Seth, Lies, and Videotape

Seth Bixby Daugherty is making his national TV debut on Monday, March 3 on the Rachel Ray show all in support of his charitable efforts to change the way children eat in our school system. He’s a rock star.

Here is a nice segue: The following night, Season 2 of Bizarre Foods airs. And set your DVR for February 26 for another Bizarre Foods Best Of special with some previews of Season 2. A lot of folks have seen the new ad campaign for the show; if not, here is a sneak peek. These ads are hysterical and remind me of the SportsCenter ads from back in the day.

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Anyone see the NYT piece about the growing crop of "bloggers calling for fat acceptance" that is giving rise to "a virtual soapbox known as the fatosphere"?  Roni Caryn Rabin of The New York Times profiles these bloggers—who include both women and men— who "challenge just about everything conventional medical wisdom has to say about obesity” What a pack of lies!

According to Tim Manners’s Cool News, the message from the fatosphere is not just that big is beautiful.

Says the NYT article:

Many of the bloggers dismiss the “obesity epidemic” as hysteria. They argue that Americans are not that much larger than they used to be and that being fat in and of itself is not necessarily bad for you."

Kate Harding, whose blog is called Shapley Prose, starts by attacking the premise that being fat is a choice. "No fat acceptance advocate is saying you should sit around and wildly overeat," she acknowledges. "What we're saying is that exercise and a balanced diet do not make everyone thin." Others point to evidence that overweight people can be healthier than thin people. For example, "recent studies on heart patients and dialysis patients have also reported higher survival rates among heavier patients, suggesting that the link between body size and health may be more complex than generally acknowledged."

Others point to study of people over 60 that "found that being fit has more bearing on longevity than simply being thin." But the main argument "is that being fat is not a result of moral failure or a character flaw, or of gluttony, sloth or a lack of willpower," and that it may have more to do with genetics than anything else. "We accept that some people are short," says Rachel Richardson, whose blog is called The F-Word. "Yet we seem to think all people should be thin -- it just doesn't make sense." There's also a certain feminist streak at work, although at least one blogger, Red No. 3, specializes in the male perspective, and says: "See, I don't have a problem with fat ... My body is simply adorned, and I'll take that."

WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! Being fat has physical, mental, and spiritual components to the disease. Obesity is a disease, and there is also a wellspring of available cures and treatments, and the people who think that being grossly and chronically overweight is in some way OK are in denial.

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The recent contretemps re the Humane Society videotape, its undercover work, the downer cattle going to slaughter, and the beef recall all bring to mind the shortsighted and ignorant citizens of our country who actually believe that the USDA and the other federal agencies charged with protecting our food pathways are doing a competent job. That idea would simply be crazy. The agencies, such as the USDA, FDA, and the like, are broken.

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The Mpls.St.Paul Magazine Best of the Best Party on Monday night was a rousing success. The Walker Art Center staff did an outstanding job! What a great place to have an event of any size, and 1,500 of you filled the rooms. The MSP people, most notably Adam Platt and his team, Natasha Freimark and her team, Deb Hopp, Stephanie Peterson, Kevin Dunn, Gary Johnson, Brian Anderson, and scores of other folks should be loudly applauded for creating such a compelling evening of food celebration. Also, congrats to Hadi and Anoush and all the folks at Hempisphere for winning our Restaurateur of the Year award.

Here are a couple of other observations:

Restaurants that are looking to impress 1,500 potential A-list customers should try to serve great food at an event like this, not mediocre food. Chopped sausage at a high-end tasting event is a cop-out. Saffron, Masa, Chambers, Solera, 20.21, and La Belle Vie did some great food that night as did the Puck catering people in the VIP room.

Speaking of La Belle Vie, that restaurant earned sixth place in our annual Readers Poll if I remember the presentation video correctly. WOW. How can you reconcile the Readers Poll with other accolades that LBV regularly acquires? Does LBV not resonate with your average Minnesotan? Gourmet magazine called them one of the fifty best restaurants in the country. I listed them on my judge’s ballots for Beard Awards and for the S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants award (there is a mandatory section for local restaurants in a judges given geographic zone).

I believe LBV is pound for pound the best restaurant in our state for food quality/service/beverage, program/ambiance/innovation, etc. So anyone who thinks that there is not some lingering provincialism in our DNA when it comes to our ability to recognize culinary greatness should be pointed in the direction of the Readers Poll and the disparities it points out between who is eating where and why. I would understand if LBV is not everyone’s cup of tea, but sixth?! C’mon now, people. And for the record, the bar at LBV is a low-key and casual place to enjoy great food without sitting at a table for two hours if that is more your speed. If you love great dining experiences, sit in the dining room for the full-frontal effect.

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Porter and Frye is now open. I finally ate at Red Stag (are you writing that down, Jeremy!?), and Zander closed. More on all that on Monday.

The World's Largest Bake Sale, Nick and Eddie, and News

Seth Bixby Daugherty is helping to organize the world’s largest bake sale—aptly named the World’s Largest Bake Sale—at Mall of America on Sunday, March 30 from 1 to 5 p.m. The event is to raise funds and promote Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale. What’s on the menu? Food Network talent recipes will be produced by The International Culinary School at the Art Institutes International, and there will be baked goods donated by Twin City bakeries and restaurants, too.

According to the latest info, both Sandra Lee, host of Food Network’s Semi-Homemade Cooking, and Duff Goldman, star of Ace of Cakes, have agreed to make personal appearances, and Lee will do a book signing. I love Goldman and his show; it gets DVRed at the Zimmern household every week. But Lee, who might be a fantastic person in real life, represents everything that is wrong with our modern food culture. And guess what? Hers is the most popular page on the Food Network website. Help me now, Lord. Apparently Goldman might create the world’s largest cupcake for a taping of the Ace of Cakes. According to Guinness, there is currently no world’s record for the world’s largest bake sale or cupcake. So mark it down, and get involved with Share Our Strength by checking out its site.

Seth will be featured on an upcoming segment of Rachael Ray—they will be in town on Tuesday taping some stuff with him detailing the work he is doing in the local public schools system to improve the quality of the food programs for kids of all ages. The taping is for air at a later date, but I will keep you posted.

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Scott Irestone is indeed gone from 20.21, but my naming of sous chef Asher Miller as the new chef is only half true: He is the acting chef. The company is considering Miller and several other members of its national organization for the permanent post. I say, “Keep the local guy!”

As part of my ongoing effort to regain the respect and admiration of legendary food writer Jeremy Iggers, I ate at Nick and Eddie the other day for lunch. This is the new restaurant that Doug Anderson opened along with several other local notables, including Scott Ida, Steve Vranian, and the superbly talented Jessica Anderson (Doug’s wife). I really think Doug has an innate sense of style and substance as a restaurateur, and I hope that his new venture stays on course over its first few years so that it can grow and mature.

The base they have set down is impressive. I love casual restaurants that take their food seriously, and if Nick and Eddie can take an accurate self-appraisal and fix some of its issues, this will be a great restaurant for years to come. If it doesn’t, it could go the way of Bakery on Grand and A Rebours: hot start, cool finish. The space is light and contemporary, the location is superb (right on Loring Park), and the menu is very appealing. But some of the items we sampled need tweaking that should be obvious by anyone’s standards. Vranian has his work cut out for him.

On the day I was there, he was not in the kitchen but in the restaurant, which means the cooks are sending out food they shouldn’t have (a training/awareness issue) or, worse, the cooks were simply executing to the chef’s standards. I am hoping that is not the case, but stranger things happen.

The breads we tried were fantastic, especially the Parker House dinner roll loaf that we had. Good Lord was it awesome. The borscht was a decent beef soup with cabbage, but it could have used some seasoning—anything really. It was too thin, had no backbone, and was really disappointing. The whitefish salad that came with potato pancakes was stellar—about as good as it gets—, so clearly someone in the kitchen gets it, but the potato pancakes were gray on the inside and tasted muddy. The pickled onions on the dish were old. What was billed as chopped chicken liver was just a smear of chicken liver mousse, and it tasted of old onions and was bitter on the rebound going down, but the cress salad with it was delightful. The egg salad sandwich was fair, but the grilled sausages over polenta with caramelized onions and peppers were exquisitely turned out, a simple cold weather bowl of happiness. The butterscotch pudding that was so good at Bakery On Grand has risen again, like the phoenix, and I am eternally grateful.

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The New York Daily News reports that “The New York City Board of Health is poised to reenact a bitterly contested rule requiring restaurants to post the calorie contents of each dish on their menu. The proposed regulation - part of Mayor Bloomberg's campaign to reduce obesity and diabetes - would make eateries with 15 or more outposts around the country prominently display calorie counts before patrons order."

This is a bad deal. Posting calories is only half the battle—not even—, and it is misplaced energy. We need to see proper labeling of all food in retail and wholesale operations and in supermarkets on all items, especially when it comes to a food’s origin. The big restaurant chains will argue successfully that they are being prejudiced against and that the rule should apply to everyone, but how does a mom-and-pop operation afford to test and post all the nutritional information on a menu? And if we properly labeled our food in its ‘natural’ state, wouldn’t the general population become better educated and be able to make better decisions about how and what they eat? And when it comes to fast food, half of the restaurants should be shut down by government agencies anyway for poisoning the public at large. If Big Tobacco can go down, why can’t McDonald’s?

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City Pages announced who its new food critics will be, and it unveiled plans for expanded restaurant coverage both in the paper and online. Taking over Dara’s chair covering the new and noteworthy openings is Rachel Hutton, formerly of Mn Mo, and James Norton, whose work I have referenced before on this blog, will cover the ‘deals on meals’ angle. All of this begins on February 20, and both of the new hires will be blogging and podcasting as well. I like the work of both these writers, and CP’s commitment to its food section and its plans to grow it is good for the local food scene.

Talking Turkey

It’s not too early to parse all the issues surrounding the big meal on the November 22, my favorite holiday of the year. There are a lot of choices out there, and I am a fan of broad-breasted, naturally raised, pastured turkeys. I also adore heritage birds, but they pose a problem for the home cook. Nothing worse than having twelve assembled loved ones staring at a bony, scrawny turkey that has less fork-tender meat than Aunt Sadie is conventionally used to seeing. Heritage birds are fantastic, though, and Bourbon Reds, Royal Palms, Blue Slates, and Spanish Reds are some of my favorites. I recommend that anyone looking to make one for the first time this year gets one now and does a test drive. Trust me—since heritage birds have different flavor, musculature, bone structure, and inter- and intramuscular fat content than the conventional birds you are used to roasting, cooking times and recipes need to be adjusted, and sometimes you’ll need more total bird weight to get the same amount of meat that everyone is counting on.

Here at mspmag.com's recipes database, I have some great recipes for you, and there are lots of other resources you can check out as well. Here are two sites from William Rubel and Local Harvest that offer a lot of good information on heritage birds. Let the games begin.

Now, D’Artagnan offers some killer birds, and all their species are designed for good eating. What’s more, they know how to ship, and anyone who has dealt with shipping issues from small producers knows what I am talking about. Additionally, for those looking for a fun alternative to turkey, they are one-stop shopping for all your local and imported game—fresh and frozen, birds or bucks . . . whatever.

This year I am ordering our family a white turkey from Coon Creek Family Farm, a small, certified-organic family farm located just eleven miles south of Eau Claire, WI. They raise their animals kindly, humanely, and ethically, allowing them daily access to fresh air, clean water, green grass, and sunshine. They eat lots of grasshoppers, I am assured, and love to roll in the dust. According to their website:

“Pastured Poultry” is the term used to describe how we raise our chickens and turkeys. Typically, the day-old poultry arrives by mail. They are then introduced to a warm, cozy indoor brooder environment where the temperature is regulated to meet their need for heat and safety. Once these birds are old enough (around three to four weeks of age), they are transferred to our certified organic pasture. Their pasture area is secured by a portable electric fence which is used to keep them safe from predators. Portable pens provide the birds with shade from the sun and protection from the rain. By regularly moving the fence and shelters, our poultry have access to fresh vegetation at all times. This gives our flocks a clean, healthy environment to thrive in. All of our poultry are fed certified organic grain from day one. Our feed is totally drug-free and contains no chemical additives, no animal by-products, no hormones, and no antibiotics.

Their turkeys range in weight from twelve to twenty-five pounds. The flavor is phenomenal.

Let’s say you are not living in Minnesota. Remember, it is always best to order birds from as close a source as possible. For example, Mary's Turkeys is the largest producer of heritage turkeys in Southern California, and they are adding outlets like gangbusters. See their website for a list. Reese Turkeys is a huge heritage turkey producer from Kansas that is selling in California this year as well. Want to support your local farmer? Check out Diane Leonhardt (507-767-4435, nlfarms@wabasha.net). She is offering Bourbon Reds (that come from Joanne Griffin's stock) at $4.99 per pound. She is also the supplier for Cooks of Crocus Hill, where you can place orders at the store and pick them up the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. She also sells at the co-op in Winona and the Red Hills Farmer's Market.

Sara Austin, at Hilltop Pastures Family Farm (26134 Jasmine Drive, Fountain, 507-867-0096, hpff@myclearwave.net) is offering Bourbon Reds for $3.29 per pound (they also come from Joanne Griffin's stock). Sara’s birds range between nine pounds and fourteen pounds.

As you have probably noticed, most of these turkeys come from Joanne Griffin's stock.  She breeds them and sells chicks in the spring to farmers all over the country. You can get a hold of her at Hawk's Valley Farm in Spring Grove by e-mailing hvfarm@springgrove.coop or calling 507-498-5108.

As of this writing, the folks at Clancy’s are unsure if they will be getting in any heritage turkeys because of the horrific flooding. The people they usually get theirs from are Sandy & Lonny Dietz, who lost all of their turkeys in the flood, as did Eric Hoiland, who has been mentioned in past blogs. Very sad.

Many other turkey farmers sell great birds, but not heritage species. There is Earth-Be-Glad Farm, run by Mike, Jennifer, and Johanna Rupprecht (18828 Cty. Rd. 20, Lewiston, 507-523-2564, ebgfarm@hbci.com). We talked to Mike last month. He said that while they do not offer heritage turkeys, they have certified organic turkeys that are free range. He chooses to raise these turkeys because they offer a bit more for the average consumer. They are fourteen to twenty-three pounds at $2.95 per pound  They butcher them the Monday before the big day, so they are super fresh. And they only do about 150 turkeys a year, so pre-ordering right now is necessary.

There is also Cedar Summit Farm (25830 Drexel Ave., New Prague, 952-758-6886, orders@cedarsummit.com), run by Dave and Florence Minar. When we talked to Florence about species-specific turkeys, she said they had done them in the past, but it is such a hard product to raise that they went the way of certified free-range organic birds. The biggest the heritage birds ever got was sixteen pounds. She also said that to find them in Minnesota, one should try contacting Clancy's, Lunds, or Byerly’s. But they are tres cher—five to six dollars per pound for a normally eight to nine pound bird.

And since we are writing about Minnesota turkeys, here are some facts about conventionally raised birds, including those raised in factory farms:

*Minnesota is the nation's largest producer of turkeys, raising 43.5 million birds in 2001.

*Turkey producers and processors earned $212 million in 2001, and spin-off industries earned $374 million.

*The turkey industry directly employs 6,900 people, and spin-off industries employ 7,800, including the equivalent of nearly 1,800 cash grain producers.

*The average tom takes eighteen weeks to reach a market weight of thirty pounds. The average hen takes fourteen weeks to reach fifteen pounds.

*Turkeys are fed a diet of corn, soy beans, supplemental vitamins and minerals, and water.

*A thirty-pound tom eats at least seventy-five pounds of feed. Turkeys convert feed to weight gain at a rate of 2.4:1.

*No hormones are approved for use in turkeys. FDA-approved antibiotics are used to prevent disease, but a withdrawal period is required before the birds can be slaughtered.

*In 2000, turkey consumption per person in the country was 17.75 pounds.

*Top turkey export markets for the United States in 2000 were Mexico, Russia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Dominican Republic.

Flattery Will Get You . . .

I love the vitriol on this blog's comments page—nothing like real discourse on real issues. It is rare that someone’s post inspires me to respond within the context of the blog itself but a loyal community member took time from his day to ask me why I occasionally slip into political chat and made the point of looking elsewhere when I don't stick 100 percent to food fodder on this page. Look elsewhere, my friend. And a small reminder . . . a famous man once said all politics is local, and since we all grow where we are planted and we all eat where we live, and since all of our collective wisdom would say that we generally can agree that politics touches what we eat every day, I would say this is the best place to talk about real issues, even political ones. From who gets licensed to operate a restaurant, to who gets subsidized to grow corn, from minimum livable wages for single moms waitressing three shifts a week for extra dough to feed their kids to the import restrictions on unpasteurized cheese . . . need I go on?

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Today the website that I run, AndrewZimmern.com, debuts its newest feature, the Kitchen Table. I love it, let me know what you think.

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Mike Smith, the director of programming at KSTP, e-mailed me last week to see if I was interested in co-hosting the new Good Company–style TV show that KSTP-TV is producing. The 3 p.m. TV show for women “is about life and living in Minnesota. Not just the fashion, fun, and food. But, also, something to take away from it about money, or education, or politics, etc . . .” is how Mike described it to me. Did anyone go to the cattle-call auditions at Mall of America last month for this venture? What do you think about the revival of the old Steve and Sharon goldmine? I was on that show in 1992, and always thought it was the perfect vehicle for this market. Thoughts?

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Anyone heard of watermelon steak?  I love this kind of dish.

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In our police-blotter quip of the day, the New York Post reports that: "Last month's felony convictions could mean last call for the Ciprianis. The family could be forced to sell off crown jewels in their fine-dining and party empire after family corporations that run the Rainbow Room and the Ciprianis' downtown and Grand Central hot spots pleaded guilty to tax evasion."

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Also from the NYP: Kitchen Nightmares (the BBC version) is my fave food-related TV show. Based on Gordon Ramsay's current popularity, it seems that these days the measure of success you derive is directly proportional to the number of lawsuits you have pending against you.

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And speaking of Ramsay, how disappointing was last night’s Hell’s Kitchen finale? Neither one of these characters can run their own kitchen in the sense that the show intimates. One look at the winners from the last two seasons will show you where Rock is headed. I love this show for the train wreck of the personalities that collide each week, not to be told in the season’s conclusion that these two are ‘great chefs’ . . . annoying. I think for next season—and based on the boffo ratings there will be one—they need to pick the craziest kitchen psychopaths with the most talent. Sort of merge their content with the Top Chef concept and make everyone happy.

Shockwaves

As every loyal reader of this blog knows, I love watching Man vs. Wild on Discovery. I consider Bear Grylls one of my fave TV personalities, and having spent some time with him, I can assure you that he is as charming and self-effacing in real life as he is on camera. And he’s the real deal, a ballsy outdoorsman and survivalist.

But this story is disturbing: The Hollywood Reporter is sending shockwaves through the community that I swim in. I can tell you that we wrestle with the same issues as mentioned in the HR piece on our show, Bizarre Foods, and we have continued to hold fast to our commitment never to fake or stage a scene or to say we have eaten something that we haven’t or been somewhere we haven't been. M v. W only works because of the idea of ‘genuine jeopardy’ that the host is placed in at all times. If that notion is ever forsaken and M v. W is only wild some of the time, or even mostly wild, then it’s a piece of fakery, spun and marketed to achieve maximum exposure. I hope that Grylls turns out to be all wild, all the time, and that if anyone high-tailed it back to a warm tent somewhere it was his crew and not him. If this story goes anywhere, I’ll let you know.

No shock here. A few weeks ago I hosted a premiere party for No Reservations, the Catherine Zeta-Jones remake of a German film about an accomplished chef and her changing life-course when her orphaned niece comes to live with her. Mpls.St.Paul and FM 107 cohosted the event with me. We had some lengthy film discussion over the next few days here on this blog, with readers submitting some fabulous posts on food-friendly movies. Sara Dickerman is one of my favorite writers, and here’s her Slate take along with a slideshow!

Popular Science comes out with a shockingly cool gadget list every so often that I drool over. PS’s hot-gadgets list this month is no exception, and the mesh wi-fi system, the new JVC HD camcorder, and the GPS watch are high on my list of must-haves these days.

Looking to shock your friends with your awesome online digital skills? Animax Entertainment developed a user-generated mash-up contest for ice-cream maker Dippin' Dots. Users can go online and utilize a Flash-based tool to create a short featuring the Dippin' Dots mascot, Packy, for a chance to win cash and prizes. The deadline to enter is August 14.

Shocking food! Is it true that lamb brains are on the menu at Saffron?? Holy crap, that’s awesome!

Californication

Last week, I had dinner at Cut, one of the hottest new restaurants in LA and the brainchild of the Wolfgang Puck organization, whose 20.21 restaurant is one of my fave eateries here in the Twin Cities. Lee Hefter, Puck’s resident food god and the quarterback of his fine-dining restaurant group, has created an incredible menu, a reinvention of the steak house with all the markers of the classic American version put through Puck and Hefter’s prism of Cal-Asian refraction. The service was amazing, a perfect blend of elegant precision and informal passion, the wine list was a delight to the grape juice–heads at our table (the New Zealand Pinot and the high-end, NoCal Cabs to name two), and the eight of us ate our way through the entire menu. We started with two versions of the signature mini Kobe burgers; a gorgeous and tasty duck liver pavé; a tuna tartare and melba crisp construction; steak tartare; heirloom tomato salad with micro herbs and Humboldt Fog chevre; a killer crab Louis; soft shell crabs with roasted pepper sauce; two four-pound lobsters roasted and shelled, served with a black truffle beurre fondue; three types of steak, including pure imported wagyu from Japan; four sauces; four mustards; four sides, including creamed spinach with a fried egg mixed into it; banana crème pie; and the best chocolate soufflé I have eaten since the early 1980s in Lyon.

Speaking of Lee and Wolf, Puck got married on July 7, and Lee shared the menu with me.

Wedding Menu July 7, 2007
Hors d’oeuvres
Prosciutto & salamis
Local cheeses & breads
Passed canapés

Tomato and bread "mille foglie" salad
Tuna carpaccio & bottarga with local olive oil and herbs

Eggplant & lobster ravioli
Filet of chianina beef

Wedding cake

Sounds simple enough, but then again, the cheeses alone were special selections, the fromagorri and affineurs created for the wedding itself, and the cured hams were some of the number-one hams from the attics of Italy's and Spain's best producers. See where I’m going with this? Simple, but perfect. Oh yeah, my spies told me the canapés and hors d’oeuvres were a little over the top as well, from fresh lobster to Beluga 000 caviar. Nice.

Dipping into the mailbag from reader posts on this site, I can tell Reetsy that she needs to buy Giuliano Bugialli’s On Pasta book. It will change her life.

And regards Fugaise, I ate there the third month they opened and then again one day when I had the pleasure of shooting a TV package with Don Saunders, an amazingly kind and talented young chef. I put Fugaise in the top tier of local restaurants, but not in the top three. My top five for food would only be culled from the ranks of LBV, Chambers, Alma, 112, Cosmos, Masa, Vincent, Heartland, Cucina, Oceanaire, Teahouse, Que Nah, Punch (Highland!), Wagner's, my mother-in-law's house, and the cafeteria at Hubbard Broadcasting.

And here’s a note I got from Tor Westgard that should clear up any issues remaining on the table—and I get a sneaky feeling Vlach ends up in the old Carne Asada space. Just a thought.

Mr. Zimmern,

I just read your blog, partly about the Town Talk, and thought I should email you. Maybe I can help alleviate some confusion.

Tim and AJ's new project(s) do not involve Town Talk Diner LLC. They involve New World Hospitality LLC, a separate company owned and operated by Tim Niver, Aaron Johnson and Dan Ritter. They only thing we have in common is that we share some of the same members. I have become the managing partner of the TTD to set up both the TTD and NWH for future success. I will be focusing solely on the TTD for the foreseeable future, while sharing my partners with NWH and their other endeavors. You might consider referring to them as NWH, since the only thing the TTD is doing right now is becoming better at being the TTD.

David Vlach and Tor Westgard were never a part of NWH. We were only ever part of the TTD. I won't speak for NWH, but they have a chef partner already in Dan Ritter. I wish them luck, and I look forward to enjoying a meal at their new space.

As far as David Vlach's departure is concerned, he decided that it was time to take the next step, and I support him in whatever he decides to do. David and I are old friends, and I will miss cooking with him very much. I am very grateful for the time we had to work together. It was an amicable split, and who knows, we may work together again some day.

It continues to give me immense pleasure to help make so many people happy at the TTD. I am excited about the future and the continued development of our restaurant and concept. Please feel free to contact me regarding future projects for the TTD. Have a good day and I hope to see you in our dining room soon.

Here’s the Body Count . . . enriched, this week, with meaningless editorializing to placate the restless hordes who are uncomfy with unadorned numbers.

Corner Table – 10

They had record numbers last week, but reported 10 for this week. Self-reported, I might add. Scott is a class act.

Picosa – 31

A new restaurant with no buzz and no local interest

Aster/Pracna – HUNDREDS!

They had the Life Time Fitness event happening outside their door.

Everyone Happy?

The coming weeks will find our body counters away on vacation, but Body Count will return the first week in August.

Job Openings, Fingers, and Jerks

Over at the Strib, longtime dining columnist and restaurant critic Jeremy Iggers has taken the brass parachute and exited the plane. Ditto Al Sicherman and twenty-two others with a cume of 450 years of newspaper experience according the Minnesota Monitor. Taking advantage of the buyout provision (dismissal pay provision, technically, although the jargon is confusing) offered to any employee was a smart one for these two industry vets who, because of their tenure at the paper, will earn what amounts to a year's salary for walking at a time when the paper is going through some major-league changes of its own. Having been bought and sold yet again, the Strib is now streamlining its operations and also rumored to be divesting itself of some major real estate holdings.

Iggers and Sicherman's departure leaves us wondering who will fill the void at this award-winning dining section? Syndicated pieces? Stringers? More Rick Nelson (which, as a reader, would thrill me)? Or will the job postings that apparently will be announced there on Friday indicate that the Taste section is still a major part of the paper's future plans?

I've got to get back to town and find out more about this, but what do you know? Have at it Chow & Again people.

Is Ruam Mit ever going to open again? Someone help me out here and tell me what’s going on . . . . Want to drown your sorrows and eat your feelings over the Mit-saster? Head out to Apple Valley and check out Raising Cane's, the fifty-plus-year-old Southern fried chicken-finger shop that’s all over the deep South and that just opened here three weeks ago. All they do are chicken fingers, never frozen, marinated for twenty-four hours, dipped and fried by hand and to order by real cooks. They only do fingers, nothing else, and they make a killer sweet tea and a pretty good remoulade sauce that's made fresh each morning. The fries are extra long crinkle cuts . . . . Are you getting the drift here? "I know," you say “but it’s fast food, blah blah blah." I beg to differ, and for a fun guilty pleasure, there is nowhere else I would rather stuff my face. Oh, did I tell you about the fresh butter and fresh garlic griddle bread served with the fingers?! Check out my Fox 9 story if you want a sneak peek before you go.

If you love to grill, check out Pimento Wood, a self-described one-stop jerk shop run by my buddy Gary Feblowitz, award-winning ace videographer and fellow food freak extraordinaire. Marination and seasoning are only half the battle when making real island BBQ. You need the wood that makes jerk jerk. Pimento wood (allspice) is available in sticks, chips, leaves, and berries, and Gary sells and can procure other rare cooking woods as well. Apple wood is what makes great bacon so fantastic, and hickory and mesquite are champion barbecuers' woods of choice. Check out why little roadside stands in Jamaica serve jerk chicken that is impossible to replicate . . . well, until now. Use promo code eXoticwood and you can save 10% on me.

A Few of My Favorite Things, Part Two

One of my favorite people in the whole world has launched a new website and it's brilliant, in the most Etonian sense of that word. Check out Dishola. It's billed by its creators (Minnesota native and Cowgirl Chef extraordinaire Paula Disbrowe and Austin, Texas, tech wonk Lindsey Simon) as a hunger-pang-problem–solving web-based community for the food-obsessed. Restaurant guides will tell you where to eat, but not what to eat, and as someone who spends half the year on the road, I can tell you that even when I am at home, we are more concerned with the ‘what’ than with the ‘where.’ In our family, this is how it goes:

Rishia: What do you feel like eating tonight?

Me: How about pho and spring rolls. Does that sound good to you?

Rishia: Great, where should we go?

See what I mean? We are always looking for the best sizzling Hong Kong–style ho-yu-gai poo or fettuccine Bolognese, not necessarily the best Chinese or Italian restaurant. And something tells me we are no different than most of you. People who love (and live) to eat think food first and restaurant second the majority of the time. At least the Zimmern family does.

According to Simon and Disbrowe, “Dishola is a dazzling new user-driven website devoted to the best dishes in top gastronomic destinations across the country. And it’s fun. Users can sign on to track down what they’re craving, read smart reviews by Dishola editors, industry professionals (cooks, bartenders, dishwashers), and members—passionate eaters across the country. Then they can add reviews of their favorite dishes, and they can even upload photos of them.”

Dishola also has something called a Celebrity Disher component; a “Spotlight Dish,” complete with the lowdown—and definition—of everything from pad thai to enchiladas de mole rojo to panna cotta; and pages where Dishola members can create a running list of “future feasts,” learn about cool food safaris, and, as the Dishola index grows, find the best dishes by location and descriptive tags with reviews and ratings from real people.

Disbrowe, who is a food writer with Food & Wine and The New York Times bylines to her credit, has a new cookbook titled Cowgirl Cuisine, that will be published by HarperCollins this spring. She is the real deal. I have seen galleys of her book, which is loaded with great recipes as well as the passionate musings of a great writer who left Minnesota for a career in New York, only to find her bliss in the hill country of Texas where she has lived for the last five years.

Both the website and the book are taking up a lot of my attention these days. Check them out.

Nordeast Nocturne

I just missed Kramarczuk's five-course Polish dinner and Polish beer tasting on the 13th, but you can call 612-379-3018 and make reservations for the next one on the 20th. Orest Kramarczuk has completely remade his East Hennepin Avenue monument to all that is wonderous when it comes to eastern European foods. The café is one of the best bargains in town for great home-cooked foods, and with all the fancy wine dinners and tasting menus being offered at even the most incompetent eateries, it's refreshing to see someone who knows their audience and is also doing something different to attract new customers. Kramarczuk's has been a regular stop on my food trail for fifteen years, and if you have not been yet, get your butt over there. Their homemade Krakowska sausage—rings or sliced thin from large loafs—is one of my top ten favorite foods in town. I like to grab some dark bread, a few pounds of deli meats (Krakowska, Speck ham, air-dried beef, and lachshincken are my musts), some other goodies (whatever tickles my fancy), and then I stroll into the café, grab a Ukrainian sausage and kraut to go, and I'm off. Kramarczuk's offers sixty different types of sausage, twenty breads, pastries, chocolates, and has been offering world-class food for fifty-three years and through three generations. Last week when I was there Orest gave me a few slices of his newest creation—a custom smoked ham that he bastes with an herb and garlic wash as it perfumes and cures in his massive smokers. The ham ate like the artisanal hams I ate last month in Europe. Ask for it in the café, it's hot and sliced to order . . . and by the way his beer dinner is only $50, all inclusive. Five courses, four beers, and if you can't make it on the 20th, he tells me that these dinners will change themes and menus each month.

Am I the last person on earth to finally visit Emily's Lebanese Deli on University Avenue around the corner from Kramarczuk's? This place is amazing as well, and while I often have been accused of throwing out more superlatives in this blog than BP has lawsuits, the spinach pies, the tabouleh, and the kibbi are second to none in this town. My wife has been insisting I go for years, and I finally did . . . once again, she was right.

So with Punch, Nea, Fugaise, Rachel's about to open, the Modern, Surdyk's, the new Lunds, Kramarczuk's, Emily's, Whitey's, Nye's, Erte . . . what else is there in good ol' Nordeast for me to try? any thoughts . . . . What am I missing? I feel like I am forgetting some places . . . .

Letter to the Editor

The most talked about story of the first part of this week continues to be Sunday’s  Strib-o-gram from Bill Ward and Jon Tevlin. Their steamy tell-all sat on the front page of the Source section, detailing some of the sleazier goings-on in the restaurant world, lurid tales that go on behind the scenes in most businesses jam-packed with crazies and drug-addled egomaniacs with no self-esteem. I should know—I am one.

There were a few things that struck me about the piece as a reader. The biggest one was I WANT MORE DETAILS. And I want really juicy ones. You know it was a good piece when you can smell the blood in the water. One of the biggest causes of friction between owners and chefs or chefs and landlords or servers and managers, and something that presages all of the most disgusting behavior, is anxiety. Especially the type brought on when the business is circling the drain pipe. All these restaurants (Mpls. Café, Goodfellows, Bobino, E’s, Five, etc.) were going through the death throes of extinction during the time when the craziest behavior was going on. And remember, Big E is basically a self-created myth of Eric’s own making and if his TV deals and book deal go anywhere at all (am I the only skeptic here???), the background checks he will have to deal with will give him apoplexy. Check out the public record on this guy—in some of the restraining-order paperwork there are some pretty wild accusations. The amount of FBI background and security checks I had to deal with for my own show were massive, but they pale in comparison to the morals clauses you have to sign off on if you actually can get a real show on a real station. Everyone in the media these days is scared of signing anyone to anything and then finding out later that they have a record, or pending legal issues. It’s a deal breaker. And while it’s an incomplete survey to say the least, no one I speak to in the cable TV networks, major networks, or publishing world have heard of his projects. TV/publishing people I deal with always ask me about this person or that, or want to know who’s who in our market because they are seeing proposals or show tapes on different local personages and want to get a feel for their appeal. So far, not a whisper on E. But, of course, I could be wrong.

Ms. Miller is a talented chef, but the article fails to mention the travesties of what went on at Red, and the fact that the Bobino tale was only in a sidebar tells me that they couldn’t get anyone ‘on the record’ on the Miller-Paddock saga. I am surprised that not a single employee from Red/Bobino/Mojito, etc., would tell any of the tales of what went on in those restaurants after hours and behind closed doors. Perhaps they got a few on record, but the paper didn’t want to go there for fear of legal exposure.

The story I really want to read is the one that Ward and Tevlin must have turned in three weeks ago to be vetted by the Strib legal department before the editors told them what they could and could not print. Court records are one thing, but the stories I heard coming out of the mouths of employees of Red, Bobino, Five, and Goodfellows make the stuff I read on Sunday seem like Sesame Street. The nice thing about a blog is that people can feel free to chime in and tell me what they heard, so feel free, especially if you worked at one of these places back in the day.

Speaking of the Strib, how about that story they ran a week ago today on the Midtown Global Market? Talk about a tough headline. The front page used the phrase ‘World of Hurt’ and the jump contained the header "Growing Pains." I happen to think the real story is somewhere in between, but what do I know? Well, let me tell you. The MGM is a wonderful resource and one of the most undervalued and unappreciated and unattended food venues in our city. But we don’t live in a ‘build it and they will come’ environment. The problem with constructing a business of that magnitude, especially one that has such a large social agenda as its raison d’etre is that the two are rarely compatible (business and social agendas). Philly, Seattle, and other cities that have these fabulous multi-use eat-in or shop-it food and craft complexes are all in the hearts of downtown. Until the MGM folks can figure out a way to get mom and dad in Chanhassen to hit the place twice a month for dinner, shop there once a week by offering a compelling reason to do so, and lure them from the Minneapolis skyway for lunch once a week, they are in danger of developing Levain’s Syndrome. Imagine what would have happened if the MGM complex had been built across from the Target Center instead of that utter waste of a space that Block E became. Anyone been to Hooters lately?

Levain Redux

Great blog response on the “issue de siecle”—and all of you made some erudite and relevant points. Thanks for all of your responses. We have a vibrant community here on Chow & Again, that’s for sure. Now that I am officially off the ledge, I will say that we are indeed a great food town, but one still finding its sea legs when it comes to changing the way in which our general population relates to restaurants. It is not only about income, but about culture. As Phil Roberts is fond of saying, “Too much Lutheran DNA.”

In San Fran, the fifth largest market in the USA (for twelve and ups), or in any of the top five markets, the bottom third of the middle class spends a significant portion of their income eating in restaurants, mostly ethnic and independent eateries. Most of these people live in bustling metro areas (NYC, Boston, Chicago, etc.) where (AND HERE I AM GENERALIZING TO MAKE A POINT, READERS) cooking at home is a once a week occurrence (and growing), whereas in the Twin Cities eating out is a once a week occurrence, and growing, but not quickly enough or in the right places as far as I am concerned. Live in Kenwood and want to find an alternative to a rack of baby backs at Chili's? Head on over to barbecue independents renowned for their product, like Ted Cook's, Cap's, Market Bar-B-Que, etc. Live in Blaine or Rogers or Buffalo? No options, really, except another chain, Famous Dave’s. Who in those towns will get back in the car and drive forty minutes for dinner? The most we could expect them to drive is ten and even that is tough when you factor in kids, family errands, etc. . . . since the majority of our population lives outside our city centers, and there is so much competition these days from other restaurants and other non-food-related activities, I guess we all have to be patient.

Price is a huge factor in how we make our dining decisions. Almost 100 percent of the thirty people I polled responded price and service were their two primary factors in choosing a restaurant. Food was a close third. When my wife and I make a choice on eating out we consider food, food, and food. Service and ambiance are definitely on our list, but price really isn’t. Not because we have any disposable income, but because with the exception of four or five restaurants in town, most menus can be flexible. An example: We love La Belle Vie, and we have eaten in the dining room and done tasting menus twice. Fabulous. But we have gone there once a month and snuggled into a booth in the bar on a date night and ordered four or five goodies off the bar menu and spent around $50 for two. Which is about what dinner for two at a chain in the ‘burbs costs. All of this is a roundabout way of urging folks to support our local independent eateries.

Hopefully chefs like Steven Brown (and there are a handful of others whose restaurants are barely making it) will resist the siren song and stay put, rather than move to NYC, Boston, Miami, San Fran, LA, Dallas, Chicago, etc., where fame and fortune awaits, but if they moved to find a more receptive audience, who can blame them, really?

And from the “Hey, it’s gonna get worse before it gets better” department, Vincent, from what I hear, is not only doing a weekday happy hour, but is closing on Sunday, despite serving some of the best food in the Cities in a lovely and warm atmosphere. I am hoping that things there are OK, and my sense is that being across from Orchestra Hall helps his business, but he has a large monthly nut there on mall. But then why the cutbacks and discounts, etc. . . . is that what customers want? Oy vey.

I am going to lay claim to coining something I call Levain’s Syndrome, named after the most extreme example of the illness. This condition is recognizable by the primary symptom of waning interest and falling attendance despite an actual increase in food quality and local/regional/national reputation. Any candidates for triage???? I’ll go with Midtown Global Market. More on that Thursday.

Class Act

Wanna know what class is?

Steven Brown coming on Chowhounds with me this Saturday at 10 a.m. to talk about the future of fine dining in the Twin Cities.

. . . or how about Tim McKee, chef-owner of La Belle Vie, stopping in at Levain on New Year's Eve to wish everyone there his best on what was their last night open for business?

. . . or maybe Steven’s staff at Levain should get the award for best exemplifying everything that C-L-A-S-S stands for? I talked with Steven at length on Tuesday about the restaurant’s closing, and he told me that after he learned late on Thursday that Levain would serve its last meal on Sunday evening, he let his crew know that if anyone wanted to they could turn in their aprons and he wouldn’t blame them for spending the weekend, or the evening of New Year's Eve, with their friends and family, given the last minute notification, the bittersweet nature of the closing, or the holiday timing of the closure itself. Everyone showed up for each shift for the remainder of the weekend—cooks, dishwashers, everyone . . . that’s class. And a great reflection on Steven.

I think this is the first time I have teased an upcoming radio show on this blog, but given the incredible graciousness with which Steven accepted my invitation and the AMAZING interest in this story as demonstrated by the number of comments to my Tuesday blog entry, I wanted to let this community know to tune in. Let your friends know, and if you are in the biz, or just love food, give it a listen. 100.3 FM on Saturday at 10 a.m.

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RIP . . . Andy’s Garage served its last burger in its University Avenue location so that ownership could focus all their attention on their new stand in the Midtown Global Market.

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Rumor Mill . . . Ben Graves, the Graves 601 Hotel honcho, would neither confirm nor deny the anonymous posted comment on this blog on Tuesday stating that Stephen Trajahn (of NYC’s 21 Club, Ritz Carlton Hotels, etc.) was taking over the stove left vacant by Seth Bixby Daugherty’s exit last month. Graves promised me some news would be forthcoming next week, so stay tuned. Ben and his dad are smart, standup guys and I am crossing my fingers that the person they are bringing in will continue to grow the national-caliber reputation that Seth and the Graves family created at Cosmos.

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Toque Tally . . . Woodmans, Seth, Steven, all gone from kitchens that they made relevant in a national sense during 2005 and 2006 . . . there is a new scent in the air, a vague aroma of disinterest in creative and inspired cooking. Too much competition? Too many restaurants serving food that is too ‘edgy’? Too pricey? What will it take to get Minnesotans to dine out on a Tuesday or Wednesday evening in restaurants that offer forward-thinking menus? Will we lose Alma or Auriga to this nauseous wave of disinterest once new restaurants open in the W Hotel and the Ivy? Was Larry D’Amico dead-on when he told me last fall that there were already too many fine-dining seats in this town relative to customer interest? And why my personal outrage? Because most people I meet and talk to want it both ways. They want to live in a town with great restaurants, but they can’t or won’t support them. Sad, but I am sorting it all out still and will be writing about this a lot in the upcoming weeks and months. All I know is that the new breeze that is blowing smells foul to me.

Naughty and Nice

Here’s something I find so irritating I just have to get it off my chest . . . false advertising, misleading labeling, call it what you will . . . Axel’s Bonfire Grill lists its tortilla soup on their menu as “the best in the Twin Cities.” Pad Thai on Grand does the same with its spring rolls; I got dozens of other examples . . . do you? And most maddening is Andy’s Garage on University Avenue, which continues to bill its burgers as one of the best “according to MSP Mag,” which is not entirely accurate—I should know. All that sort of stuff just bugs me to no end. I guess we live in a world where ‘the truth’ is a gray area. Ugh.

Anyway, here are a few year-end thoughts:

Best New Restaurant . . . Chambers Kitchen. Nothing else even comes close.

Restaurant of the Year . . . La Belle Vie, because it is twice as good as it was in Stillwater and that says a lot. I know that the style of service and price point is not for everyone, but the effort that it takes to get there should be applauded by everyone.

Chef of the Year . . . Alex Roberts, who quietly and without fanfare had his first child and managed to make his restaurant better all at the same time, which says a lot about him as a leader and teacher. Nice job, young fella’ . . . and his grilled wild striped bass on romesco sauce still haunts me five months later.

Best meal I ate locally all year long . . . The night before I left for Morocco, last spring, my wife and I went to Levain and took part in a superb tasting menu that Steven Brown put together for us, and from the mint-cucumber amuse bouche to the last bite of twice-cooked short rib there was not a false note struck. We then went to La Belle Vie for a dessert tasting that Adrienne Odom rolled out (that lady is a genius), and finished the evening waddling home to relieve the babysitter.

Local hero . . . Clancy’s Meats in Linden Hills, for supporting local farms, fostering a sense of community, cooking food that no one else will (stocks, glaces, confit, etc.), curing their own meats and salume, and doing it all because they love their customers, vendors, and the food folks that have made this town the exciting place it is to eat these days.

Best Dessert . . . The passion fruit soufflé at Chambers Kitchen.

What I Am Dreaming About Right Now . . . Isaac’s escarole with anchovies at 112. Yes, it’s a side dish, but I think about it at least once a day . . . Also Scott’s grilled short ribs at 20.21, the spicy chicken at Que Nah, the apple salad at Lurcat, the Morton’s salad, the celery themed dessert at Levain that Steven was making when he was between pastry chefs, the bacalao at I Nonni, the kecap manis marinated and grilled tuna at JP’s, the char siu bao at Jun Bo, the steamed walleye at Shuang Cheng, the fish with pickled vegetables at The Teahouse . . . I need to stop this merry-go-round, I’m famished.

What are your highlights and lowlights of the year?

Holiday Snacking

So why can't I get clothes as cute as the ones my wife finds for our son? It's killing me. If there was really a God, then all the goodies we love from Oilily (like Noah's puffy down monkey coat and sheriff's corduroy jacket) would come in a Men's XL.

The other thing I am having trouble understanding is why there is no good pastrami in this town—anyone have any suggestions for me?

Clearly I am I need of a distraction, so how about planning for the holiday snacking and hors d'oeuvre season? Do you need a few ideas on ordering some great foods, ones that will last for a while in the fridge, and can be easily rolled out whenever company calls?

Things I do know . . .
Many of the best New England farmstead cheese makers produce cheeses that are killer, but never make it this far west. While I love supporting our local cheesemakers, sometimes it's fun, especially as the season inches inexorably toward the holidays, to source some cheeses that most of your guests will NEVER have tried. Here are my faves:

+ Vermont Shepherd Cheese, made from sheep's milk in Putney, Vermont
+ York Hill Farms Capriano, made from goat's milk in New Sharon, Maine
+ Jasper Hill Farms Bayley Hazen Blue, made from cow's milk in Greensboro, Vermont
+ Smiling Hill Farms' Brie and Camembert, both made from cow's milk in Gorham, Maine

You can check them all out at  my pal Karen Horton's website.

The other great treat for holiday parties, one that you can buy, keep on hand throughout the season, and even freeze, is smoked fish. Now there is some good smoked fish in town, but no great smoked fish in town. I like Zabar's, Barney Greengrass, Harrod's, and all the other great shops as much as the next guy, but when I want to impress the in-laws, the must-go-to store is online at Browne Trading Company. Their smoked salmon is second to none, and their service is fantastic.

Need some chocolate to stash in the kitchen for when things get hectic? My local sins are satisfied at Legacy Chocolates on Marshall Avenue in St. Paul and B. T. McElrath, but when I want to make a real statement, I head to La Maison du Chocolat . . . I don't want to overstate the obvious, but when it comes to their cacao bean creations you won't be dissapointed with any of these three picks.

Break the Fast

Anyone planning on cooking for Monday night’s ‘break the fast’ meal to mark the conclusion to Yom Kippur will love these easy, do-ahead recipes. Anyone who is not observing will also love them—you don’t have to be Jewish to love great food, but it helps. Order a side of salmon and some bialys from Barney Greengrass and you will be set for the night.

Eggplant Salad
3 large eggplants, 2-1/2 lbs. each
2 T. olive oil
1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
2 t. dried oregano
4 chopped scallions
2 c. flat parsley leaves
1 T. lemon juice
2 T. red wine vinegar, or more to taste
2 ripe, diced, skinless seedless tomatoes
2 large garlic cloves
2 T. salt-packed capers, refreshed and drained
6 pita bread discs, cut in eighths and toasted

Brush eggplant with the tablespoons of olive oil and broil on a baking sheet for 25-30 minutes, turning often until skin blackens and eggplant is cooked. Let cool, then peel and chop meats and reserve to a colander to drip off excess liquids. Place oregano, scallions, garlic, and half the parsley in a food processor and pulse until well processed. Fold into drained eggplant, then season with oil, lemon juice, and vinegar. Add tomatoes. Chop remaining parsley and capers and fold into the salad. Season with salt and pepper and serve with toasted or grilled pita.

Henriette’s Chopped Chicken Liver
2 lbs. fresh chicken livers
1 large yellow onion, minced
1/4 c. rendered chicken fat (schmaltz)
1 t. minced parsley
2 hardboiled eggs
1 box matzoh

Drain and pat dry the livers. Sauté onion in 1 T. schmaltz over medium heat until lightly caramelized (just past beige). Reserve. Fry livers to medium (pink) in 1T schmaltz in the same pan over medium high heat. Reserve livers. Grind liver and onions through a food mill by hand or pulse in a food processor. Add parsley, grate eggs, and fold into mixture. Add remaining schmaltz (or more to taste). Season with salt and pepper. Chill chopped livers. Serve with the matzoh.

Noodle Kugel
1 lb. extra wide egg noodles
4 c. cottage cheese
3 c. milk
2/3 c. melted butter
1 c. sugar
6 eggs
2 t. salt
1-1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. minced dried apricots
1/2 c. sliced almonds
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 T. cinnamon

Cook, drain, and cool noodles. Combine all ingredients, reserving almonds, brown sugar, and 1 t. of the cinnamon for sprinkling on top of the casserole. Butter a large pan or two small ‘brownie pans.’ Sprinkle kugel with reserved ingredients and bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes until set and golden brown. Serves 10-12.

Street Defeat

I am not a big fan of Bobby Flay. He's arrogant and smug, and when we were all coming up the ranks in NYC he treated people rather poorly, and I find his Food Network stuff boring . . . so I was delighted to learn from my pal Jeff Somers at Izzy's that Izzy's (and Jeff) kicked Bobby's ass in a segment of Throwdown, Flay's new show. The show is Punk'd meets Iron Chef. Food TV contacts great food stores, chefs, eateries and the like around the country and tells them they are arriving on a certain date and time to shoot a profile on their business. They tell them to be ready to demo their best stuff and when the day arrives, a limo pulls up and out pops Flay who then 'throws down' with his version of the store or chef's specialty in a mano a mano contest.

Typical. He gets to prepare for a food fight and his adversary is sitting there for weeks preparing for a different kind of experience. The best part is that Jeff destroyed Flay in the eyes of local celeb chef judges (112's Isaac Becker and Levain's Steven Brown). Hurry into Izzy's and taste the brown sugar ice cream with spiced pecans that Somers used to slay the beast. It's delicious.

Bumped, Bruised, and Ultimately Juiced

I got dumped . . . first time in a long time, but dumped I got.

The View decided to go with Ray Liotta instead of me . . . the nerve. Such are the slings and arrows of the TV biz . . . .

So now it looks like all the promotional energy for the new show will be funneled into the month leading up to and after the premiere on March 12. all for the best actually, but boy was I psyched for a mano a mano tag team match with Babs, Rosie, Joy, and The Hasselbeck.

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The family went apple-picking this weekend at what is now my favorite orchard. Rishia is THE BOMB for getting the family out to Deardorff's. If you have not been to Deardorff's in Waconia you are missing out on the ulitmate orchard experience. Deardorff's is family owned and operated, you park on the main road, walk to the apple house where they sell pies, apple donuts, cider, apples, caramel etc., but the fun part is hopping on the tractors and being pulled out to the most idyllic tree stands, loaded with apples, that you have ever seen. It was a perfect day—Noah's first apple party—and with the sun out all day, we were in heaven. As you walk up to the apple house, be sure to taste the fresh pressed cider which is unlike anything you have ever tasted. The juice has not had a chance to oxidize and they use whatever apples are being picked that day, not just traditional cider apples. We drank fresh Honeycrisp juice till we were fortified enough to head to the fields, pet the animals, and browse the pumpkins. Noah, Rishia, and I picked Sweet 16s that tasted like cherry lifesavers, Rishia got herself a huge bag of Honeycrisps that no one else is allowed to touch, and we scored a gaggle of Haralsons for our pal Debbie. Check out Deardorff's at applemn.com or log onto minnesotagrown.org for a local orchard to visit near you.

And Now for Something Completely Different . . .

I was doing an interview for a European food journal and the guy asks me the question that we all secretly dread in my biz: “What’s in your fridge?” I was horrified. Here's why:

a) I don’t want to dent the mythological chrome fender of my food life and let people in on the secret that I don’t have teams of elves stocking my larder with homemade bon bons and artisinal cheeses 24/7/365.
b) We have a nineteen-month-old evil wizard who casts spells on my kitchen, turning freshly chilled lobster salad into Go-gurt.

But I sallied forth and proudly ran down the list of our fave must-haves, and I realized that Rishia and I should share our food-tastic finds with you:

Watermelon, this summer we ate almost one a day.
Just Fruit, the freeze-dried stuff . . . the banana-strawberry one is the most popular in our house.
Mushroom Veggie Burgers, the frozen ones from Gardenburger. Heat one in the microwave on top of some fresh tomato sauce . . . heaven.
Frozen Haagen Daz coffee yogurt. Enough said.
Valbreso Feta . . . can’t live without it in the fridge. We use it in everything.
Kashi . . . it rocks.
Snyder’s pretzels dipped in port-wine cheese spread. One a day has to be good for you.
Edamame . . . we all love them, especially our son.
Solo Berry Bliss bars . . . Rishia turned me on to them and they are the best energy bar I have found.
Old Home cottage cheese, the giant curd one in the yellow tub.
Pom . . . especially mixed with Fresca
Ba Tempte pickles . . . the real McCoy—no vinegar, kids, real pickles.
Emergen-C . . . the tangerine kind with glucosimine and chondroitin.
Edy’s popsicles . . . lime and tangerine are my faves, RZ loves the berry versions.

And what are your desert island food must-haves???