In Issue 156 of Saveur Magazine, Pittsburgh’s Conflict Kitchen (a restaurant/project that changes its menus and only serves cuisine from a country in which the US is in conflict with) was featured. It’s a way to create dialogue and get people interested in what is going on in the rest of the world. Menus serve as fliers to inform diners on the situation. Servers are trained to be “conversationalists” on issues regarding each country.Food is a great way to start a conversation about history and politics. Growing up, the taste of Chinese “peasant” food such as salted fish and congee reminds me of gathering at the table and waiting for my parents to say enthusiastically, “Sik Fan La!” Continue Reading
Attention foodies: Garry Geiken serves up a delicious impersonation of legendary American foodie James Beard in Illusion Theater’s production of I Love to Eat: a love story with food. The one-man show is more character study than drama, but Geiken succeeds in bringing a fascinating character to life. During the performance, Geiken prepares some of Beard’s signature onion sandwiches, and a few lucky audience members get a chance to taste them.There will be more food for thought after the Wednesday, May 8 performance, when several local James Beard Award-winners, including Isaac Becker (112 Eatery, Bar La Grassa, Burch), Nick Kramarczuk (Kramarczuk’s, 2013 winner James Beard Foundation “America’s Classics”), and Tim McKee (La Belle Vie) will participate in a panel discussion on Beard’s impact on the local and national cooking scene. The panel will be moderated by veteran Twin Cities food writer Sue Zelickson, herself a James Beard award winner for food journalism.For more details, or to purchase tickets, visit the Illusion Theater website. Upcoming shows are on: Thursday, May 2 @ 8pmFriday, May 3 @ 8pmSaturday, May 4 @ 8pmSunday, May 5 @ 7pmWednesday, May 8 @ 10amWednesday, May 8 @ 7pm – Post-show panel with James Beard Award-winning chefsThursday, May 9 @ 8pmFriday, May 10 @ 8pmSaturday, May 11 @ 8pm – Culinary Night with Art Institutes International Sunday, May 12 @ 7pm – Culinary Night with Art Institutes International Thursday, May 16 @ 8pm – Illusion Theater Birthday BenefitFriday, May 17 @ 8pmSaturday, May 18 @ 8 pm – ClosingCoverage of issues and events affecting Central Corridor communities is funded in part by a grant from the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. Continue Reading
“Sake?” questioned one of the passengers on our trek Around the World in the Twin Cities.“Yes, sake is very common in Brazil,” said Jose Luiz Pantano, owner of Samba Taste of Brazil in Hopkins, “You see, there are many Japanese in Brazil. Many influences in Brazil.”The variety of influences in Brazil was immediately apparent as the United Foodies of Minnesota sat for drinks and food on stop #3 of our tour. First, we were serenaded by Sergio Rosa, who entertains Samba diners on Friday and Saturday nights with a fusion of both bossa nova and Beatles music. Then we tried caipirinha de sake, or sake with crushed lime and sugar—a delightful blend of Japanese and Brazilian flavors. The word “caipirinha” comes from “caipira,” or a person from the country. Continue Reading
What says community in Minnesota more than hot dish?The Holland neighborhood in Northeast Minneapolis takes the idea of an ordinary casserole supper, (the kind advertised in small town papers,) one step further by tweaking it enough to take on its own one of a kind flavor. And what says Northeast Minneapolis better than hot dishes, jello, accordion music, and beer?It’s quirky. It’s fun. No pretention here just a lot of good natured competition and fun among young and old alike. This is the 9th annual Hotdish Revolution and it’s coming to St. Maron’s Cedar Hall on April 21st.Organizer Adelheid Koski said, “I think it gets bigger because it is such a great, quirky, cool celebrator melding of Old and New Northeast. Continue Reading
Food Shelf Frenzy March 23rd and 24th at Afton Alps Ski AreaBring 4 non-perishable food items and your lift ticket is only $8.If you are not flying to the tropics to get out our extended winter, head for Afton and enjoy some of the best spring skiing conditions possible. The snow conditions are near perfect and the days are long and the sun is strong.The resort will likely close for the season on March 30th as the new owners, Vail Resorts, are anxious to get started on their plans to spend close to 10 million dollars upgrading the ski area over the coming summer. Continue Reading
Welcome to the second stop on our Around the World in the Twin Cities tour! From Mexico, we head down to Ecuador to try llapingachos, ceviche, and encocado at Chimborazo.Llapingachos (pronounced ya-ping-ga-chos), or potato pancakes stuffed with cheese, are one of the most famous Ecuadorian dishes and are representative of the highlands region, where Chimborazo owner/chef Marcos Pinguil was born. The llapingachos con chorizo are Pinguil’s personal favorite on the menu. These potato pancakes are served with rice, chorizo, fried egg, and peanut sauce, but you can also get llapingachos as an appetizer or side dish. While many people associate potatoes with Irish fare, the first potatoes were actually cultivated by the Inca people in South America. Continue Reading
Sunnyside Cafe owner and head chef James Baker has been around the world, it seems. He first began cooking as a child, learning recipes from his aunties, but he credits his decision to cook while serving in the Navy during his tour in Vietnam with saving his life.Upon returning to the States, he followed the advice of a commanding officer and enrolled in culinary school. Over the next 40 years, Chef Baker worked in many areas of the food industry—from hotels and care facilities to restaurants and private catering. Cooking even brought him and his wife together. He tells the story of visiting her father’s restaurant on Broadway in North Minneapolis where she served him a slice of pizza. It was with her influence that brought him back to Minnesota to establish a long standing soul food catering business, and eventually, restaurant and catering.Sunnyside Cafe, on Minneapolis’s Northside, has been serving up a special kind of soul food since taking over the corner of Morgan and Glenwood from Milda’s Cafe in 2000. Continue Reading
Food truck wars, lunch wars, skyway vs. food trucks — the conflict between the brick and mortar restaurants in downtown Minneapolis and the growing population of food trucks has bred plenty of euphemisms, but essentially the situation comes down to a question of turf. Some restaurant owners have asked food trucks to disperse their ranks throughout downtown to ease the heavy concentration of trucks along the eastside of Marquette Avenue.Earlier in January, citing revenue and parking loss, a coalition of downtown restaurants, who call themselves the Downtown Food Committee, held a meeting to discuss the concentration of food trucks parking between 6th Street and 8th Street on Marquette and how it was adversely affecting their businesses.Some of the restaurants have reported up to a 30 percent drop in revenue, said Doug Sams, head of the Downtown Food Committee and owner of downtown’s D. Brian’s Deli & Catering for 26 years. Sams believes that the heavy concentration of trucks on Marquette has disproportionately hurt the area’s brick and mortar businesses. Others believe too much blame is being placed on the rolling restaurants. Continue Reading
There are rare chefs who elevate every dish they craft, and display clarity of vision without the hangups of timing and measurement that plague the lesser cook. These rare artists of the kitchen can spin you a familiar story you’ve never heard before, from the same ingredients that others, by comparison, seem to be using for plain, utilitarian purposes.One of these extraordinary chefs is Eric “Big E” Austin. The dishes I was lucky enough to sample were seemingly the best parts of every variation of dishes I had eaten before. (These days, Big E is only catering for large company celebrations, teaching cooking classes, and making weeks’ worth of food at a time for NBA and NFL players.) There were no surprises on the menu—no French names or sous vide bags simmering for days. The foods were instantly recognizable, and yet, to the trained eye, different in a very special way.Somehow a carefully presented mound of jerk chicken wings that would fit perfectly in a restaurant seemed out of place to me as I sat on a couch in Chef Austin’s home. Continue Reading
Hana Asian Market is located in the middle of a little strip mall a couple of blocks from where Highway 77 (Cedar Avenue) meets Old Shakopee Road in Bloomington. During the last 15 years it’s had three owners and two names, but it still carries (mostly) the same Korean and Japanese foodstuffs as it always did.It was the middle of the week and the middle of the afternoon when I visited, and the small store was already filled with customers. Owner Min Yong Cho rang up the line of mostly Korean and Japanese patrons, chatting with each of them.One regular customer, Alli Zarling, is not Asian but is a devotee of Japanese anime and, she claims, all things Japanese and Korean. She brought with her a group of like-minded friends to what she said is her favorite store. “I love it here,” she says. Continue Reading
