Celebrity Eats: Dessa Darling

​Dessa may be on tour to promote her new solo album A Badly Broken Code through March, but her thoughts are never from the local dining scene (at least, not when caught in between shows and directly questioned). Eating healthy while on tour is just one of the challenges the budget-conscious singer/poet/emcee faces when away from her kitchen.

1. Is there any restaurant in the Twin Cities that can claim you as a regular?
When I can afford it, I love to eat sushi. Were I stranded on a desert island with only one outlandish luxury, I would ask for a sushi chef willing to cater to odd hours. Fuji Ya is a neighborhood favorite. When I can't afford it, I make it at home, using fish from Coastal Foods.

2. What's your go-to spot for late night food?
I eat most of my late-night meals at home. I only make a few dishes, but I make them pretty well. My ten-minute cajun fajitas are not to be messed with.

3. You're out on tour through much of March. What local food item/dish will be most missed?
I'll miss my Greek yogurt and raw honey from the Wedge. Miserably expensive and ridiculously good.

4. What do you eat when you're on the road?
For this tour, I'm determined to have a salad every day. So far I'm 6 for 6 -- although I'm not sure where tonight's ration of vegetables will come from. As you might imagine, it's easy to fall into a diet that arrives in individually sealed foil bags.

5. When you're not on tour you run the trivia at the Nomad Pub. What's your favorite piece of food trivia?
My favorite piece of food trivia: Honey is commonly regarded as the only food item that won't spoil; in some ancient cultures it was used to treat wounds.

6. There's been a lot of upheaval in the local dining scene. Have you been brokenhearted by any closings, or especially pleased with a new restaurant that's arrived?
My budget doesn't permit for too many culinary adventures, but I went to the last show at the Uptown and shared a nostalgic moment with most of the attendees.