Dear Dara Blog - Minnesota Monthly

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. Barrio, slated to open in... Read more » Posted on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 in Dear Dara \| Permalink \| Comments (1)

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 Dear Dara \| Permalink \| Comments (0)

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 Dear Dara \| 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 Dear Dara \| 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 Dear Dara \| Permalink \| Comments (2)

May 20, 2008 Another Mouth to Feed Sorry to drop off the face of the earth for a while. I’ve been busy with the great pleasure of eating hospital food while we ushered in lovely little Tobiah Rae Grumdahl: 7 pounds, 5 ounces, 20 inches long, loud as a tornado siren, and cute as a bean. Baby Tobi is actually a couple weeks old as I write this, and her appearance on earth has once again brought to the fore one of the most dire food-related issues in the Twin Cities: Seriously, who do I have to kill to get decent delivery food in this town? So far on this convalescence we’ve enjoyed take-out from Jasmine Deli (twice), Lucia’s (thrice), French Meadow, Holy Land, Common Roots, Los Ocampos, the barbecue counter at the Shuang Hur on Nicollet, and—need I even type it, or is it just taken for granted—the... Read more » Posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 in Dear Dara \| Permalink \| Comments (6)

May 15, 2008 Corner Table’s Top Secret Forthcoming Market & Deli Here’s one for the south Minneapolis street team: Start examining the construction permits posted in the windows of Minneapolis storefronts, find the right one, and you will have unearthed the location of the super-secret forthcoming Corner Table Market and Deli. The Corner Table is a south Minneapolis gem—a local-food paradise helmed by visionary chef and Winona-native Scott Pampuch. I call him a visionary because Pampuch was one of the first chefs in town to source his meat exclusively from local farms, one of the first chefs to connect his city customers with rural farmers through a farmers’ market across the street. He’s also one of the first to make unfussy, chef-driven food part of a local neighborhood. And now that same Kingfield neighborhood is... Read more » Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008 in Dear Dara \| Permalink \| Comments (4)

May 12, 2008 Tasty Souvenir of Right Now Voyageur Press’s big, colorful Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook just landed on my desk. Despite the ho-hum name, I have to say that if you have eaten passionately and locally this last decade, it’s a great document. (I say document because it’s a mix of cookbook, who’s-who of local farm-to-table eminences, and an eating-out guide.) It’s divided into six sections—North Shore, Twin Cities area, etc.—each of which includes profiles of prominent players a handful of their recipes. What I like about it is that it seems like a personal yearbook, documenting much of what I’ve been eating this last decade. If you live around here and are similarly interested in food, it’ll be your yearbook too. Read more » Posted on Monday, May 12, 2008 in Dear Dara \| Permalink \| Comments (2)

April 24, 2008 Who Has the Metro’s Best Fish & Chips? After my post on Sea Salt, a reader wrote in wondering if I had ever considered comparing local versions of fish & chips. Well, shucks—that’s a very good question. But which places should I compare? Off the top of my head, I would say: Brit’s, the Local, Mac’s Fish & Chips, the Groveland Tap, and the Highland Grill, though those last two are owned by the same company, so, hmmm. After some readers raved about the fish & chips at the northeast Minneapolis market that gets their stuff straight from Alaska, I tried it, but I wasn't too impressed: The fish was tilapia and I thought it was flavorless. Speaking of northeast, I adore the fried smelts at Red Stag Supperclub:... Read more » Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2008 in Dear Dara \| Permalink \| Comments (19)

April 17, 2008 Upscale Indian Is Coming at Dancing Ganesha You know what the Twin Cities desperately needs? An exciting Indian restaurant. Aside from a few Hyderabadi restaurants that have opened lately, the Twin Cities–Indian dining scene has seemed really dull lately. You’ve got your northern-everything restaurants, with the chicken tandoori, shrimp jalfrezi, and tamarind chutney out of jars; and then you’ve got your southern-vegetarian restaurants, with lentil everything—and tamarind chutney out of jars. Sure, there’s the tiny, scrappy Kabobs, which actually specializes in Hyderabadi cuisine. For that matter, there’s Hyderabad House in northeast Minneapolis. But deep in my heart, I feel that Indian food is one of the world’s best cuisines, and we’re kind of missing out around here. That all may be on the verge of... Read more » Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 in Dear Dara \| Permalink \| Comments (9)

Dear Dara is the place where Minnesota Monthly readers can interact with our dining critic and senior editor Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl. What makes her so special? She’s been reviewing restaurants and covering food and wine in the Twin Cities since 1995, most notably asCity Pages’ restaurant critic, but also for Gourmet, USA Today, Wine & Spirits, Bon Appetit, and Saveur. She’s been included in five editions of the Best Food Writing anthologies, and been nominated for seven James Beard Awards – though, to tell you the truth, most of the time the medals from her four wins are buried under a pile of chocolate wrappers at the back of her desk. This blog will be where she’ll answer your questions, (though probably not all of them), dish on her latest discoveries, reflect on breaking news, and generally bring the plate to the page.

Send your dining questions to Dara! Email her at dmgrumdahl@minnesotamonthly.com.

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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. Barrio, slated to open in... Read more » Posted on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 in Dear Dara \| Permalink \| Comments (1)

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 Dear Dara \| Permalink \| Comments (0)

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 Dear Dara \| 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 Dear Dara \| 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 Dear Dara \| Permalink \| Comments (2)

May 20, 2008 Another Mouth to Feed Sorry to drop off the face of the earth for a while. I’ve been busy with the great pleasure of eating hospital food while we ushered in lovely little Tobiah Rae Grumdahl: 7 pounds, 5 ounces, 20 inches long, loud as a tornado siren, and cute as a bean. Baby Tobi is actually a couple weeks old as I write this, and her appearance on earth has once again brought to the fore one of the most dire food-related issues in the Twin Cities: Seriously, who do I have to kill to get decent delivery food in this town? So far on this convalescence we’ve enjoyed take-out from Jasmine Deli (twice), Lucia’s (thrice), French Meadow, Holy Land, Common Roots, Los Ocampos, the barbecue counter at the Shuang Hur on Nicollet, and—need I even type it, or is it just taken for granted—the... Read more » Posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 in Dear Dara \| Permalink \| Comments (6)

May 15, 2008 Corner Table’s Top Secret Forthcoming Market & Deli Here’s one for the south Minneapolis street team: Start examining the construction permits posted in the windows of Minneapolis storefronts, find the right one, and you will have unearthed the location of the super-secret forthcoming Corner Table Market and Deli. The Corner Table is a south Minneapolis gem—a local-food paradise helmed by visionary chef and Winona-native Scott Pampuch. I call him a visionary because Pampuch was one of the first chefs in town to source his meat exclusively from local farms, one of the first chefs to connect his city customers with rural farmers through a farmers’ market across the street. He’s also one of the first to make unfussy, chef-driven food part of a local neighborhood. And now that same Kingfield neighborhood is... Read more » Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008 in Dear Dara \| Permalink \| Comments (4)

May 12, 2008 Tasty Souvenir of Right Now Voyageur Press’s big, colorful Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook just landed on my desk. Despite the ho-hum name, I have to say that if you have eaten passionately and locally this last decade, it’s a great document. (I say document because it’s a mix of cookbook, who’s-who of local farm-to-table eminences, and an eating-out guide.) It’s divided into six sections—North Shore, Twin Cities area, etc.—each of which includes profiles of prominent players a handful of their recipes. What I like about it is that it seems like a personal yearbook, documenting much of what I’ve been eating this last decade. If you live around here and are similarly interested in food, it’ll be your yearbook too. Read more » Posted on Monday, May 12, 2008 in Dear Dara \| Permalink \| Comments (2)

April 24, 2008 Who Has the Metro’s Best Fish & Chips? After my post on Sea Salt, a reader wrote in wondering if I had ever considered comparing local versions of fish & chips. Well, shucks—that’s a very good question. But which places should I compare? Off the top of my head, I would say: Brit’s, the Local, Mac’s Fish & Chips, the Groveland Tap, and the Highland Grill, though those last two are owned by the same company, so, hmmm. After some readers raved about the fish & chips at the northeast Minneapolis market that gets their stuff straight from Alaska, I tried it, but I wasn't too impressed: The fish was tilapia and I thought it was flavorless. Speaking of northeast, I adore the fried smelts at Red Stag Supperclub:... Read more » Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2008 in Dear Dara \| Permalink \| Comments (19)

April 17, 2008 Upscale Indian Is Coming at Dancing Ganesha You know what the Twin Cities desperately needs? An exciting Indian restaurant. Aside from a few Hyderabadi restaurants that have opened lately, the Twin Cities–Indian dining scene has seemed really dull lately. You’ve got your northern-everything restaurants, with the chicken tandoori, shrimp jalfrezi, and tamarind chutney out of jars; and then you’ve got your southern-vegetarian restaurants, with lentil everything—and tamarind chutney out of jars. Sure, there’s the tiny, scrappy Kabobs, which actually specializes in Hyderabadi cuisine. For that matter, there’s Hyderabad House in northeast Minneapolis. But deep in my heart, I feel that Indian food is one of the world’s best cuisines, and we’re kind of missing out around here. That all may be on the verge of... Read more » Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 in Dear Dara \| Permalink \| Comments (9)

Letters to the Editor

June 24, 2008

June 20, 2008

June 16, 2008

June 11, 2008

June 5, 2008

May 20, 2008

May 15, 2008

May 12, 2008

April 24, 2008

April 17, 2008

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Send your dining questions to Dara! Email her at dmgrumdahl@minnesotamonthly.com.

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