Great Taste

Great Taste's Road Show

Or: Minnesota to Marin? You betcha!

Our journey starts up in the Cities at a suburban side street hole-in-the-wall.  Unassuming Thanh Do has the best traditional Asian fare we've found in Hennepin County.

I scoured the internet--and read lots of opinions--to find Thanh Do. But when our party approached the storefront, I had to think again. An old (aka retro) neon sign from a previous Chinese restaurant was a hint that this scene might be (too) quirky.  The dated shopping plaza was merely functional.  Plain outdoor tables offered an up-close view of the parking lot.

Inside the room was crowded and noisy but optimism rose as the four of us caught glimpses of fragrant hot plates bound for tables. We were not to be disappointed. Once seated, service was swift. Selections were fresh and full-flavored--with value in ample portions.

Expect an easy-going, mix-it-up menu. Chinese restaurant staples--egg drop soup, Mongolian beef, and pork chow mein--line up with fresh spring rolls, green papaya salad, Singapore noodles, pho, and Thai curry. A few inventions--cranberry curry with chicken--keep it fun.   Wash it all down with iced jasmine tea or beer.

The experience of this family-owned-and-run spot (see inspiring back-story on Thanh Do's website) conjures up fond memories of meals enjoyed in bustling Hong Kong restaurants. 

Thanh Do,  3005 Utah Avenue South, St. Louis Park (952-935-5005), also has a location at 3716 7th Avenue, Anoka (763) 422-0040/www.thanhdorestaurant.com

Next stop: A tiny temple of Puerto Rican cookery in Marin County, California. 

What's in Kari's kitchen?

The Rochester Downtown Farmers Market manager gets hungry too. So what has she been eating?

'I did asparagus, ramps, and chicken sauteed up in soy sauce and ginger....I've been living on it this week," says Kari Dunn. "I did it over brown Basmati rice."

Market news from Kari

Vendors are offering heaps of spinach, asparagus, rhubarb, ramps and salad mixes. Morel and shiitake mushrooms are also expected.

Will there be fiddlehead ferns? Unfortunately they didn't come to market this year, she reports. "Maybe next year."  

Answer to the "Name that Picnic!" post of May 20

The menu was from Slow Food Minnesota's "Wild About You" foraging dinner on May 17 at Ralph Lentz's farm in Lake City. For information on upcoming Slow Food events around the state, visit: http://www.slowfoodmn.org/events.html

A few of our favorite things...

We have cravings....

Vegetable or roast pork egg foo yung with sauce at China Star, 405 First Ave. S.W., (507) 281-0014, and two other Rochester locations.

Thin-crust cheese or pepperoni pizza at Jimmy's Pizza, 79 West Fifth Street, Zumbrota, (507) 732-7840. (Also locations in Kasson, St. Charles, and other Minnesota towns, but I've only had pizza at the Zumbrota shop.)

Chicken liver pate with crusty French bread and chopped pickles at Jasper's Alsatian Bistro and Wine Bar, 14 Third Street SW, Rochester (507) 280-6446.

Chicken makhani (tandoori chicken slices in tomato, butter and fenugreek sauce) and Basmati rice, Kurry Kabab, 3028 Jefferson Road, Northfield (507) 645-9399.

Chicago-style hot dog, with everything, at The Chocolate Twist, 23 West Center Street, (507) 529-2922

A special post for chocolate cravings to follow soon.....

Name that picnic!

Can you name the recent event?

Menu

Salad of chickweed, wild peppermint and lamb's quarters

Braised elk in brown sauce with morels and ramps

Hand-harvested Minnesota wild rice with nettles

Wilted mixed greens: dandelions, nettles and mustard greens in rendered bacon fat with cider vinegar

Roasted ramps, roasted asparagus

Assorted desserts

Beverages

Crofut (Jordan, Minnesota) wine

Flat Earth Brewing Co. (St. Paul) beer selection

Lift Bridge Brewery (Stillwater) beer selection

Homemade sarsaparilla

"Artisan, crusty bread" comes to market

The Rochester Downtown Farmers Market is best known for fresh produce. But the selection of home-baked goods is impressive--and may be more diverse than ever.   

'We sold out of sourdough in the first two hours," says Susan Waughtal of the bread sold by her family at  outdoor market's first two Saturdays this year.    

Wood-fired organic white sourdough boules and batards are a creation of Waughtal's daughters Cadence and Sara Nelson, and husband Roger Nelson, a Rochester-based architect.

The family also makes and sells almond-studded, braided pulla; cardamom rolls; shortbread; chocolate truffle cookies and macarons. This Saturday they're featuring German walnut beer bread with rosemary--  recommended by Waughtal for canapes and tea sandwiches, or simply for mopping up stew.

"Response has been really positive," says Waughtal, 51, an artist and writer. (Among other projects she freelances for the PB.)

Roger, 51, designed and built the family's clay oven, and helps to man the market stand. Cadence, 22, and Sara, 24, assist with baking and with Nelson/Waughtal's sustainable Squash Blossom Farm.

More info at  www.squashblossomfarm blogspot.com

Waiting for burrata

Every other week LeeAnn Zubay looks for the arrival of a limited-supply specialty cheese shipment to her shop, Culinary Market.  

Sometimes she will receive one of her favorites, burrata, a fresh cheese that is a specialty of southern Italy's Puglia region. In the last 10 years, burrata has become the rage at high-end Italian restaurants and markets in New York City and along the West Coast. It's still a challenge to track it down outside these areas.    

"I found a cheesemaker in California that makes it the right way," Zubay says. That way is "shaved mozzarella with cream added and tied up in a [mozzarella] beggar's purse."

To bite into delicate, silky burrata is to enjoy something far beyond basic fresh mozzarella. Many pair the liquid-center cheese with sliced heirloom tomatoes, green beans, grilled vegetables, peaches or prosciutto, but Zubay goes for simplicity:  "I don't like to do anything more to it than a great olive oil, coarse salt, and pepper....We're in heaven."

Zubay's olive oil of choice is Olave, an organic extra virgin olive oil from Chile, which she describes as "grassy."  She also carries flavor-infused extra virgin olive oils by Olave, such as basil, and recommends creating a tasting with burrata and varieties of infused oils.  

This week, the California burrata didn't come in, but Great Taste will stop by Culinary Market anyway. There are some 60 cheeses to choose from, including other fresh varieties for spring. 

(For purists: Zubay also plans to have Italian-imported water buffalo milk burrata in June.) 

Culinary Market
308 1st Avenue NW, Rochester
(507) 280-3875

Mark Weimer's top five wines

Many restaurants have good wine lists.

Then there's Chardonnay, Rochester, and co-owner Mark Weimer's selection of 320 wines.

Chardonnay's cellar has received Wine Spectator magazine's Award of Excellence for 17 years.*

But, we wanted to know, what would Mark drink? He shared with us his top five, in no particular order: 

1. Rombauer Zinfandel...."It's big without being terribly tannic. I think it's very food friendly. [The Rombauers] are descendants of the Joy of Cooking author."

Pair with: "A beef or lamb or something with tomato sauce."

2. William Fevre Chablis...."No relation to the quarterback [Brett Favre]; he's a French guy. It's a 100 percent French grape that grows in chalky soil.'

Pair with:  "Anything seafood-y....Shellfish is best."'

3. Chappellet Cabarnet Sauvignon...."They make the one from Pritchard Hill, which is very good."

Pair with: "A big roast--prime rib--or even a duck or dark fowl or game." 

4. Priorat...."from a guy named Alvaro Palacios. He makes three different varieties in different price ranges .It's a Spanish wine made from Grenache grapes; in Spain they're known as Garnacha. It's another big flavor."

Pair with: "Anything grilled--an expensive hamburger or steak."

5. Any dessert wine from Chateau Pierre-Bise. "He's in the Loire Valley. They are very pretty wines made from Chenin Blanc grapes."

Pair with: "A dessert made with stone fruit like plum, peach or apricot." 

*From 1999 to 2003 Chardonnay received the Best of Award of Excellence, which placed its cellar in an even more elite category. (The only other current Rochester recipient of a Wine Spectator award is Sontes.)

Cookbook hopes in Lanesboro

Annual Rhubarb Festival organizers plan to publish a cookbook of recipes from the first five years of the fest's tasting contest. 

"We've found that our tasting contest is always very successful.... We have the greatest of variety," says Nancy Martinson,  known as the festival's "top stalk."

Previous tasting winners include rhubarb chili Cubano and  rhubarb and onion chutney. Last year's winning recipes are available on the event's web site. This year's festival is June 6, with cookbook to follow. 

---

Peggy Hanson, co-owner of the Cady Hayes House Bed & Breakfast, says she will operate the inn for its last season and close in the fall. 

Hanson and her husband, Frank Wright, were noted in The Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook, published last year. They share a passion for fresh-from-the-farmyard-and-garden foods; Wright participates in the Lanesboro Farmers Market.

Upcoming projects: Hanson's considering a cookbook of her recipes.

What to expect from new chef Erik Paulsen at The Vintage in Lanesboro

Here's a taste:

An amuse bouche

Entrees like Caledonia-based Au Bon Canard farm duck confit with orange glace, served with roasted haricot verts with shallots and creme fraiche and chive potato souffle, or house-made egg yolk pasta with shitake and oyster mushrooms and ramps.

Signature flourless chocolate torte, vanilla bean creme brulee, and cheesecake dessert selections.

Paulsen, who just recently re-opened the seasonal restaurant as chef, says he looks to further The Vintage's "strong farm-to-table approach." His "evolving menu,"  which may vary as often as it takes to eat a meal,  reflects the seasons and supplies of locally grown or raised foods.

A self-described "natural, simplistic cook," Paulsen, 31, is currently a one-man show in the kitchen, save for a salad assistant. He does prep work, bakes bread, and makes stocks, pastas and pastries. He also selects wines and beers. Does he wash dishes too? (I didn't ask ... hopefully not!)

If The Vintage doesn't register as one of southern Minnesota's finer restaurants, age and modest size may be the obvious reasons. Though it has been around since 2006, a relocation last spring was a turning point. Situated in a new storefront aside the Commonweal Theatre, the tiny dining room became a hot ticket for the pre- and post-show crowd. Chef Meg Olsen (also a former owner) rivaled the drama next door as she dazzled patrons with an Asian-informed French culinary style.

Olsen's decision to move back to her native Wisconsin set the stage for for sous chef Paulsen, a Spring Valley native and 2003 graduate of Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Mendota Heights.   

Paulsen grew up around the restaurant business and the food of a Sicilian grandmother. An internship at Le Cordon Bleu took him to New Orleans and work under Paul Prudhomme.  After gaining more experience in southeast Minnesota restaurants--- ranging from Sontes in Rochester to a 3-year-stint at Riverside on the Root in Lanesboro--he joined The Vintage last year.     

It's only been weeks at the helm. We'll stay tuned.

The Vintage, 210 Parkway Avenue North, Lanesboro (507) 467-3381/1-888-868-8941.

We asked Prescott's chef Christopher Rohe ...

Are you serving morels now?

I just bought 30 pounds a couple of hours ago [on Monday].  Today is the big mother lode. Right now we do sides of morels. We just sauté them in garlic and butter and people order them as a side or put them on top of a filet — whatever they want to do with them.

Soon we'll serve them in sweet cream sauce on a grilled chicken breast, and in soups, stuffed and fried.

What's your favorite spring dish?

I love ramps. I have local wild ramps on hand. We do the same — sauté in garlic and butter.

What cookbook(s) are you reading?

I'm reading Marco Pierre White ... He's British. I like Gordon Ramsay. Gordon Ramsay speaks highly of him ... [The food] is all French and European.

Prescott's, 1201 South Broadway, Rochester (507) 536-7775.