October 2009
October 30, 2009Foodie Halloween?
Restaurants don’t typically do much for Halloween—it’s a drinking holiday, don’cha know. But that hasn’t stoped chef Patrick Atanalian of Sanctuary from offering a five-course, $45 with wine-and-other-hooch pairings Halloween blow-out meal, both Friday and Saturday night. Eat scaaaary food, like wolves! Or at least pan-seared wolf fish. Check out the amusing “Thrills & Chills” Menu here, if only to enjoy a serious menu written in a dripping-blood font. Chino Latino is also doing some special Halloween things, like offering Japanese chicken-heart skewers (I’m guessing the preparation is Japanese, not the... Read more » Posted on Friday, October 30, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (2) |
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October 28, 2009Spoons-Only Restaurant Discovered!
Shows what I know: There is a spoons-only restaurant in Minneapolis! Well, sort of. Here’s the deal. BANK, the restaurant in the Westin Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, does a lot of private parties for bigger groups. When you book one of their private parties, you can order hors d’oeurves—you know, little snacks. You can order these little snacks in a typical way, say, as a charcuterie platter of salami and such to serve 10 for $35, or hummus and vegetables for 10 for $25. Unless you don’t want typical platters! In which case you can order BANK’s “signature spoon display” (essentially a two-foot by two-foot rack, though they call it a “wall”). This wall will feature 39 hors d’ouerves individually portioned out on 39 spoons.... Read more » Posted on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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October 26, 2009Spoons-Only Restaurant?
I got this e-mail from a reader over the weekend: “My anniversary is coming up and I would like to do something special for my husband. He has mentioned a restaurant that serves everything on spoons. He has mentioned this place several times (but never by name) and I cannot find it. Have you heard of such a restaurant?” My first thought was that her husband is trying out material for a spec piece for The Onion. My second was that maybe he had misunderstood the concept behind Spoonriver? My third was that he has lousy diction and really wants food served only on skewers, a la Fogo de Chão. (And, yes, I did wonder if I was... Read more » Posted on Monday, October 26, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (1) |
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October 23, 2009Doug Flicker Restaurant Replacing Agri!
It’s shocking, delightful, and now official: Doug Flicker, ultra-talented chef of late-lamented Auriga, has signed a lease for the Agri space on the corner of 43rd and Bryant in South Minneapolis. Hooray! Hip, hip, hooray! I think Flicker is one of the most talented chefs we’ve ever had in Minneapolis, and while I had years of quibbles with the quality of the restaurant experience at Auriga, I never had anything but delight in the food. (For those of you who never got to try Auriga, here's my nutshell review: Exquisite, original food in a drafty, crumbling room.) Here’s everything I know about the coming restaurant: It will be called Piccolo, and will offer something we’ve never exactly seen before, a large tasting menu, all offered a la carte. So,... Read more » Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (15) |
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October 23, 2009MNMO's Restaurant Issue
We run a very tight little ship here at Minnesota Monthly. Only a handful of writers and editors put out the whole magazine (Joel, Tim, Elizabeth, and I, to be exact! And I also edit Real Food), and the various people who run the website, marketing, and so-on work not just on our magazine, but on all the other projects we do, like the magazines Midwest Home and Where, and our various food and wine related fundraisers. (Minnesota Monthly is essentially a fund-raising activity of American Public Media Group, which owns MPR, the Fitzgerald Theater, and so on. Those guys fundraise during pledge drives; we fundraise all year long!) If I do say so myself, our tiny, excellent team is fabulous in terms of the magazine’s editorial voice and... Read more » Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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October 20, 2009Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Best Cheesesteak?
I got this letter from a reader last week: Dear Dara, I've just returned from Philadelphia, where I was tempted and tried my first authentic Philly Cheesesteak sandwich from Cosmi's Deli. It was sooooooo good. Unfortunately, I waited until the day I was flying out to try one. But now I'm craving more and I don't know when I'll return to Philly. I've tried searching the Web for advice, trying to find the most authentic Philly Cheesesteak sandwich in the Twin Cities to no avail. Is there such a thing? Where do I go? Who do I turn to? Help! Please! —Dennis in Little Canada Well, when a reader reaches out in distress like this I think it’s imperative I take a... Read more » Posted on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (5) |
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October 15, 2009Looking for a Few (More!) Good Chefs
What’s Seth Bixby Daugherty—the former head chef at Cosmos and 2005 Food & Wine Best New Chefs in America winner—been up to lately? Making the world a better place, mostly. Since stepping down from his high-profile gig a few years ago, he has been teaching cooking, volunteering all over the place on issues like childhood hunger and improving lunch in our schools. Now all his work has been nationally recognized: Daugherty has been nominated for Share Our Strength’s Humanitarian Award! This is a very big deal, honoring the leaders and volunteers who have made the biggest impact. Congrats, Seth! Hope you end up with the final award (winners will be announced in Washington D.C. in November). If you’re a chef reading this and thinking: “You... Read more » Posted on Thursday, October 15, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (1) |
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October 8, 2009Small Wedding in the Spring?
Dear Dara, Posted on Thursday, October 8, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (7) |
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October 6, 2009Ruth Reichl & I—Cancelled! Along with Gourmet…
I’m just in the weeds and feeling super-depressed right now, but I wanted to get this blog post up to let people know that Ruth Reichl has cancelled her upcoming book tour, so our event on Saturday at the Twin Cities Book Festival is off. I’m not so much depressed about the event being cancelled, though that does bum me out, but the closing of Gourmet! So awful. I was hoping to get some organized thoughts on paper about this, but organized thought doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me this week, so here are my main thoughts: Why did Gourmet close?
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October 2, 2009Introducing Wine Week!
We’re doing a new thing here at Minnesota Monthly called Wine Week, and it runs this October 4 - 10. Those of you who have lived in other cities, like New York, are probably familiar with the idea—it’s a pretty popular one elsewhere and involves a magazine working with various restaurants, wineries, and wine distributors to come up with special offerings. Some restaurants in this, our first ever Minnesota Monthly Wine Week, are offering a prix fixe dinner with specially priced wine pairings; others are offering a good price on a particular bottle, glass, or flight of wine. There’s a long list of offerings which you can peruse at mnmo.com/wineweek, but if you’re not in a... Read more » Posted on Friday, October 2, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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