Learn from the masters at Kitchen in the Market

​Kitchen in the Market, the commercial kitchen and class space, is giving you a chance to cook alongside some of the Twin Cities' best-known chefs. The market has announced it is pairing with some of the area's top chefs and local food celebrities for a series of limited-attendance classes that will benefit an area charity.

Only a few of the chefs and "celebrity" names have been revealed, and we've got them.

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Ruth Bordain revealed

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Today New York foodies remember what it felt like to discover Santa Claus doesn't exist, and both the unmasker and the unmasked are from Minnesota. Star Tribune Taste editor Lee Svitak Dean snatched away the anonymity of the popular Tweeter "Ruth Bordain" when she saw a man tweeting in synch with Ruth's account at a food conference in North Carolina.  
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Soul Daddy

Jamawn Woods pitching his restaurant concept.

​The final episode of NBC's "America's Next Great Restaurant" aired last night, showing Jamawn Woods of Soul Daddy beating out meatballs (Brooklyn Meatball Co.) and Indian food (Spice Coast) to have his concept realized. An unemployed father of three and self-taught cook, Woods went from selling his wings and waffles out of his home to becoming an owner-operator of a three-restaurant chain.

Those restaurants--at South Street Seaport in New York City, the Hollywood & HIghland Center in Los Angeles, and the Mall of America in Bloomington--opened today. The Hot Dish hit the MOA location (#344 South, third floor between Tony Roma's and Noodles) to check out Wood's "lighter" approach to traditional soul. Here's what we found:

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Papa John's

Eat your hearts out, William and Kate!

​Of all the tacky commemorations of Prince William and Kate Middleton's impending nuptials (you saw the barf bags, right?), this one's actually kinda cool--though still a little "cheesy": Papa John's hired a British artist to create William and Kate's portraits in salami, green peppers, mushrooms, and cheese.

It won't be widely available, though. British customers can enter their names for a chance to buy the pie.

Kind of looks a little like crop art, no? Perhaps customized wedding pizzas will become a new trend on this side of the pond, as well.

WWPC?: What Would Prince Cook?

City Pages' sister publication, The Village Voice, recently reported on a NYC eatery's new dessert, the Volcano Flambé, designed by performance artist Marina Abramović.  This meringue-covered combination of chocolate ice cream, almond sponge cake, and banana mousse is intended to be eaten while listening to an MP3 player playing a recording of the artist as she "guide[s the guest] through the experience of the dish."

This got the Hot Dish to try to imagine what some of our local artists and celebrities might create, if offered a similar opportunity.

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Double the Deen

​When you hear the Deen name it's only natural to imagine mayonnaise, sour cream, and a hearty Southern giggle. But the eponymous Paula Deen isn't the only one in the kitchen anymore. Her sons, Jamie and Bobby, have their own cooking show (the Food Network's 'Road Tasted'), their own cooking magazine (Deen Bros. Good Cooking) and now their own cause: Sandwich Night. By partnering with the nonprofit Grain Foods Foundation, the Deen brothers are encouraging families to designate one night a week for sandwiches--thus getting more healthy grains on the menu. Bobby and Jamie will demonstrate some of their favorite sandwich recipes from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Mall of America next Thursday for those who want to go with the grain. But we snagged an early chat with the boys Deen on everything from Paula's most popular dishes to their own take on tuna.

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Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl's book, Drink This: Wine Made Simple, is featured in today's Tasting Table, a sort of Daily Candy for foodies that offers a daily tip on what's new and cool in the food and wine worlds.

If you want to buy your own copy, you'll find it a bookstores all over the metro, or you can order it online.

If you want to watch a video of Grumdahl discussing a wine style she doesn't cover in the book--the bold, manly Tannat/Madiran--click here:

And to catch up on some of Dara's James Beard Award-winning wine writing, here's the 2006 Wine and Dine in which she answers a million pesky wine-related questions and reveals all sorts of wine secrets including the fact that the thing on the the Yellow Tail bottle is not, in fact, a kangaroo, but a yellow-footed rock wallaby!

For this week's cover, Dara played dress up for a photoshoot with her husband/photographer Nathan Grumdahl. Check out these killer picks of Dara in disguise--you'd never recognize her in person.

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​ A recent WSJ article says rock concert-style live performance is the next frontier of celebrity chefs--Guy Fieri took tips from AC/DC to prep for his national tour this fall where he'll be making jambalaya on stage in front of an audience of several thousands. Tickets to such events can run up to $250 and Anthony Bourdain says that the majority of his income now comes from live appearances, vs his TV show, "No Reservations," or his book sales.

The article points out the truest sign that chefs have received rock star status: fans throwing bras onstage, as happened recently to Mr. Fieri at a casino gave a cooking demonstration.

"I looked around and saw that the crowd went wild and I thought, 'Wow. This is rock 'n' roll,' " Mr. Fieri says.

Barkdog/Flickr

​Is anyone else as non-plussed as we are by all this Donald Trump and Manning brothers nonsense over Oreos (and Golden Oreos at that? WTF.). We don't entirely get it, but it seems that The Donald is now trying to remain relevant by becoming an spokesman for Oreos.

As the story goes, Trump is trying to "buy" the fake Oreo-eating league made popular a while back by the Manning brothers and Williams sisters (it was already kinda dumb then, wasn't it?). Trump's "bid" has been rejected and, now -- teaming up with his SNL doppelganger Darryl Hammond -- he's going head to head with Eli and Peyton for a "lick-off."

There is seriously like an entire oeuvre:

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