Minneapolis / St. Paul Food Blog

Courtesy of clipartguide.com

Aged Cheddar

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As the first snowflakes fall (in early October...really, Minnesota...Really?) cravings for creamy, cheesy comfort foods are not to be ignored.  Luckily, chef Joel Del Fiacco from Minnetonka's Gold Nugget Tavern and Grille was kind enough to share his fabulous Mac & Cheese recipe.  The ooey, gooey goodness, made with Gruyere, Parmesan, and Cheddar cheeses is a must-have at a restaurant usually known for its burgers and fries.  At under $10 a serving, it's worth the drive to Minnetonka.  However, if say, an early autumn blizzard sets in and driving conditions become less-that-favorable, take a stab at the recipe at home.  Joel's instructions (below) makes this stuff seem easy.

In tomorrow's edition: a big ol' rundown of New Year's Eve specials, a new Northeast eatery, and a special White Castle-sponsored honor for a local bartender.

Also, The Hot Dish talks to Noah Barton of Chino Latino about his restaurant's extremely global New Year's Eve, and gets him to share a useful bit of insider information about dining out on one of the craziest nights of the year.

In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, a Jucy Lucy contest, the return of Chef Landon Schoenfeld (formerly of Bulldog NE), a tour of Surly and a New Year's Eve to remember at Heartland.

Also, The Hot Dish talks to Justin Grecco, chef/owner of the newly opened Grecco's on the Saint Croix.

In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, more new Japanese food in Uptown, pizza on the move, the best biscuits and gravy outside of Kansas City and more.

Also, The Hot Dish talks to blogger Andy Sturdevant, whose Great Gourmet Office Drink Recipe Contest challenges office workers throughout the area to create something wonderful using little more than the contents of the office breakroom. In addition to tiny packets of pepper and half-n-half, contestants also have the option of using one secret ingredient.

"I think spices of some kind will be the secret," Sturdevant says. "You can really let a lot slide in terms of the quality of your ingredients if you throw in something like cardamon or saffron. Think of how terrible medieval European food must have been before trade routes to the East opened up. That's sort of what you're dealing with in this situation -- the Coffeemate and vacuum-packed grounds are all bland and undistinguished in the same way I imagine, say, Frankish herring gruel must have been to your average peasant.

"Introducing something like anise or coriander to that palate is almost a revolutionary act," he adds.

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In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, December restaurant specials, a preview of New Year's Eve, camel chops, new uses for Spam and more.

Also, The Hot Dish talks to the owner of a heritage pig farm that suffered a devastating fire last month. She's hoping that volunteers will help her rebuild a unique part of the Midwest's agricultural landscape.

"We have a personal relationship with the animals here, we know them by name, and we've raised most of them from birth," says Arie McFarlen of Maveric Heritage Ranch. "The building and equipment loss is incidental compared to what we've lost with our companions."

"We intend to rebuild because we believe in what we're doing. We don't want to give up our mission to keep people on family farms and to continue to produce healthy food, and to keep any of these pig breeds going extinct, at least in our lifetime."

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In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, a tea tasting, some bad peanuts, a new New York-style deli, and a look at Slow Food in Poland.

Also, The Hot Dish talks to Chino Latino's chef about the restaurant's new devilishly spicy Habanero Hell Poppers.

"I accidentally maced myself in my parents' car when I was kid, and I wanted something that would recreate that experience," says Chef Noah Barton.

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In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, a frozen custard place opens up, a Caribbean restaurant shuts down, Thanksgiving feasts out on the town and the sweetness of organic honey.

Also, The Hot Dish checks out a Ugandan fair trade coffee only available for sale at the St. Paul Jewish Community Center.

"[The coffee co-op] is selling everything they grow, they have living wages, they can send their kids to school... they're repairing the world," says Program Director Penny Schumacher. "That's part of why we at the JCC took an interest. It's a very Jewish value to repair the world — it's called tikkun olam."

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In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, a new Ethiopian restaurant, the end of a 30-year Chinese food tradition, some awesome beer events, and a blogger talks about an anise/ouzo brewed drink creation that sounds out of this world, or at least beyond our borders.

Also, The Hot Dish checks out the upcoming 19th Annual Coffee Festival at Calhoun Square in Uptown.

“You have to realize what kind of an impact coffee has on people's lives,” says Kitchen Window owner and event sponsor Doug Huemoeller. “It's probably by far the most sought-after beverage. People have a real passion for it.”

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In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, a center for cooking shuts its doors, a new restaurant offers an exhaustive sake seminar, the "pizza farm" prepares for hibernation and a blogger chugs a few at one of Wisconsin's hottest breweries.

Also, The Hot Dish checks out a "Dinner and a Show" featuring the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts and Mexican restaurant A La Salsa.

"Art is part of what I do and who I am," says A La Salsa owner Lorenzo Ariza. "It even reflects in my restaurant's décor."

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In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, election specials, a peanut butter jucy lucy burger, a new deli and a review of a Turkish restaurant in St. Paul.

Also, The Hot Dish talks to restaurant maven Kim Bartmann about the 15 year anniversary of her incarnation of the Bryant Lake Bowl.

"[The original owner] believed in my plan to combine a bar with open bowling, and sold the place to me... even the people who invested money in the project thought it wouldn't work, and said I was nuts," says Bartmann. "It wasn't a great neighborhood at that point, and bowling wasn't popular. But it worked out."

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In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, a new crepe restaurant, a massive brewery party, eating jellyfish at the Mall of America, and a sneak peek at next week's City Pages restaurant reviews.

Also, The Hot Dish talks to Blake Richardson, owner of the newly opened moto-i, the only sake brewery restaurant outside of Japan.

“I have a tremendous love for sake," says Richardson. "It's an amazing beverage with an incredible story to be told. There's a passion behind it. And from a business sense, sake sales have been on the rise dramatically in the United States over the last 10 years, premium sales in particular. Minneapolis residents are actually quite fond of sake, and the numbers in Uptown specifically are actually quite nice.”

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In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, a little Indian restaurant vanishes, a new Italian place opens on Hennepin, the St. Paul farmer's market approaches a turning point, and a sneak peek at next week's City Pages restaurant reviews.

Also, The Hot Dish talks to Stephen Schweckendieck, general manager of St. Paul's Coffee News Cafe, about the restaurant's upcoming 10-year anniversary.

"I would say 80 percent of the people who come in would qualify as regulars," says Schweckendieck. "The staff has really low turnover, and we're really easy going — it's causal, friendly, it's real, it's not corporate at all, it's very down to earth."

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In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, an autumnal bash in Stillwater, Red Stag's new menus, exciting new stuff being tapped at the Town Hall Brewery, a slew of restaurant closings, and a sneak peek at next week's City Pages restaurant reviews.

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In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, Kitchen Window finds a long-term home, Cafe Agri celebrates an expansion, an interview with a married team of food bloggers and a sneak peek at next week's City Pages restaurant reviews.

Also, The Hot Dish talks to Frank Chase, the new owner of Andy's Garage, about this Friday's opening celebration.

"There's going to be a '50s band here, there'll be some classic cars outside," says Chase. "We're going to have 15 percent off for all menu items, and in the evening, we'll have 50 percent off for kids' cruisers meals."

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In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, a Stags' Leap wine dinner, a new Indonesian restaurant on Eat Street, a high-class white pizza, and a sneak peek at next week's City Pages food reviews.

Also, The Hot Dish talks to Jeremy Cowan, founder and brewmaster of Shmaltz Brewing, the maker of He'Brew: The Chosen Beer.

"Freaktoberfest is really our one time of year to not care about anything except fun and delicious beer," says Cowan, whose beers are available at a number of high-end beer retailers in the Twin Cities. "I'm sincere about our participation in making the best craft beers in this country, but I'm rather irreverent about the domestic big corporation beer scene."

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In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, a sushi class, an Indian deli on the move, a controversial BBQ chef, and a sneak peek at next week's City Pages food reviews.

Also, The Hot Dish talks to Dermot Cowley, proprietor of Jake O'Conner's in Excelsior.

"We're an Irish... well, what I would call gastropub," says Cowley. "We know people love Irish pubs, but the era of my dad's pub is gone. That world has changed. The future to me of the pubs has to be food, and you see that now in Dublin and in London. That was the premise on which we built Jake O'Connor's."

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In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, wine for a good cause, a new steakhouse, a Wisconsin cheese tour and a sneak peek at next week's City Pages food reviews.

Also, The Hot Dish talks to Lou Burdick, one of the organizers of the first annual Taste of Lake Street festival.

"It's an easy way to check out 25 restaurants and then visit them later for more," she says about the event, which takes place this Saturday.

Not getting The Hot Dish? The City Pages email newsletter rounds up the latest restaurant specials, openings, closing, web-related wackiness and other gastronomic tidbits into one weekly short-but-sweet package. Sign up right here.

In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, a local beer author appears at the Cities' only dedicated beer specialty shop, gearing up for the Rock for Democracy Block Party, a new farm-to-table food co-op, and a sneak peek at next week's City Pages food reviews.

Also, The Hot Dish talks to Chef Don Saunders of Fugaise, a restaurant on the brink of its three-year anniversary. For Saunders, the joy of being a chef/owner boils down to the flexibility and creative control that the job offers.

"One of the reasons I wanted to open my own restaurant was so that I could change the menu as frequently as I wanted to," he says. "I love the fact that I can literally get on my computer — we print the menus in house — and change anything I want."

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In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, changes on Eat Street, great Italian bread, a new Jucy Lucy contender and a sneak peek at next week's City Pages food reviews.

Also, The Hot Dish talks to Chef Tim McKee of the newly opened Barrio Tequila Bar and Cafe at 925 Nicollet Avenue. Barrio offers a new twist on tequila-sipping: The compadre, a flavored companion chaser or side that accompanies the straight liquor.

"To our knowledge, no one else is doing this," says McKee. "There's the obvious lime and salt or the sangrita, but we've expanded that. We've got a tamarind cola that works well, spicy grapefruit juice, and cantaloupe which is quite excellent."

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In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, new soul food, Brazilian, Latin rotisserie and pizza places, some great beer writing on a local blog, and a sneak peek at next week's City Pages food reviews.

Also, The Hot Dish talks to Oceanaire Seafood Room executive chef Rick Kimmes about the upcoming Taste of the Nation charity dinner at Graves 601.

"We thought Taste of the Nation would be a great opportunity to spread the word about fighting child hunger — it's also fun for us, because it's set up so you cook a really great five course meal for 10 lucky people instead of making 600 little tastes of something."

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In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, a summer lamb burger recipe that'll knock your socks right off, where to go for National Bratwurst Day (Aug. 3, mark the calendar), and a sneak peek at next week's City Pages food reviews.

Also, The Hot Dish talks to Sarah Master, the executive chef of Barbette, about her restaurant's new summer menu.

"The new menu has an old favorite that came back, the warm pistachio-crusted goat cheese salad," Master says. "A while ago, I'd put on a wild rice salad, but the cry was so great for the goat cheese salad that we had to bring it back. We were getting emails and phonecalls... there were a lot of angry people out there."

Not getting The Hot Dish? The City Pages email newsletter rounds up the latest restaurant specials, openings, closing, web-related wackiness and other gastronomic tidbits into one weekly short-but-sweet package. Sign up right here.

In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, a Stillwater Lumberjack Days preview, a vital update vis-à-vis the Pedal Pub, a new eatery near Lake Pepin and an unusual fruit-related rant.

Also, The Hot Dish chats with Four Firkins owner Jason Alvey about some of the crazy new beers he’s making available at his shop. One of the most unusual: Old Odense Ale, which is brewed with star anise, black thorn berries, maple syrup and herbs.

In tomorrow's edition of The Hot Dish, lots of openings: a Corona-branded high-drama Mexican place at the Mall of America, a new Eat Street establishment called Cafe Oliver that will be open from 6am until 1am, biodynamic and plain ol' organic beer and wine at Cafe Agri and the Soup Nazi's first Minnesota foothold.