WHAT BETTER PLACE to celebrate Cinco de Mayo than the Midtown Global Market (920 E. Lake St., Mpls., 612-872-4041)? Dine at A la Salsa, La Loma Tamales, Manny’s Tortas, La Sirena Gorda, or Taquería Los Ocampo, or prepare for an authentic at-home feast with meats, grocery items, and baked goods from Bymore Meats, Cosecha Imports, and Panaderia El Mexicano—or pick up a piñata at Fiesta in America.
A new kind of bakery is rising in the Twin Cities. If you have food allergies or celiac disease, these gluten-free, low-glycemic bakeries offer fresh, delicious breads, pies, pizzas, and desserts so all can have their cake and eat it too: Bittersweet Bakery (2105 Cliff Road, Eagan, 651-686-0112), which opened in 2004, plus newcomers Cooqi (pronounced “cookie,” 2186 Marshall Ave., St. Paul, 651-645-4433), and Madwoman Foods (4747 Nicollet Ave. S., Mpls., 612-825-6680). Many of these bakeries’ products are available at Whole Foods Market and local co-ops.
Musical stoves continues. Cue and Level 5 executive chef Lenny Russo left the Guthrie to rejoin his wife, Mega Hoehn, at Heartland (1806 St. Clair Ave., St. Paul, 651-699-3536). Doug Flicker, formerly of Auriga, is cooking at Mission American Kitchen & Bar (77 Seventh St. S., Mpls., 612-339-1000). He replaces James Foley, who is helping to open Via, a new restaurant in the former Pizzeria Uno space on France Avenue in Edina. Russell Klein departed W. A. Frost and plans to open his own restaurant called Mahon.
If you missed the Twin Cities Food & Wine Experience, celebrity chefs Lorna Sass, Gale Gand, Joanne Weir, Laura Frankel, and Jennifer Bushman have autographed copies of their books at the Bookcase of Wayzata (607 E. Lake St., Wayzata, 952-473-8341).
Sue Zelickson is the host of WCCO Radio’s Food for Thought.
