Pip's Plate

The Twin Cities Fresh Taste Festival is a community event that features organic and sustainable food & wine.

Sunday, August 17, 11 am – 5 pm

Nicollet Island Pavillion (40 Power Street, Minneapolis, MN see map)

From the Twin Cities Fresh Taste Festival site:

Join us at the inaugural Twin Cities Fresh Taste Festival, a day-long event to celebrate the best in organic, local and sustainable food products and wines.

Set on the beautiful picturesque banks of the Mississippi River at the Nicollet Island Pavilion, the festival will be filled with organic food and beverage vendors – from many outstanding local restaurants and food producers. Sample from 100 organic wines from national and international wineries. Plus, learn from local chefs as they prepare some of their best signature organic dishes.

Tickets:

$55 before day-of

$65 at the door

NOTE: you can receive $3.00 off a ticket with your Minnesota Public Radio Member Connect Card

Well…it’s officially summer once the CSA starts arriving! My household is participating in the Harmony Valley Farm CSA this summer and Thursday was our first delivery.

We received sunchokes (jerusalem artichokes), chives, spinach, parsnips, rhubarb, and ramps. We made mashed sunchokes and potatoes the other night and it was pretty delicious.

CSAs are Community Supported Agriculture, which is essentially a farm share. They are a great way to get fresh, local produce. I recommend joining one – you won’t regret it!

My friend sent me over to a blog that a friend of hers writes – ladieslovetk – and I have to tell you, I enjoyed reading about TK’s latest adventures in eating gyros for a week from a different place each day.

Some of my favorite lines so far:

Day 4 – Greek Grill: “I don’t know why Greek Grill has to get jiggy with their rice.”

Day 4 – Greek Grill: “Denture-wearers would be all over this gyro.”

Day 3 – Holy Land: “The flavors in this gyros meal will not be frickin denied.”

Day 1 – Dino’s: “I think they have formulated a special recipe for odorless gyros designed to prevent people from getting BO. So essentially, Dino’s gyros are like the hairless cat of the gyros world. They’re less of a hassle, but also kind of freaky.”

Thanks for the laughs TK – I look forward to reading about Days 5-7!

Wow. Go to El Meson. It’s not only a great restaurant, but it has such a wonderful energy. It’s been close to a year since I’ve been there, but it’s still as good as before. They’ve added a tapas menu since my last visit, but we didn’t try any this time.

The empanadas are classic Spanish food. Spicy, yet edible and tasty. We recently tried the Peras appetizer as well: roasted pear with brie and Spanish pancetta. Hmmm…Spanish pancetta…I have to ponder that. I’ll get back to you on that. However, the appetizer was good, but not great. The pancetta was much too thick. It overpowered the rest of the dish and created too much of a chewy texture (making it difficult to eat).

The Pescata was AMAZING. The fish was cooked perfectly: tender, flaky, and flavorful. The sauce was a ginger curry. Typically, a fish + curry dish = mush. But El Meson managed to pull it off. The fish was excellent, but the flavor was right on. Mild, yet spicy; tender and juicy, yet firm coconut risotto; salty, yet fruit-sweet.

I would order the Pescata any time. We also had the pork with grilled pineapple. I really wanted this dish to be as good as it sounded. Unfortunately, the pork was cut so thin it didn’t have a chance. It was incredibly tough and chewy with no flavor. The grilled pineapple was okay, but it was cut as thin as carpaccio which made grilling it obviously difficult (the bottoms were a little charred). A little thicker cut for both pork and pineapple would have made the plate pleasing.

For dessert, we were surprised by ordering the lemon “curd” phyllo tart and the chocolate cake. I’m not sure what “curd” means in Spanish, but it certainly does not mean ‘scented’ whipped cream. We actually sent the dish back thinking it was the wrong dessert. However, we were wrong. It was the dish we ordered. We didn’t feel silly for sending back what we ordered; instead, we felt slightly irritated about the description. Curd does not equal whipped cream.

I love lemon curd. It’s thick, a little creamy, and very citrusy. And VERY easy to make. On the other hand, the chocolate cake was very good with a syrupy orange sauce.

Overall, the meal was satisfying. Next time we’ll know to ask before we order dessert. I’ll keep going back to this restaurant because I enjoy the atmosphere and the food. The energy makes you feel energized.

Now, if you’ve read this far, I’ll tell you about the crappy service we got in the very beginning. The reason I leave it to the end of this review is because this shouldn’t cloud your judgement.

We made a reservation via Open Table. It was honored 30 minutes after our reservation time, then we waited 15 minutes for our server to show up to our table. I even went to the host stand and the hostess said *before I could say anything*: “Your serer will be right with you.” That’s pretty much how it went the rest of the night. The server was too busy to acknowlege us for longer than 20 seconds. As a server, 20 seconds is a long time to spend at a table if you’re not taking an order. However, it really irks me when a server is at my table and all they do is look around with a look of panic – there’s no way I feel like I’m getting close to half of their attention.

Go to El Meson. It’s an excellent restaurant; the management just fu**ed up tonight and sent staff home early. Shit happens.

I don’t understand what is up with the people in Minneapolis and the reader polls that our magazines/publications put out. Namely: MlpsSt.Paul Magazine and Minnesota Monthly.

Somehow, Kincaid’s restaurant is always at the top of lists. If it’s not number 1, then it’s at least in the top 5. Come on, people! Seriously! It’s been done so many times before. There are so many better restaurants with better service, better food, more original and creative food, better atmosphere and simply better everything.

For example, if you like seafood, try JP American Bistro. The fish is always good. Or try Lucia’s, which features a different menu each week. I’m always impressed with Auriga‘s scallops and visually pleasing plating.

If you like creative food, try Five in Uptown or Cue at the new Guthrie (currently featuring elk).

Somehow Kincaid’s always ends up in the “Most Romantic” category. I’m not quite sure how that happens – the restaurants are (1) a chain, and (2) so much like a hotel. Instead, try the “kissing booth” at Amore Victoria. Or visit the Loring Pasta Bar in Dinkytown for a truly luxurious atmosphere (I love the jewel tones, organic Art Nouveau metal work, and plush fabrics), but make sure to ask for a quite table. You can even stay for the burlesque show for something a little more exciting.

If you’re interested in something more ethnic, go to Gardens of Salonica for a fantastic Greek experience. The art adorning the restaurant is enough to make me want to go back. If you’re looking to throw a dinner party, they do a fantastic tasting menu with wine pairings for an astonishingly low price. El Meson is an excellent choice as well. I haven’t tried the paella, but I hope to get to that soon. Sushi Tango has the best sushi in town in my opinion. Try the Tai and DON’T miss the Hamachi sashimi (California’s hamachi didn’t even come close to comparison).

I’ve given up reading any Minneapolis and St. Paul reader polls of restaurants. They inevitably are answered by minivan-driving suburbanites who frequent Perkins for a night out because going into the city might be too much excitement.

If you’re uncertain about which restaurants in Minneapolis and St. Paul are worth visiting, here are a couple sites that might help you out: Dining for Sport and Crappy Table.

Midtown Global Market is possibly the best thing to happen to Minneapolis since I moved here. Located on Lake Street in the old Sears building, it occupies the first level which will eventually be the first floor of yet another condo project that seems to be taking over Minneapolis.

I visited Midtown Global Market a few weeks ago while planning a vacation. My friends and I were grocery shopping for the week when we realized the only ingredients we still needed were yogurt, pita bread, fresh mint and limes. Instead of trekking all over the city to visit both Holy Land and United Noodles, I remembered both of these shops opened sister shops in the new Midtown Global Market.

First impressions: free parking! Woo Hoo! [It's nice to see that someone in city planning for Minneapolis is thinking about these luxuries.] The instant we stepped foot into Midtown Global Market we were overhelmed with an energy one usually finds while traveling abroad. Every sense was stimulated in the first 5 minutes. I wasn’t expecting a warehouse, but it was appropriate for an indoor market. Wide open booths make browsing from one shop to the next a breeze. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, so one can only assume that most people were taking advantage of the many lakes Minneapolis has to offer. However, there was a lot of bustling around coupled with the sounds of crackling radios, deep fryers and sizzling heat lamps. These are the sounds of the Midtown Global Market.

From authentic global foods and merchandise to local produce, and dairy products, Midtown Global Market has it all. The Produce Exchange was a lovely surprise. Fresh, seasonal, organic produce from a wholesale produce company cuts out the middle man, bringing affordable healthy choices to the city. Two couples operate farms and their shop Farm in the Market bringing locally raised (hormone and antibiotic-free) lamb, bison, beef and poultry. They also sell local, organic dairy products. Being able to take advantage of all these local resources makes you feel proud to live in Minneapolis.

We weren’t very hungry, but we purchased some tamales from La Loma for later that night. Wow. They were un-be-lievable. I heard someone serves octopus tacos, so I know I’ll be going back for that.

Midtown Global Market is the kind of place you want to take any out of town visitor.Thank you, Midtown Global Market for opening in Minneapolis!