Great Taste

Farmers market is the hot place for salsa

If you love the Rochester Downtown Farmers Market and authentic Mexican food, you probably already know that the market is superabundant with locally canned salsas. But which ones do you like best?

Two of Great Taste's faves are Outta The Barn's Hot Roasted Tomato Salsa, which is fire-roasted, chunky, uber-fresh tasting, and truly hot pepper hot (maybe too hot for some) and Woo Hoo! Salsa--hot, which is comparatively smoother and more intense in tomato flavor, but also textural and fiery. 

Just how good are these salsas? To Great Taste, who discovered the joys of Mexican food in the early '70s through a Tex-Mex family connection, these two outclass almost anything found on grocery store shelves--including Frontera's salsas.

Great Taste looks forward to your input on locally canned salsas or.....salsa recipes! With the heat and rain we've been having, it shouldn't be long before the local garden beauties, tomatoes, show up in big numbers. 

Discoveries from our overnight in Lanesboro

Who knew?

Find great guacamole at Los Gables, in Fountain. The crushed avocado tastes like it was picked in a nearby grove. ... Of course avocados don't grow in Minnesota. But for those who crave guacamole, at $3 for a large serving, it may be worth the twisty drive south of the Rochester border.

Beyond the green dip: If you like authentic Mexican food, request to turn the heat all the way up. Los Gables, 122 Highway 52 South (507) 268-1020.

Pie time down south

The Aroma Pie Shop is open for the season.

Rhubarb custard and strawberry rhubarb pies are top choices at Maggie Gergen's sit-down/carry-out landmark in Whalen, the town that time forgot. Rhubarb has a cult following here (Note Lanesboro's annual rhubarb festival in June--more on that later) but many other pies are equally worth your dollar bills.

Peach--my favorite--was listed on the board last Sunday. Gergen's version had fine texture, a delicate, not-too-sweet taste, and melt-in-your-mouth lard crust. A bite of it transported me to an Indiana farm kitchen where my parents' friend, a German-born housewife named Katie Meyer, served her fresh fruit kuchen some 40 years ago.

Aroma Pie Shop pies and the off-the-chart-charming (but real, not Disney) town of Whalen can take a person down memory lane or stamp a sensory experience on which to linger years from now.

If that isn't enough: Four flavors of premium ice cream are options to top off your pie.

Call ahead to check what pies are featured, to order a whole pie, and/or to make sure the shop's open. Hours are Thursday through Monday from 10 am to 5 pm, but Gergen may close early if it's slow. The Aroma Pie Shop, 618 Main Street (507) 467-2623.

Other news.....

Update soon on The Vintage in Lanesboro and new chef Erik Paulsen.....He succeeds critically acclaimed chef Meg Olsen--a tough act to follow.