Farm in the Market
Clockwise from top left: Sean Smuda, Kris Drake, Jana Freiband, Sean Smuda for City Pages
Purchasing, preparing, and pondering the year's best, at (clockwise from top left) Farm in the Market, Cue, Willie's Wine Bar, and Town Talk Diner
Location Info
Related Content
More About
Every time I publish a story like this one, my email account fills up with letters from those of you who cook, demanding: Why would I go out for roast chicken when I can stay in and do a better job myself? And why would you go to Paris when you can go to Bali? And why would you have a dog when you can buy a burglar alarm? I mean, I can't answer these things for you. I can tell them that finding a really good, top-quality, free-roaming, ethically fed, really fresh, never frozen chicken has been all but impossible for the home cook—until now. Last summer, Farm in the Market, a small joint venture by two family farm couples, opened in the Midtown Global Market, and now fresh, really fresh, chicken, pork, bison, eggs, dairy, and beef are available for purchase by home cooks—meaning you can cook all year round with the same quality ingredients that restaurant chefs have. Some of my most memorable meals this year were chickens and pork chops I got through Farm in the Market, and I rarely did little more than salt and cook them. Great chefs always talk about the importance of the ingredients to cooking; finally, everyday city cooks can play like the big boys do.
Farm in the Market, Midtown Global Market; 920 E. Lake St., Minneapolis, 612.870.2908; www.midtownglobalmarket.com
jP American Bistro
It was a summer night, the sun was setting, and the sky above Lyndale Avenue was a flamingo and sapphire riot, and we sipped bubbly wine while watching the oh-so Lake-and-Lyndale passers-by: the gossip boys with their little dogs, the motorcycle men on their rumbling hogs, the punk-rock girls upon their clunky clogs. It was a lovely summer night, like so many, and I remember it only because of the head-turning shock of what arrived on the plate at our outdoor table: A salmon entree of such enchanting subtleness that the whole street crowd should have paused to gather round and point. The salmon in question seemed raw, through it wasn't. It was low-temperature olive-oil poached until it was firm as custard and twice as creamy, then paired with a ripe avocado, roasted until it was black on one exposed surface and plush as clouds. The two rich, creamy things were united with a vinaigrette of preserved lemons, decorated with grass-green chive oil, and further adorned with teensy perfect cubes of marinated shallot and preserved lemon peel. Every bite captured the easy joy of summer, and it was the rare dish that could make an everyday day one whose memory I'll keep for a lifetime.
jP American Bistro, 2937 Lyndale Ave. S.; Minneapolis, 612.824.9300; www.jpamericanbistro.com
Lunch at the Dakota
It was not a great year for restaurant lunches. While I had several every week, the only ones I felt joy in were from chef Jack Riebel's all-American, incredibly creative menu at the Dakota. I went on and on in print about Riebel's craveable Cobb burger—and I meant every word. This deconstructed burger with its well-charred but very tender patty of environmentally conscientious, humanely raised beef was decorated with the best parts of a Cobb salad: creamy avocado, rich bacon, perky blue cheese. A blood orange and watercress salad was as crisp and frothy as a meadow in flower; peekytoe crab cakes were a sweet ocean song.
The Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, 612.332.1010; www.dakotacooks.com
Well, I've run out of room but see I've left out a lot here: the spicy, salted tofu at Peninsula; goulash and sausages at Kramarczuk; ice cream at Crema; the beef feast at Mai Village; the oysters at the Oceanaire; the banh-mi at Saigon and Jasmine; soup at Quang; pizza at Punch and Pizza Nea; pancakes at French Meadow; bread at Rustica; fish & chips at Brit's; any sort of cake at Patrick's Bakery; the eggplant and chicken parmigiana subs at Brianno's; the Italian subs and cannoli at Broder's Cucina; steaks at Manny's, the fries at Café Barbette, the fries, cheese gougeres, and tiny burgers at Bar Lurcat. Oh, and the Jucy Lucy at Matt's! And dim sum brunches, both at newcomer Jun Bo and old favorite Mandarin Kitchen. Sandwiches made of in-house-roasted local meats at the Linden Hills butcher shop Clancey's! It was a very, very good year.
