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Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
That spikey bleached hair, that sunburnt face, and those signature sunglasses perched on the back of his head — oh yeah, Food Network star Guy Fieri is in town.
The Heavy Table went behind the scenes with the crew of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on their last visit to Minnesota. The Minnesota tour included northern spots At Sara’s Table Chester Creek Cafe, Duluth Grill, Gordy’s Hi-Hat, and Northern Waters Smokehaus. Twin Cities locations included The Blue Door Pub, Colossal Cafe, and Kramarczuk’s. Our behind-the-scenes look took place at the last two locations.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
Earlier this year, The Heavy Table interviewed David Page, the show’s executive producer. Page described the filming process, which includes two full crews advance filming at each location for 2-3 days. Once Fieri arrives, the crew and Fieri spend a half day filming at each location (filming at two locations per day) to capture the cooking, interviewing, tasting, and diner scenes. These intense filming days with Fieri are exhausting — ingredients must be prepped and ready ahead of time and scripts are followed precisely to match the order of the previously recorded cooking sequences. Continue reading Behind the Scenes of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives »
The Kitchen Insider series gives Heavy Table readers a peek at the personality and processes of well-known kitchens around town.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
The five-person Meritage kitchen team stands shoulder-to-shoulder in the tight quarters as the pre-theater tickets come rushing in. A quick word from Chef Russell Klein and the team springs to action. Large white dishes are pulled onto the counter; meats and vegetables are carefully plated.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
Back and forth the staff moves between the prep counter and ovens. The expansive stovetop becomes cluttered with pots and pans.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
On the opposite side of the service window, waitstaff anxiously gather, ready to sweep plates away to the awaiting tables.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
It’s difficult to imagine a busier kitchen than this Thursday night rush – the galley kitchen is already bursting with activity at the current volume — but Chef Klein asserts that the weekend pre-theater rush is even busier. Meritage’s accessible location near St. Paul’s Ordway ensures that every seat of the restaurant’s intimate dining room is filled.
The Kitchen Insider series gives Heavy Table readers a peek at the personality and processes of well-known kitchens around town.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
It’s 10:30 on a Thursday morning in Spoonriver‘s bustling kitchen in the Mill District of Minneapolis. The kitchen is in full swing with the chopping, slicing, and dicing of fresh, seasonal ingredients destined for the day’s lunch service.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
At her work station, Chef Heather Hartman scoops healthy servings of a whole grain mix into hollowed red, yellow, and orange bell peppers. Topped with cheese, this dish is the menu’s vegetarian feature. Hartman eyes her workstation, taking a mental inventory of vegetables, dressings, and dips to ensure everything is in place before moving on to the next task — preparing meals for the restaurant’s to-go section.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
The chicken quesadillas are cooked, sliced, and stacked into containers that will be sold along with other meal choices and beverages in Spoonriver’s deli cases for the hungry passerby. The last of the containers is added to the display just minutes before the lunch craze begins.
The Kitchen Insider series gives Heavy Table readers a peek at the personality and processes of well-known kitchens around town.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
“And…action!” exclaims Chef Scott Pampuch of Corner Table moments before the first diners arrive for their dinner reservation. Although the declaration is made in jest, the statement defines a transformation in this intimate South Minneapolis restaurant; a change from prep to service.
Long before action is formally announced, however, the kitchen is alive and busy with the lengthy prep list to be completed by the four-person kitchen team (three regular staff and one intern). There were savory tarts and sweet desserts to be baked, proteins to be portioned, and vegetables to be peeled, cleaned, diced, and sliced. But before moving forward, first the night’s music must be chosen.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
Some kitchens are quiet and others require noise. This kitchen, with four speakers that pulse with music all night, is grouped in the latter. Pampuch takes a quick poll to determine the night’s soundtrack, then decides on a station that is guaranteed to please all. Well, almost. As a song comes on that isn’t a group favorite, a quick shout is given to Chris Olson, prepping salads, who switches the station and says, “Yup, I’m on cold station tonight as well as deejay.” Music selection decided, it’s back to cooking.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
In Corner Table’s kitchen, prep takes on a whole new meaning. The menu changes monthly to reflect the seasonality of ingredients. Vegetables arrive to the restaurant, not in pre-packaged bags but as whole produce that require attention. This evening there are fava beans that need de-podding and blanching to remove them from their inner shell. Plus the beautiful French breakfast radishes need to be de-stemmed and washed, to then wait for paper-thin slicing for garnish on the salads.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
New ingredients that arrive are thoroughly discussed and sampled — tonight it’s the watercress that Pampuch and the staff taste in order to accurately describe the garnish to diners. Also in the kitchen are ingredients that you may be hard-pressed to find in some other restaurants — edible flowers (such as chive blossoms), morels, and wild ramps. Among all the fresh vegetables available, however, it’s abundantly clear that it’s asparagus season. It is bountiful in this kitchen as the go-to vegetable for many of this evening’s dishes.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
Prep lists click along, and soon places are taken as dinner service begins.
The Kitchen Insider series gives Heavy Table readers a peek at the personality and processes of well-known kitchens around town.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
Towering dishes rich in color, texture, and bold flavor are placed on the counter, ready to be finished and delivered to the awaiting diner. These minor masterpieces created by the 20.21 kitchen staff require focused concentration and a quick, steady hand. But in this open kitchen amidst the dinner rush, a quiet work environment is not an option.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
The restaurant’s noisy soundtrack is a melody of clinking glasses and dining room chatter mixed with the sounds of the kitchen — the printing of orders onto receipt tape and the frequent exclamation of “Behind!” being called out to avoid collisions. Adding to the mix, many of the staff are subbing for the regular dinner crew which creates a slight off-beat tune to the kitchen’s regular rhythm.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
Orders come in rapidly, called out by the expediter to the staff behind the counter. Corresponding ingredients are immediately pulled from the plethora of prep containers of vegetables and lowboys of raw proteins, where they sit on round dishes awaiting instructions to continue with the order. But there’s no time to stand around and wait for the word; scallops are searing on the stove and several plates need finishing before that prep dish of raw ingredients will be fired.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
The scallop pad thai dish is plated and passed to the window, where the plate’s edges will be wiped perfectly clean and the finishing garnishes will be added; in this case bean sprouts add a bit of crunch and mint, the final flourish of color and flavor. Yet another order of pot stickers comes through — a very popular item tonight — the previously prepped appetizers go directly from the lowboy into a skillet to caramelize and are finished quickly with a tangy dipping sauce and handful of greens.
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