Heavy Table Hot Five: Dec. 15-21

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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.

shepherd-song-banner-ad-horiz-3The Hot Five is a weekly feature created by the Heavy Table and supported by Shepherd Song Farm.

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James Norton / Heavy Table

1-new - one - hot fiveSambusa from Ibrahim Restaurant
We liked so much about our trip to Ibrahim Restaurant on Lake Street that it’s hard to condense it down to a single experience. The hot sauce alone is worth a column. But we can at least start with the sambusa: a perfect filling-to-crust ratio, a crunchy-yet-chewy exterior, a diverse and deeply spiced filling (spicy but not excessively so). It may be the best in town. At the very least, it’s our favorite.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted from an Instagram post by James Norton]

Via JACS Pho Facebook page

2-new - two - hot fivePho from JACS Pho
JACS makes a sweet, rich and elegantly clear broth — one of our favorites in town — then concentrates, vacuum seals, and freezes it for delivery along with individual packets of noodles, meat, and herbs. Now your freezer is stocked with some genuine Minnesota-Southeast Asian hygge. (Everything about JACS Pho is both ersatz and friendly: Orders and payments are handled by text and Facebook messenger. Then a friendly owner shows up to hand you a tidily packed paper bag at a mutually agreed upon time.)
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted by Tricia Cornell]

James Norton / Heavy Table

3-new - three hot fivePorchetta bagel at Rise Bagels
The pork in this remarkable bagel sandwich is incredibly tender and gently fennel-flavored, the flavored cream cheese brings a wonderful garlic note to the dish, and the tomato and arugula were nice accents without overwhelming the dish as a whole. One of the best sandwiches in town right now.
[Last Week on the Hot Five: #1 | Submitted from an Instagram post by James Norton]

James Norton / Heavy Table

4-new four hot fiveRaspberry Roselle from Fair State Brewing
Fair State has been crushing it this year, and the Raspberry Roselle is a lovely note to go out on. This (lightly) sour ale is flavored with raspberries, which imparts a mildly tart, earthy, berry-powered flavor. The sweetness on this brew is ideal, neither painfully tart nor irritatingly sugary. It’s just delicate, tasteful, and elegant.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted from a review by James Norton]

James Norton / Heavy Table

5-new -fiveRush Creek Reserve from Uplands Cheese
Every year, Uplands Cheese rolls out its pricey ($25+) little wheels of Rush Creek Reserve, a raw milk cheese aged for 60 days. And every year, we go out and buy a wheel or two because there’s just nothing else like it — so creamy, so rich, so delicately earthy. It’s a flavor bomb, and it’s beautiful when spread on a Rustica baguette.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted from an Instagram post by James Norton]