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June 24, 2008

Barrio Sneak Peek – Check Out the New Tim McKee Tequila Bar

Tim McKee, the stratospherically talented chef and co-owner of La Belle Vie and Solera (and now Smalley’s, the Stillwater barbecue restaurant which will I review in the magazine’s August issue) has yet another restaurant opening in August: It will be called Barrio Tequila Bar & Café. Curious? Of course you are/ I know I was, so I called up McKee to find out more.

McKee told me that, as the name implies, Barrio is indeed a tequila bar and will offer more than 100 tequilas—that is, the top shelf sipping kind, as well as fancy margaritas and such, concocted by the supremely gifted Johnny Michaels, the La Belle Vie bar manager and creator of another of the Twin Cities most creative and delicious cocktail menus, at Café Maude.
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Posted on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 in Dara & Co | Permalink | Comments (7)

June 20, 2008

World’s First Fennel Pollen Bratwurst?

If you’ve been eating in fine dining restaurants the last few years, you’ve likely come across bee pollen, those little balls that bees have collect from flowers and stick together with little bits of nectar. I’ve seen Ames Farm bee pollen, for instance, on cheese trays, decorating seared scallops, and even clinging to the rim of a cocktail glass at Brenda Langton’s Spoonriver.

And if you’ve been eating in backyards these last few years, you’ve likely come across a bratwurst, those things my editor insists must be eaten unadorned and two to a hard roll [ed note: actually, brown mustard is okay; it’s just ketchup and yellow mustard that are truly abominable on a brat], in true Sheboygan style, even though most Minneapolis folks treat them more or less... Read more »

Posted on Friday, June 20, 2008 in Dara & Co | Permalink | Comments (2)

June 16, 2008

Saffron’s Lamb Ribs Recipe, Revealed!

Sameh Wadi and I have a prickly relationship; I didn’t review his restaurant well. He thinks I’m an idiot. And so on.

This actually doesn’t bother me much. I feel very First Amendment about it: I will fight to the death for every American’s right to think I’m an idiot! Or every Minnesotan’s, anyway. I also feel okay about it because I know Wadi and his downtown Minneapolis restaurant have plenty of ardent supporters—including every other critic in the state and most of the chefs in town.

So, what’s to like about Wadi and his fine dining menu of eastern and southern Mediterranean influenced dishes? Plenty. He’s working in an idiom few do here, taking the road less taken, and frankly it’s a heck of a lot easier to stick a leaf of basil under a... Read more »

Posted on Monday, June 16, 2008 in Dara & Co | Permalink | Comments (4)

June 11, 2008

We Wuz Robbed!

It’s appalling that Tim McKee and the La Belle Vie crew were passed up for the James Beard Award earlier this week. I worried that all the Minneapolis nominees, including Isaac Becker of 112 Eatery and Alex Roberts of Restaurant Alma and Brasa, would dilute the Minnesota vote and, alas, it looks like I was right. Check out the results here:

http://jbfawards.com/content/2008-nominees#chef

I have to admit that the restaurant voting can go astray. The judges for all the print and media awards are handed copies of whatever they’re reviewing—you should see the boxes of hardcovers I’ve had to plow through in the years when I’ve been a book award judge. But the restaurant reviewers... Read more »

Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 in Dara & Co | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 5, 2008

Rotisseria Is Back!

Many thanks to blog-poster Kristen. Because of her, I learned that Rotisseria was back, and consequently I devoured some of the best take-out chicken Minnesota has to offer—chicken made only more super-delicious by the fact that I had thought Rotisseria chicken was a taste that was gone to us forever.

Now, if you’re not familiar with the place, Rotisseria was and is the Twin Cities only Peruvian charcoal-roasted chicken joint. Does Peruvian charcoal-roasted chicken seem a ridiculously specific designation to you, akin to an Icelandic corndog spot, or a Lichensteinian mac and cheese restaurant? That’s what I thought when I first heard of the stuff, but I did some research and found out it’s an iconic regional food, beloved by pretty much all of South and Central... Read more »

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 in Dara & Co | Permalink | Comments (6)