Received this in the in box… looks fun! I know for a fact that some really nice garlic roast beef will be available…

(Begin forwarded Message)

Hello Garlic Fans!

MN Garlic Festival will offer a unique culinary experience this year with a cadre of renowned Minnesota chefs converging at the festival cafe, “The Great ‘Scape”.

All six chefs were named as Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine’s “Restaurateurs of the Year”, which honored them for their commitment to local farmers, organic and traditional methods, and environmental awareness. Not only will they be preparing dishes in the cafe, but some will also present cooking demonstrations (schedule below).

The Festival Chefs for 2007 are:

Mike Phillips, The Craftsman <www.craftsmanrestaurant.com>

Chef Mike Phillips spent some time traveling and eating in other parts of the world, and then started cooking in area restaurants such as the Modern Cafe and the Walker Art Center. His interest in sustainable living, organic quality, and European cooking techniques are an integral part of the cuisine at The Craftsman.

Alexander Roberts, Restaurant Alma <www.restaurantalma.com>

Though born in Buffalo, New York, Alex’s formative years were spent in Minneapolis, working in local kitchens in high school and through college. In the early 1990’s, Alex moved to New York City, where he attended the French Culinary Institute. Upon his return to the Twin Cities, he opened Restaurant Alma, advancing his commitment to organic, sustainably produced food. Just this year, Alex was nominated for the prestigious James Beard Award as “Best Chef in the Midwest”. His new rotisserie, Brasa, is now open at 600 East Hennepin.

Lucia Watson, Lucia’s Restaurant & Wine Bar <www.lucias.com>

Chef Lucia Watson is the proprietor of one of the Twin Cities’ favorite neighborhood establishments, Lucia’s Restaurant & Wine Bar. A third generation Minnesotan, Lucia pursued her cooking passion at the School for American Chefs with Madeline Kamman and received her first level Master Sommelier certificate.
With two critically acclaimed books to her credit, Chef Watson has been honored with many awards over the years, including three nominations for a James Beard Award, and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy’s “Commitment to Community Award”. In addition to her work with the Farmers Youth Project, she lectures and teaches nationally and locally, often in support of sustainable food.

Phillip Becht, The Modern Cafe <www.moderncafeminneapolis.com>

Winner of the City Pages “BEST STAR-CHEF EXPERIENCE IN A RESTAURANT” award, Chef Becht is a very “hands-on” cook at the 1940’s style Modern Cafe.

Tracy Singleton, Birchwood Cafe <www.birchwoodcafe.com>

Voted City Pages “Best Vegetarian Restaurant” in 2000 and “Best Vegetarian Friendly Restaurant” in 2003, Tracy uses fresh local organic ingredients for her vegan, vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes at Birchwood Cafe, with an emphasis on simplicity, seasonality and buying local.

Russell Klein

Well known for his past work at W.A. Frost & Company, Chef Klein’s first cooking job was at Remi in New York City, and he studied with Cyril Renaud at La Caravelle and Fleur de Sel. With an obsession for local ingredients and high quality, Klein has championed local cheeses, and extended the concept of working with farmers by focusing on small, artisanal producers.

“The Great ‘Scape Cafe” (garlic lovers know that the “scape” is the flower stalk on certain garlic varieties that is in itself a delicacy) is MN Garlic Festival’s al fresco restaurant. Diners can choose to enjoy their meals, with foods from each of the chefs, at adjacent outdoor locations including the Concert Tent and the Chef Demonstration Tent. Most of the food is very local, with much of it actually being provided by farmers who are involved with the festival. It’s not uncommon to see cafe manager Greg Reynolds, an organic vegetable farmer who supplies several of the best restaurants and co-ops in the Twin Cities, shopping around to various booths at the festival, buying food that will be on someone’s plate within the hour.

Three of the festival chefs will present a cooking demonstration during the afternoon. Here is the schedule:

1:30 - Lucia Watson
2:30 - Alex Roberts
3:30 - Russell Klein

A family-friendly event with a full slate of entertainment and activities, MN Garlic Festival is sponsored by Sustainable Farming Association of MN <www.sfa-mn.org>, with a mission to support and promote family farms, vital rural communities and a healthy environment in Minnesota.

We’ve also had some marvelous vendors come aboard. You can choose from (or sample them all):
- Mexican food with the official Garlic Fest salsa
- Italian meats
- the official Garlic Fest pizza
- Garlic jelly
- a wide selection of frozen treats, and yes, garlic ice cream
- healthy fruit drinks and pop, and fresh lemonade
- root beer floats
. . . and lots more!

Details:
Event: MN Garlic Festival
Date: Saturday, August 18, 2007
Hours: 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Location: Wright County Fairgrounds, Howard Lake, MN
Admission: Adults - $5; Pre-school kids - free; Kids 6-12 yrs. - $3
Parking: $1
Contact: Jerry Ford, Festival Director, (320) 543-3394, jerry@marienne.com
Website: www.sfa-mn.org

My new job is on the edge of downtown, about a half block from both a Subway and Eddington’s. There isn’t much else for quick lunchtime fare, everything else is sit down. So unless I’m in the mood for a walk to the nearest skyway entrance or over to Nicollet Mall, these two are my choices on days when I haven’t brought lunch. I gotta give props to Eddington’s, my usual choice for I hope obvious reasons. I hadn’t thought about them since my days in the early 90s working at a law firm on the other side of downtown. Then, I recall them only from the leftover box lunches I would pirate from the conference rooms after some attorney couldn’t make the meeting. Now that I’m actually paying, I have to say, their tuna salad sandwich is great, as is the Eddington’s Club, which features turkey, bacon and chipotle mayo. Other than these two, I’ve had several bowls of soup, and I love the split pea, the ratatouille (and I’m not a tomato based soup girl, generally), and the good old chicken noodle. I’m sure I’ll have the opportunity to try more, but so far I’m thrilled they’re still around.

Are you a gourmet snob?

Funny article….

I would agree, anyone demanding to “see the chef” or trying to order some off-the-menu item during a busy dinner service is probably a putz. heh.

-shogunmoon

I am not even sure where to start.

Seriously. All this talk about fine restaurants closing down around here, and one might get the impression that all the twin cities metro has left to offer is Flameburger and White Castle. Not true! We have Chipotle! We WIN!

Anyway. For the love of God, one can still obtain some VERY fine food in town. Indeed, the wife and I DID obtain some very fine food. I mean FINE food. Like, weeping with joy fine. Like, nirvana in the form of bursting flavors fine. Like, thinking about this meal, I am have a hard time laying off of the CAPS LOCK key fine.

Before we move on, I would just like to congratulate whomever was in the kitchen at Fugaise Friday night, 11 February. Was it Don Saunders himself? Was it a highly qualified sous chef? Was it Harold Dieterle? Was it some wonderfully talented soul from a foreign land? No idea. Also? Don’t care. Whoever was manning the stove was kicking out the jams. I really regret not having sent a bottle back to the kitchen, like some generous local souls do. But hey, we were splurging as it was…

Speaking of wine, we ordered a white Bordeaux. Very inexpensive. $25 bucks I think. Hey, I like to splurge on the food, not always the wine! We ordered this once we figured out what we were going to order off of the menu, two seafood dishes. The Waiter even complimented us on our choice. Heh. Little did he know, or, probably more accurately, totally knew, that we saw these things: Bordeaux, white, and $25. Knowing damned well that at a joint like this, they ain’t going to be pouring swill, we figured the inexpensive stuff would be just peachy.

Choosing a starter was not made easy for us. The problem was that their was at least three things we just HAD to have… Scallops with Salsify and Sauce Charon or Veal Roulade, for example. How does one not order a Veal Roulade? Well, we didn’t, opting instead for the Wild Boar Ravioli with white figs, and a balsamic reduction. Turned out to be a great choice… they were fantastic. Served with a nice reduction and white figs. Exactly what these ravioli’s needed. Soulful and savory, that braised boar. Little pillows of perfection. (I can’t believe I just typed that… sorry everyone.)

For dinner we ordered, and were completely blown away by two dishes, Sea Bass and Skate and King Crab.

The Sea bass was heavenly. The fish, if I may address the big portion crowd, was huge. And? Perfect. The vanilla parsnip purée that it was resting on was almost as good as the damned fish… never underestimate the deliciousness of a parsnips… seriously. The vanilla really added a nice pleasant dimension to them. (I am totally going to try making this myself, and I will NOT be sharing.) Add a little acid in the form of a blood orange sauce, and, hello culinary nirvana.

But thats not all, folks! After waxing poetic about the outstanding Sea Bass dish, I have to admit that the Skate was even BETTER, if only slightly. The fish and crab was just absolutely melt in your mouth, no knife needed, and just had a gorgeous flavor. I have never had crab so good in my life. Like with the Sea Bass dish, the sauces were executed with subtle perfection. A bit of tang from the red pepper was a wonderful foil for the awe inspiring Skate and Crab. Throw in some wilted greens, and… I am simply out of adjectives. So good.

Oh yea, and for dessert? Poached pear with delicate, creamy cheese, and some crispy deliciousness. Very very nice. I had the waitron pick out a nice white port for me to go with it, and was quite pleased with the end result.

Bravo Fugaise. Best meal of 2007 so far. And, quite frankly, the vast majority of 2006 as well.

-shogunmoon

http://www.fugaise.com/

Rake Page

City Pages

Wild Boar Ravioli
White Fig, Raddichio, Aged Balsamic

Skate
King Crab, Roasted Red Pepper, Herb Pan Sauce

Dear W.A. Frost,

You are a nice restaurant filled with lovely, charming rooms. I especially liked our fireside table on the coldest night of the year. I’ve heard you have a spectacular patio in the gentler months, and I would not mind enjoying a drink on that patio at some point. Your wine list was impressive, if more focused on the $45 bottles than the $25 bottles. Which is fine - if not particularly populist - if the rest of it adds up. Which I thought it would - it all started on a good enough note when we ordered a tasty foie gras terrine (can hardly go wrong with foie gras, I believe) and some scallops that were a fine little appetizers, even with a bit of sand.

However, for a restaurant whose entree menu is priced between $19 and $47 (for the special), you were a HUGE disappointment. You like to position yourself as a romantic and intimate destination restaurant. Last night, you were ‘expense account’ at best. Service: competent but not stellar (fill the wine glasses when you check in!). Food: at one end, competent but boring (shogunmoon did enjoy his duck breast, my visiting sister’s squash ravioli w/ candied pecans was ok). At the other end (in the case of my pappardelle pasta w/ duck ragout) simply unappetizing. Around casa shogun, we call the flavor of old meat ’sweaty’, and this duck could have run a marathon.

In all, the meal was overpriced and uninspired, and I left feeling like you were the restaurant equivalent of a self-satisfied political incumbent who knows that the folks will vote for you again because you’ve always been there and, well, everyone else seems to hold you in high enough esteem.

W.A. Frost - as my pals and I used to say in college - you’re cute enough, but I wouldn’t want to make out with you. Your website says “boldly flavored with an emphasis on fresh ingredients.” I say, “sweaty duck and a general emphasis on ‘meh.’” At least for now, I’m not interested in a repeat visit. Maybe the patio drinks idea will entice at some point, and hopefully then the menu offerings will prove more appealing.

Best of luck to you,
Christie

ps. The good news is, not all venerable St. Paul restaurants appeared to be as boring that night. Later, we had drinks in the bar at the St. Paul Grill, and the chow that was coming out of that kitchen smelled and looked way better. Which should tell you something, considering that we’d just had DINNER. Next time my sister is in town for work and staying at the St. Paul Hotel, that place is totally on the list. Even if we do have to sit across the bar from T-Paw and Norm.

To the customer that decided to come in to our café, buy the kitchen a bottle of wine, and tip generously on top of that, thank you! Way, way above and beyond the call of duty.

Things like this go a long way to restore our faith in humanity.

I promise, we will enjoy the wine!

-shogunmoon

I love taco’s. More specificially, I love Taco’s Al Pastor, that delectible Mexico City street food tradition. Not that I have ever been to Mexico City.

I have been checking out a new mexi joint at Central and Lowry called Adelita’s quite a little bit, and it seems pretty solid.

Decent molé, tasty salsa, and nice carnitas and tacos al pastor. Polle en adobo is pretty rightous.

Check it out, and let me know if you think it stacks up!

-shogunmoon

Adelita’s

2405 Central Ave
Minneapolis - Northeast/St. Anthony
612-789-2526

The 112 Eatery just does not mess around. They are, as they might say in the dark alleys around the world, playing for keeps.

Any nay-sayers? Read the following:

All I have to say is Tagliatelle with Foie Gras Meatballs.

I recommend rereading the previous sentence a few times. Then, do not pass go, do not collect $200, and get down to the 112 Eatery and order the f*** out of this. Sit back and wait, as nirvana approaches.

Oh yea, we also had something called Blue Prawns with Rooster Mayo, perfectly breaded with the fluffiest breading I have laid eyes and mouth on. Sent out with a very nice and just a little picante dipping sauce.

Lamb Scottadito was not bad. Really, it was very very good. But come on, served with foie gras meatballs, it did not stand a chance.

I love this place. All that food totaled $33 bucks, by the way. Not to shabby!

-shogunmoon

Yum!

We treated ourselves to some lunch at Tum Rup Thai the other day, and boy am I glad we did.

Outstanding. Seriously. I mean, YUM.

I love life in NE, but sometimes I get sad from the lack of variety. Sure, we have tons of Mexi, but not all of it is good. We also have lots of middle eastern foods, but the lack of beer does sometimes get in the way.

Tum Rup Thai
1221 West Lake Street Minneapolis
www.tumrupthai.com

Dara talks about her favorite stuff. She even mentions our own Modern Café as having provided her with one of her top 10 meals of 2006! Cool! This is awesome coming from someone that eats about a babillion times a year.

City Pages, 3 Jan 2006