10. ANYTHING-POACHED ANYTHINGLevain under Stewart Woodman
Bill Kelley
A winning "mouth amusement": Auriga's steak tartare
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I thought about skipping the Stewart Woodman-era dishes from Levain, purely out of self-interest. What if some reader decided to throw a brick through my window for bringing up treats that are no longer on the market? And wouldn't that act be, in fact, well justified? Yes. Yet Woodman plans a new restaurant sometime in the next year, so hold tight to your bricks, and your pennies, in hopes that you might encounter something like the butter-poached lobster or cream-poached pheasant sometime in 2005, both of which I tried last winter at Levain. Quoth me, on the lobster: "paired with cèpes and black trumpet mushrooms is a concoction of such expansive, ghostly subtlety that you feel that it might start to fog up and float from the plate as notes of the sweet sea and forest earth whisper to each other through the nutty pools of browned butter." Ooh, I remember that one. Meanwhile, each bite of the pheasant was like eating a meadow made with cream.
So that was then, but what about now? I talked to Woodman last week, and things are barreling ahead with plans to turn the old police precinct on Bryant between 29th and Lake into a multilevel destination space with a bar on one level--a bar for grown-ups, like the Whiskey Bar in New York--and a fine-dining restaurant and bistro on another. It will be called Five, because that's what the cops called the place back in the day. Five. It just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? I tell ya, the future's so bright, we gotta wear shades.
11. THE AL PASTORTaqueria La Hacienda
If Mae West had become a Zen monk, that would be the rough trajectory that could best describe the al pastor barbecued pork at Taqueria La Hacienda. Unspeakably voluptuous, awe-inspiringly refined. The second you walk in the door to this tangerine-tinted taqueria, you notice the spit of slowly turning al pastor: teensy little scraps of pork, tossed with spice, topped with a fresh pineapple, and built into a cone about the size of Joe Piscopo. It spins and spins, basting itself in fat and spice, becoming as rich and spicy as a week in Oaxaca, but much closer to the Lake Street K-Mart. Get the al pastor as a taco, for a buck fifty, and you will experience the sweet and spice, accented with fresh cilantro and crisp onion--fireworks on the tongue. Order the al pastor "alambres," griddle-fried with bacon, bell peppers, and cheese, served with tortillas, rice, and beans, and you may feel that your work on the earth is complete. (Taqueria La Hacienda, 211 E. Lake St., Minneapolis, 612.822.2715.)
12. SQUASH SALADThe Modern Café
Phillip Becht was the longtime sideman of Steven Brown, of Loring, Rockstar, and now Levain fame, but since Becht took over the kitchen at the Modern last winter he has slowly been unspooling evidence of his own talents, within the resolutely uncomplicated home-cooking idiom that the Modern is famous for. For instance, last winter he was serving a brilliant squash salad--a fan of roasted squash pieces, crowned by bits of Austrian speck ham and then surrounded by a tangy cream dressing which was in turn crowned by a tangled halo of resilient sunflower sprouts. It was genius because of the contrasting flavors of roasty squash and salty ham, creamy dressing and green sprouts. It had every component of a perfectly balanced dish; it was both bold and confident and simple and likable. With this one dish, Becht announced himself as one to watch in 2005. (Modern Café, 337 13th Ave. NE, Minneapolis, 612.378.9882.)
13. ICE-CREAM PIECrema Café
Like most humans, when I walk into Crema (home of Sonny's ice cream), I become instantly obsessed with the tubs of just-made ice cream and sorbet. What about the rosy raspberry ice cream with chocolate chips? What about the deep, dark apple cider sorbet? One time last year, though, I went in and bypassed the case in favor of a slice of the plain-looking, chocolate-coated Crema pie hiding off to one side. I may never recover: Coating the organic cream, tiny-batch, handmade ice cream in chocolate ganache just seems to compress and intensify the cafe latte ice-cream flavor in the most profound way. This ice-cream pie is essentially the confit form of ice cream.
Additionally, they've recently opened for lunch. I had a lovely croque monsieur there last week, and a cup of squash-and-pear soup that was not at all sweet, but complex, earthy, and just as good as any from one of those fancy downtown restaurants. In January, this little charmer even plans to start serving dinner! I mean, what I'm trying to tell you is, finally, a place to take your friends for their birthday lunches that isn't at all expensive, but where you can treat them to some of the best Minnesota has ever had to offer. (Crema Café; 3403 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612.824.3868.)
