Great Taste

When it comes to cheese, say "Sontes"!

Cheese plates aren't for everyone.

There's the aspect of trial and error.

Some may think: "big presentation with cart at a snooty restaurant."

Others probably find the choices too confusing. ("What was the name of that again, um--Pont L'Eveque?)

And, for many given the choice of cheese as dessert, well...they're not about to sacrifice a sweet reward. 

But, for skeptics and fromage lovers alike, Sontes, Rochester, is the restaurant in southern Minnesota in which to smile and say cheese.

Selections are cleverly organized on the menu. A diner may peruse for semi-hard styles like Wisconsin-made Lil Wil's Bandage Wrapped Cheddar and Upland Farms Pleasant Ridge Reserve beneath the title "Stoic." In the category "Clean" there's Bent River Alemar, from Mankato; "Stinky" reveals  Star Thrower Farms Tomme Raw Milk, Hastings, and Garrotxa, Catalonia, Spain.

Sontes regards its blue cheese assortment as "Racy."  The group includes Northern Lights Brown Swss Blue, Ramsey County, Minnesota; Shepherd's Way Farm Big Woods Blue, Nerstrand; and Jasper Hill Farm Bayley Hazen Blue, Greensboro, Vermont. 

The abundance of lesser-known cheeses can be daunting, but the menu works like a cheat sheet. Pithy text is jammed with details and superlatives. Informed waitstaff guide on request.  

No matter what cheese combo diners decide upon, it's hard to be bored. Delve into Midwest regional varieties. Or journey to Spain. Or explore terroir in artisanal domestic cheeses, adding for fun a creamy, washed-rind pick from Burgundy, France.  

With its original assortment and enticing accompaniments--fresh baguette slices, olives and candied pecans--Sontes does cheese plates as well as any restaurant in New York or Chicago.  Most noteworthy is the focus on Minnesota and Wisconsin cheeses; Sontes is arguably best at that.   

But we still live in the land of 10,000 doggie bags. Those who favor dinnerware piled chin high with edibles may wince at portion sizes. The caveat of a tapas theme will not deter some from objecting to the scale. Pricing at Sontes can aggravate this situation.

But Great Taste suggests saying si to queso--preferably with wine. The best cheese plate for the money is the "flight" of three for $18. What price culinary nirvana?

GG

Words to live by

Spotted on the menu at Fisherman's Inn, on lovely Lake Zumbro northeast of Oronoco -- a caution to steak eaters:

"The longer a steak is cooked, the smaller and tougher it becomes."

By the way, I can safely say that Fisherman's Inn has the best garlic toast around -- and that includes Michaels and Hubbell House. They had a pretty good walleye dinner; I avoided the frog legs on the menu, as well as the swordfish.

JF

Yelp! Does it really help? (!)

Interesting twist on Yelp, the consumer-driven review website:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/26/yelp-chicago-business-joi_n_515179.html

Here is Yelp's restaurant list for Rochester:

http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=rochester%2C+mn&ns=1&find_loc=Chicago%2C+IL#find_desc=restaurants&find_loc=rochester%2C%20mn

Great Taste observes:

Sontes should be much higher on this list. In 15th place it's ranked lower than T.G.I. Friday's, number 13.  Chipotle should be higher--and strangely, even though it's a chain with the same menu, it's rated 27th and 44th, depending on location. Avocados World Bistro, number 42, has been closed since fall of 2008; Zzest Culinary Market & Wine Cafe, which opened months ago in its place, is not to be found--and it has proved to be one of the top gourmet dining experiences in town. 

These are just a few of the issues here....There are too many to mention.

What's your opinion about Yelp?

Mozzarella making demo at Zzest

Do you love fresh mozzarella cheese?

On April 1 Jim Gregori, owner of California-based Cantare Foods, will show how to make fresh mozzarella at Zzest Culinary Market & Wine Cafe, Rochester. Gregori is expected to start "pulling" cheese at 4 pm. Tasting is encouraged.

Gregori has reportedly made thousands of pounds of mozzarella. His fresh cheese will be available to take home with a good will offering benefiting The Boys & Girls Club of Rochester. 

Creamed chipped beef: Do you remember?

Creamed chipped beef is hard to come by anymore....Why?

Great Taste fondly remembers eating this dish as a child. Salty, chewy, sometimes a little pasty---but satisfying.

Here is a recipe for creamed chipped beef from an Iowa farm woman and blogger. 

http://www.osage.net/~themillers92/SCFBlog/scfblog.html

Fish fry, White Castle sliders....and Cynic, by Surly Brewing Co. of Brooklyn Center

Great Taste features two writers, doncha know, and they provide readers with a great difference in taste.  Scroll or click down and see two recent posts--one about sous vide, a slow, pricey, Frenchy cooking technique, and the other: fish fry.  

In a parallel cyberspace is PB business blogger Jeff Kiger. He awaits a White Castle representative to whisper four magic words: "We're coming to Rochester."

Ah-hem. To handle the greasy stuff that Gourmanda's colleagues type about, try Cynic, by Surly Brewing Co.  Bon Appetit magazine recently selected Cynic as one of its "Top 10 Artisanal Canned Beers."

http://www.surlybrewing.com/

GG

More fish on the line

Readers continue to flood me with their favorite places for batter-fried fish. My wife and I will be testing the waters at a local establishment tonight and have a lot more fish to eat before the column on 3/30.

Still, it's not too late for you to recommend the best batter-fried fish in Southeast Minnesota. Post it here or send me a note at furst@postbulletin.com.

Here's the catch of the day:

I noticed your article about "Catch a great local fish fry" in the March 9th paper. You are looking for a Great Fish Fry; I would like to mention the Coffee Mill Restaurant at Zumbrota. We really enjoy their walleye pike on Friday evening. They have a nice salad bar, clam chowder, baked potato and you can get the fish either broiled or deep fat fried. You can order the walleye any night but the clam chowder is available only on Friday and the walleye dinner is a a little cheaper on Fridays. Whenever we go there are several others enjoying this delicious meal. -- Donna Wees

I think the best fried fish can be had at Weiderholts in Miesville. It's their Friday night special. Every meal I have had has been fantastic. -- Waneta Buck

Roscoe's on Fourth Street has a fish fry every day, Wednesday through Saturday, by popular demand. -- Unsigned

I've tried many restaurants great and small, and have found the seafood at the Elba House in Altura to be very good and always consistent. -- Just an old Marine, Buzz Christison

Want to see the latest expensive addition to a gourmet kitchen? Check out the sous vide water oven

Just when Great Taste thought the sous vide fad was fading away as a culinary trend, there's new excitement by way of a product created for home cooks.The SousVide Supreme, a countertop appliance, was introduced in the latter part of 2009. 

In case you are not familiar with sous vide, it's a method in which food is vacuum-sealed in plastic and then placed  in a water bath to cook slowly at a low temperature. (The French words "sous vide" translate as "under vacuum.") Used by French chefs for decades, sous vide became popular in the United States when stars like Thomas Keller of The French Laundry in Napa Valley became infatuated with it.      

To see the type of results sous vide cooking allows, check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKdDfunjYio

Here's more about SousVide Supreme:

https://www.sousvidesupreme.com/

Sur La Table, Edina, will offer a tasting of foods made with SousVide Supreme this Saturday, March  20, at 11 am.  More information: 952-656-0045.

Great Taste never jumped on the sous vide bandwagon, but, who knows, for some this may be a bigger deal than having a smokehouse, brewing one's own beer or canning preserves. It takes all kinds..... 

GG

Wacko for White Castle

Amid the Is-White Castle-coming-to-Rochester? mania lies the overlooked fact that sliders are here in town.  

You can buy frozen White Castle burgers at places like Walgreens and Hy-Vee in Rochester. You have the option, today, to take them home, nuke them for 60 seconds and --voila--enjoy something surprisingly close in taste to what you would receive from an actual White Castle location. A box of six sliders, two each to a microwavable packet, should satisfy the need.  Add pickle slices and condiments if you desire.   

There must be more to this pining, this quest.

What holds the fascination of Rochester's denizens? The thrill of the chase? The packaging? Great Taste has heard from an aficionado that the mustard is quite special....But is mustard driving this train?

Or, is it the idea that WC (as some believers refer to it; apparently they haven't traveled to Europe, where WC means toilet) is as far from anything that smacks of "Chateau Blanc" as possible?

Burgers are probably more American than apple pie. Great Taste isn't too puritanical to admit that she has dispatched family members on brittle wintry nights to satisfy a Wendy's craving. She has savored a Big Mac or a Whopper with Cheese as much as any loyal Mickey D's or BK customer. In the West, In-N-Out Burger has been a destination. 

But White Castle? With its puny square of punctured meat in a puffy little bun?

Great Taste has tried in vain to figure out the brouhaha. She is fairly stumped about palpable suffering for lack of a physical White Castle site when frozen sliders are easy to come by.   

Readers, would you share the meaning of your special handshake?

Sign up for CSA--and get ready for fresh-off-the-farm produce

Community Supported Agriculture--commonly known as CSA--is a hot trend in Minnesota.

And that's good. By supporting a CSA consumers support their local small farmer and get uber-fresh garden delights throughout the growing season. 

The CSA concept is so popular that it's best to think ahead for the season and sign up sooner--rather than later, when one may discover that area farmers have sold out of their "subscriptions" to the public.    

To find a CSA close to you visit the Local Harvest website:

http://www.localharvest.org/search-csa.jsp?scale=&lat=&lon=&x=&y=&ty=6&zip=&st=25&but.x=29&but.y=6&but=s

Local Harvest also offers "Tips for Potential CSA members."

Even while Great Taste stares into the computer screen and types this on a dreary late winter morning she can turn her thoughts to Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" and imagine the prospect of cooking up her spring and summer vegetable dishes, and other fave recipes, in coming months....

By the way, Great Taste just discovered that Deborah Madison has a blog: http://deborahmadison.com/blog/