Heavy Table Hot Five: Nov. 13-19

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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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Liz Scholz / Heavy Table
Liz Scholz / Heavy Table

1-new - oneBlack Wolf Stout on Nitro from Able Seedhouse
It’s rare to find a newly opened brewery with a stout as full-bodied as this; usually they are too thin and too sweet, leading to an experience that is more like drinking lightly carbonated, (cold) hot cocoa. But Able Seedhouse’s Black Wolf Stout on nitro is ideal: On the dry side, but with a full creamy head, this stout has a nutty character that accents the dark chocolate and currant notes on the finish.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted by Liz Scholz]

James Norton / Heavy Table
James Norton / Heavy Table

2-new - two Puerco Pibil con Escabeche de Cebolla from Homegrown Foods
Homegrown Foods organic meal delivery is one of a few local services that will deliver ingredients and recipes to your door, entrusting you to do the cooking and assembly as your own schedule and whims might dictate. They were kind enough to drop off a few dishes for us, including a somewhat ambitious and intriguing-looking taco package featuring slow-cooked pork. The puerco pibil kit comes with a pound of pork with achiote marinade, a red onion and its pickling ingredients (including a whole habanero pepper), corn, corn tortillas, sour cream, and charmingly, the banana leaf in which the pork is roasted for four hours at 325ºF. The result of this effort is a super tender, richly flavorful roasted meat that becomes a hell of a tasty taco when combined with the sides. The habanero pickled onion provides some heat, but it’s not excessive, and everything works quite nicely as a team.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted by James Norton]

Brenda Johnson / Heavy Table
Brenda Johnson / Heavy Table

3-new - threeRoot Vegetable Hash at Moscow on the Hill
This seasonal roasted vegetable hash is more like a potato pancake in preparation and texture. Its flavor is generated mainly through good ingredients augmented by minimal seasonings. The combined flavors of squash, carrots, parsnips, and rutabagas garnished with fresh parsley was not only colorful, but delicious.
[Last Week on the Hot Five: #1 | Submitted by Brenda Johnson]

James Norton / Heavy Table
James Norton / Heavy Table

4-new fourBolognese Pasta Sauce from The Coffee Grounds in Eau Claire, Wis.
It is a crying shame that the rich, chunky, full-flavored, soulful frozen red sauce we’ve been searching for throughout the Minneapolis-St. Paul area had to turn up in 90-minutes-away Eau Claire, but them’s the breaks. The house-made Bolognese from The Coffee Grounds contains wagyu-style beef(!), farm-sourced ground pork and bacon, heavy whipping cream, and organic vegetables from Square Roots Farm — this no doubt contributes to the fact that it’s killer delicious. Next time we’re on our way back from Madison, we’re picking up more of this stuff, a lot more.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted by James Norton]

James Norton / Heavy Table
James Norton / Heavy Table

5-new -five$10 Bento Box Lunch Special at Gogi Bros. House
The glory of Korean food is the panchan (assorted side dishes, often pickled, and inevitably including kimchi), and for a mere $10 at lunchtime at the newly opened Gogi Bros. House in Eden Prairie, you get a lovely assortment. The bento meal features some terrifically tender sweet potato noodles called japchae, an assortment of other tasty bites, plus a hearty main; our Daeji Bulgogi (spicy barbecued pork) was tender and savory.
[Last Week on the Hot Five #2 | From a review by James Norton]

One Comment

  1. Apur Patel

    We’ve been customers of Homegrown Foods for over a year….as awesome as the Puerco Pibil was, its not even the best thing they’ve done last year. Highly recommended for anyone who’s interested in a home delivery meal service.

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