Kate N.G. Sommers

December is here, and that means holiday treats. As a society, food is as traditional as it comes, provoking the digital onslaught of latke recipes, how to cook a turkey in 2,341 different ways, and of course, holiday cookies. Being a traditionalist, I bake the same cookies my mother baked, many (if not all) of which came from my great-grandmother, all of which are published in Festive Foods from the Milwaukee Gas Light Company (where my great-grandmother worked in their test kitchen). I'm not sure peanut butter blossoms and Mexican Christmas cookies speak true to our German heritage, but the cookies I was gifted by the kind folks at Black Forest Inn certainly do.

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Kate N.G. Sommers

If you're not familiar yet with FEAST (Funding Emerging Artists with Sustainable Tactics), you're missing out. The premise is simple: artists submit proposals, the public pays a suggested donation to attend, and the public then meets the artists and eventually vote to support one of the proposals. It's a fun and interesting experience... and of course, there's food!

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Kate N.G. Sommers

I was excited to hear that the delicious momo I seem to crave on chilly Saturday mornings from the Mill City farmers market would be served at the new restaurant, Gorkha Palace. Gorkha features Indian, Nepali and Tibetan cuisine in the old Mairin's Table location, a cozy location just around the corner from other well known East Hennepin eateries. What separates Gorkha from the other restaurants nearby is its call for authentic and simply prepared dishes with, as their website states, seasonal and sustainable ingredients.

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Kate N.G. Sommers

The daily edition of charcuterie at Travail

This week I jumped on the bandwagon and headed to Travail. I had been there once before for lunch, but this visit blew that meal out of the water, with a lunch date that lasted more than two hours. We ordered each course with intention after having finished the previous plate. The only real hurdles were overcoming the four-plate dessert ensemble ($9) and resisting the temptation to order another glass of wine.

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Kate N.G. Sommers

I had been driving by the skeleton of Stasiu's for over a year, frequently wondering what was to become of yet another shuttered classic Northeast space. In July, I noticed a dumpster had joined the ranks of the Marina truck in the parking lot, and I perked up: Something was happening! Slowly but surely more details about the space on University and Lowry unveiled themselves, and with the news that Steven Brown would be helping to develop the menu, I was totally psyched for the new space to open. Though its grand opening is technically today, a little bird told me the place was opening its doors Thursday to select customers on their mailing list, or anyone who saw the fluorescent "Open" sign above the entryway.

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STF sticks up for frogs.

Frog legs enjoyed a certain level of kitschy popularity about 30 years ago, appearing regularly in Twin Cities buffets. But today, only a few of our restaurants serve the amphibs on their daily menus, and scant others offer them as seasonal specials. Perhaps it's because diners are more squeamish these days. Or, maybe it's due to a new group called Save the Frogs that insists that whether wild or farmed-sourced, consuming frogs decreases the natural population.

We asked some local eateries and wholesalers their thoughts on Save the Frogs's claims and about frog legs in general. So should you worry about the frogs or gobble down that tasty appetizer? 
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Sharyn Morrow

Having friends who are chefs means you have to sneak time to hang out with them during random days off, or before they go to work. On this particular day, we headed to Obento-ya for lunch with Chris Olson.

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Kate N.G. Sommers

Bar La Grassa has been one of the most heralded restaurants in town recently. We stopped by this week to indulge, trying 10 items off the dinner menu alone, not to mention dessert and drinks.

First up was the plate of prosciutto. Not enough was it to serve outrageously tender pieces of prosciutto alone: the chefs here have shaved cold butter as a sinful accompaniment to make the paper thin antipasto go down like silk.

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Kate N.G. Sommers

I love breakfast. More so, I love it when someone else makes me breakfast on a Sunday morning while I sit back and reminisce about the evening prior. Often my grumbling stomach wins early on, and we end up frequenting the breakfast establishments in our own neighborhood. On occasion, however, I'll actually make plans to enjoy breakfast with friends and venture into other Minneapolis neighborhoods. This Sunday we did just that, and took a quick jaunt down to South Minneapolis to enjoy an authentic Cubano breakfast at Victor's.

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Kate N.G. Sommers

As fall approaches, the days of sitting in the back yard while enjoying a cold beer are dwindling. To escape these end of summer blues, I can't think of anything better than a good happy hour. The city is filled with great options, and I'm fortunate enough to live just a few blocks from a great one at the Sample Room.

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