealy evil in disguise. They singled out some fish (swordfish, tilefish, king mackerel, shark) to avoid because of high mercury. When asked if eating it in moderation was ok, the she-doc advised avoiding it all-together (that way people won’t eat it as often).
The issue: Why must we be treated like idiots? Do we need to be preached an extreme point of view just so that we are scared into listening, some of the time? And she was so comfortable with that ethos that she didn’t even try to hide it. It’s a bit of an overstatement anyway, yeah? How many times per week do you eat swordfish? How many times a month have you eaten shark? When was the last time you cooked king mackerel on your own? If you’re speaking to the general audience of the Today show, it’s a good bet that telling them to eat in moderation will fit the bill. No one’s going to get mercury poisoning from their occaisional fish taco.
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The restaurant industry is the second largest employer in the nation, behind only the government. That means that at one point or another in our lives, most of us have been members of the food/bev/hospitality world. How was it for you? Was it a spectacular spectacular job or did you get faux kicked in pre-shift like at Mr. Chow in NYC? Check out the Bruni blog on which the comments are deliciously whiny.
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Hershey’s has sagely grabbed on to the gourmet chocolate trend. First they bought Scharffen Berger and now they’ve launched allchocolate. It’s a smart and sexy adult site with good information that’s free of simpy puns and cliches about women and chocolate. I hate those.
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I rarely leave any wine in the bottle, but sometimes I do. While out of town, I wasn’t going to bring my bottle back to my hotel, but the server put it in a wine doggy bag which sealed it up quite nicely. Great idea.
Food & Wine has launched a Chowhound meets MySpace kinda thingy called Food & Wine Across America.
Does it feel like they’re using locals to ferret out story ideas?
Well, check it out … there’s an interactive map and everything!