Sobering Thoughts - Foodservice News

Transcription

AN Entrée’s ENCORE
Pastries, cheese, coffee and
specialty drinks come first at our
Selling Desserts show.
Increasingly Elevated
Food is the rising star in the
Twin Cities, writes our Common
Foodsense columnist, and
diners are finally ready
to explore.
FOODSERVICENEWS
The News and Information Source for Restaurants and the Foodservice Industry
Volume 25• Issue 3
April 2014
www.foodservicenews.net
Sobering
Thoughts
Marvel’s
Magicians
Bar None
Non-alcoholic cocktails enhance
bar programs and give guests
inventive options
By Laura Michaels
T
he “it” factor. That elusive
yet undeniable thing that makes
an experience remarkable.
Whatever it is, Marvel Bar has it. But
even its creator isn’t quite sure what
makes Marvel such a marvel.
“There’s just something, like, magical.
Which is what I’ve always tried to do,”
says Pip Hanson, the man behind the
basement speakeasy-style bar below
The Bachelor Farmer in Minneapolis’s
North Loop. “It’s something magical
that you can’t quite put your finger on.”
Maybe it’s the mismatched furniture:
purple wingback chairs, a red-and-navystriped love seat, the quilted leather
sofa. Or the patchwork of Spanish
cement-encaustic tiles covering the
floor. And let’s not forget the pink and
blue cloud wallpaper.
But most likely it’s the drink list, a
selection of curated classic libations and
original cocktails created by Hanson
with the utmost precision and skill
gleaned from his time working with
Johnny Michaels at the Dakota and La
Belle Vie, and from Kazuo Uyeda, the
renowned Japanese bartender Hanson
learned from while living in Tokyo.
“We really take them seriously,”
Hanson says of the classics such as the
King’s Valley and Arsenic and Old Lace.
“I don’t think a recipe I could ever create
would beat a gimlet.”
That’s not to say he doesn’t try. Take
the Superdry, introduced by Hanson
last month after close to a year in
development. This “dry” cocktail
doesn’t use sugar or sweeteners,
but instead relies on vinegars, salts
By Laura Michaels
C
ocktails are having their
heyday. House-made bitters,
herb-infused simple syrups, egg
white emulsions—all have become part
of a bartender’s repertoire and imbibing
guests are loving it.
But what about people who don’t
drink alcohol? An offering of sodas,
teas and coffees is adequate, but more
restaurants are beginning to see the
value of adding non-alcoholic cocktails—
complex, thoughtfully composed, multiingredient drinks—to their beverage
programs. Not only is it respectful to
guests, it acts as a high-margin add-on to
boost check averages and opens up the
drink menu to potential customers who’ll
Lead bartender Peder
Schweigert pours one of
Marvel Bar’s classics, the
King’s Valley.
and acids, specifically dry vermouth,
honkaku shochu (a spirit made by single
distillation), Himalayan sea salt, chiveand thyme-infused rice vinegar, lime
juice and seltzer.
“I really think the next thing will
be drinks that don’t have any sugar,
or at least a lot less,” says Hanson.
Believe him: Hanson tends to be a solid
predictor of what works. His Oliveto,
that emulsified, sour cocktail, has
appeared on a handful of bar menus
around the country.
Though he won’t be specific about
what he’s working on next, Hanson is
intrigued by tea wines and is playing
around with his own fermenting
techniques that could eventually make
Sobering Thoughts | page 8
From a Nearby Galaxy
Marvel Bar | page 14
Find Galactic Pizza on Lyndale Avenue in Uptown and maybe you’ll
catch one of their superheroes snoozing (top of page).
By Joey Hamburger
Y
ou’ve just graduated from
college. You’re sitting in your
parents’ basement. You’re
wearing 3D glasses made out of
cardboard. Everyone is telling you to
get a job or at least like the one you
have and hate. You just want to save
the world. The doorbell rings; you
answer. It’s a superhero, here to save
the day—and deliver your pizza. Enter
Galactic Pizza: Saving the planet one
pizza at a time.
Galactic Pizza | page 13
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Minneapolis, MN 55418
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Foodservice News • April 2014
FOODSERVICENEWS
April 2014, Volume 25 Issue 3
Managing Editor
Nancy Weingartner
nancyw@foodservicenews.net
from the editor
Prose and Cons of Menu Writing
There’s more to walks than walking; and how to tell your food’s story
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Managing Editor
A
s a strong believer in pairing
pain with pleasure, I’ve discovered the secret to exercising
when it’s still cold out. It helps that I now
live in the North Loop, which is the new
“it” spot for fashionable shopping and
trendy restaurants.
One weekend I walked just far enough
to discover a great new boutique with
European fashions. The shop owner,
Pamela Pappas Stanoch, also does
international consulting, a service I can
tap into for my other day job writing for
Franchise Times magazine. The store was
closing at 4 p.m., so I had to run back to
my loft to get my credit card in order
to buy something that day. Shopping is
about the only thing that will make me
run.
But an even better way to put a hop
in my step when there’s still ice on the
sidewalks is to go bar hopping.
A friend and I recently walked 30
minutes to The Freehouse, where we
had a glass of wine and checked out
the decor. It was his first visit and my
third. We then stopped at the new Dunn
Bros on Washington Avenue for a cup
of coffee. (We really only needed to use
the restroom, but my friend believes
one should pay for the right to use the
facilities—especially since not every
restaurant is flush with cash.) After 15
more minutes of walking, we ended up
at Toast Wine Bar, which is the Cheers of
my neighborhood, for one more glass of
wine and a chat with one of the owners.
We then headed back to my house and
cooked dinner.
Unfortunately when the weather
becomes warmer, I will head to the
pathway along the Mississippi River for
non-incentivized walking. But that’s OK,
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too, because then I will have burned
enough calories to visit the restaurants
for dinner, not just a drink.
The prose of menus
In researching the subject of menuwriting for a presentation at our March
dessert conference (see coverage on page
9), I came across information on the art of
composing menu copy.
Mostly it was just examples of what
not to do. But what struck me about
the advice I did uncover is the general
consensus seems to be a menu’s job is not
just to let guests know what the kitchen
is prepared to make and how much
they will have to pay for it—although
menus definitely should do that—but to
seduce people into ordering more than
an entrée or to try something out of their
comfort zone. In other words, a menu is a
subliminal selling tool.
And if you’re not using your menu to
win friends and influence diners, you’re
leaving money on the table—and we’re
not talking servers’ tips here. That’s the
kind of money you want left on the table,
and hopefully a lot of it, since it represents
a percentage of your take.
Desserts, as more of an impulse buy,
can’t just rely on their name to sell.
For instance, “apple pie” needs some
adjectives as well as a scoop of ice cream
or piece of cheddar cheese.
Fortunately, I had two experts on my
panel at the show to fill in the gaps:
Tim Alevizos of Intercom Agency,
a local marketing firm that does work
with restaurant chains such as Parasole,
and J.D. Fratzke, co-owner of the Strip
Club Meat & Fish and a graduate of the
Parasole school of cheffing.
Fratzke offered both the practical and
the poetic. Chefs, he said, need to tell
servers what is behind the food they’re
about to push. The inspiration for the dish,
the source of the ingredients, even some
of the techniques that go into making it
are all selling tools. A server who doesn’t
understand what’s on the plate will be
hard-pressed to make it leap off of it and
tickle the customer’s taste buds.
Alevizos had some concrete examples
to share, but perhaps his most alluring tip
was his caveat: “Exciting language can’t
rescue a boring dessert.”
So let’s assume you have an exciting
menu item, you just need some help
making it sound exciting. Here are some
of Alevizos’s ways to make that happen:
• Pedigree your ingredients: Call
your apple crisp an Organic Granny
Smith Apple Crisp; or a StickyToffee
Pudding with Lyle’s Golden Syrup.
• Vary your ingredients: Serve lemon
pie with a brown sugar meringue or
do a Rice Pudding Cannoli.
• Garner interest by varying
techniques: “Roasted” pineapple
garnish, “wood-oven toasted” and
so on.
• Play with retro: A Duncan Hines
Chocolate Layer Cake or a Cracker
Jack Sundae with popcorn ice cream.
• Make desserts that evoke other
foods: A homemade chocolate
peanut butter cup, á la Reese’s, or
take a lead from the Burger Bar in
Las Vegas, which features burgerlike desserts, such as the Chocolate
Burger, a “warm doughnut with
chocolate ganache, passion fruit and
strawberry mint.”
• Look to supermarket foods: “Barton
G in Miami serves a ‘Homemade
Pop Tart.’ Not only that, they bring
a toaster to the table, and you heat
it yourself.”
The tips may be for desserts, but they
can be applied to sides, sandwiches and
entrées, as well.
This issue isn’t just desserts. Reporter
Joey Hamburger shows off his nonverbal
skills in describing how the best-dressed
burgers should look and Assistant Editor
Laura Michaels has provided a wealth
of words on a variety of subjects from
local beer and wine production to the
surprisingly creative world of mocktail
making.
We’re not suggesting a walk on the wild
side, just some suggestions on how to
make the sale—again and again.
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April 2014 • Foodservice News
3
server
speak
Chefs and bartenders profile the perfect server—
and one thing they should never do.
5
Danielle
McFarland
1 Christing Tzanakis and
Tom Hutsell
Years in the industry: 10, 28
Position: Server, Owner
The Bit 10 Restaurant & Bar
Hopkins
Tom: I try to make it so my servers have
as little exposure to the kitchen people
as possible. We all get along better
that way—the less face time they have
with the back of the house, the better.
I encourage all servers to communicate
to the kitchen through the POS system
whenever possible. Communicate
with a manager about a problem or
an expeditor; never talk directly to the
line—it’s distracting.
Casey Weisman
Years in the industry: 17
Position: Cook
Streetz American Grill
Hopkins
Servers should always know the menu
through and through. If they don’t, there
are three things my dad taught me to say
if a server doesn’t know the answer to
a menu question: 1) I’m not sure. 2) Let
me find out. 3) Let me get back to you.
Saying any of these things can be used
instead of making false promises to people. But, thankfully, we don’t have to deal
with servers here at all.
6
Ben Eidem
Position: Bartender
Mainstreet Bar & Grill
Hopkins
Phil Jurgensen, a cook at Stadium Pizza in
Minneapolis, tells the history behind his tat:
“Me and five other friends have this tattoo.
We’ve been friends since 14. We always hung out
growing up ... had girlfriends who were friends
and we played sports together. Years ago, I got
this idea to draw a tattoo with all of our initials.
I did some research and found that a six-leaved
rosette is symbolic for strength in friendship. It’s
taken about five to six years for everyone to get
the tattoo, but we all have it somewhere on our
bodies now. The tattoo is permanent, like our
friendship.”
1
A server should always smile no matter
what … If you can’t fake it—wait, wait—
we can always fake it if we’ve been in a
relationship. And never, ever pick food
off a plate when it’s in a window.
2
Patrick Anderson
Position: Bartender/Supervisor
Wild Boar Bar & Grill
Hopkins
2
Oh, if I could make up a perfect
server he/she would have to be from the
Midwest region because we’re some of
the hardest working people. I’ve worked
with people from the ages of 15 to 60,
and age doesn’t matter as long as they’re
personable. One thing a server should
never do is curse—just be professional.
3
4
3
Chris Oxley
Position: Chef
BLVD Kitchen & Bar
Minnetonka
A good server deals with his or her
mistakes up front and honestly—that is
always best for the front of the house
and the back of the house. And a server
should never lie … just never lie.
4
Aaron
Position: Bartender
Bunker’s Music Bar & Grill
Minneapolis
Here we use a call system when servers order drinks for their tables. My favorite server calls drinks in uniform with the
way I make them...draft beer first and so
on...What doesn’t work for me is when
servers say things too long, for instance,
“Budweiser,” “please,” and “thank you.” I
don’t have time for please and thank you.
Or “Stella draft.” The only Stella we have
is on draft. Here’s a big one for servers
never to do: Don’t poach patrons from
the bar if they’re waiting to get a drink
from me.
4
5
6
Beer & Wine Bonanza
Minnesota is in on the craft beer boom in a big way, and the state’s wineries are also making
a name for themselves. Here’s a look at some of the numbers:
5616
Number of Minnesota breweries
Number of Minnesota brewpubs
Between 2011 and 2012 Minnesota saw an 81% jump in the number of breweries—the second-fastest increase of any state in
the US, according to the American Brewers Association. It’s no coincidence that the so-called Surly bill was passed in 2011.
It allowed local brewers to open taprooms and serve their beers on site.
$741.85 MILLION
Estimated economic impact of craft beer industry in Minnesota
PLUS
$257 MILLION in wages and nearly 8,000 jobs
Compared to
$4.7 BILLION in California
$2.3 BILLION in Texas
$1.6 BILLION in Colorado
*Source: Brewers Association report
Wine & Spirits
$3 BILLION
Estimated economic impact of wine and spirits industry in Minnesota
*Source: Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America
67
Number of Minnesota wineries and vineyards
Growth Potential
• Annual Minnesota wine production is estimated to grow to 150,000 gallons by 2014
• Minnesota Farm Wineries are projected to produce more than $11.25 million of wine per year by 2014
• The Minnesota wine industry is growing at a rate of 28% annually
*Source: Minnesota Grape Growers Association
5
around the Twin Cities
Chefs making moves, Hockenbergs expands
Parasole’s Mozza Mia welcomed
Corinne Sherbert DeCamp as its new
executive chef earlier this spring. DeCamp
spent 10 years as a retail manager before
starting culinary school in 2004. From
there she interned at Solera and later
joined Tim McKee at La Belle Vie as
assistant pastry chef. She later moved
to 20.21 restaurant at the Walker Art
Center as Wolfgang Puck’s executive
pastry chef—and executive sous chef
and catering chef. A sous chef position
at Chino Latino and a general manager
job at Icehouse were next before McKee
offered DeCamp the top spot at Mozza
Mia.
Stephen Jones is the new head chef at
Salut Edina after being promoted from
sous chef following
former
chef
Christopher “CJ”
Van
Proosdy’s
departure. Jones
first
joined
Parasole, which
owns Salut, in 2008
when he was the
executive chef at the company’s Good
Earth restaurant. Jones brings experience
in pan-Asian and French cuisine.
Sam Valesano is the new pastry chef
at Sea Change following Niki Francioli’s
departure to head
up
Brasserie
Zentral, Russell
Klein’s new project.
Valesano worked
under Francioli and
before that was a
pastry assistant to
Sea Change chef
de cuisine Jamie
Malone when the two opened Cocina
del Barrio in Edina. Valesano’s prior
travels took her to New Zealand, Chile,
Argentina, Russia, Mongolia, China, Tibet,
Nepal, India and South East Asia and
Antarctica—where she spent six months
managing a bakery.
Surly Brewing Co. won the ACG Bold
Award in the small corporate category
and was also named the Boldest of the
Bold. The Brooklyn Center beer company
was recognized by ACG Minnesota, part
of the Association for Corporate Growth,
for its imaginative, innovative and
extraordinary efforts. St. Paul’s Baldinger
Bakery won in the middle market
corporate category and Hormel Foods
won in the large corporate category.
Surly CEO Omar Ansari and wife
Rebecca Sheldon Ansari with
their Bold awards.
sponsored by
coffee Talk
Chowgirls Killer Catering owners
Heidi Andermack and Amy Lynn
Brown are celebrating 10 years in
business. The duo hosted an anniversary
party at Aria on March 12, the exact
anniversary of their first catering event
in 2004.
Hola Arepa food truck co-owners
Christina Nguyen and Birk Grudem
announced the location of their brickand-mortar restaurant: 3501 Nicollet
Ave., Minneapolis, in the old El Paraiso
spot across from Pat’s Tap. The pair will
serve arepas, plus some small plates,
Foodservice equipment and supply
company Hockenbergs expanded its
Minnesota presence earlier this year with
the acquisition of Grand Restaurant
Equipment and Design in Plymouth.
Jeff Witt, regional vice president and
branch manager of Hockenbergs’
Twin Cities location, said the purchase
compliments the company’s existing
offerings and folds in Grand’s multiunit chain account focus, along with its
extensive design services. Grand, which
has $12 million in annual sales, will gain
access to Hockenbergs’ buying group
and its 12 employees will continue
working out of Grand’s Plymouth
office. Witt said Hockenbergs, which is
based in Omaha, continually evaluates
opportunities for growth and last year
opened a Hockenbergs Hospitality
division in Austin, Texas, and an office
in Atlanta.
salads and desserts, and have a full
cocktail program. They’re planning for a
late April/early May opening.
Louie’s Wine Dive found a home in
Minneapolis and will open in May at
800 W. Lake St. A wine bar making food
from scratch, Louie’s menu will have
items such as lobster poutine and pork
gnocchi made with pork sausages from
La Quercia meats in Iowa. Louie’s has
additional locally owned wine bars in
Des Moines, Kansas City and Omaha
The owners of St. Paul’s East Side Thai,
Elle Kunsawat Lee and husband Kou
Lee, are opening a second restaurant, this
one called Drunken Sake. It’ll move into
the former location of True Thai at 26th
and Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis and
offer both authentic Thai cuisine and fresh
sushi. The projected opening is in April.
Brian Prose and Paul Swenson have
sold longtime Lake Minnetonka restaurant
Sunsets Wayzata to restaurateur Dean
Vlahos. Vlahos, founder of Champps
Americana and Redstone American
Grill, is reportedly planning a new
concept to open later this spring, the
details of which
are still in the
works.
Restaurant
consultant Tobie Nidetz is involved in
the search for a chef for the new venture.
Richard Inthisone is the new owner
of Fuji-Ya Japanese restaurant following
its sale by Tom and Carole Hanson for
$1.5 million. The deal includes the Fuji-Ya
building at 600 W. Lake St. in Minneapolis
and the operations of the St. Paul Fuji-Ya
(that location is leased). Inthisone plans to
reopen the restaurants.
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6
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7
Sobering Thoughts | from page 1
Photos by Laura Michaels
Non-alcoholic sno cones
in the Torpedo Room at
Eat Street Social.
Bartender Kris Gigstad pours a Merry Widow from the soda fountain station
at Eat Street Social.
Marco Zappia adds orange blossom water to the
Nectar, one of the non-alcoholic sodas at Eat Street.
8
happily spend $4 or $5 for a booze-free,
yet adult-appealing drink.
Eat Street Social’s non-alcoholic
soda fountain drinks are far from an
afterthought. Nick Kosevich and Marco
Zappia became obsessed with the soda
jerk while they were designing the bar
program and gave just as much attention
to their NA options as those made with
rum, vodka or whiskey.
“Non-alcoholic drink programs have
kind of taken a back seat … but you think
of the soda jerk, he was the man,” said
Zappia, Eat Street bar manager. “Back
then they were putting cocaine and
lithium in their drinks …we don’t do that
of course.”
Eat Street does use ingredients such
as orange blossom water, house-made
cranberry ginger syrup and specialty
bitters from Kosevich’s own Bittercube
line to create inventive sodas with names
like Gun Powder Fizz and The Wagon. The
guys even had special water lines installed
to carbonate their own water because, as
Zappia put it, “more carbonation, more
bubbles means more aromas and more
flavors.”
The menu is always evolving, Zappia
said, and servers and bartenders push
the house-made ingredients, no artificial
sweeteners angel when selling customers
on the $5 sodas. Over in the Torpedo
Room—Eat Street’s tiki-style barroom—
sno cones are another selling point.
These can be made with ($4) or without
($3) alcohol and are yet another way of
diversifying the bar’s menu.
Bartender Blue J. Ballard said he
makes about 15 sno cones per night on
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with
ingredients like vanilla orange syrup for
the Deamscicle and that orange blossom
water for the Nectar.
“Obviously we sell more cocktails than
we do sodas,” said Zappia, but the benefits
of having the non-alcoholic offerings are
many. “We’re also a family restaurant, so
the kids have fun options. It’s one of those
things where it’s just important to us. We
want everyone to have options.”
The team at Pat’s Tap in south
Minneapolis has that same mindset.
General manager Alex Jacoby said
the restaurant’s “Mocktails” menu was
inspired by owner Kim Bartmann, who he
said likes to be all-inclusive.
“She wants everyone to feel welcome,”
explained Jacoby. “She didn’t want the
menu to leave anyone out.”
Lead bartender Mike Nicolosi, who
learned from Eat Street’s Kosevich, said
a non-alcoholic drink menu shouldn’t
be a mere consolation but something
“unique and esoteric for people who want
something without alcohol.” That means
drinks such as the Pear Shrub, with pear
puree, balsamic vinegar, club soda and
sage, or the Virgin & Tonic with homemade
light syrup of herbs and botanicals similar
to those found in gin.
And because most of the ingredients
are made in-house, Nicolosi said the
mocktails are pretty cheap to make and
sell for $5. They’re listed on the cocktail
menu alongside Pat’s coffees, teas and
sodas ($2-$5), which Jacoby said was done
deliberately to “catch all those eyes.”
“People looking for cocktails see them,
people looking at tea see them,” he said.
Café Maude lead bartender Elliot
Manthey said it’s worth it for restaurants to
think about their younger customers when
crafting a non-alcoholic menu.
“Children are kind of an afterthought
in a lot of restaurants,” he said. “But I
think about it as more impressions. If I can
get the kids to tell their parents about it,
they’re more likely to come back.”
So it is no coincidence Café Maude has
the Rubber Ducky on its non-alcoholic
refreshments menu. The blue raspberry
lemonade is topped with a yellow
marshmallow Peep and is priced at $4. Like
Nicolosi, Manthey said the NA beverages
are less expensive to make and are worth
having on the menu to give all customers—
not just the kids—more options.
The Merry Widow, Nectar and Horehound sodas.
Dessert
Photos by Joe Veen
show
A Snapshot of Selling
Foodservice News’ second annual Selling Desserts show
delivered a day of samples, seminars and selling. Here are
some of the noncaloric takeaways:
“The guy who came up with the
term ‘pan-seared’ is a genius. It’s just
another way of saying ‘fried.’ How
many ways can you say crispy?” —
Tim Alevizos, Intercom Agency, during
Once Upon A Time: Telling Your
Desserts’ Story
J.D. Fratzke (left) and Tim Alevizos agree describing desserts on a menu can
handle whimsy and fun images.
Ann Lovcik of Center Point Energy.
Bill Norton Sr. of Street Vision
Foods with samples of Eli’s
Cheesecake.
“The amazing thing about our
community is that we like to support
local (producers).” —Mixologist Jeff
Rogers of Southern Wine and Spirits
Mixologist Jeff Rogers of Southern Wine
and Spirits and noted Twin Cities barman
Johnny Michaels talk after-dinner drinks
during the Liquid Desserts panel.
“If you are going to do honey or
sweet jam (on a cheese plate). Don’t
pair it with a too-sweet wine or it will
make the wine taste acidic.” — Nan
Bailly, Alexis Bailly Vineyard, The
Dynamic Duo: Cheese & Wine
Peace Coffee’s Justin Mannhardt (left)
and Kyle Feldman share samples of their
latest brew.
Chankaska
Wines’
Erica
Bergmann (left) is all smiles
with Upper Midwest Gourmet’s
Bethany Johnson during the
show.
On why more servers don’t
recommend after-dinner drinks:
“Servers can be greedy and they
want to get people out and a new
table in.” —Johnny Michaels,
consultant and legendary Twin
Cities bartender on Liquid Desserts
Show sponsor Restaurant Depot displays its many product offerings
during Selling Desserts.
“I try to make the food evocative of a place…a way to make people think, ‘this
is what Provence probably tastes like.’” —J.D. Fratzke, The Strip Club Meat & Fish
JD Bell (left) and James Castor work
the booth for Selling Desserts sponsor
Hockenbergs.
For more photos, visit
SellingDesserts.com.
9
St. Paul news
East Metro Update
Sunrise Market opens retail space, longtime restaurants celebrate anniversaries, another closes
By Jane McClure
S
unrise Market brought a
little bit of the Iron Range to St.
Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood—
and if grand opening weekend crowds
were any indication last month, the retail
market and its new commercial kitchen
have a bright future. Shoppers jammed
the retail space at 865 Pierce Butler Route
to sample an array of breads, desserts and
hot entrées, and to stock up on fresh and
frozen goods.
While transplanted Iron Rangers
appreciate the dishes from home that
they can buy at Sunrise Market’s retail
outlet and the St. Paul Farmers Market,
Sunrise Market owner Tom Forti is
working to meet another need. This
spring he’s rolling out a line of glutenfree pasta. Forti worked extensively with
a food scientist to develop his products.
He expects the pasta to be a strong seller.
“Every five minutes, when I have been
selling at the farmers market, I get asked
if we have gluten-free pasta,” Forti said.
“There is such a strong demand for
gluten-free products.”
Forti will soon open a 3,000-squarefoot cooperative commercial kitchen at
the St. Paul location. Half of the kitchen
10
space will be dedicated to making glutenfree pasta. The space will be also be used
by five other people making their own
food items for sale. The space can also
be used as an event kitchen for cooking
classes and other gatherings.
In an industrial district, Forti said the
Pierce Butler Route space is ideal for
his business. “I’d wanted a small retail
space for sale of our products and other
unique regional products, along with the
commercial kitchen,” he said. “Our goal
is to sell unique, quality products and
help others who make food with their
distribution.”
Forti is also a partner in Sunrise Creative
Gourmet in Hibbing, a wholesale business
with a small retail shop. The business is
more than 100 years old, starting as a
bakery there. Forti’s great-grandfather,
Guilo, started the bakery, which makes
Forti part of the fourth generation in the
food business.
Sunrise Bakery is still open in Hibbing,
operated by Forti’s aunt and cousin.
Treats from the bakery, including cookies,
breads, Italian breadsticks, potica,
biscotti, tiramisu and coffee cakes, are
sold in St. Paul.
Forti’s father left the bakery, and his
parents founded Sunrise Deli. The deli
grew into Sunrise Creative Gourmet,
known for its pasta and ethnic foods.
Forti, 35, grew up in the business. Some
of his earliest childhood memories are of
sleeping and playing in piles of flour bags.
“When you’re a little kid, those piles of
bags look like mountains,” he said.
St. Paul’s Sunrise Market sells main
dishes including porketta, cannelloni,
sarmas, pot pies and pasties. Also offered
are a fresh and dry noodles, and frozen
pastas. Items from other vendors sold
there range from jams and honeys to
sodas.
Upcoming projects for Forti’s St. Paul
Sunrise Market not only include the
gluten-free pasta but also development
of a high-protein pasta. Watch for a lunch
to be offered in the future, including
sandwiches, soups and salads.
At a glance
Two St. Paul institutions have observed
major anniversaries. Boca Chica Mexican
Restaurant, 11 Cesar Chavez St., St. Paul,
celebrated 50 years in business March
6. Patrons enjoyed music and $1 tacos.
Boca Chica, which means “little mouth
of the river,” was opened by Guillermo
and Gloria Frias in 1964. The original
restaurant could only seat 28 customers
at a time.
O’Gara’s Bar and Grill, 164 N. Snelling
Ave., celebrated its 72nd anniversary
with daily menu offerings at 1940s prices.
Steak dinner was $1.95, as were burger
and fish and chips baskets.
But another east metro institution,
Kozlak’s Royal Oak Restaurant in
Shoreview, closed sooner than its owners
had anticipated. The restaurant, which
is nearly 40 years old, is seeking a new
location, according to owners Mark and
Lynn Satt. The last meals were served
March 15 at the longtime location
at Tanglewood Drive and Hodgson
Road. Its site was sold last year and a
closing announced then. But the closing
was pushed up a few months so that
redevelopment can move ahead. The site
is being redeveloped for senior housing.
The Satts have been selling many of the
restaurant fixtures online.
A large space at Rosedale Mall is going
to be taken over by the Flying Swine
restaurant group. That is the group
behind the Eat Shop Kitchen & Bar in
Plymouth. They’ll be renovating the mall’s
former California Pizza Kitchen storefront,
for Digby’s, a new pizza and burgers
restaurant.
Culinary
Curiosities
Who Can Top Meringue?
Loved by Marie Antoinette, frozen in Florida, baked in Alaska, sugary-egg whites have fluffy past
I
t’s probably not a part of your
daily repertoire, but chances are
you have some experience with the
strange and wonderful foodstuff known
as meringue. Maybe you’re a fan of lemon
meringue pie with its mile-high fluffy
white topping. Or perhaps you have
a special memory of Baked Alaska, its
toasty-brown peaks concealing a creamy,
ice cream filled center. Maybe delicate
meringue cookies in a variety of soft
pastels are part of a holiday tradition in
your family. Featured in classic desserts
for centuries, this sweetened egg-white
foam is a culinary superstar—but where
did it come from and where it is going?
Simple enough in technical terms,
a meringue is egg whites and sugar
whisked till fluffy. When baked the
texture becomes crisp and firm. The
earliest written reference to an egg white
and sugar concoction was in a family
“receipt book” written by Englishwoman
Lady Elinor Fettiplace, who called it
“white biskit bread.” In 1630, Lady Rachel
Fane made note of a similar recipe that
she called “pets,” but Chef Francois
Massialot’s 1692 cookbook is the first
recorded mention of “meringue” as we
call it today. Some also suggest that a
chef named Gasparini, working in the
small Swiss town of Meiringen, invented
meringues in the 18th century, but earlier
historical references cast doubt on this
story.
The meringue features prominently
in food history. It is said that Marie
Antoinette loved them and even baked
them herself. (Could she have appeased
the French mob with some meringues
rather than cake?) French culinary icon
Marie-Antoine Carême, who brought
an architectural sensibility to his pastry
work, took meringues to new heights
using a piping bag to form sturdy
and fanciful shapes. In America, the
monumental Baked Alaska was named
to honor the acquisition of the Alaskan
territory in the late 19th century. Nearly
a hundred years later the dawn of the
microwave allowed physicist Nicholas
Kurti to produce the “Frozen Florida” in
1969, consisting of a frozen meringue
enclosing hot liquor. And the meringue is
featured in New Zealand and Australia’s
favorite pastry, the Pavlova, a meringue,
cream and fruit dessert named for famed
Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who
toured the world in the 1920s.
Quite a track record for a humble egg
white foam. It’s fairly easy to make, as
long as a few precautions are taken.
Older egg whites are thinner and easier
to whip up to a great volume, but
fresher egg white will be thicker and
perhaps more stable. Cold whites are
firmer and easier to separate from the
yolks. This is important because any
trace of fat from a broken yolk inhibits
the formation of the foam. It’s best if
the sugar is added slowly, and only after
the whites have begun to foam. This will
make cut down on the time it takes to
reach full volume. Using the finest grain
sugar possible will also allow for it to
fully and quickly dissolve. Any grains of
sugar that are not incorporated into the
foam could attract water and make the
meringue “weep.” Indeed, excess heat,
humidity and fat are the enemies of
meringue. This makes meringue-based
foods difficult to store. Because the egg
whites and sugar attract water, storing
meringues in a refrigerator will often
cause water to bead up on the surface
of meringue. Best to eat them the same
day. And who wouldn’t want to?
While meringue has a storied history,
the future is wide open. Possibilities
abound for new flavor combinations,
unusual presentations and textural
uses. Molecular gastronomy offers
novel ways to stabilize meringue and its
more exotic cousins, foams, whips and
airs. New culinary technology allows
inventive cooks to dehydrate rather
than bake delicate egg foams. What’s
next? I don’t know, but the sky’s the
limit for these airy wonders.
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We stock thousands of products.
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Showroom - 2015 Silver Bell Road, Suite 150 Eagan. MN 55122
Tel (612) 331-1300 • www.hockenbergs.com
11
industry
outlook
Style Watch
Here’s a look at what all the well-dressed hamburgers are wearing this season
By Joey Hamburger
O
n a typical day I receive
1,234 compliments on what I’m
wearing. I mean that’s a rough
estimate. People wonder how I can dress
so well for a hamburger. When you think
of a hamburger, you assume we all dress
the same, a tomato here, a leaf of lettuce
there, but that couldn’t be further from
the truth. A hamburger can dress in many
different styles. In this day and age with
hamburger fashionistas spread across
Minnesota, from your city designers like
the 5-8 Club to your country trendsetters
such as JL Beers in the Fargo-Moorhead
region, hamburgers don’t have to settle
for plain and simple. Here are just a few
examples from not one, but two of my
favorite collections from the Twin Cities
hottest burger designers: The Blue Door
Pub and The Blue Door Longfellow.
The Blue Door Pub opened in 2009
and is located in St. Paul on Selby
Avenue and Fairview. Before you eat,
you will have to endure the sometimes
obligatory, totally worth it, 30-minute
wait. Once you are seated and get your
menu, you’ll immediately notice the Blue
Door Pub’s avant-garde styles of their
household Blucys, a thing called a Jiffy
Burger, some Spam bites, and whatever
else is on the other side of the menu. I’m
not totally sure what’s there because I’ve
never gotten that far. I’m a firm believer a
hamburger doesn’t accessorize well with
a wedge salad.
The Saint Paul Collection
The Frenchy
My favorite look created by the Blue
Door Pub. Perfect for fall and winter,
The Frenchy is not fitted with a beret
and contempt for American tourists, but
instead is a burger stuffed with a breath
of caramelized onions, Swiss cheese, and
served with a side of au jus to accent the
burger with a dip of French flare.
The Luau
Until summer comes around, why not
pretend you’re headed to Hawaii and
choose The Luau look? This look has
Canadian bacon and mozzarella cheese
bursting through the seams of a burger
topped, or should I say lei’d, with two
pineapple rings. If you taste closely
enough, you just might hear the ocean.
Breakfast Blucy
It’s early Sunday morning, so why
bother dressing up? You don’t need to
impress anybody. You just want to dress
your burger for comfort and cure the
post Saturday night blues. Well, throw on
that Breakfast Blucy and put your burger
back to bed with some thick-cut bacon,
cheddar cheese and a fried egg to lull
you to sleep.
Back in 2013, a little over a year ago,
The Blue Door Pub in St. Paul got so
crowded with fans trying to grab their
burger outfits off the shelves, it had to
open another location in Minneapolis to
deal with the capacity issues. This room
on the other side of town not only offers
twice the seating capacity, but also an
entirely different set of looks from the
BDP in St. Paul, aside from a few fan
favorites.
The Minneapolis Collection
Cease and Desist
This burger tastes as good as fireworks
look. Packed like a beer belly in a tank
top, this burger is filled with Land O’
Lakes American Cheese and diced
pickles. Finally, it is laid out on a bed of
onions and topped with cheese and the
house-made ‘Merican sauce.
The Horsekick
Throw in a little horsekick sauce for
that “yee-haw” aesthetic, along with
a little bleu cheese, cream cheese and
horseradish for a look that will leave a
Western rodeo galloping on your taste
buds.
shirt. This couch potato look naps all day
with Colby jack cheese tucked inside and
is topped with some potato chips from
Mom and Dad’s pantry, along with some
chopped bacon, green onions and a little
smack sauce. This burger will have you
saying, “Radical dude!”
Many of the new looks found at the
Blue Door Longfellow were inspired by
favorite “Burger of the Moments,” or
B.O.Ms in industry speak. These B.O.Ms
change based on season and/or the
latest taste trends. A few years back the
BDP even held a contest where Blucy
fanatics could submit their own creation
for prizes.
Baked ‘n’ Loaded
Maybe all you wanted was to keep
watching cartoons with your tie-dye
The Lumber Jack
Inspired by the plaid and flannel of
the Minnesota hipster, this hamburger
Buns have met their match.
LeveL 3
Taste the difference. Ask for the Catallia brand.
For more information on our complete line of premium tortillas go to
catalliafoodservice.com or call 651-647-6808.
12
is filled with a smoked Gouda cheese,
bacon and a little heat of cayenne
pepper. Then, maple syrup is poured
over the entire burger, just in time for
the tapping of our Minnesota trees.
This is a rare burger to find and last
February it provided a little glimpse of
something to look forward to, because
in February, there isn’t much to look
forward to.
There are many ways to fancy up
a hamburger. Some places take it
too far and past the point of burger
recognition. However, The Blue Door
dresses a hamburger in perfection with
simplicity and taste. Before they put on
all the toppings or fill in the stuffing,
The Blue Door Pub remembers to do
one crucial thing right: simply make a
great hamburger.
Galactic Pizza | from page 1
Galactic Pizza isn’t like most other
pizza stops. Its menu is a mix
of classic and modern flavor
arrangements using organic
ingredients purchased in
season from local sources. They
strive to make each of their business
practices socially responsible
while building the Minneapolis
community. Each week, they have
trivia, music and comedy performances.
And did I mention their delivery drivers
dress as superheroes?
Pete Bonahoom opened Galactic
Pizza in 2004. After graduating from
the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
Bonahoom started working downtown
on the path to become an investment
banker. After six months of analyzing
401(k) plans, he decided investment
banking wasn’t what
he
wanted to do for the rest of his
life. He quit and went back to painting
houses. He worked as a one-man crew,
which gave him an ample amount of
time alone to think.
Bonahoom knew he wanted to open
his own business, but he wasn’t sure
what kind so he kept a notebook of ideas
in his back pocket. Finally, after reading
an article on socially responsible business
practices, he decided it was time to open
a restaurant that was not only profitable,
but also benefited society and the local
community. He became a superhero and
opened up Galactic Pizza.
“The business went great from the
start and the customers really liked it,
but it was really hard for me personally,”
Bonahoom said. Having no formal
restaurant training, he dove
right in and gave it his all. Now
Galactic Pizza is celebrating its tenth
anniversary.
One of the ethical practices in
operation is the use of electric vehicles
to deliver their pizzas. That’s not an easy
task in Minnesota, especially when the
first superhero delivery cars had no heat,
three wheels, and shot cold air up from
underneath the car when driven.
“You had to have some real balls
to deliver pizzas when we first
started,” Bonahoom said.
Galactic also gets all of its energy
through Xcel Energy’s Windsource
program, which allows businesses and
homeowners alike to purchase their
power from renewable wind energy.
But one sustainability problem for pizza
places is the pizza boxes, which can’t be
recycled like normal cardboard. Once
any grease has soaked in, they have to be
composted. In an effort to tackle pizzabox waste, Galactic has turned its pizza
boxes into one-dollar coupons so when
you turn one in for your next pizza, they
compost the box for you.
And at Galactic, they recycle and
compost just about everything.
There’s one garbage can in the back
and Bonahoom claims it fills up maybe
once a week, which is an insanely small
amount of trash when you think about
a restaurant operating 13 or 14 hours,
seven days a week.
In addition, for every order, Galactic
donates a dollar to hunger-relief
organization Second Harvest Heartland.
And five percent of its pre-tax profits are
donated to charity.
Galactic is also benefiting society
through entertainment. Since opening,
it has held a music open mic night that
turned into a comedy open mic night that
turned back into a music open mic night
and then split into two open mic nights
on Wednesdays and Thursdays for music
and comedy, respectively. Tuesdays are
trivia night. Soon headlining acts on
Fridays and Saturday nights will evolve.
And did I mention they deliver
their pizzas dressed as superheroes?
Bonahoom said he got the idea one
Halloween in college when he delivered
pizzas as a superhero and found the
idea hilarious. His boss didn’t go
for his
dress-up-all-the-time delivery idea, but
he held onto the concept until the day
he was the boss.
The experiences of the drivers range
from your typical paid and tipped
deliveries, to regular customers who
dress as super villains and steal your
pizzas, to a time when a driver chased
Galactic’s drivers show off some
superhero antics.
down a thief and retrieved a stolen purse.
The drivers are allowed to create their
own superhero names and costumes,
which is great fun for said drivers, some
of whom are local comedians.
Local comic Sam Spadino said he
delivered his pizzas in zebra leggings,
pink booty shorts, a carpenter’s belt, a
tank top with the word “Party” printed
across the front, fake tattoo sleeves, and
a cape made out of a pink Abercrombie
shirt with a popped collar.
Galactic Pizza delivers to the artistic
and environmentally conscious lifestyle.
With performances in front of their giant
street-side window that continuously
draws in passers-by, to their menu that
can be read with 3D glasses, Galactic
is a quirky business deeply rooted in
responsibility. Galactic Pizza is an
inspiration to all. If what you’re doing
doesn’t make you happy, why not quit
and become a superhero?
Porchetta Style Roast Pork
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pork has the power to make your menu
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to be. Discover your next inspired idea
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percent
uses 10 0 eir pies.
a
z
iz
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eliver th
Galac tic
hicles to d
electric ve
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This message funded by America’s Pork Producers and the Pork Checkoff.
13
Marvel Bar | from page 1
their way onto Marvel’s menu.
Whatever ends up on the menu
next, one constant is its ingredients are
measured using the metric system.
“It’s the only way to fly,” says Hanson.
“All the ratios are right there. You’re
not converting ounces to teaspoons or
whatever. And we’ve tailored the ratios
to work perfectly.”
So maybe it’s impeccable precision
that accounts for Marvel Bar’s “it” factor.
The James Beard Foundation certainly
saw something, naming the not-quite3-year-old bar a semifinalist in the
Outstanding Bar Program category for
the second straight year.
“There’s such a high level of talent out
there,” says Eric Dayton, who co-owns
Marvel, The Bachelor Farmer and
adjoining retail shop Askov Finlayson
with his brother, Andrew. “I don’t think
you’d ever assume to be on one of those
lists. It’s exciting … and at times surreal.
In Pip we found someone who was so
talented and the cocktail menu is far
Marvel Bar’s Pip Hanson
beyond what we ever imagined.”
Hanson, showing the humility he
says is an underrated quality, credits
his team for Marvel’s continued success.
It’s a team that’s been together “pretty
much from day one,” and the skills and
dedication of the bartenders parallel
his own.
Those same bartenders are also tasked
with creating a total guest experience.
Customers are greeted warmly and
bartenders take a keen interest in
discovering what someone likes so they
can steer them toward their drink match.
“There wasn’t—and there really
isn’t—a bar like this in the Twin Cities,”
Hanson says. “Old-fashioned service
is really what it’s all about.” And that
service extends beyond closing time
with Marvel’s cocktail classes, in which
ordinary people can learn to make
the perfect sidecar or Manhattan
from Hanson or lead bartender Peder
Schweigert. Classes are held on the
second Saturday of each month and are
usually full as people seek to recreate the
Marvel experience in their own home.
“They’re one of the last things to be
‘chef-ified,’” Hanson says of cocktails.
“It’s a good time to be a bartender.”
Much like his drinks, Hanson created
the perfect combination in Marvel Bar
and when it comes to naming that
defining characteristic, perhaps it’s
Hanson who sums it up best: “People
sense it and that’s what makes us
special.”
Marvel’s
Whiskey Skin
Photos by Charlie Ward
Superdry
2 dashes chive- and thyme-infused rice
vinegar (or just distilled vinegar)
2 dashes saline solution (1 part
Himalayan pink salt or other salt mixed
with 3 parts hot water until dissolved)
2/3 oz fresh lime juice
1 1/3 oz dry vermouth
1 1/3 oz honkaku shochu (Nadeshiko
True Beauty or other)
Seltzer, to top
Fill a tall glass (~15 oz) with ice cubes
and add ingredients in order given. Stir
gently and top with seltzer.
A bartender’s tools of the trade hang behind the bar at Marvel.
MONITOR Restaurant NEWS
ONLINE 5X A WEeK
The Restaurant Finance Monitor’s monthly newsletter is being
updated—on the Web, Monday through Friday. To keep up on what’s
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Subscribe to the Monitor by calling 800-528-3296 or log onto www.restfinance.com
14
15
fundraising focus
Sugar Rush
mern
Andrew Zim ees
d
n
e
tt
a
talk s to
O ur
re
a
h
S
t
u
ab o
si
is
m on
Strength’s
hunger.
d
to end chil
Annual Cakewalk supports No Kid Hungry campaign
T
win Cities pastry chefs took
their talents to Aria last month for
Share Our Strength’s third annual
Cakewalk. Organized by Michelle Gayer
of the Salty Tart and Share Our Strength
Minneapolis chef chairman Tim McKee,
the event benefits the organization’s No
Kid Hungry campaign to end child hunger
in America.
Cakes came from Zoe Francois of Zoe
Bakes and Pang Xiong of Pang Cakes, along
with Mademoiselle Miel, Buttercream
Bakery, Cupcake, Patisserie 46, Duff Baking,
Rye, Cocoa & Fig, The Buttered Tin and
Angel Food Bakery. Thirteen more top
pastry chefs/restaurants also donated
their time and desserts, including: Gayer,
Diane Yang of La Belle Vie, Anne Rucker of
Bogart’s Doughnut Co., Abby Boone of The
Lynn on Bryant, Rachel Slivicki of Butcher
& the Boar, Sam Valesano of Sea Change,
Katie Elsing of Dakota, Forepaugh’s, Honey
& Rye, Zelo, Bar La Grassa, Foxy Falafel and
Restaurant Alma.
Nate Beck brought his Natedogs hot
dogs and Sun Street Breads also provided
savory bites. The VIP lounge showcased
snacks from chefs JD Fratzke and Erik
Anderson.
The Cakewalk drew
hundreds to Aria to support
Share Our Strength.
Butcher & the Boar
pastry chef Rachel
Slivicki (right) and
assistant Alex Althoff
present an array of
lunchbox favorites—
oatmeal cream pies,
cosmic brownies,
swiss cake rolls and
honey buns—at their
Cakewalk table.
Sue Zelickson (left) and Sherry Jaffe
(right) mingle with La Belle Vie chef
Mike DeCamp.
The La Belle Vie team of (left to right) Jason
Suss, pastry chef Diane Yang, Melanie Lewis and
Jo Garrison.
Chef Erik Anderson
sets out plates of his
chicken liver terrine
with cranberries
and granola for
guests in the VIP
lounge.
Saffron barman Robb Jones
puts the “fuego” in his El
Café Fuego with an orange
scented absinthe flame.
16
Cocoa & Fig’s Cakewalk donation.
Commodities report
Higher Costs Continue
Cattle supply down, international dairy markets keep U.S. prices up, chicken output to rise
David
Maloni
C
ommodities prices have been
challenging as of late and the
principal challenge has been beef.
The January USDA annual Cattle Report
detailed that the total supply is 1.8
percent less than the previous year and
the smallest since 1951. The financial
incentive for cattle ranchers is to build
the herd, but that will take a few years.
And in the meantime, cattle ranchers
will be withholding some of the beef
cows and heifers from slaughter to build
the herd. Thus, 5 percent declines in beef
production versus 2013 are expected to
endure for the foreseeable future.
The challenge in dairy remains with
the international dairy markets. Supply
challenges in China have caused world
dairy exports to the country to soar
during the last several months, support-
BEEF-Prices are by the pound and based on f.o.b. Omaha
carlot.
2/27/141/30/14Difference 2/28/13
Ground Beef 81/19
2.34 2.72 <0.38> 1.98
168 Inside Round (ch.)2.56 2.75 <0.19> 1.91
180 1x1 Strp (choice) 4.39 4.57 <0.18> 4.05
112a Ribeye (choice) 5.62 5.92 <0.30> 5.87
189a Tender (select) 9.84 9.86 <0.02> 8.58
189a Tender (choice) 9.96 9.91 0.05
9.13
Veal Rack (Hotel 7 rib) 8.65 8.60 0.05
8.28
Veal Top Rnd(cp. off) 15.03 15.07 <0.04> 14.93
OIL AND RICE-Prices per pound based on USDA Reports.
Crude Soybean Oil
Crude Corn Oil
Rice, Long Grain
2/27/141/30/14Difference 2/28/13
.387 .343 0.044
.472
.430 .393 0.037
.495
.283 .286 0.003
.276
ing international dairy prices. Yes, there
may be more weakness for domestic
dairy in the near term and the dairy cow
herd should build in the coming months,
but until relief is experienced in the international dairy markets it will be hard for
U.S. dairy prices to fall below a year ago.
The third major challenge could be
with pork supplies. Porcine Epidemic
Diarrhea virus cases have been building
in the U.S. as of late with a new strain
discovery. The impact on the hog herd
remains unclear, but we would not be
surprised to see final pork production
only flat to slightly higher than a year
ago. Pork prices have been firming and
we hope buyers have locked in a notable
portion of their pork supply and pricing
through at least the summer due to the
unknown risk in PEDv. The bright spot in
all of this could be chicken.
Chicken output is expected to track
3 percent above 2013 in the coming
months, which should weigh on the
chicken markets. That said, due to inflated
beef prices and uncertainty around pork,
chicken demand could be relatively solid
through August.
PORK-Prices are by the pound and based on f.o.b.
Omaha carlot.
2/27/141/30/14Difference 2/28/13
Belly (bacon)
1.39 1.16 0.23
1.40
Spare Rib (3.5& down)1.66 1.57 0.08
Ham (23-27#)
0.79 0.79 <0.10> 0.69
Bbybck Rib (2-1.75#) 2.45 2.23 0.22
Tenderloin (1.25#)
2.55 2.57 0.02
PRODUCE-Prices are by the case and are based on USDA
reports.
2/30/141/30/14Difference 2/28/13
Limes (150 ct.)
39.00 16.00 23.00
27.00
Lemons (200 ct.)
23.35 23.35 -
11.78
Cantaloupe (18 ct.) 5.45 5.45 -
14.95
Strawberries (12 pts) 15.50 21.00 <6.00> 17.00
Avocds (Hass 48ct.) 35.75 30.50 5.25
20.25
Idaho Potato (70 ct.) 8.50 8.88 <0.38> 4.44
POULTRY-Prices are by the pound except for eggs
Yellow Onions (50 lb.) 14.75 10.00 4.75
12.00
(dozen) and based on USDA reports.
Red Onions (25 lb.) 13.91 13.06 0.85
20.38
White Onions (50 lb.) 28.11 26.85 1.26
28.33
Tomatoes (5X6-25lb.) 10.95 14.62 <3.67> 13.20
Chicken
2/27/141/30/14Difference 2/28/13
Roma Tomatoes
8.84 9.44 <0.60> 11.59
Whole Birds (2.5-3#) 1.05 1.05 -
1.01
Green Peppers
16.42 18.13 <1.71> 7.30
Wings
1.271.31 <0.04> 1.81
Iceberg Lettuce
5.90 5.49 0.41
19.87
2.04
Leaf Lettuce
5.99 6.10 <0.11>
9.25
Bone In Breast
0.98 1.04 <0.06> 1.10
Romaine Lettuce
6.00 6.33 <0.33> 27.29
Bnless Skinless Breast 1.79 1.76 0.03
1.64
Broccoli (14 ct.)
5.87 6.43 <0.56> 12.59
Eggs
Large
1.491.21 0.28 1.04
Medium
1.201.11 0.09
*Covered party (as defined below) shall not be liable for any
Miscellaneous
direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages of
Whole Turkeys (8-16#) 1.00 0.97 0.03
0.96
any kind whatsoever (including attorney’s fees and lost profits or
Whole Ducks (4-5#) 2.07 2.20 <0.13> 1.89
savings) in any way due to, resulting from, or arising in connection
DAIRY-Prices are by the pound and based on USDA
reports.
Cheese
2/27/141/30/14Difference 2/28/13
American
2.202.35 0.15 1.82
Cheddar (40#)
2.21 2.36 0.15
2.03
Mozzarella
2.352.50 0.15 1.88
Market information provided by David Maloni of the American
Butter(AA)
Restaurant Association Inc. The American Restaurant Association
One pound solids
1.78 1.90 0.12
1.55
Inc. publishes the “Weekly Commodity Report,” and provides
Class II Cream
food commodity market information to over 200,000 food service
Cream
2.132.28<0.15> 1.76
professionals. For more information call 1-888-423-4411, email at
with the Monthly Commodity Report, including its content,
regardless of any negligence of the covered party including but not
limited to technical inaccuracies and typographical errors. “Covered
Party” means the American Restaurant Association Inc. and the
employees of. © 2014 American Restaurant Association Inc.
info@AmericanRestaurantAssociation.com or on the Internet at
www.AmericanRestaurantAssociation.com.
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17
Mecca’s
musings
What Do You Like to Cook?
An oft-asked and innocent question which deserves a long-winded, family-oriented answer
Mecca
Bos
W
henever you mention at a
cocktail party you’re a cook, an
inevitable question is sure to follow: “What do you like to cook?”
“Food that people like to eat” seems to
never satisfy. Instead, they’re looking for
something more succinct and sexy, like:
“Spanish, mostly. I make a mean paella!”
“Paellea” is a good crowd pleaser.
I grew up on the great lakes of
Lindstrom, Minnesota. My grandparents
were of “Scandahoovian” descent, mostly, with a little Dutch, French and some
say Native American tossed in for good
measure. At Christmas, my Nana made
traditional oyster stew, and a typical, yet
show-stopping summertime dinner meant
pan-fried lakefish, squeaky shucked corn
on the cob straight from the field, and
some kind of potato. Usually white toast,
heavily buttered, refrigerator pickles, and
icy cold whole milk.
Because I’ve got mocha brown skin,
some people are surprised to discover
these facts about me. Sometimes, they
seem a bit disappointed. I’m the product of
a mixed race union, and dad wasn’t around.
Hence, despite my swarthy appearance,
I’m a Minnesota girl through and through.
When someone, drink in hand, asks
“What do you like to cook?” I’m sometimes
stumped for an answer.
Like any art form, the artist is generally
Culinary
stuck with formative influences. Some art
historians have it that, as a child, painter
Jackson Pollack suffered a serious cut to
his finger. As he ran home for aid, goes the
lore, the blood trailed along the sidewalk
in something akin to his signature style.
Whether the story is true or not, it makes
for good cocktail party fodder.
A decade into my culinary career, I’m
finally settling into the notion that my own
cooking aesthetic is good enough. I don’t
have to hide behind hard and fast recipes
(though I do sometimes check them for validation), exotica for its own sake (although
everyone loves a mystery ingredient now
and then) or the ideas of chefs and teachers
gone by (of course the tools they’ve provided are invaluable weapons in my arsenal).
Like any cook worth their salt, each of these
separate items—plus countless others—
make up the building blocks for a unique,
personal perspective.
In its inherent generality, “American”
food is already a dissatisfying enough
notion. To use an overused cliche, the melting pot nature of our culture makes tacos,
spaghetti, and chow mein as American as
burgers and fries. I mean, what could be
more American than a pizza?
My good friend Sameh Wadi, of local
restaurants Saffron and World Street
Kitchen, started out by taking the
recipes he learned at his mother’s apron
strings, and retooling them into fine dining masterpieces. He had the courage to
do so when he was only 22 years old,
opening his first restaurant, Saffron. But
then, “Palestinian cuisine” is a nice, tight,
wack it on the nose cocktail party answer.
Who wouldn’t be wowed into a two-beer
discussion?
If you asked me to close my eyes and
describe a perfect meal, it would prob-
Toss in the sound of a
motorboat speeding across
the water, and the slamming
of a cabin door, and that is a
perfect meal. I haven’t even
tasted a bite yet.
ably have to be that lake cabin dinner
I mentioned above. A close second is
the confluence of aromas that happen
when you combine coffee with bacon and
butter browning in a cast iron skillet as it’s
being readied for eggs or flapjacks. Toss in
the sound of a motorboat speeding across
the water, and the slamming of a cabin
door, and that is a perfect meal. I haven’t
even tasted a bite yet.
I’d argue that cooking aesthetic emerges not unlike any other art form. It isn’t
just about eating and drinking and what
tastes good. Because anyone with a recipe can put together a halfway decent
plate of food. What separates a chef from
a cook is having a finger on the pulse
of the “why” of cooking. What you like
to cook (because it tastes good) is only
half the equation (though a critical part,
undoubtedly). Why you like to cook it
must be equally critical.
I’d like to put a chocolate chip pancake
on my menu because at that lake cabin
where so many of my early memories were
formed, my grandparents had a dear friend
who made them. As a kid, I did not even
like chocolate chips in my pancakes, but
what I did like was the gusto with which
everyone around me, every adult in particular, would eat them. When Jack Moore
was in the kitchen making “chocolate chip-
pers,” every little thing was right in the
world. So a chocolate chip pancake tasted
like utter satisfaction, if not on the tongue
then in my very being.
If I put a chocolate chipper on my menu,
it is bound to be made with a good dose
of care—honoring that memory of perfect moment—and of my grandparents
and Jack would be a hefty responsibility
indeed. Ditto my grandpa’s panfish and
refrigerator pickles.
But of course none of us are only
products of our upbringing. My worsefor-the-wear, tattered, stained and falling
apart copy of The Italian Country Table
by Lynn Rosetto Kasper, now 15 years
old, is one of the first cookbooks that fell
into my hands when I began to seriously
consider cooking. It is still one of the first
I turn to for many quandaries, and as
much an influence on my cooking as my
grandpa’s garden delicacies. My homeaway-from-home is the Yucatan area of
Mexico. I can’t imagine a menu without lime-tinged guacamole and piquant
tomato salsa somewhere within.
Of late, I’ve developed a kicky little
answer to the dreaded inquiry: “Modern
Midwest,” which usually shuts people
down long enough to run for a refill on
my champagne. I’m not sure if that’s really accurate for a brown-skinned, Italian
cookbook-toting Minnesota kid with a
strong affinity for Mexico. So for now,
just call me, and my cooking, American.
Sounds pretty satisfying to me.
Mecca Bos has been writing in the Twin Cities
metro area for more than 10 years, and cooking
professionally for almost as long. She has worked
as a personal cook, caterer, line cook, sous chef,
cheesemonger, and even did a brief, regrettable
stint as a server. These days, she spends much
of her time on the other side of the table as a
writer/editor for various local publications.
Q&A
Six Questions for Barb Abney, Host on MPR’s The Current
B
arb Abney has good local
taste, both when she’s playing
music weekdays from 10 a.m.
to 2 p.m., and when she’s out and
about the Twin Cities at events the
radio station sponsors. Abney moved
here from Cincinnati’s WOXY.com, one
of the premiere alternative stations in
the country, in 2006. She DJ’d there for
12 years and built a radio and online
community of music nerds.
1) Where in town is your favorite
place to get dinner?
Though I am NOT 80, my family and
I love Curran’s in South Minneapolis.
It feels like eating dinner at grandma’s
house and the pie is divine!
2) Breakfast?
Icehouse, hands down. Their Savory
Éclair is to die for!
18
3) Where is the best place for happy
hour?
I almost never go out for happy
hour celebrations. But I truly enjoy
the shenanigans that take place at
The Fitzgerald Theater before a Wits
performance with half-price drinks and
music and tweeting and bartering, it’s
a blast!
4) What do wish we had more of in
the Twin Cities?
Cincinnati chili. (That’s a Greek recipe
chili that you serve over thin spaghetti
and top with mild cheddar cheese for
a three-way. Add kidney beans and/or
onion for four- and five-ways. NOM!)
5) If you owned your own restaurant,
what kind of restaurant would it be?
The flavors of Cincinnati. Skyline (chili),
Frisch’s (burgers and more), LaRosa’s
(pizza), Montgomery Inn (ribs) and
Graeter’s (ice cream) for dessert. I’d call it
Barb Abney, host on MPR’s The Current,
with author/musician Henry Rollins.
the 513 Food Court.
6) What toppings make the perfect
hamburger?
Thick slices of cheddar cheese and
onion, crisp lettuce, tomato and kosher
dill slices.
— Joey Hamburger
Common foodsense
Forked Tongue
Transformation of Twin Cities to Food Cities has even die-hard Minnesotans not thinking of snow tires
Jonathan
Locke
W
hen you think about it,
this is an unlikely place for
a food town. The coasts are
thousands of miles away, the growing
season is six weeks long, and the
culture still has a pronounced flavor
of Calvinism: frugality, self-denial and
cabbage.
And in the old days the chefs toiled
in the wilderness, clinging to the
gospel of haute cuisine in a land of
unbelievers. I was at a trade show once
where I met the last chef of Charlie’s,
who was then selling microwaves for
Litton. His observation was that in
Minnesota, people really didn’t want
great food, they wanted great value.
Peter Grisé confirmed this a coupIe of
years later during an interview with
food writer Carla Waldemar. He said
that whenever he put something even
slightly kinky on the menu at the Blue
Horse, he had to remember the Snow
Tire Factor.
Carla bit. “Which is ...?”
“That’s when a Minnesotan man
looks down at the food on his plate,
shakes his head, look back up at his
wife and says, ‘You know, Marge, I can
get a snow tire for what this dinner is
costing me.”
When my family moved back
here from San Francisco in 1986, Jay
Sparks—now top food dog at D’Amico
and then chef of 510 Groveland—asked
me why I wanted to come to a culinary
wasteland. Nice place to raise kids, I
said. Missed the weather. And heck, I
could always change careers. There’s
good money in mail fraud.
Oh my, how the times have changed,
and Jay was a big part of it, although
he obviously didn’t recognize where
we were heading at the time. None of
us did. We were just making cool food
and hoping someone would buy it, and
when we poked our heads out of the
kitchens a decade later we found that
we lived in a food town.
Granted, we are not on the list of the
most Michelin-starred restaurants per
hundred thousand population—did
you know that there is such a thing?—
but the Twin Cities did make Travel
and Leisure’s Top 20 Cities for Foodies.
There’s validation for you.
And if anyone needs a thesis topic
for a Ph.D in Hospitality Studies,
I’ll happily offer this one: The
transformation of the Cities’ food
culture in the 1980s. I’d do it myself,
but that would be ungenerous—and
I like my research liberally sprinkled
with unsubstantiated opinion, which
tends to upset the thesis advisor. I am
sincere in wishing someone would do
it, though; the town that I left in 1980
had a vastly different foodscape than
the one I returned to six years later, and
though the changes were just getting
underway, the difference was clear
and the momentum was unmistakable.
There is a litany of chefs to thank for
it, of course, and I am not going to try
to recite the honor roll—but it wasn’t
all us.
Fundamentally, we’re all merchants.
We can’t sell what people won’t buy.
We had a hand in bringing new food to
the table, yes; but without a customer
willing to try it, into the dumpster
it goes. I remember my attempt to
sell brains beurre noir. Even calling
them “cervelle” didn’t help. But there
was a cultural transformation going on
beyond our kitchen walls, and it let us
roam outside the paddock of prime rib
and walleye.
So what did it? Well, now, do you
think I’m going to write your thesis
for you? I’ll offer you a couple places
to look, though. We’ve had several
successive waves of immigration over
the last 40 years: Vietnamese, Hmong,
Mexican, Somali—and we have intense
competition in our grocery community,
which makes grocers respond quickly
to shifts in purchasing patterns. As
part of your thesis, track the perpound price of beef tongue through
the ‘90s—I could get it for less than a
dollar a pound in ’94, and by 2000 it
was pushing four bucks. Now it’s over
five. The reason: tacos (and burritos)
de lengua. Tripe has skyrocketed, too:
menudo and pho. Cub sold camel meat
for a while. Rainbow sells chicken feet.
Beyond pushing up the prices of offal,
though, the demand for what once
were exotic ingredients has made them
available everywhere. I don’t know a
fine-dining chef who is unfamiliar with
lemongrass, adobo paste or injeera,
and all this stuff manages to find its way
into our peculiarly eclectic inventories.
Then, of course, there are the
restaurants. A lot of what I’ve learned
about the use of ingredients has come
from shoving my face in them. When
immigrants come to this country, many
of them have limited English skills—
but they can speak the food of their
home country really well, and there’s a
community waiting to be fed. And the
food tends to be at what we’d call a
“low price-point casual-dining” level: in
other words, cheap. For less than eight
bucks I can get a bowl of pho deep
enough to float a grain barge, and I can
get it anywhere in town. These sorts
of prices encourage exploration even
amidst a (ahem) thrifty demographic—
you aren’t risking your snow tire.
Then there is the emergence of
food as entertainment and chefs as
entertainers. But I’ll leave it to you to
write about that; I’m going out for a
tongue taco.
Jonathan Locke has been a restaurant chef
for more than 20 years, heading restaurants
in Minneapolis and San Francisco. In 1995 he
joined forces with Susan Rasmussen to form
FoodSense, a restaurant-consulting firm. He
has written extensively for trade and consumer
publications, and was KARE-11 TV’s Health Fair
chef from 1995-1997. He can be contacted at
foodsense@hotmail.com or at 612-724-9824
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19
hangin’ with klecko
When I Become Mayor...
And why we should market to a.m. consumers
Klecko
N
ot last night, but the night
before....
I ate pot pie with a heavy
heart. Just moments prior, I received
news that the initiative to create a state
of the art facility for the homeless in my
business district had been shot down.
Every topic has two sides, I totally
get that, but as I stirred the various
liquids in my Arnold Palmer, I couldn’t
help but wonder how this would affect
thousands of indigent people in the
Twin Cities.
When you’re poor, you’re screwed.
Often times those who advocate on
your behalf don’t need to fight with
passion. They don’t have to; their
needs are already met. They’re not
going to have to sleep on the floor of a
gymnasium tonight.
I should mention that while I ranted
about this, I was sitting across a table
at the St. Paul Grill with a beautiful
companion (whose identity shall
remain anonyms for myriad reasons)
and just when most of my venom
had dissipated, I simply couldn’t help
launching the following threat in her
direction.
“I think it’s time to shut up and put
up. I think in four years … Klecko is
going to run for mayor of Capital City.”
I should mention that my mystery
escort ordered pot pie as well. I always
feel off balance when a date orders
the same entrée. I mean let’s face it,
this kind of gives an indication that the
next step in the friendship might be
shopping for matching windbreakers
at Kohl’s, right?
So while we poke holes through our
crust to release the steam, my dining
companion thoughtfully plays into my
tirade by asking, “When you become
mayor, what else will you do to improve
the Capital City?”
Immediately I broached a topic that
many previous civic leaders have done
their best to avoid.
“You know, what’s the No. 1 thing
it takes to make a city economically
viable?”
Then I paused for dramatic effect
before answering my own question.
“It takes money, lots of it, but if
a business is going to build bundles
of cash, that city needs to have foot
traffic 24/7 and for as long as I can
remember, downtown St. Paul’s retail
opportunities seem to dwindle every
day around 2 p.m. When I become
mayor, I’ll vulture every hipster moneymaking concept from Minneapolis and
bring it across the river to its rightful
home.”
So now my date rolls her eyes and
does the unthinkable: She challenges
me.
“If St. Paul has a strong business
climate in the morning, wouldn’t it
just be simpler to build a business plan
where you took money off people in
the morning? That way you’d get your
evening to yourself. Why not just open
a breakfast café?”
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if her
question was rhetorical or not, but
just before I could answer our server
engaged us in a conversation that
focused on her being a Lutheran bell
ringer in some church choir and I
became riveted.
Ironically, the following day someone
placed some paperwork on my desk
and one of the first things I read really
piqued my interest. It was a printout of
a Bloomberg News article that stated
how breakfast seemed to be the meal
restaurateurs believed was imperative
to capturing consumers dining dollars.
It reported that the world’s largest
restaurant chain was trying to attract
more customers by marketing to
morning audiences.
Sales, supplies & repairs
Online prices - locally stocked
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o
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c
le
K
For $1.99
they were
offering two
raspberry
or cinnamon
crème-cheese
Petite Pastries, but if you ordered
this same breakfast with a coffee, you
received the bundle for $1.29.
So even if you don’t you like caffeine,
you pretty much are forced to take the
coffee if you want to save 70 cents.
When I read this I chuckled and
thought “OMG—that is so Don Draper,
this is brilliant.”
I’m guessing many restaurant/
hospitality concepts are pairing their
meals to coffee in an attempt to curb
the momentum that concepts like
Starbucks and Dunkin’ are gaining on
Americans. Let’s face it, people don’t
eat out every day, but I’ll bet the
number of folks who stop at a coffee
shop most mornings is staggering.
As the report concluded, it mentioned
Taco Bell was subscribing to this early
bird theory as well. By the time you
good people end up reading this
column, they will have begun selling
breakfast items nationwide, including
egg burritos and waffle tacos.
These
numbers
enlightened
POS Printer
$199.95
126 N 3rd St #300, Minneapolis, MN 55401 • (612) 370-2662
20
me. If I’ve learned
one thing in this lifetime,
it’s take the path of least resistance;
doing this will get you to your
destination quicker.
If these major players in our industry
are spotting pertinent trends and
sharing them, I’m not proud—I’ll gladly
ride their coattails across the finish line.
In closing, I’ll put it on the record
that my phantom dining guest looked
absolutely stunning and I am eternally
in her debt. Her advice just might be
the missing piece that could restore
the 651’s economy. And that St. Paul
Grill pot pie—it was Christ-like. If I were
mayor, I’d declare it a national treasure.
Respectfully,
Mayor Klecko
P.S. Don’t forget to vote.
chef
challenge
Senior Dining Competition
SilverCrest hosts ‘Chopped’-style chef event
by Laura Michaels
A
nswer: Eggo waffles, turnips,
tuna pouches and Greek Gods
Honey Kefir, a cultured milk
product.
The question: “We’re supposed to make
an entrée out this?”
That’s the challenge three chefs at
SilverCrest Properties faced as competitors
in the senior living community’s
“Chopped” event, modeled after the Food
Network’s competition of the same name.
SilverCrest’s version was meant to
showcase the company’s in-house chef
talent and introduce the foodservice
community to the many opportunities
in senior dining, said Patrick Nickleson,
corporate director of dining services. He
and VP of operations Dorothy Schoenfelder
organized “Chopped” and even brought
in guest judge and ACF Minneapolis
President Chris Dwyer, executive chef at
Mendakota Country Club.
“Our focus is to have chef-driven
kitchens, chef-driven menus and flavors,”
Nickleson said. “We look for restaurant
experience from our chefs and staff
because that’s what our guest experience
is geared toward.”
Steve Cameron, director of dining
services at the Kingsley Shores location,
took the top spot for his Greek-inspired
salad using the waffles and tuna to make a
tuna cake topped with turnips and a kefir
vinaigrette.
Chefs Jason Jurek (Brightondale campus)
and Jack Caza (Parkshore campus) were
also in the finals after beating fellow chefs
Dennis Falbo, Brad Greenwood and Laura
Kuldanek-Jacobsen in the earlier appetizer,
entrée and dessert rounds.
SilverCrest has nine properties in
Minnesota, Iowa and Texas, with a 10th
location coming in 2015 in Maple Grove.
The company is moving toward scratch
kitchens and away from processed foods—
and is giving chefs creative freedom with
their menus.
“The food you’re used to now, why
wouldn’t you want to have that in your
older age?” Nickleson said. The move
to scratch kitchens also lets SilverCrest
chefs control sodium and spice usage and
better handle the dietary needs of its
residents.
Parkshore chef Jack Caza,
the campus’ dining services
director, spoons a hot
dog-licorice-horseradish
crumble into a serving
glass before topping it with
a mango mousse.
Chef Greenwood’s finished dish:
hot dog bun French toast with
a licoricehorseradish
cream sauce
and mango
puree.
Brad Greenwood, chef manager at SilverCrest’s Summit Place location,
batters hot dog buns—one of four mystery ingredients—for his
“Chopped” competition dessert.
Jason Jurek, chef manager at the Brightondale campus, drizzles a kefir cream
dressing over his tuna-topped coleslaw salad.
Chef Caza’s round-winning dessert.
The winner: a Greek-inspired salad with an Eggo tuna cake, toasted turnips
and a honey kefir vinaigrette from chef Steve Cameron.
21
ACF news
services directory
Regional Conference Honors
Minneapolis Chapter
April Kids Café
Tuesday, April 15
Perspectives Family Center: 3381
Gorham Ave., St. Louis Park, MN.
Though not necessary, chefs are
encouraged to create ethnic meals for
the kids to try. Contact Chef Dan at 952926-2600 ext. 2518 with your planned
menu and to go over the nutrition
guidelines. Visit the chapter website,
www.acfmcc.com, for more information
and to register.
Committed to quality. Committed to Customers.
www.commercialkitchenservices.net • 651-641-0164
events calendar
Minnesota Chamber of Commerce
Women in Business
Minneapolis Marriott Northwest
Brooklyn Park, MN
651-292-4669
*Open to members only
April 9
Appert’s Spring Expo
St. Cloud River’s Edge Convention
Center, St. Cloud, MN
10 a.m.-5 p.m.
320-251-3200
Frances Jedneak
May 6
Upper Lakes Food Show
DECC in Duluth, MN
9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Upperlakesfoods.com
May 6-7
Performance Foodservice Show
River’s Edge Convention Center
St. Cloud, MN
FMI: 800-328-8514
August 11
April 15
Reinhart Spring Show
St. Paul River Centre
St. Paul, MN
800-895-5766
Annual Chapter Awards
Chef of the Year: Virgil Emmert, CEC,
ACE
Continued Support Donors: Torke
Coffee Roasting Co., Luzette Catering,
Reinhart Foodservice, US Foods,
Karlsburger Foods, St. Agnes Baking
Co., Hormel Foodservice, Toby Landgraf
Foundation, Kelber Catering (in memory
of Max Kurnow)
Little Oscar: Virgil Emmert, CEC, ACE
CHEFFY Award: Paul Booth, CCC
Student Culinarian: Dolores Baker
Educator of the Year: Robb White, CEC,
CCA, ACE, AAC
Engrave Your Rolling Pins: Scott Parks,
CC
Rolling In The Right Direction: Paul
Booth, CCC; Daniel Cleary
Current Board: Virgil Emmert, Trent
Anderson, CEC, Frances Jedneak, CEC,
ACE
CHEF Award: Zeke’s Unchained Animal
Steady Eddie: Robert Velarde, CEC,
Keith Huffman, Daniel Cleary
Unsung Hero: Justin Lapprich
MVC Trophy: Scott Parks, CC
installation • Parts • service
April 3
Monthly Meetings
The April meeting is scheduled for
Tuesday, April 29. Meetings are held on
the last Tuesday of every month. Visit
www.acfmcc.com for information and
signup.
Commercial
Kitchen
Services
Service
Chefs from the ACF Minneapolis Chefs
Chapter traveled to St. Louis last month
for the Central Regional Conference, with
five chefs and the chapter as a whole
competing for various awards.
The Hermann G. Rusch Chef’s
Achievement Award went to the
chapter’s own Frances Jean Jedneak,
executive chef at Sodexo in Hopkins. And
the chapter also took home a regional
Chapter Achievement Award for its
excellence in all areas of chapter life.
April 23
Also competing were Virgil Emmert
in the Chef of the Year category, Emily
Slaughter for Student Chef of the Year,
Daniel Vasterling for Culinary Educator of
the Year and Chris Dwyer for the LJ Minor
Chef Professionalism Award.
The winners will now compete for their
respective national titles at the 2014 ACF
National Convention in Kansas City, Mo.,
July 25–29.
Women Who Really Cook Meeting
Upper Crust Bakery, Minneapolis
6-8 p.m.
www.wwrc.info
MN Valley Country Club
Bloomington, MN
12 p.m. tee off; 5 p.m. social hour;
6:30 p.m. dinner
FMI: Andrea Gustafson;
952-594-4046
http://acfmcc.com/Toby
Food Manager Certification
April 10, April 22, April 23, May 13, May 15, June 18
Contact Connie Schwartau for times and locations;
507-337-2819, schwa047@umn.edu
Or visit http://www2.extension.umn.edu/workshops
Visit our website for updates on the local news on foodservice.
ACF chapters are invited to send
event listings and story ideas to
lmichaels@foodservicenews.net.
The news and information source for restaurants and the foodservice industry.
Restaurant Brokers of Minnesota, Inc.
d.J. sikka has been representing clients in the the buying and selling
restaurants since 1981. He and his highly qualified staff of experts
specialize in restaurant sales, leasing, tenant representation, site
acquisition, business appraisal and franchise sales. If you are looking
to buy or sell a restaurant in Minnesota, or need expert financial advice
on restaurants, talk to D.J. first!
d.J. sikka
Restaurant Brokers of Minnesota
952-929-9273
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Sobering Thoughts - Foodservice News

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