Each Friday, this list will track five of the best things Heavy Table’s writers, editors, and photographers have recently bitten or sipped. Have a suggestion for the Hot Five? Email editor@heavytable.com.
Sweet Corn
If you have not yet partaken of this year’s particularly awesome sweet corn crop, get thee to the grocery store, farmers market, or roadside stand! It’s so crisp, succulent, and milky sweet that we’ve been mowing down whole ears of the stuff raw and cutting it into our salads, both fruit and vegetable. We’ve infused our ice cream with the cobs and stirred the kernels into polenta (add them just before you take the mush off the heat). And we’ve had some good arguments about how to barbecue it — some folks like to char it, I like it wrapped in the husk, so that it steams. However you eat it, sweet corn like this is the best of summer, and as August slips away, it feels like there could never be enough of it.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted by Susan Pagani]
Pizza Night at Chef Shack Bay City
Pizza night at the Bay City location of Chef Shack starts at 5 p.m. every Friday. Each pizza has its own shape; the ingredients are added in a crafty way that makes the pizza look homemade. The restaurant’s backyard is relaxing and cozy, and the joy of watching the pizza being prepared right before your eyes (using produce such as cherry tomatoes grabbed straight from the garden) justifies the drive down.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted by Isabel Subtil]
One Five Five from Schell’s
Schell’s anniversary beer, One Five Five, drinks with the body of an ale but the crispness of a lager. It has a strong malt beginning but a pleasantly bitter finish. A perfect celebration of 155 years of German brewing.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted by Paige Latham]
Ogaawag (Walleye) Taco from the Tatanka Truck
Anyone who doubts that we’re living in a food renaissance should swing by the new Tatanka Truck, which is slinging modern takes on Precolonial native cuisine. We tried and greatly enjoyed the earthy, layered flavor of a sumac-seared Red Lake walleye fillet served on a native corn and bean bread with wojapi (a tart berry sauce).
[Last Week on the Hot Five: #4 | From an Instagram post by James Norton]
Seared Scallops at 4Bells
Three large seared scallops sit atop a thin sweet-corn cake, topped with bacon, corn, and a maple jus. Alluding to Southern cooking while putting a new spin on classic weekend morning pancakes, this entree at 4Bells is the chicken and waffles of the sea and every bit as complicated.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted by Liz Scholz]