Chef Doug Flicker and his wife, Amy Greeley, took over the Lake Nokomis concessions stand and transformed it from drab to fab. The food isn’t fancy, but as with Flicker’s upscale restaurant, Piccolo, it’s founded on good ingredients and creativity. The approach succeeds with the American Indian Fry Bread: a puffy, chewy mat piled with ground bison—its plainness is its appeal. The bar snacks are equally likable: fried cheese curds from Wisconsin’s Castle Rock dairy to dunk in sriracha, fried chicken wings that taste of Asian five-spice and aren’t greasy at all. On the lighter end, there’s a lovely watermelon-arugula salad with chèvre and pickled radishes and a summery shrimp/octopus ceviche—something I thought I’d never see in a city park. Items like these may be pushing the location’s limits, though. The Dog Flicker hot dog, for example, is topped with a fried egg and kimchee, but the average beachgoer may just want ketchup.
Sandcastle
4955 W. Nokomis Pkwy., Minneapolis
sandcastlempls.com
