July 1, 2009

The Return of Schumacher’s?

I periodically dial the long-neglected phone of Schumacher’s, the Czech-German restaurant and hotel in New Prague, just to see what will happen. Schumacher’s had a 30-something year run as the best German-Czech restaurant in the state, and probably the nation. It was located in a precious, stage-coach hotel with a bar that I consider one of the most charming of all Minnesota landmarks. It was tiny, a postage stamp of a bar, but every nook and cranny was carved, embellished, polished—as fancy as a nineteenth century woodworker could make it. It’s a jaw-dropping place to get a beer. But the place closed a few years ago, and the news back then was that it would reopen in May 2008, but, ah, here we are.

So I dial. I leave messages. Nothing ever... Read more »

Posted on Wednesday, July 1, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 29, 2009

Curtains for Jean Georges. D’Amico Details in Three Weeks!

Part of me feels sad because I know that a lot of people are having a very bad morning. All the staff at the Chambers restaurant, heretofore headed by Jean Georges Vongerichten, are being told their restaurant will close, to be replaced in the near term by the D’Amico Cucina team. Part of me, however, feels happy because I was right!

Details are sketchy, but so far I’ve heard that D’Amico will be taking over Chambers’s food service July 20. At that point, there will be some physical modifications to the existing restaurant space (my suggestion: Sound baffling! Hire a sound engineer first! That basement space is... Read more »

Posted on Monday, June 29, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 18, 2009

Meatfest ’09

A reader writes: “I've got a Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker/Smoker. Where do you recommend I go for “clean” pasture pork? I used to hit up Farm in the Market at the Midtown Global Market. Is the new farmer's market in there still the best spot? I'm up on the North side.”

This question suddenly has great urgency for me, since I got my husband a Smokey Mountain Cooker/Smoker for Father’s Day (or as my editor calls it, “a Smokey Mountain Smoky Cooker Smoky Smoker,” given how many times Weber likes to stick some derivation of the word smoke in the description).

Now that I too have a smokey smoker, where shall I get great, good, and well-priced meat to smoke? I like the new place at Midtown Global Market, but I was too very much in love... Read more »

Posted on Thursday, June 18, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (8)

June 15, 2009

New Restaurant On the Block

I recently talked to the young chef, Darin Koch (pronounced cook, natch), who is opening Butcher Block, the new restaurant going in to the old Fugaise spot in Northeast Minneapolis. Our conversation was odd, mainly because Koch told me about 16 times that the restaurant plans to make no profit at all, that they’re going to specialize in in-house butchery but are opening without a butchery area, will be open till 4 a.m. on weekends (and would be open 24 hours a day if Koch had his druthers). It will offer 29 chicken wing flavors.

Does any of this sound credible to you? Well, it’s what I was told. Here’s more of what I was told: Butcher Block will be all about in-house butchery, and will open June 18. Koch has a cooking background that includes a long stint at... Read more »

Posted on Monday, June 15, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (9)

June 9, 2009

D’Amico Disappearing, But For How Long?

The big news is D’Amico Cucina closing. If you haven’t heard, yes, it’s true. The restaurant that more or less invented contemporary fine dining in this town is dimming the lights. Their last night will be Saturday, June 27.

This is especially sad news for a few reasons. First, this is the restaurant that launched an empire (all the D’Amico and Sons, as well as Masa, Café and Bar Lurcat, and Campiello), not to mention half the chefs working in independent restaurants in town (Tim McKee, Doug Flicker, Isaac Becker), and even if all the little acorns have grown into strong trees, it’s still upsetting to see the mighty oak fall.

Second, D’Amico’s closing is sad because I thought they were doing very strong work lately. In... Read more »

Posted on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (5)

May 29, 2009

Sea Change, Sea Urchins, Tosca Preview. And: Oh, Yeah, the Recession is Over!

I’ve had one of those weeks where I’ve been too busy to write, which is especially lame because I’ve got so much good news to share. Get ready for buckets and buckets of exclamation points. Where to start?
 

Sea Change!
The Tim McKee sustainable seafood restaurant in the old Cue space at the Guthrie has a name, and the name is Sea Change. Inside the belly of MnMo, we had started calling it Red Herring. Now we’ll stop. We have a shot of one of Sea Change’s dishes in our July issue, but I can’t say much about it yet except that it’s gorgeous. Other than that, here’s your inside scoop. The Grand Opening will be July 20, though there will be a soft opening in the weeks before that. They’re... Read more »

Posted on Friday, May 29, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (10)

May 18, 2009

Triumph of the Snails

Jo writes: “My 79-yea-old mother loves frog legs. Do you have any suggestions on where to go for such a delicacy? She lives in the White Bear Lake area.”

I immediately recommended the frog legs at Cave Vin, the often-overlooked restaurant along the Edina/South Minneapolis borderlands. I love those frogs legs. They’re garlicky, fat, yummy—the epitome of what frog’s legs should be.

Then I set about looking for something closer to Jo’s mother’s house. Surely there were frogs legs—that Kennedy-era epitome of Continental cool—somewhere closer to White Bear Lake?

I looked to what I thought were the likeliest suspects, places that still serve a... Read more »

Posted on Monday, May 18, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (12)

May 11, 2009

Sushi for the Sushi Fearful

So you can’t get your head around sushi, huh? Lately I’ve gotten a lot of questions about advice for sushi novices: Where to go, what to order, etc. With that in mind, I’ve put together a couple ideas to help the uninitiated.

1. Head to Sakura, in downtown St. Paul. They’ve got the best veggie sushi in town. What’s veggie sushi? No fish—just cold rice and vegetables. Sushi actually means “vinegared rice,” so your veggie sushi will give you a basic idea of sushi if you’re hung up on the raw fish thing. If you do like it, you can move on to:

2. Crazy rolls and cooked things. Not all sushi made with fish is made with raw fish. Check out... Read more »

Posted on Monday, May 11, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 1, 2009

Sustainability Today: Does it Make You Need a Beer?

I’m going to be appearing on stage next week, at the Varsity Theater in Dinkytown, as part of the Current’s “Policy and a Pint” discussion series. What are we discussing? Thinking globally, eating locally, sustainability, and what it means today. Come! Tickets are only $10, or $5 if you have a student ID. You get appetizers from the Loring Pasta Bar with your ticket: Buy here.

There’s a lot to consider about sustainability today. For instance, why do we have this swine-flu pandemic? There’s a great article in the UK Guardian tracking a... Read more »

Posted on Friday, May 1, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (5)

April 28, 2009

Of Crepes, Donuts and Wedding Cakes

Sara from Roseville writes:

I am getting married in August and the biggest thing about a wedding with my family is the food. Being that neither of us are nuts about wedding cake, we decided to have mini Bismarcks frosted in our favorite flavors instead. I’m excited about that idea, but there’s still a little part of me that would like to do the traditional cake thing after dinner and then bring the mini donuts out with coffee later. However, just now as I was sitting down reading my latest Martha Stewart Weddings, this cake stole my heart:

http://www.ladymconfections.com/millecrepes.html

The problem of course is that it’s a bit expensive... Read more »