If you don’t yet have tickets to this weekend’s North Coast Nosh at the Soap Factory, get ’em while they’re hot — we’ve got one of the most exciting purveyor lineups in the event’s history. Here are some of the food and drink artisans joining us for the first time:
We profiled Phillips Distilling on the Heavy Table and talked up their deep local roots and flavored spirits innovations. We’re delighted to have them appear at the Nosh and Pre-Nosh on Saturday. Maja Ingeman wrote:
The company sources flavorings from all over the world (the mint for the schnapps originates in the northwestern US) and they continue to use cane and beet sugar — including sugar from the Red River Valley — instead of their competitors’ choices of artificial flavorings and corn syrup.
We profiled Meadowlands Chocolate Company in February, and we’re excited to have them at both the Nosh and our Pre-Nosh event. John Garland wrote:
Based in Meadowlands, MN, it’s the brainchild of Clyo Howard and Beryl Wells Hamilton, two artists with a penchant for hand-crafted products. They’re one of about 40 operations in the US that produce bean-to-bar, and the only one in Minnesota.
“Even our first attempts at this were almost dreamlike, they were so good,” says Howard, who began production last July. “But what could we do to improve it? Let the cacao bean do its thing.” They source whole beans from specific operations in Nicaragua, Belize, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela, then roast, winnow, grind, conche, temper, and set the chocolate into single-origin bars.
The haute dog team of Prairie Dogs has been popping up at restaurants throughout the area over the past year, and we’re pleased to have them presenting at our Pre-Nosh and sampling at our main event. Tricia Cornell wrote:
[Prairie Dogs co-founder Tobie] Nidetz is a native Chicagoan for whom a good hot dog is like mother’s milk. He fell in love with the world-famous Hot Doug’s five or six years ago and has been noodling on opening a dog-only place locally ever since, all the while keeping himself busy opening restaurants for other people. For now, Nidetz is on the prowl for a location — somewhere dense and young enough to keep a delivery service hopping and fill tables at lunch and dinner and well into the night.
We’ve been fans of the old-school made new-again Schell’s for a while now — their standard line of brews are rightfully regarded as classics, and their editions (such as their Noble Star Collection) are making waves. About their Framboise du Nord, we wrote:
Framboise du Nord is, in a nutshell, a 70-barrel batch of Star of the North Berliner Weisse plus 5,000 pounds of raspberries plus four months of aging time. The use of natural fruit (as opposed to flavored syrup) means that there actually isn’t much sweetness to this beer; where, for example, a New Glarus Raspberry Tart breaks a bit sweet on the finish, Framboise du Nord breaks resolutely sour. The raspberry flavor is pronounced but not loud or bullying, and it’s clean and natural with just a bit of funk to add depth to the dry, yeasty, cloudy base profile.
Just Add Beer Bread is a product aimed squarely at those who love both local brew and fresh baked bread. We wrote:
Just Add Beer Bread mix promises to be dead simple: just pour the mix in a bowl, pour a beer into the mix, agitate with a fork, plop onto a greased pan, and bake. In practice, it’s actually that easy, a pleasant surprise for this once-burned, twice-shy not-as-easy-as-they-look mix reviewer. We sacrificed one of our Frost Lines on the altar of breadmaking.
The loaf that resulted was quite tasty: rustic and dense with bit of hoppy flavor and a crusty exterior that was substantial but yielding. Warm, it took very nicely to a schmear of butter and a drizzle of local honey, which is how we’ve been enjoying it in the days since its creation.
We’re pleased to have both the Red Stag Supper Club and Kyatchi sampling at this Nosh. Our review of Kyatchi notes:
A single piece of snapper nigiri ($4) was one of the best bites of sushi we’ve had in quite some time (anywhere, really). It tasted clean, subtle, and bright, and it was so small and light that it passed from plate to stomach like a puff of fresh air. Based on this soaring high point (and a similarly tasty but more conventional salmon nigiri), we’ll make a point of ordering the daily nigiri from here on out.
Also joining us for the first time at this Nosh will be Sociable Cider Werks, Sweet Jules Caramels, and Philia Foods — we hope that you’ll join us, too.
The North Coast Nosh: Saturday, May 3 at the Soap Factory from 5-8pm, with a Pre-Nosh from 3:30-5pm. Tickets available here.