I’ve had mixed emotions regarding Starbucks lately. On one hand, they are the Walmart of coffee houses and I’ve always found their coffee to taste somewhat toast-scrapings-esque. On the other hand, I dig their politics, AND… they gave me free Java Chip ice cream yesterday served in this adorable little mini-pint container. (Yes, mini-pint is too a real denomination)

Apparently Starbucks stock fell by 15% percent last year. I’m curious too know if this is due to a comeback by our hero, the independent coffee house - or if it just means that folks are trading in their coffee in favor of designer water and diet pills. 

Popped into Pop! yet again for a nice Friday evening meal with the wife. Once again, it was grande. I have no idea how Pop! chef Clark Knutson does everything so inexpensively, but he does. We have tried very few of the sandwiches, because the darned entrées are so good. So, I give you, a Friday evening at Pop!, complete with a rant about the shameless murder of Pasqual’s, the once proud and good Southwestern Deli on Hennepin avenue.

Upon arrival, the cool waitron recognized us, and sat us immediately. Although the place was near full, there was one table left just for us. That is what I like to see. Seeing ones favorite restaurant empty on a Friday night is very disheartening, but having to wait an hour is not good either in a personally selfish way. We didn’t get there till 8:30, so that likely explains the lack of a wait. It can be ballistic in Pop! sometimes. As it should be. It pretty much redefines the idea of neighborhood bistro.

While looking at the menu, we seriously thought about ordering an appetizer that was not the tamale. They have a Smoked Queso Fondue that looked mighty tempting. We came very close, we really did. But, when the ‘tron came to our table, what came out of our mouths was a bottle of Pinot Grigio, and one Hot! Tamale, por favor. Ahh, sometimes weakness is a a sweet, sweet thing.

Entrée-wise, Christie was bent on trying one of the pastas from the get go. She went with Pasta A, consisting of Penne pasta, sautéed spinach, in parmesan garlic-cream sauce for $10. Seemed simple enough. Pasta, you know?

I opted for the Salmon, listed as Salmon rubbed with mole served with sweet piquanté pepper rice pilaf, cumin black beans and tropical fruit salsa. How can someone go wrong with that? I felt like a real fat cat, getting ready to order the single most expensive thing on the menu, at a very humble $14.50.

When the ‘tron returned with the wine, she informed us of the special- Ginger-soy Marlin served stacked on a bed of Risotto and mushrooms, squash and carrot. Huh. Well, so much for the salmon. The Marlin it is. I can get the Salmon anytime.

Soon, the tamale showed up at the table with a few little plates. And, as usual, it was a fantastic tamale. A tamale is a very simple thing really. Pop!s is great not because they embellish on it, it is great because they do it simply but better. The Pop! Tamale is fairly large compared to most of what I have seen, and has shredded chicken erupting out of it like a fountain. It has a little chipotle-lime sour cream drizzled over it, adding a little color, and on the side is a little dab of verde salsa. The chicken is moist and tender and delicious, especially with a little of the salsa added to it. If anything, I would not mind seeing a little more of the salsa, but yea, this is still be best tamale in Minneapolis. Yes, that is an open challenge.

Does anyone remember Pasqual’s over on Hennepin, before it was brutally pillaged by raging fools who made some utterly misguided and criminal attempt to make the simple counter deli joint into an upscale restaurant? I remember going in there to get the Double Guacamole Taco, perhaps one of the finest items on any menu in the entire Twin Cities metro area, and saw that they had removed all forms of pork from the menu. Yes, a Mexi-Southwestern place removed all pork from the menu. Whatever, I liked the chicken and the barbacoa best anyway.

They weren’t done yet though, no sir. Another menu was in the works. THe final time Christie and I stopped in, they had produced a “fine dining” style menu with maybe 10 things on it, similar in appearance to what you would have at most chef-driven places. Not only had the gotten rid of everything that was tasty at Pasqual’s, they had started to introduce Mediterranean items. Since we went in to simply get take out, we ordered some tacos that had suddenly gotten very expensive. We were served a chicken BREAST (not shredded) taco, drier then the sands of arizona, that may have been the worst thing I have ever eaten. I would have thrown it at the “Chef”, but with something that hard, it might have taken an eye out.

For the record, if anyone knows the person that took over and sunk Pasquals, let them know that I would love to make an appointment to have some harsh words with them. Also, if ANYONE has the recipe for the Verde Chili they used to serve, I would pay top dollar for it.

Ahem, rant ends here. The reason I brought up Pasqual’s is that they had great shredded chicken. They cooked them overnight somehow, and it came out very tender and just succulent. Pop!’s tamale chicken is like this. If anyone from Pop! is reading this, I will tell you how to get daily business from me. Add tacos to your menu. Especially “double” tacos, with a hard soft flour tortilla pasted to a hard corn shell with guac. Hell yea. Anyhow, the tamale is great, and the last thing Pop! needs is advice from the likes of me… Maybe Snap!, their new Pizza joint, could serve Tacos? Ok ok, I am done about the tacos.

As per usual, the next thing that came up was the tasty moist cornbread, as good as always. It would be great with tacos… er sorry. What can I say? It is cornbread, and it is very good.

And finally, the headline act, the entrées. Lets start with Pasta A. Well, it was pasta. It did indeed consist of Penne pasta, sautéed spinach, and parmesan garlic-cream sauce. The noodles were done properly. I don’t know, it was good, but in need of salt and more garlic in a big way. I have to say, neither of us is likely to ever order Pasta A again. It wasn’t bad, but it certainly did not inspire us to save to world like the Pork Tenderloin, the Tamale, and several of their specials have.

Speaking of specials, lets take about the Marlin. This was a show-stopper. For the record, I am not much of a fish eater. When it is not prepared well, it is dry, flavorless, and nasty. Heavier fishes can be tough, like a cheap steak. However, I have faith at places with good chefs. I get fish almost every time I drop in at Chiang Mai Thai, for example. They have a Ginger encrusted fish of your choice served on a bed of steamed vegetables and rice that I personally think is to die for. Of course, aside from the use of delicious ginger root, the Marlin at Pop! is nothing like that, though it was as good in a different way, as I describe in the following.

The special came out with two fairly large marlin filets on top of the vegetables and risotto mix. The ginger-soy squash sauce gave everything under the filets a yellow, curry-like appearance. The first bite was a great taste sensation. I took a little fish, a little risotto, and a mushroom and put it in my mouth. The risotto was not mushy like it can be sometimes, having almost a slight crunch. The mushroom had soaked up a little of the ginger sauce, which complimented its natural heartiness. The marlin soaked up the flavors of all of the above, adding its own goodness to the mix, creating a little flavor explosion in every single bite. I ended up shredding the fish with my fork, and mixing it in with the risotto mix. Very Good.

The marlin itself, not having been smothered by the sauce, was good on its own. It was not over- cooked or dry, and had a nice firmness about it. Marlin is a great fish. It grills well (although lean so easy to overcook,) and is a game fisherman’s prize because they fight tooth and nail apparently. Sometimes these 400 pound, brilliantly colored, spear nosed beasties will ram the sides of the boats with their bills. Not wanting to disrespect or waste any of the meat from this noble fish, I ate every last bite.

-shogunmoon

I was using thee old search function of the interweb to look up a restaurant I wanted to mention in the post I am working on about Vietnamese cooking, and came across this fun illustration of “Eat Street” in Nicollet mall, complete with photos.

Maybe some day, I will add photos. I do have a camera. Unfortunately, it comes with the red eye feature. By that, I mean it gives everything red eye. It would probably give a pile of basil and a granny smith apple red eye. F##k it, I am a writer! Someone else can take the photos. I’m busy, dammit!

Plus, I met the guy once, so what the hell. He is also good for fun political discourse.

I feel like I ate a horse

http://thriftyhipster.com/minneapolis/

I was in the process of compiling all of the local Happy Hours I knew about, but then I found this site. I am sure most anyone reading this thinks this is old news, but hey, I gotta post something. After all, todays Dara column is about freaking bagels. Bagels? Good lord. Ok, just kidding, Dara is still the greatest critic to ever live.

Does anyone know what she looks like? Well, actually, probably be best not to post it here. Blowing her cover would be bad. No one at the restaurant I work at knows what she looks like, that is for sure. I wonder if she does disguises like Ruth Reichl… hmm.

Anyhow, in summary, Happy Hours good, Bagels bad.

best regards.

Turns out, my man Clark Knutson, proprietor of Pop! A Neighborhood Restaurant is going to open a Pizza and Hoagie joint called Snap! Pizza a few store fronts down… huh. Wonder if they will deliver. Nordeast has a near complete lack of delivery pizza (for a guy that doesn’t eat from chains…) Yes, Psycho Suzi’s… I am looking in your direction.

Evidently, he is looking to purchase the bakery that lies between them, and name that crackle! You heard it here second folks.

Counter intelligence: Pop! owner adds Snap! for pizza and hoagies

Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad
Vietnamese Caramelized Grilled Pork

Recently, in a bout of consumerist frenzy, I subscribed to several magazines, covering a wide range of topics. If we combine my magazine titles with the ones Christie gets, we may as well be the public library. In addition to Saveur and Gourmet Magazine, we also have Harper’s, The Progressive, The Economist, Vanity Fair, and Protoculture Addict. (Note, yes I am a rabid Anime fan, and at some point will probably scribble about Ghost in the Shell or Neon Genesis Evangelion for your reading pleasure.) We also religiously purchase Cooks Illustrated when we spot it at the grocery store. That is a lot of reading to get done, but dammit, it does get done. Well, I must admit I have never read Harper’s cover to cover, but who has?!?

Now, Saveur and Gourmet always have fun little recipes. Mind you, they never seem to be much depth in them. Them seem more like vehicles for rare ingredients and techniques to experiment with and add your personal touch to… basically recipes for chefs. These magazines are sort of the Yang to Cook’s Illustrated Yin. For those of you that don’t know about cooking magazines and/or are not a proficient cook, Cooks Illustrated is for you. They go into extreme depth analyzing traditional recipes, deconstructing and reconstructing them for your pleasure. They then tell you how to recreate the best they came up with in exacting detail. Even though I have a lot of experience cooking, I use Cooks recipes more then any other, especially for dinner parties where I want less experimentation and more sure fire goodness. Just double the garlic and black pepper!

Anyhow, the June 2005 copy of Gourmet had some nice looking recipes in the “Quick Kitchen” section, including a recipe for a Vietnamese Rice Noodle Bowl, and a companion recipe for Vietnamese Caramelized pork. If you have read some of my previous posts, you might remember my writing about the Jasmine Deli and the killer noodle bowls they whip up cheap. Since the recipes were so simple, I figured… why not?

First up was the shopping. Went out to the usual places to get my stuff. I actually had most of what I needed, so I went to the Co-op to get the rice noodles and herbs. Oops, got pad thai noodles! No big deal. Brought all my stuff back to the kitchen, decided I was going to cook after a few minutes of Knights of the Old Republic… You know how that goes. 8 hours later I went to bed.

A note about fish sauce. To make sure your fish sauce is Vietnamese, look for Phu Quoc and Phan Thiet on the label, as these are the two great fish sauce producing regions there. You also might want to look for fish sauce with nhi or thuong hang on the label. Fish sauce is a little like olive oil, in that there are separate grades of the stuff. nhi and thuong hang mean that it is the good stuff.

Make sure you read the article I linked, and check out the website in general. It is called Viet World kitchen, and they know a hell a lot more about Vietnamese cooking then some gringo from the midwest ever will.

The next day, I set about cooking. First up, pounding the pork loin chops. Pound pound pound. Slit Slit Slit. Cut into strips. Caramelize the sugar. Add the fish sauce. Add pork to sauce. Grill Pork. Moving right along.

The noodle bowl was fairly simple to do. Soak noodles, Boil for a minute, then add the stuff. add herbs

So, when all was said and done, it it was time to spoon it up and slurp it down. They were awesome! The whole idea of using herbs almost like greens works well. The noodle bowls are topped with roasted peanuts, and they add a nice crunch to the whole deal. The pork was a nice tangy flavor. Next time I make this, I will cut the pork pieces even smaller and thinner, and probably grill them over charcoal. This time I just used a grill pan.

All in all, these are very very simple recipes, and highly recommended. I assure you, I will be making this one again, soon.

Friday, Christie decided it was high time to eat at one of the fancy places that the reviewers rave about. Her choice? Zander Cafe, located in the now bustling Western and Selby restaurant mecca.
This area has really come a long way since I lived there. 13 years ago, at the tender age of 17, Mose, myself, and a fine gentleman by the name of McClain Looney had rented what was easily the worst property for blocks around. Still, even 12 years ago this area was starting to show signs of recovery. To the south and the east lie the Catherdral Hill neighborhood, home to some of the largest and oldest victorian mansions in Saint Paul. The earlier recovery of the Summit Avenue homes a few decades back was starting to creep slowly towards the blight, remaking and remodeling the run down Victorians one block at a time.
The property the Mose and I rented, however, was a long way from renovation. It was an small two level victorian with three tiny bedrooms and one bathroom. There was also a sunroom we used as a bedroom… it was bigger then any of the other rooms in the house. In one of the bedrooms, we had managed to cram in a drum kit, some guitar amps, and a 4 track cassette recorder. We even let a band called the Suicide Machines practice there for a while, while they recorded their first and only record, er, tape. Oh, the good times.
At one point McClain brought a Ruger.22 rifle home, complete with case and scope. He then proceeded to move to Europe. He was kind enough to leave both the rifle and his Sega Genesis, which we thought were very thoughtful things to do. Since we needed to get someone in to pay rent, we found the man who is possibly the greatest slob of all time anywhere, Mr. Nathan Ristaou.
Nate was the only one of us who cooked, and he was the only one of us that didn’t clean up. He was the kind of guy that would fry up pork shops and then lay the pan on the counter, left to fend of the encroaching mold on its own. Cheap saute pans with hamburger remnants and tomato sauce covered most every square inch on the kitchen. Once, out of desperation, Mose and I took a cookie sheet loaded it with a months worth of dirty dishes. We then proceeded to set it squarely in the middle of Nates bedroom floor.
It stayed in his room, unmoved, until the day he moved out.
So it is with memories of this area being pretty run down that we approached Zander Cafe. Pyramid Grocery, the place we bought most of our meals in Deli Express form, was long gone. Someone has gone and put a freaking Co-op on the corner of Dale and Selby! Times really have changed.
The Zander Cafe is a very small place. It consists if two rooms, one with a piano and a few tables, and another with a few more tables. I would advise getting reservations of you pop in here for a bite, as I imagine it has a grueling wait some nights.
Apon arrival, we ordered a bottle of the Sutton Cellars Pinot Noir, 2003, at $28. We had already figured that we would be ordering fish and red meat, so we figured we wanted something not too heavy and not too light. This bottle fit the bill perfectly.
For an appetizer, we ordered a Risotto that was two balls served with a variety of sauces. I have to be honest… I am not a real reviewer, and forgot to take notes. I was thinking that the menu was online, and it is, but without the risotto They also brought some bread and olives, something to nosh on as we waited.
For entrees, we ordered Pan Seared Ponzu Trout Fillet (Fresh Rainbow trout atop a bed of Japanese Udon noodles with shitake mushrooms, asparagus, and Napa Cabbage topped with a citrus and ginger Ponzu sauce and Wasabi oil) and Natural Beef Tenderloin (A sauteed four ounce tournadoes of tenderloin served in an aromatic consomme with an assortment of baby vegetables topped with a smoked tomato and blue cheese butter.) Sadly, they were out of the beef. But not to despair! They were instead running Bison Steaks as a special in place on the beef. Sounded good to us.
The trout came as promised, stacked boneless and skin-on atop a bed of vegetables and udon noodles. The ginger ponzu sauce and wasabi oil was drizzled over the dish, making every bite nice and flavorful. The trout itself was very tasty, and I loved taking bites of trout with some of the vege-noodle mix . The Vegetables were nice and crispy, and the mushrooms tender. This dish smelled great, tasted great, and looked great. Even if you are not typically a fish eater, I would even recommend this to you.
The Bison Steak was another success. It was cooked medium rare as asked, and was the correct color. Granted, neither of us had had a bison steak before, so it is possible that it was not correct, but hey, it was good! It was cut-with-a-fork tender more or less, and was the sort of meat that just melted in your mouth. It had a natural spiciness that was well matched with the potato puree it was served atop of potato puree. (aside to chefs everywhere: just call them mashed potatoes, you’re not fooling anyone with your fancy “puree” nonsense. We know what it is -ed).
So there you have it. The Zander Cafe. If I did stars ratings, they would have a whole mess of them!
Zander Cafe 525 Selby Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55102 phone: (651) 222-5224 Reservations Recommended