100 Favorite Dishes: La Grassa's lima bean appetizer

As a countdown to the Best of the Twin Cities 2010, coming this spring, Hot Dish is serving up a hundred of our favorite local dishes. Send your own nominations to hotdish @citypages.com.

Okay, seriously, we can not. stop. talking. about this, but how good is that lima bean, pickled vegetable, and Manchego cheese appetizer at La Grassa? Yes, we just said lima beans, those mealy little light green boogers you used to pick out of the frozen mixed vegetables that Mom scooped onto your plate. Chef Becker is pushing our boundaries--"I like to try to get people to eat things they normally wouldn't," he's said--to beautiful ends. In this dish, the limas are rich, hearty, and creamy as cassoulet beans. Call us converted. And the La Grassa app is the perfect way to eat 'em: soaked in oil and served with the salt-vinegar-hot pepper punch of the veggies and the cheese. Best of all, did we mention that the dish is *free,* offered as a hospitality perk? Hostess, we'll take a table, please.

Hungry for more? The dishes in our countdown thus far are linked below:

No. 100: Volcano Salad at Tiger Sushi
No. 99: Eclair at Butter
No. 98: Moussaka at Gardens of Salonica
No. 97: "Flappers" at Colossal Cafe
No. 96: Bento Box at Obento-Ya
No. 95: Sausage, salami, onion, and green olive pizza at Black Sheep
No. 94: Crab Cake at the Kitchen
No. 93: Passion fruit cake at Pardon My French
No. 92: Kafé 421 Signature Dips
No. 91: Lutefisk at Landmarc Grill
No. 90: May Day Cafe Croissant
No. 89: Dowjic at Babani's
No. 88: Osso Bucco at the Modern Cafe
No. 87: Chef Shack Hot Dog
No. 86: Adult Mac & Cheese at Good Day Cafe
No. 85: Ropa Vieja at Victor's
No. 84: French Toast of the Dead at Chino Latino
No. 83: Uni at Origami
No. 82: Bagel at Common Roots
No. 81: Jasmine Deli's bánh mì
No. 80: Pho 79's bò cuốn lá nho
No. 79: Sweets Bakeshop's Kettlecorn Cupcake
No. 78: D'Amico Kitchen's Chicory Salad
No. 77: Be'wiched Deli pastrami sandwich