Murray’s…decades of the best!

Phyllis Louise Harris

March 2017

There are more than 9,000 licensed restaurants in Minnesota. This month Mpls/StPaul magazine lists 50 as its “best” choices. That leaves more than 8950 restaurants that were not mentioned and some of them are my favorites.

I have favorites for a variety for reasons, but Murray’s has been on my “best” list for more than 57 years. It has been around even longer. Opened in 1933 in North Minneapolis, the Red Feather was the first restaurant run by Art Murray and his wife Marie. In 1939, they moved it to the Russell Hotel on 4^th Street in downtown Minneapolis then in 1946 to 6^th street off Nicollet Avenue and called it Murray’s Steakhouse. Here they took over a space once occupied by the Chinese restaurant Hankow Café that touted itself as the “finest and largest Oriental café in the Northwest.” That was interesting because it was just two doors down from John’s Place, the first and one of the most popular Chinese restaurants in the state.

Murray’s soon became a favorite of businessmen, visiting notables, sports legends, judges and lawyers for lunch and at night a place to eat, drink and dance to the music of the Murray’s Orchestra. In the 1950s it was a favorite afternoon luncheon choice for ladies who were also treated to fashion shows while dining. It was a time when ladies wore fussy hats and kid gloves anytime they went downtown.

I started going to Murray’s in 1960 when I was working in advertising and taking clients to lunch. Marie understood the difficulties of a woman working in a man’s world especially when the check came to the table. To eliminate the awkward situation when most men felt obliged to pick up the check, Marie opened a house account for me so I never had to deal with a check at the table again.  It was simply added to my account along with a decent tip and I paid the bill at the end of the month.

Over the years Murray’s won numerous dining awards including the Silver Butter Knife award for its outstanding steak. In the 1980s it was named as the source of America’s most perfectly cooked steaks. When I moved to New York in 1974 friends would take me to a variety of steakhouses and each one was simply not as good a Murray’s. Not the Palm. Not Peter Luger’s. Not a single one! And while my husband (a native New Yorker) publicly tolerated my allegiance to Murray’s quality, he privately agreed it was the best.

So what makes Murray’s so good? Quality food, outstanding cooking, consistent, friendly management, and an atmosphere of caring about customers. But most of all it is the delicious food year after year. Among my favorites are small steaks, au gratin potatoes, Caeser salad with house dressing, fresh raspberry pie, and, of course, Murray’s garlic toast. So many of the recipes date back decades and are still secret. If you are not a particular Murray, you do not get to see the recipe, and believe me I have tried.

Gone are the Murray’s Orchestra and the dance floor in the center of the dining room. Gone are Art and Marie and later their son Pat. Gone are the fashion show luncheons. But still here, still thriving, still serving some of the best food in the country are third generation Murrays who truly understand what “best” means in the restaurant business.  Thanks Tim, Jill and James Murray for continuing a tradition your grandparents and father so successfully carried on. We need restaurants like Murray’s to remind us what exceptional dining is all about.

(For more of the Murray’s story go to www.murraysrestaurant.com . Also take a look at their menu. If you really want the “best” hamburger in town, try Murray’s! And, so you don’t think I forgot this is a column about Asian food, try their Crispy Asian Chicken salad – not really Asian, but it has a few Asian ingredients and for a steak house that’s close enough.)

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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, in bookstores and on amazon.cm.

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

https://www.amazon.com/Asian-Flavors-Changing-Tastes-Minnesota/dp/0873518640

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.tpt.org/asian-flavors/

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Nordeast pizza with a Korean accent

Phyllis Louise Harris

February 2017

When Korean native Ann Kim opened her third restaurant she chose a spot in Northeast Minneapolis, home of pubs and meat and potato menus that was originally settled by northern European immigrants. Nordeast, as it is sometimes called, is more bratwurst than sushi, more frame houses than high-rises, more beer than cosmopolitans.  Yet somehow Young Joni seems to fit in well with its own touch of international flavors.

It has been six years since Ann and her partner Conrad Keifur opened their first restaurant in south Minneapolis and brought a new look to Twin Cities pizza with Pizzeria Lola. A certified pizzaiola, Ann created a thin crust pizza, topped it with a variety of old and new flavors including kimchi and baked it in a wood-burning oven. In Young Joni she continues this menu of more than a dozen pizzas including some with an Asian flare including Korean BBQ and soy chili and Umami Mama with a variety of mushrooms and nori. The menu also includes Korean Beef Short Ribs and Kimchi. One dish I especially enjoyed was Grilled Treviso and Beets with leafy Treviso, smoky blue cheese, hazelnuts, and beets in charred shallot vinaigrette. The variety of flavors and textures makes it exceptional. Another was Grilled Confit Mushrooms in chestnut miso butter. The sauce was so good we kept the plate with the remains to use as a dipping sauce for pizza pieces.

Ann took more than a year creating the atmosphere for Young Joni resulting in the feeling of a chalet that would be at home in the Alps or Aspen. The vaulted ceiling and large glass-surround entrance make it inviting and the large bar at one side of the room with plenty of seating space offers a change from individual tables. Sit with a group? Sit alone? Your choice!  There is also a separate bar with a separate entrance for those folks who are looking for a quiet drink in a quiet, homey atmosphere.

By the way, the restaurant is named after Ann’s mother Young Kim and Conrad’s mother Joni, the partners’ first cooking teachers. Cocktails are special, too, with the creative touch of Adam Gorski, formerly of La Belle Vie.

Young Joni is closed on Monday. Hours are Tuesday – Thursday 4 -11 pm, Friday 4 pm -12 am, Saturday 12 pm  – 12 am, Sunday 12 pm – 10 pm. It is at 165 13^th Avenue NE, Minneapolis. Phone is 612-345-5719.

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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, in bookstores and on amazon.cm.

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

https://www.amazon.com/Asian-Flavors-Changing-Tastes-Minnesota/dp/0873518640

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.tpt.org/asian-flavors/

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Toast the Year of the Rooster with Tea

Phyllis Louise Harris

January 2017

January 28 marks the beginning of the lunar Year of the Rooster and the most important holiday on the Chinese calendar. For seven days people will celebrate with food, events and gifts. In China, businesses close, families come together and age-old traditions mark the beginning of the new spring season. Lucky colors, shapes and foods are among the traditions that have for centuries been part of this happy time. If you are looking for long life, serve very, very long noodles. If you want fortune in your future serve food symbolic of gold such as oranges. If prosperity is your goal, serve a whole fish or chicken complete with head and tail (or feet).

Or try something new. On January 28 tea guru Bill Waddington will unveil some new teas never before seen in America. Some were created by tea masters in China. Some by Bill himself, an award winning tea blender, but all can be seen and tasted on New Year’s Day in the St. Anthony TeaSource store.

It is the first of TeaSource’s new tea class schedule with additional classes each month through May. Start as a novice with Tea Kindergarten February 11, then Tea & Cuisine Pairing on March 8, Emperors Dragons and Smugglers on April 22, Tea Blending as a Fine Art on April 29, and Healthy Tea Smoothies on May 20. Each class is $15 and lasts two hours with information and tastings throughout.  Held in TeaSource’s stores in St. Anthony, Highland Village or Eden Prairie each class sells out early. For reservations call 1-877-768-7233 or get more information in any of the TeaSource stores.

If you are still snowbound with cabin fever go to teasource.com and take a visual trip through the world of tea. Or send for the new TeaSource colorful catalog filled with stories about tea and a whole new world of teas to try.

Gong Xi Fa Cai in any language is Happy New Year. May yours be filled with the many good things in life and an ever-hot aromatic pot of tea!

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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, in bookstores and on amazon.cm.

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

https://www.amazon.com/Asian-Flavors-Changing-Tastes-Minnesota/dp/0873518640

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.tpt.org/asian-flavors/

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Raghavan Iyer's Tribute to a Potato

Phyllis Louise Harris

December 2016 

“I never met a potato I didn’t like,” is a favorite expression of Mumbai native, Minnesota resident and cookbook author Raghavan Iyer. So it is not surprising that he has wanted to create a potato cookbook for years. “Smashed, Mashed, Boiled and Baked…and Fried, Too!” is the result. A collection of seventy-five recipes to enhance the lowly spud was published by Workman Publishing this fall and is now available in bookstores.

This simple vegetable has sustained entire countries, fed cattle, been dumped in the ocean as garbage, was the reason for several wars and its absence caused millions to die of starvation. First cultivated in the mountains of Peru, potatoes made their way to Europe with the Spanish conquerors then on to Asia with Spanish and Portuguese traders looking for exotic spices. Today potatoes are the fourth largest crop in the world after wheat, rice and corn.

The United Nations declared 2008 the International Year of the Potato creating a flood of potato cookbooks including one sponsored by the Chinese government, “How Chinese Eat Potatoes.” Iyer takes the potato on a world tour and includes influences from some of the 100 countries now enjoying his favorite food.

One of my favorites is a dish I learned in one of Florence Lin’s Chinese cooking classes. Iyer calls them Bird’s Nests but they are not to be confused with actual bird’s nests the Chinese use to make a very expensive soup. In class we called them Potato Baskets and filled them with green beans in mustard sauce. Iyer offers a shrimp stir-fry for his nests. Basically they are strips of potatoes deep-fried in two wire strainers until they are crisp and hold the shape of a basket. They can be made ahead and reheated before serving. They are not only pretty, but very, very tasty!

The book is filled with colorful photos and interesting recipes to make any cook’s job just a little easier and tastier.

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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, in bookstores and on amazon.cm.

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

https://www.amazon.com/Asian-Flavors-Changing-Tastes-Minnesota/dp/0873518640

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.tpt.org/asian-flavors/

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Truong Thanh’s perfect water chestnuts

Phyllis Louise Harris
November 2016

I am often asked to name my favorite food. And my answer is always the same – any food that is perfectly ripe and just picked. Last week that applied to the perfectly ripe and very fresh water chestnuts I found at one of my favorite food stores, Truong Thanh (Great Wall).

About this time each year I make a double batch of Chinese Pearl Balls, my daughter’s favorite dish that are best made with fresh water chestnuts. And each year I go to Truong Thanh hoping they have some on hand. Only once was I disappointed because owner Hung Lanh Duong felt the chestnuts in the market were not up to her standards. This year they were perfect!

If you have never tasted a fresh water chestnut you will not understand my excitement in finding perfect chestnuts. They grow in the mud along Southeast Asian riverbanks and when you see them in the store they are still covered with some of the soil. Their outer skins are also dark brown so it is difficult to know whether you are picking up a perfect chestnut with a white, crunchy, tasty interior or one that may have turned brown throughout.

To give me the best chance of getting good water chestnuts I squeeze each one. If they are solid all around I’ll take my chances and keep it. Last week I picked up 14 perfect water chestnuts. Now that may seem like a small thing to you, but to me it was wonderful!

To use the chestnuts I slice off the root end and peel away the dark shell with a knife leaving beautifully crunchy and tasty “nuts.” Not at all like the canned versions that are simply starchy and bland, fresh water chestnuts have a flavor similar to fresh coconut but less sweet. The peeled chestnuts can be kept in a covered container filled with water for several days in the refrigerator. Fresh water chestnuts are among hundreds of items available at Truong Thanh Grocery Store.

Founded in 1988 by Hung’s father Xuong Mau Duong, the store was originally located at 15th Street off Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis. Xuong was the state’s first Chinese herbalist who stocked several hundred traditional herbs. It was fun to go into the store on Saturday’s to watch him consult with a customer then go to the drawers and pull out one herb after another putting them on a big square of paper until he had the combination he wanted for his customer’s ailments. In 1993 they moved the store to 2520 Nicollet Avenue South on Eat Street with an adjoining parking lot.

I also go to Truong Thanh for all the Asian basics and cooking equipment as well as beautiful watercress, fresh long beans, live crabs, and in season, persimmons and fresh lychees. That’s another food you need to try fresh and not canned. Lychees have a rough shell around very sweet fruit and a seed. With a sharp knife cut around the circumference of the shell, pull the two shell pieces off and eat the fruit avoiding the seed. Very sweet and very good!


Truong Thanh is open everyday. For information call 612-879-0561.



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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, in bookstores and on amazon.cm.

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.tpt.org/asian-flavors/

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