Asian Flavors

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Little Mekong night markets offer a taste and experience of Asia, September 6 and 21

By Phyllis Louise Harris

September 2014

One of the most memorable experiences I had in China 30 years ago was a visit to the night markets in Chungking. Imagine narrow city streets filled with vendor booths and carts offering everything from food to clothing, to plants and animals. The sun had set and this mountain city was in complete darkness. The only lights were from bare electric bulbs hanging from wires strung on trees and poles. Despite the eerie look of the bright lights and pitch-black shadows, the place was packed with people looking for bargains or just meeting friends for snacks or dinner.

The closest thing we have to that experience is the Little Mekong Night Market on the Green Line on University Avenue from Dale to Marion in St. Paul. With more than fifteen restaurants nearby it is also a great place to enjoy some of the Twin Cities best Asian food.

In 2010, when construction began on the Green Line and University Avenue became a construction zone, businesses along the way were concerned about surviving the next four years with the decrease in customer traffic. To help overcome some of the problems eight business districts were created along the Green Line with special events, promotions, and anything that would keep customers coming to the torn up streets. Little Mekong was one of those districts.

From 5:00 – 10:00 pm the Night Market around Western and University is filled with guest artists performing dances, playing instruments, singing, drumming and offering a wide variety of Asian arts plus kids activities. Along with a variety of vendors and nearby restaurants, Little Mekong comes alive with opportunities for shopping, dining and just enjoying Minnesota’s cool autumn nights.

Here are just a few of the restaurants in the Little Mekong section of the Green Line on University Avenue starting at Dale Street and moving to Marion Street.

Al Hue Bakery & Deli, Vietnamese Pho Ca-Dao Restaurant, Vietnamese

Bangkok Cuisine, Thai Phuong Café & Deli, Vietnamese

Bankgkok Thai Deli & Supermarket Tay Ho, Vietnamese

Cheng Heng Restaurant, Cambodian Thai Cafe

Ha Tien (to go only) Trieu Chau Restaurant, Vietnamese

Lao-Thai Restaurant University Buffet, Asian

Little Szechuan, Chinese Wung Lee Supermarket Deli

Mai Village, Vietnamese

There are just two markets left this year, September 6 and 21. Take the Green Line to the Western station and you will be in the heart of the festivities. Help support those hardworking store and restaurant owners who survived the construction and are looking forward to meeting new customers the line will bring to the area.

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Best pizza in the Twin Cities comes from a Korean pizzaiola

By Phyllis Louise Harris

August 2014

The current issue of Mpls/StPaul contains a list of their choice of 52 best pizzas and names Ann Kim of Pizzeria Lola creator of one of the top four Chef Driven pizzas. What exactly does that mean?

For one thing it means an immigrant from Korea who went to college in New York City and came back to Minneapolis to be near her family has created one of the best pizza restaurants in the Twin Cities. Who would have thought?!

But, she didn’t just come back and open an award-winning restaurant, she came back not knowing what she wanted to do and decided a pizza restaurant would be good because “most people like pizza” as she once said. Evidently not everyone likes all pizza because the first thing she did was taste the pizza in Minnesota and decided she did not like it at all. Instead she wanted the flavorful, chewy, thin crust pizza she found in New York City and to learn how to make it she went to the International School of Pizza in San Francisco. Not content with just going to school, Ann became so skilled at making the wood-fired artisan-style pizza she became one of only ninety certified pizzaiolas in the U.S. and was offered a chance to return to the school as an intern.

Instead, Ann wanted to open a restaurant. Here is where Lola comes into the picture. While Ann and her partner Conrad Leifur were walking their dog Lola in south Minneapolis near 56th and Xerxes they came upon a “for rent” sign in a window next to the French restaurant Cavé Vin. And, the rest is history? Well, almost.

For the next year she had to create a menu, test dozens of recipes, put together and train a team, furnish the space and order a special wood burning, brass pizza oven from France. Lola’s Pizzeria opened in November 2010 to rave reviews. Among the customers’ favorites was an odd pairing of flavors for Lady ZaZa pizza featuring Korean kimchi that Ann’s mother, Young Kim, makes every week and house-made Korean sausage. While some of her other pizzas have more traditional toppings Ann continues to test unusual combinations such as Korean barbecued ribs with arugula and sesame/soy-chili vinaigrette or the pizza topped with two sunny-side-up eggs. The menu lists 16 choices along with starters and desserts and wine and beer.

Business became so good they expanded dinner hours to include lunchtime and all through the afternoon seven days a week. Area critics continued to rave about her pizza with lots of “favorite” listings and she was featured on cable TV’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” Ann’s story is also included in “Asian Flavors: Changing the Tastes of Minnesota since 1875” published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press and in the EMMY® winning television show, Asian Flavors now running on tpt’s MN channel. (See links below.) Business continued to boom and she opened Hello Pizza a few miles away in Morningside. Her concept is also in the Delta’s airport terminal with yet another pizza place.

It has been great fun to watch her idea take on a life of its own and become so successful. Congratulations to this hard working, talented lady who found a way to put her skills to work and give us an exceptional culinary experience. It is just one more example of what can happen when you set a goal and do everything possible to make it happen. I don’t think Ann ever thought her idea would be anything but a success. What would you do if you knew your idea would be successful?

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Read more about Asian food in Minnesota and try more than 160 recipes in Asian Flavors: Changing the Tastes of Minnesota since 1875, now in bookstores and on amazon.com.

Buy online: Asian Flavors: Changing the Tastes of Minnesota since 1875

Watch the EMMY® award winning “Asian Flavors” television show based on the book on tpt MN. Check local TV listings for broadcast times or view the show streaming online at: http://www.mnvideovault.org/mvvPlayer/customPlaylist2.php?id=24552&select_index=0&popup=yes#0

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Tibetan Momos and 978 other ways to enjoy summer

By Phyllis Louise Harris
July 2014

The Richfield Farmers Market offers a special treat on Saturday mornings…freshly steamed momos filled with meat or potatoes and vegetables. These treats from Tibet are among the many things to enjoy this summer in Minnesota.

Did you know that on Wednesday afternoons, noon to 4:00 pm, in July and August you can shop at a Farmers Market at the Minnesota Zoo?

Or that there are 30 wineries in the State of Minnesota and most have tasting rooms to sample wines before buying? Some sell snacks, many have beautiful picnic grounds and some invite you to help them stomp the grapes in September.

Or that the Carmel Apple Orchard Inn in Staples is a small bed and breakfast offering overnight stays and a gourmet breakfast plus apples in the fall? (www.carmelapl@arvig.net)

Or that there is a grower in Motley with 4 acres of gladiolus offering 1400 varieties of these tall, stately flowers that bloom until the first freeze? (wwwburtsbees@brainerd.net)

You will find information on all of this plus hundreds more things to do and see (978 in all) in Minnesota this summer and fall in the 2014 Minnesota Grown Directory from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. And, it is free! Just go to www.minnesotagrown.com and order your copy or look in the online guide for every single listing.

In Nevis visit a ranch with more than 400 emu (www.emumagic.com) where you can take a guided tour and purchase feathers, oils and leather.

In Long Prairie visit Leatherwood Vinegary and learn more about their fine-wine vinegars made from locally grown fruits. (www.leatherwoodvinegary.com)

In Battle Lake, Moll’s Berry Farm has been operating for 50 years offering strawberries and raspberries that the whole family can pick themself. (www.mollsberryfarm.com)

Garden Fresh Farms in Maplewood offers a look at the future of farming with their year-round indoor farm. (www.gardenfreshfarms.org)

In Winsted, Carlson’s Orchard Bakery and Restaurant is a destination in itself with their 120-seat restaurant in a 1930 dairy barn. Enjoy music and hayrides most weekends, a kids play area every day and a fall celebration October 12 and 19 with pork chop dinners. And, of course, lots of apples. (www.carlsonsorchardbakery.com)

In Vesta, the Holmberg Orchard offers family fun in September and October with apple pies, apple crisp, caramel apples, straw stacks and hayrides to the pick-your-own pumpkin patch. (www.holmbergorchard.com)

In Worthington, Grandpa’s Fun Farm Fall Festival includes meeting farm animals, strolling through mazes, walking along trails, enjoying carnival games, playing miniature golf and more. (www.grandpafunfarm@frontier.com)

In Glencoe the Dunlooken Farm is a CSA offering a variety of vegetables that also offers horseback riding lessons. (www.dunlookenfarm.com)

Minnesota also has a distillery in Hallock at Far North Spirits. (www.farnorthspirits.com)

From Ada Tomato to Zumbrota Farmers Market, there are so many things to do and see the summer will not be long enough. (But then, it never is!) Get your free Minnesota Grown Directory today and start planning trips to the area’s most delicious and interesting sites. Some of them are in your own neighborhood.

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Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Farm fresh asparagus with Asian flavors

By Phyllis Louise Harris

May/June 2014

Now that spring has finally arrived and farmers’ markets are opening we can look forward to the wonderful farm fresh food we have been missing all winter. Asparagus will be one of the first vegetables to arrive.

While we often see asparagus boiled and served with hollandaise sauce it is very versatile. It can be used in curries, stir-fried with a little ginger, steamed, oven roasted or grilled. All treatments start with the same preparation. Snap off the tough ends of the asparagus spears at the point that they easily break away from the tender portion. If you prefer even ends rather than the ragged ends left by the snapping, trim the ends after snapping. Some people even peel away the outer layer of the lower spear to make it even more tender. Wash the spears and if you are going to stir-fry, roast or grill them, dry them with a paper towel.

For grilling, brush the asparagus spears with vegetable oil. Place them on a hot grill turning them until they are brown on all sides and just barely tender, but still crisp. Remove them from the heat and brush then with a light soy sauce then re-grill them for a few seconds. Not too long or they will burn. Serve warm with lemon wedges.

Another Asian twist is marinating the boiled spears in seasoned rice vinegar. Boil the prepared asparagus spears in plain water just until they are fork tender (about six to eight minutes). Drain and immediately plunge them into ice water. Let them cool completely then drain thoroughly. Place the spears in a container that keeps them flat in layers. Mix one part seasoned rice vinegar with an equal part of water and pour over the spears. (One bunch of asparagus spears usually takes about one cup vinegar and one cup water.) Add enough marinade to cover the spears. Cover the container and refrigerate for at least four hours or up to eight hours. Drain the spears and serve cold. I sometimes decorate the spears with slices of roasted red peppers.

The spears can be left in the marinade over night and are good the next day. But, at some point the vinegar will start to change their bright green color into more ashen hues and while they are still good to eat they are not quite as pretty. (Fresh green beans that have been boiled until just tender are also good in this marinade.)

Most supermarkets now carry seasoned rice vinegar as well as plain rice vinegar. They are easy to tell apart. The seasoned vinegar is a pale tan color while the plain vinegar is perfectly clear. The color comes from the seasonings that include soy sauce.

Visit your local farmers’ market and see the wide array of wonderful food available each week fresh from the fields. For a free guide to Minnesota’s markets go to www3.mda.state.mn.us. Filled with information on pick-your-own food, farm stays, wine tastings and so much more, it is a great guide for day trips around the state.

Happy summer!!

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Thursday, April 3, 2014

Everyone is a critic!

By Phyllis Louise Harris

April 2014

Everyone is a critic!

The March issue of Mpls/StPaul magazine announced its food critics’ 50 top restaurant choices in the area. It also contained the readers’ choices. Interesting how different the lists were.

When I lived in New York City, Friday was the day the New York Times food critic published the week’s restaurant review. If the review was good, those in the know stayed away from that restaurant for at least a month until the crowds died down. If it was a bad review, the restaurant would probably not last a month, so not to bother.

Minnesota food critics have never had that kind of impact on local restaurants. In fact, many followed the crowds and let diners choose the ones they favored. Today there seems to be a wide gap between food critics’ choices and diners’ favorites. Perhaps it is because everyone can now be a critic and post their opinions online anytime, anywhere.

Some professional food writers are instructed by their editors to be controversial. Some are expected to be entertaining. A few actually understand a wide variety of cooking and bring the reader a knowledgeable look at the food under review.

There is nothing more devastating to a new restaurant owner after spending months of planning, endless menu revisions, and perhaps millions of dollars to open only to have a “professional” food critic complain about the lighting, or the service, or the signature dish, or even the urinals in the men’s room. (It actually happened to a brand new restaurant). While most restaurants can survive beyond a bad review, it just takes that much longer to find their audience. Once loyal diners start coming back and bringing their friends the restaurant can be successful for years to come, despite the critics of any kind.

There are more than 9,000 restaurants in Minnesota with many successfully run by creative, talented people who have a passion for food. Yet they now have to endure the online “amateur” critics who complain that the food was not like mother’s…not like home cooking. Of course it’s not! If you want home cooking, stay home.

We once took friends to a well-known restaurant in Manhattan that served amazingly delicious grilled meats. One guest ordered the rack of lamb, well done. When it was served it was absolutely perfectly cooked, and indeed was well done. But, the diner sent it back because it was not charred black, the way his mother used to cook it for him. To this day, I do not know how he could even chew the thoroughly burned lamb he eventually ate.

There was one Twin Cities newspaper critic who dined at an exceptionally good Chinese restaurant several years ago and ordered Green Beans with Preserved Vegetable – a traditional Chinese dish. When the green beans were served she complained that they were wrinkled and wrote it as a negative in her review. Of course they were wrinkled, they were supposed to be that way. It is not possible to have green beans with smooth skins after they have been twice cooked in hot oil.

I am often asked to name my favorite restaurant. I always answer it depends on what I am looking for. I have favorite restaurants for soup, chow mein (yes, I do eat chow mein), dessert, hamburger, ribs, stir-fries, tempura, noodles, steak, omelets, and more. In other words, I know what chef cooks a particular dish in the way I most enjoy it and that’s where I go. It makes no sense to me to expect every chef in every restaurant, to cook any dish I may be in the mood for in a manner that pleases me. It’s not going to happen.

In addition to old favorites I enjoy going to new restaurants, sampling dishes by chefs I have not met and being surprised by some of their most delicious flavors and textures. Perhaps that is why I have loved writing about Asian food in Minnesota and around the world for forty years. There is always the possibility of a delightful surprise under every curry leaf, beneath every bubbling broth, along side every bowl of rice. Who would have thought Ann Kim’s kimchee pizza would be so good and make such a hit with Minnesota diners. Or Thom Pham’s cranberry curry would take on a life of its own for more than fourteen years. Or that Reiko Weston’s first sushi bar would start a whole new kind of food craze in Minnesota. This is the real fun of dining out. Discovering good food with delicious surprises. So, negative reviewers, if you don’t like a particular dish, don’t go back, but keep your disappointment to yourself. It may become the favorite dish of the decade.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE PERENNIAL PLATE

Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine are finalists in the 2014 James Beard Awards for Video Webcast, on location for The Perennial Plate, Europe and South Asia. (See the March column for more information on this talented team.)

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Read more about Asian food in Minnesota and try more than 160 recipes in Asian Flavors: Changing the Tastes of Minnesota since 1875, now in bookstores and on amazon.com.

Buy online: Asian Flavors: Changing the Tastes of Minnesota since 1875

Watch the EMMY® award winning “Asian Flavors” television show based on the book on tpt MN. Check local TV listings for broadcast times or view the show streaming online at: http://www.mnvideovault.org/mvvPlayer/customPlaylist2.php?id=24552&select_index=0&popup=yes#0

Saturday, March 1, 2014

The Business of Food As You Have Never Seen It Before @ theperennialplate.com

by Phyllis Louise Harris

March 2014

Across the world food brings people together in a way nothing else can. Daniel Klein found hundreds of examples of this during his three-year effort to produce the James Beard Award winning online documentary series, “The Perennial Plate.” Along with his partner (and now wife) Mirra Fine, Daniel travelled through thirteen countries to learn more about the food of the world from the people who make it.

From the farmer in Japan who fought to keep acres of farmland from being turned into housing developments so that he could continue to grow wheat and then opened a restaurant to turn that wheat into flour and wonderful udon, to the coconut growers in Sri Lanka who find a use for every part of the coconut tree, the team met the people who produce the food we all need and want.

In our world of supermarkets and instant meals we tend to forget the effort made by so many people who spend their lives keeping our plates full. Daniel and Mirra went back to the sources and found a passion among food producers worldwide.

“We wanted to revive the human connection to food and the business of food,” Daniel said. “We wanted to create a series with a positive approach to food production and to get people thinking about the food they eat.” And, they wanted to have fun doing it. They also wanted to change eating habits and to talk about sustainability. What they did surprised them both.

In November of 2009 the first episode of The Perennial Plate was all about turkeys – raising them, killing them and eating them. It is a short, graphic film that some people find too realistic to watch. It is the piece that convinced Mirra to become a vegetarian. “Turkey” ran on the Internet and the series was born. Every Monday for the next year a new short film focused on the food of Minnesota, attracting an audience of about 10,000 viewers who were watching and commenting on each episode. In the second year Daniel and Mirra travelled throughout America and then decided it was time to go abroad. They selected 12 countries with centuries-old culinary traditions and where travel was relatively easy. That included China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Spain, Morocco, Italy, Turkey, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa and Ethiopia. Intrepid Travel thought it was a good idea and became a sponsor.

The intriguing thing about the series is the visual way the team tells a simple food story in three to five minutes. One of my favorites is “Tea for Two,” episode number 117, April 2, 2013. It is a very sweet story of a couple in Sri Lanka whose marriage was arranged for them by their parents and has lasted for 35 years. Today, the couple manages their small tea farm handling everything from the growing to the picking and delivery as a team. In those few short minutes the viewer is suddenly involved with this loving, hardworking pair as they go through their daily routines together, making their own contribution to the world through their beautiful Ceylon tealeaves.

The series also touches on some of the problems of sustainable farming with a cranberry grower in Minnesota who is trying very hard to maintain production while bugs and weeds are killing his crops.

One of the most fascinating stories follows the Dabbawalla of Mumbai where every weekday 4,000 men deliver 175,000 lunches from homes to workers at their jobs. In Episode 115, March 10, 2013, we see a deliveryman stopping at home kitchens to pick up hot lunches packed in special containers. As each pick-up is made it is added to dozens more on a large board that is balanced on the head of the deliveryman as he bicycles through the crowded streets to make each delivery. Other lunch containers are added to hundreds more on a commuter train for a quick ride then delivered on foot. Surprisingly, no delivery is lost and not a single lunch is spilled. Then the deliverymen make the same route in reverse to deliver empty lunch containers back to their homes. As one of them said, bringing good, home cooking to the people at work is very important.

Daniel is an experienced restaurant chef with a film background and Mirra has a wealth of marketing and film experience. Together they have created a food series that educates and entertains in a memorable fashion. I have been a food writer for more than 40 years and found each episode a new lesson in the business of food and gained a new appreciation for the people who spend their lives producing it. Their passion, their dedication, and their hard work clearly transmit to the food we all enjoy everyday. The series is truly enlightening!

Today, Daniel is editing the final episodes of the three-year project. Each three to five minute piece takes three hours to film and additional time to edit. By July the project will be finished but will live on at www.theperennialplate.com. In reviewing the past three years Daniel found that across the world most people want good, real food whether they grow it or buy it. He also found a number of surprises including the episodes that went viral reaching two million viewers. As to his goal to change eating habits, Mirra’s entire family is now vegetarian.

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Read more about Asian food in Minnesota and try more than 160 recipes in Asian Flavors: Changing the Tastes of Minnesota since 1875, now in bookstores and on amazon.com.

Buy online: Asian Flavors: Changing the Tastes of Minnesota since 1875

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

by Phyllis Louise Harris

February 2014

Happy New Year of the Horse! According to Chinese legend the year ahead will be filled with adventure, progress and activity. Sounds good to me!!

While the Chinese New Year 4712 started January 31, traditionally the holiday continues for 23 days so there is plenty of time to celebrate. Chinese food expert Katie Chin tells us how on her website www.thesweetandsourchronicles.com. She starts with Long Life Noodles with Chicken to ensure longevity. Then she follows with Whole Steamed Fish with Ginger and Scallions for a year filled with abundance. Next she serves Firecracker Shrimp for good luck and she includes recipes for these dishes to cook at home. Essentially eating anything red, or yellow or round, or long noodles or whole fish or chicken will help ensure a really good year ahead. Better yet, go to your favorite Chinese restaurant to enjoy their special New Year menu or create a good luck menu of your own. By the way, lobster (whose shell turns red when it is cooked) is a traditional good luck dish, so do enjoy!

For more than 30 years I have written about the joys of the Chinese New Year and the deliciously traditional ways to celebrate it. But, this year I did something different….I went on a picnic!

Each year in February I am so tired of the snow, cold and ice that I “escape” to the tropical climate at Bachman’s floral and garden store at 6010 Lyndale Avenue South in Minneapolis. Here among the red and yellow tulips, the aromatic hydrangeas, the bright yellow daffodils, and the lush green plants I can enjoy selections from Patrick’s Bakery and Café at a patio table in the wonderfully warm, sun-filled greenhouse. What a joy! There is not a flake of snow in sight and I can dine without my coat. While there is also not a single Asian flavor on the menu, I can select “lucky” foods from Patrick’s array of quiche’s, sandwiches, salads, cookies, and wide selection of heavenly pastries. I can always find something yellow or red or round or whole in this array.

Bachman’s first opened in 1885 selling potatoes, lettuce, onions and squash grown on their land that now houses the Bachman operation. They did not start growing flowers until 1914 and today Bachman’s is one of the largest floral and nursery operations in the country. So it is probably fitting that they have started holding annual winter farmers’ markets. This year the Kingfield and Fulton Winter Farmers Markets will be held on Saturdays, February 22 and March 22 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lyndale greenhouse. Shop for locally grown and produced cheeses, meats, prepared foods, canned goods, crafts and fresh produce from 30 local vendors. For anyone missing a weekly trip to the farmers’ market this winter, this will help tide you over until spring.

Author Beth Dooley will also be at the February 22 market selling and signing her book “Minnesota’s Bounty,” a guide to shopping and cooking food from local farmers’ markets. And on March 22, “The Minnesota Farmers Market Cookbook” will be featured with cooking demonstrations by Tricia Cornell. Both book events will be held from 10 – 11 a.m.

Start the Year of the Horse off right! Celebrate with good dining, new activities and adventure. Gung Hay Fat Choy! May you have the best of years.

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Read more about Asian food in Minnesota and try more than 160 recipes in Asian Flavors: Changing the Tastes of Minnesota since 1875, now in bookstores and on amazon.com.

Buy online: Asian Flavors: Changing the Tastes of Minnesota since 1875

Watch the EMMY® award winning “Asian Flavors” television show based on the book on tpt MN. Check local TV listings for broadcast times or view the show streaming online at:
http://www.mnvideovault.org/mvvPlayer/customPlaylist2.php?id=24552&select_index=0&popup=yes#0