​Earlier this week we spoke with Gabrielle Hamilton, author of Blood, Bones & Butter, and attended her Talk of the Stacks reading at the Minneapolis Central Library. Read part 1 to learn how the book came into being, and why her childhood began fancifully but ended decisively and spiraled into adulthood too soon.

Today, we pick up just as Hamilton is opening her New York restaurant Prune. And we're about to meet her future spouse, who's quite unexpected...

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Photo by Melissa Hamilton

Gabrielle Hamilton

​Author and chef Gabrielle Hamilton is full of surprises. At last night's Talk of the Stacks at Minneapolis Central Library, the audience was anticipating the bravado and swagger of an author who had just written a provocative tell-all memoir, committed grand larceny as a juvenile, dealt with human excrement and maggot-filled rats, worked weekend brunch while 39 weeks pregnant and written an unapologetic depiction of kitchen life that's so true to form it's garnered respect from even Anthony Bourdain.

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Back in the US of A

​Local chef turned big-time TV star Andrew Zimmern is bringing his wildly successful Bizarre Foods home to Minneapolis. The premiere episode of this all-American season, premiering Monday on the Travel Channel at 9 p.m., features Minnesota foods.  (It's the second episode he's filmed in his home state.)  Yesterday we chatted with him about some of his favorite places to travel in the US and the local food movement (click here to catch up).  Today, we get much more personal, discussing family foods, fetid lakes, and why most of the food critics in this town are tiny.

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​We've been spending the last few days getting to know Dennis Leaf-Smith, chef de cuisine at 112 Eatery (click here to view part 1 and part 2 of the interview).

As the restaurant hits the seven-year mark, he gives us an insider's look at 112: how things have changed over the years, preparation details on some of our favorite dishes, and his secret to keeping the kitchen humming. Here's a hint: it includes nicknames--and you'll never guess what his is.

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Back in Minnesota and ready to share our weird with the world

​After traveling the globe, conquering the world one plate at a time, Andrew Zimmern brings the Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods home to roost. This season, which premieres Monday, Zimmern focuses entirely on food in the United States.

To kick off the season, he's highlighting food from Minnesota. He took a break from his stuffed schedule to chat with us about travel, home, and the huevos of one particular local chef.

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​We're celebrating the 112 Eatery's seventh birthday by featuring its chef de cuisine, Dennis Leaf-Smith. Yesterday, we learned how he cut his teeth as a young chef, first in local kitchens and then out west (click here to read part 1 of our conversation).

Today, he tells us how he ended up at the 112, and then we talk cooking. He shares the ins and outs of menu development, and what Ketel One has to do with it. Plus, he reveals who his harshest critic is, and gives us a star-studded list of his favorite restaurants and chefs--including one he'd die to meet. Literally.

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Dennis Leaf-Smith

​The 112 Eatery turns seven years old this month. So in its honor, we're sitting down with chef de cuisine Dennis Leaf-Smith who was there on opening day.

Leaf-Smith is a local, growing up in Minnetonka. And although we know his work from 112 and Café/Bar Lurcat, he actually got his start cranking out burgers and fries under a red and white awning in the burbs.

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Photo Credit: Susan Powers

The Dutchess of Dough, Zoë François

​Bestselling cookbook author Zoë François sat down with us in between promoting her new book, with co-author Jeff Hertzberg, creating desserts for Linden Hills hot spot restaurant Tilia, blogging, and parenting for a conversation about where she's come from and where she's headed. (Find Part 1 of our chat here).

François grew up in Vermont before attending college to study art. She later moved on to schooling at the prestigious Culinary Institute of Art and began her pastry career. She's worked with many of Minneapolis'a best-known chefs before meeting Hertzberg to embark on the second chapter of her culinary career, writing books about beautiful breads made easy.  Their latest book, Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day, sent François all over the world to gather recipes and taste-memories to share in their book.

Today we talk Turkey, date night, and duck-fat chocolate chip cookies.

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Photo Credit: Susan Powers

Author, chef and blogger, Zoe Francois sets up a shot in her kitchen

​Author of the wildly successful ...in 5 Minutes a Day cookbooks and accomplished pastry chef Zoë François has been traveling the country promoting her latest book with co-author Jeff Hertzberg, Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day.  She's also creating sweet meal finales at the popular Tilia in Linden Hills. There is also her award-winning blog Zoë Bakes. When she isn't cooking, writing, making television appearances or photographing her stunning creations, she's hanging out with her husband and two sons at their Minneapolis home. 

François grew up on a commune in Vermont before attending the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, at the insistence of her husband. (Sounds like a good guy).  She eventually settled in Minnesota and began working with some of our biggest local chef names, like the D'Amico's, Andrew Zimmern and Steven Brown. 

She met Hertzberg through their children's music class.  Hertzberg, a doctor, had created a bread baking method that yielded artisan results with no-kneading involved and was interested in creating a cookbook.  François was intrigued, the two teamed up and the resulting book,  Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day went on to become a New York Times best seller.

To say she's busy would be an understatement, but she is also unfailingly gracious. We spoke with her recently to find out more about attending Woodstock as a toddler, the challenges of chocolate and what it's like to dance in a professional kitchen.

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MNHS

Johnny Michaels

​Johnny Michaels has been a fixture in the Twin Cities cocktail scene for as long as I can remember. He has maintained one of the coolest and most interesting cocktail lists in town at La Belle Vie since it moved to its current location at 510 Groveland.

He has written for several publications, judged contests, and has inspired countless local bartenders to work harder and care more for the craft of making drinks. He's also a founder of the new North Star Bartenders Guild, and on Thursday he'll be releasing Northstar Cocktails, a new mixology book illustrating how to create designer drinks.

Not much has been written on where Michaels came from or how he got started, despite his bar scene longevity. Last week we got the chance to sit down and ask him a few of those questions and to find out more about the guild and the upcoming release party.
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