The latest from Twitter: @Peace_Coffee plays cupid with “Caffeinate Your Cutie,” @triplerockmpls is serving @surlybrewing Mild at $3.50 a pint, @bittercube celebrates the long-anticipated opening of Eat Street Social, and @Masu_NE will feature a suggestive little Valentine’s Day roll through Tuesday.
by Emily Schnobrich on November 5, 2010
Lars Swanson / Heavy Table
Every Midwestern kid discovers the golden wonton at their local Chinese buffet — a fried treat to load the plate with before beelining to the soft serve. Children love the innocent crunch of the cream cheese wonton. It’s simple and smooth and basically makes them think they’re getting away with dessert before dinner. But let’s face it: The cream cheese wonton doesn’t really rank high on the adult list of palate pleasers.
Some Twin Cities establishments have tried to elevate the dish. Take Thom Pham, for example, the chef behind Thahn Do, Azia (R.I.P.), and the brand new Wondrous Azian Kitchen. Pham’s cranberry cream cheese puffs (below) are a favorite that made the cut in the move from Azia to Wondrous. They are listed on the menu as Thom Pham’s Wondrous Cranberry Puffs, in a special curling font. And their appearance is just as fancy schmancy. Biting into one reveals a practically fuchsia (okay, the lights were pretty low) interior, speckled with cranberry bits. They are plainly sweet, slightly squishy, and cheesy, sparked occasionally by a bit of scallion garnish.
Lars Swanson / Heavy Table
But there are some new cream cheese specimens on the other side of town that just might take the wonton from good to yowzer. You can find them at Wok in the Park, St. Louis Park’s newest Asian spot, and funnily enough, the brain child of Thom Pham’s three sisters. Cheekily labeled Puffs in the Park, the little fried packages (pictured, top) are composed of “cream cheese, scallions and Crais’n Curry” — a similar description to the Wondrous Puffs. Nevertheless, they are hot and crisp, and their filling is a balanced and punchy combination that echoes a spicy homemade tomato soup rather than a super sweet bagel schmear. With a heat that fills every corner of your mouth, the wontons at Wok transcend what can sometimes be an overlooked appetizer or pseudo dessert.
Lars Swanson / Heavy Table
The Puffs in the Park are just a glimpse into the what sisters Charis (left, above), Grace (center), and Hannah (right) pour into their first restaurant. From Perkins to Thahn Do, the three women grew up working in restaurants, often alongside their other siblings. Continue reading Cranberry Cream Puffs at Wok in the Park and Wondrous »
Good challah tastes like a prize for making it to the end of a long week. It’s a rich and doughy, slightly sweet pat on the back: Hey, it’s Friday, whatever is done is done, and whatever hasn’t been done, well, it’s just going to have to wait.
Observant Jews — and even some tied more to tradition and culture than religion — light candles and bless bread and wine to mark the beginning of the Sabbath on Friday night. The Sabbath itself — the prohibition on work and the commandment to find joy, rest, and prayer for the next 24 hours — begins with the lighting of the candles 18 minutes before sundown. But, for me at least, the week truly ends with that first bite of egg bread, torn off in chunks, drizzled in honey, and passed around the table. And, exhale.
It’s probably the carbs triggering a major serotonin release, but I’ll take it.
Until recently, it was hard to find a challah in the Twin Cities that felt truly celebratory, that made you want to hang around the table after dinner, tearing off just one more piece. An airy, dry loaf feels more like an obligation than a gift. But, with the expanded Rustica bakery and the brand-new Patisserie 46, Friday nights — and Saturday-morning French toast, and Sunday-afternoon sandwiches — just got a little bit sweeter.
Patisserie 46's crown challah with raisins for the High Holy Days
Patisserie 46
We’re ready, right here, right now, to crown this the best challah in the Twin Cities. It’s so rich and buttery I was wary of serving it with meat dishes to kosher-keeping friends. But, nope, John Kraus, owner and baker at Patisserie 46 swears that there is no dairy involved (though the bakery, and therefore the challah, is not certified kosher). He got the recipe from a Swiss friend who had been baking it for years. Inside a thin crust is a soft, dense loaf with that stretchy, chewy crumb that makes you keep going back to break off yet another piece. But what really sets it apart is the depth of flavor, with a slight sourness that suggests a nice slow rise. Kraus makes 50 loaves each Friday and won’t take orders, so when they’re gone, they’re gone. “I think people like it fairly well,” he says modestly. “We can’t decide whether people like raisins. And then there’s the poppy seed debate. And the sesame seed debate…” We’ll take one of each, please.
Rustica's crown challah for the High Holy Days
Rustica
It was a photo finish for the top prize, really, and Rustica’s challah came in behind Patisserie 46 by less than a nose. This beautiful loaf has a thick crust lined with lovely crackles in the braid. It’s a deep mahogany brown, because bakers in the French tradition aren’t afraid of truly browning their breads and pastries. Inside, the loaf is the perfect density, though not quite as chewy and stretchy as it might be. Lightly sweet, it has a nicely developed flavor. Continue reading The Best (and Worst) Challah in the Twin Cities »
Tags: Breadsmith, Byerly's, Cecil's, challah, Fishman's, Great Harvest, Patisserie 46, Rustica, taste test, yum
I’m a Midwesterner through and through, but when it comes to bagels, I’m admittedly spoiled. Frequent trips to the East Coast to visit my grandparents in New Jersey and Florida taught me from a young age that bagels don’t belong in the freezer. They should come fresh from the bagel shop and served in halves with cream cheese (don’t even think about buying low-fat), lox, and maybe some tomato and onion if that’s your thing. No funky flavors like cinna-choco-walnut-surprise. No exotic cream cheeses. And definitely no ham and cheese.
So what makes a true New York bagel? Discussion among several former East Coast residents resulted in the following criteria:
- A golden, toothsome crust that exhibits some crunch
- A soft, light, and slightly moist interior
- A flavor bordering on neutral to sweet and malty
- A normal portion size — not one the size of a Frisbee
While we can get all the components for an authentic bagel brunch here in Minnesota, is it possible to get a bagel that lives up to snuff? The Heavy Table decided to put three local bagel establishments to the test, throwing one national chain into the mix for comparison’s sake, too. We gathered samples of the plain variety and served it with plain cream cheese, going with the theory that if a bakery’s plain bagel doesn’t taste good, throwing sesame seeds on top isn’t going to improve it.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
St. Paul Bagelry (99 cents each)
In a word: Oy. The St. Paul Bagelry’s plain bagel got an almost universal thumbs down, with several people comparing it to a high-school cafeteria bagel. Its very shiny texture did little to compensate for the lack of chew and synthetic taste. Yes, a bagel should have some pull when you bite into it, but it shouldn’t stick in your teeth for the rest of the day. This is the bagel to skip.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Seven Stars Coffeehouse ($1.50 each)
Dubbed the “Wonder bagel” by one of our tasters for its similarities to the classic sandwich bread, Seven Stars’ version was light on crust and heavy on dough. Bagels should have a clear distinction between crust and interior, both in color and in texture. Instead, this bagel tasted more like a sub-par croissant with its slightly greasy aftertaste. It’s the only kosher-certified bagel of the bunch, but unfortunately, kosher doesn’t always equal quality.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
The Upper Midwest has a respectably long if not terribly extensive history of making good blue cheese — Minnesotans, for example, have long enjoyed the award-winning blues rolling forth from the subterranean expanse of the Faribault Dairy’s caves.
The recent boom in artisan and / or original cheese varieties has spilled over into the world of blue cheeses, often written off by the general public after one too many run-ins with unpleasantly aggressive Stilton or Roquefort varieties. The new face of blue is softer, kinder, creamier, and less aggressive — less inclined to be a prima donna, the new Wisconsin blue is more typically a team player, harassing a duo or trio of flavors in tandem to produce something more balanced and less extreme.
The following sampling of Wisconsin blues isn’t meant to be comprehensive; among others, Hook’s, Roth Käse, and BelGioioso also make blues worth sampling.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Blue Marble Jack | Nasonville Dairy | $4.95 / lb.
Master cheesemakers Tom Torkelson (below) and Ken Heiman worked together to forge this new Wisconsin original. Blue Marble Jack is a semi-soft cheese with the moist, pliable texture of a Monterey Jack and blue cheese veins woven tightly throughout the curd, incorporating an extremely mild but pleasant blue cheese flavor. Continue reading Cheese Roundup: The Wisconsin Blues »
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Though the cupcake craze has been kicking throughout the country, particularly on the coasts, for the past few years, the Twin Cities have been a little slower out of the gate. But 2010 is shaping up to be the Year of the Cupcake in Minneapolis and St. Paul. With well-established bakeries touting their individual-sized concoctions and some eager newcomers staking their claim in the cupcake conquest, metro area residents have more places than ever to satisfy their sweet tooth.
But which cupcakes are worth your time, calories, and money? To help our dear readers find the local gems, 10 Heavy Table contributors took on the unenviable task of tasting cupcakes from the six top-ranking bakeries in Minneapolis and St. Paul in our recent reader poll. (Note: Though Winona-based Mon Petit Cupcake ranked high in the poll, its status as a special-order bakery, as well as its distance from the Twin Cities, would have made it difficult to obtain cupcakes discreetly.) Yes, it was quite the sacrifice to spend a recent Thursday evening scarfing down the frosting-topped treats, and most of us had cupcake hangovers the next day to show for it, but it was well worth the time and bloating.
Our methodology: We bought two varieties of cupcake from each bakery, a chocolate and a specialty flavor. The cupcakes were divided into quarters or eighths by our editor and labeled with a letter so we wouldn’t know from which bakery each sample came. Cupcakes were rated on a scale of 1 (low) to 5 (high) for flavor, moistness and texture, and the ratio of frosting to cake, and overall averages were computed for each cupcake. We allowed for brief discussion of each cupcake sampled, and while many cupcakes brought on fierce debates about the proper amount of frosting or the richness of chocolate, the winners in each category clearly rose to the top.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Here’s the chocolate category, in ascending order from least favorite to most.
Cupcake Cafe | Claire Huxtable ($1.95)
Flavor 2.15
Moistness / Texture 2.9
Frosting-to-Cake Ratio 2.95
Total 2.67
“Ick! I’d rather never eat chocolate cake again than eat this cake!” That comment on the Claire Huxtable (chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting) may seem extreme, but Cupcake Cafe’s all-chocolate version didn’t earn much kudos.
Salty Tart | Chocolate with Surly ($2.50)
Flavor 2.85
Moistness / Texture 2.8
Frosting-to-Cake Ratio 3.1
Total 2.92
This Salty Tart cupcake scored slightly above average for its frosting-to-cake ratio, but lower marks for flavor and moistness brought down its overall score. Many felt the flavor of the frosting on the Chocolate with Surly cupcake overwhelmed the cake.
Sweets Bakeshop | Black and White ($3)
Flavor 2.55
Moistness / Texture 2.95
Frosting-to-Cake Ratio 3.6
Total 3.03
Sweets Bakeshop’s Black and White cupcake was the only one in the bunch with vanilla frosting, and it garnered one of the highest marks for frosting-to-cake ratio among the dozen cupcakes. Tasters cited a dry texture and lack of chocolate flavor, though, which significantly reduced the cupcake’s overall score.
Franklin Street Bakery | Chocolate with Cream Filling ($2.75)
Flavor 3.2
Moistness / Texture 3.3
Frosting-to-Cake Ratio 2.9
Total 3.14
The reaction to Franklin Street’s Chocolate with Cream Filling was slightly schizophrenic: While one taster called it “a miracle of moistness,” a couple others reported the cake was dry and had a slightly metallic taste.
Cake Eater Bakery | Chocolate Salted Caramel ($3)
Flavor 2.7
Moistness / Texture 3.7
Frosting-to-Cake Ratio 3.5
Total 3.3
Cake Eater Bakery’s Chocolate Salted Caramel should really be called Salted with a Little Bit of Chocolate and Caramel because the sodium chloride totally overpowered the rest of the cupcake. “I liked my bite, but I don’t know if I would want a whole one,” one taster wrote. Still, a critical mass of tasters gave it a high enough score to garner second place among the chocolate cupcakes.
Cocoa & Fig | Valrhona Chocolate with Chocolate Buttercream ($2.75)
Flavor 3.75
Moistness / Texture 3.7
Frosting-to-Cake Ratio 3.15
Total 3.53
Cocoa & Fig’s Valrhona Chocolate variety, our winner in the chocolate category, won almost universal praise for the flavor of its chocolate buttercream, but the panel was divided on whether the towering topping was too much for the amount of cake hidden below the surface. “Swoon!” reported one taster, while another noted that it had “a bit too much frosting, but this cake is nice and dense.”
Scott Theisen / Heavy Table
Not exactly barbecue central, Minnesota still boasts a solid number of local, high-quality barbecue sauces. Good news, because nothing ruins a night of grilling faster than the crummy, glorified ketchup of most mass-marketed sauces (a notable exception being Sweet Baby Ray’s). A trip to Linden Hills Co-op and Lunds turned up the following five sauces, all locally produced.
Demon Pig ($6 for 13 oz.) – Made in Breezy Point, MN, the mild version won second place in the National Barbecue Association’s 2009 competition in the “Tomato Mild” category. This sauce, much sweeter and with a strong vinegar taste, wasn’t peppery and was chock full of tiny onion and green pepper chunks. This sauce would be great on poultry or pork and, with Wee Willy’s, was the best among the five.
Ken Davis ($2.19 for 17 oz.) – A stalwart from a former Minneapolis jazzman and restauranteur, St. Louis Park-based Ken Davis doesn’t try too hard but does the trick. It smells like a charcoal fire and has no extremes — mild taste and spice. This sauce would be great in small quantities with ribs or slathered on a chicken sandwich. It’s a very solid, everyday sauce you won’t get tired of, and at $2.19 a jar, a real value. In this company, though, it’s overshadowed. But for one-third the price, what the heck. Keep a jar in the pantry.
Down Under Blackberry Chipotle (Price varied, $3.99-$5.39 for 16 oz.) – From South Minneapolis, this dark, thick sauce hits you hard with a deep yet not too spicy heat. Perfect for beef, but pork or poultry probably wouldn’t work. This sauce is ketchup-based with no vinegar and would be better with less pepper and / or chili powder. In fairness, it’s not really straight-up barbecue sauce but more of a niche meat sauce, so don’t buy this expecting anything resembling traditional barbecue sauce. Yet for a special twist, say with little smokies or for dipping, this sauce is definitely worth a try. It won first place at the 2009 Big Island BBQ competition in Albert Lea.
Triple Crown ($4.29 for 14 oz.) – A three-time winner at the Minnesota State Fair, Triple Crown from Frederic, WI, smells like beef jerky and is slightly sweet and smoky. It won’t overpower the meat, yet contains anchovy, which could be the ingredient behind the unique tang / meat flavor. This sauce is intensely rich and will add a subtle sophistication to anything. A very solid sauce.
Wee Willy’s ($4.29 for 18 oz.) – From Afton, this sauce screams “tang.” A legitimate aftertaste sticks to the back of your throat. This thinner, salty sauce had the best balance of flavors: vinegar, sugar, smoke. Bite after bite, the flavors seemed to expand. Put this sauce on a chicken breast and you’ll forget how dry the meat is. With Demon Pig, the Jack Daniel’s World Championship-winning Wee Willy’s will be a permanent and versatile addition to the fridge. On pork roast, it’s stellar.
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