May 2009

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)