The Secret Fork

OK, I tried the McNally's "new" lamb burger. Here's the 411.

2011-10-22T12:03:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I lamented, well bitched, about McNally's making a significant change to the star of last Fall's special seasonal menu, the lamb burger. Check that out here. So, in the interest of fairness and good blog journalism, I decided to try one about a week ago.

So, how was it? Am I going to eat my words? Hell, no!

The new McNally's lamb burger was just as expected- too eastern-tilted to suit my tastes. If the goal was to produce a lamb burger similar to what other joints are doing with ground lamb or trying to play into the stereotype that all lamb must be served in some Greek sort of fashion, then they nailed it.

Here's what I noticed. When it came to the table, it honestly smelled like someone slid a dish of curry under my nose. The meat is blended with cumin and some other herbs, and SAUSAGE for crying out loud. All together the aroma was very curry-like.

My burger was cooked ok. By that I mean a little more on the rare side, but not quite enough. The Secret Soup Spoon also had a lamb burger and noted it was a tad on the dry side. Lamb is that way. If you don't under cook it just a tad, you end up with a dry burger. The sausage blend was mild, but still noticeable. I much prefer full-on lamb flavor and the new burger just teases.

The yogurt sauce on the burger was a major eh. Didn't seem to add anything. No real sourness or cooling sort of effect. It was just there for looks, apparently.

Go have one of these if you want. I am going to pass. It's not nearly as good as last year's super delicious lamb burger and it is not worth the whopping $12 price tag on it. If you want this yogurty Greek/middle eastern flavor profile, save yourself about 6 bucks by going to Nick's and getting a big greasy gyro.

Hy Vee 26th and Sycamore and the Five Stages of Grief

2011-10-12T13:23:00.001-07:00

This post has been a long time coming. If you didn't know, Hy Vee is doing some MAJOR renovation work on its store at 26th and Sycamore. I've made it a point to go over there from time-to-time to check it out and enjoy the challenge of trying to figure out where the hell they have stashed whatever item I went in there to purchase. The process started months ago by shoving a few aisles closer together and slowly tearing things apart. Then things started really coming apart- the old thrift store building was torn down and the entire front entrance modified so construction could continue on the exterior. The entire experience was like visiting the only grocery store in a community that had been struck by a terrible natural disaster.

Over the course of the summer, though, little things got done, like the new cheese counter and bakery. The milk is now always in the same spot. The new liquor and wine area and pharmacy are still open. Things are coming together, but chaos prevails- mainly in the parking lot at present, but plenty inside as well.

This whole experience got me thinking about the five stages of grocery grief.

1. Anger. Big time anger. if you thought it was hard to find stuff in there pre-remodeling, you hadn't seen anything. Not even the helpful smiles knew where to find milk on most days. And, if you did locate what you were searching for, there was no guarantee it would be there next time.

2. Denial. Mostly as in, "I can't believe this will ever be done!" Generally, quickly followed by more anger.

3. Depression. If you tried to buy any sort of bread that Hy Vee passes off as decent this summer, you should have felt depressed. The Banquet offers its guests better looking baked goods every morning after breakfast. Seriously. You might also be easily depressed by having to drive to another Hy Vee to have to escape the calamity.

4. Bargaining. After a while, finding shredded cheese or organic beer became kind of a game. "Hey, this is kind of fun!" you told yourself, thinking that you can put up with this until sometime in 2012 when the project is supposed to be finished.

5. Acceptance. As things settle into place, it is clear that there are a few real improvements in the place. The new cheese aisle is pretty nice. I don't believe the Taj Mahal at 37th and Minnesota has that sort of set up for cheeses. And the wine, beer, and liquor area is pretty spacious and very well stocked. Gone are the days of picking up a 12-pack of PBR cans across from the eggs in the dairy aisle. Maybe this won't be so bad?

But wait, it's still Hy Vee. And that brings us back to anger and depression...

In all candor, the new, improved store will be nice. But, the real question will be whether Hy Vee can step up it's game. For instance:

Will the produce in the sparkling new aisle still look like crap most of the time? Will cilantro be available with any regularity? Can I purchase an avocado that is somewhere between rock hard and water balloon, in other words, ripe?

Will purchasing meat still require a graphing calculator to figure out the screw job the helpful smiles are laying on you between the packaged meat and the stuff in the full service case?

Same goes for pricing cheese.

Time will tell. Happy shopping in Sioux Falls, where boy, have we got options!

Martha Stewart Enameled Cast Iron Recalled. That Sucks!

2011-09-29T12:13:00.001-07:00

Okay, here's a post I never thought I would write. First, I am no Martha Stewart fan. Incredible personal history and entrepeneur, but still, not one of may favorite people. She's certainly no Julia Child. Second, Macy's. Love hate there. Any glimmer of a decent retail experience took a nose dive when Macy's bought out Marshall Field's and rebranded the Sioux Falls store. Again! Actually, I miss Dayton's. But occasionally, one can get a decent deal on merchandise at Macy's with the proper combination of sales prices, coupons, and a Macy's charge card.

So, I was out trolling for bargains in the old cookware department a couple of weeks ago. I was hoping to add to my collection of enameled cast iron.

If you haven't used enameled cast iron, you are seriously missing out. Some of the more famous brands are LeCrueset and Staub. A 5 to 7 quart covered enameled cast iron pan is, in my opinion, perhaps the single most valuable piece of equipment when it comes to cranking out authentic French food. The pot itself is called a "casserole" in more authentic French cookbooks, such as Mastering the Art of French Cooking. So, if you tried to make ratatouille in the short dish you used to take that Tater Tot Hot Dish to the First Lutheran Pot Luck last month, now you know why it didn't seem quite right.

LeCruset and Staub casseroles are spendy. If you can find a decent size for under $200, grab it! Macy's had a great alternative though. I mean, look, it's a heavy cast iron pot covered with enamel. How crazy can that be? Well, apparently simple enough that Martha got some factory in China to kick out ones that could be sold for less than a hundred bucks retail, on sale. Unfortunately, they got recalled. Here's the bulletin from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

I think there is something to this recall because my own casserole has a few spots where chips of enamel are missing. The Secret Salad Fork was relieved to hear about the recall, because until that time, grossly negligent dish washing technique had been identified as the cause of the chips.

So, take that sucker back to Macy's and get some semblance of a refund. I understand Macy's will roll out an improved version later. Chances are I am going to undergo a chronic case of Boeuf Bourguignon withdrawal that I expect will coincide with the fist snowfall of the season. I hope my Macy's refund will at least get me a down payment on a LeCrueset.

Oh, The Humanity!! McNally's Messes With Lamb Burger

2011-09-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

Last Fall, McNally's devised a seasonal menu that included something rarely seen in these parts- a lamb burger. I raved about it and some molten hot dip that was also on the special seasonal menu in a post last year. I made it a point to go to McNally's as much as possible to get that lamb burger (which was especially delicious with some Guinness) and to convert as many of my forkie-friends to the cause as I could. I preached the gospel of the lamb burger and was sad to see it go when the menu had to change.

Well, I had a chance to visit McNally's this week. I was pretty excited to go because I heard my beloved lamb burger was back. Oh, the anticipation. The longing I had endured. The chance to once again savor that tasty lamb with cheese, prosciutto, braised onions and fresh tomato. I was nearly shaking as I opened the menu.

My anticipation evaporated and my life flashed before me as I scanned the menu only to learn that the lamb burger was there, but HAD CHANGED!!! WTF??!! (What the Fork)

So, how did it change? Three major ways in my opinion. One- the lamb is mixed with sausage. Probably a reason for this. Lamb can be kind of lean and some sausage can add some fat to keep the meat moist. But sausage is sausage and lamb is lamb, unless of course it's lamb sausage, but that is a different story. If I want lamb, I want lamb, not sausage. I hate it when people mix a meat that is perfectly good on its own (like lamb) and make it taste like sausage. Two- cumin. Cumin is one of the most distinctive spices I can think of. It's right up there with saffron and fennel. I can pick cumin out of just about any spice blend. It has its place, usually in some Indian, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean dishes. The reason it bent my tines on the lamb burger was because it told me the whole thing was taking a Mediterranean/Greek/Turkish twist. Three- yogurt sauce. Bingo! That confirms it. Maybe it was even served on pita bread. I don't know, I was too forked off to read on. Besides, turns out McNally's had run out of them, so even if I wanted to give it the old college try, no go.

Okay, okay, so I hear you saying, "How can you sit there and complain about something you didn't try? You might like it." Yeah, well, you have a point there, a small one, but fine, a point. Maybe it is good and juicy and sausagey/Greek tasting with creamy cucumber yogurt tzatziki sauce. I DON'T CARE!

Here's my point: When you make something good, you shouldn't screw with it. Ask Coca Cola about that.

My other problem is, this is just a tad too trend-oriented. Why does everyone seem to associate lamb with Greek flavors? Sure, lamb is stereotypically Greek. Remember the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding when the aunt says to the finace', "What? You donn eata meat? Okay, I'll make lamb." Also, this Greek gyro tzatziki burger thing isn't new or unique around here. Bros. has a lamb burger on the menu that bears the same description. Now, instead of putting last year's tasty burger on the menu, McNally's is content to follow suit.

Last year's lamb burger, the REAL lamb burger was tasty. Great combination of ingredients. Best of all, it really showcased the flavor of the lamb. When it was cooked just right, so it was hot and super juicy, it was without peers in the local burger universe. I miss it dearly. Maybe I will try one of the new trendy lamb burgers. But, more likely, when I want something with that flavor profile, I will probably go to Nick's and get a phenomenally delicious gyro made out of that spinning meat loaf on a stick. If I try one, I will let you know.

But, for the time being, shame on you McNally's. Last year you showcased lamb. This year, you're just showcasing a trend. Woo Hoo.

By the way, if you want to try a burger with a composition that is pretty close to the REAL lamb burger, go to Granite City and try their Napa Valley Burger. No lamb, but pretty nice.

Old B-Dubs Remodeling

2011-09-21T11:03:00.001-07:00

The original Sioux Falls Buffalo Wild Wings location on West Avenue is under construction. The place is still open and serving icy beers and spicy wings, but it is a bit of a mess. Apparently the game plan is to generally update the appearance. Presumably you are going to see more of the corporate cookie cutter sort of motif like the new West Side location.

When chatting with out server about the changes, we learned that part of the plan is to expand the bar area. Presently, errr, previously, when entering, the bar was on the right and a more resturanty seating area was on the left. Separating the two was a sort of no-man's land. I am pretty sure that center area was not open seating, but I know for a fact that it was treated that way more than once. Not that I know anything about commandeering a table before a Stampede game when the place was packed and a line of people were standing patiently waiting for tables. Anyway, opening up that area and making it more definitively bar is a great idea. My guess is that people who want to take their kiddies to eat wings and drink Mountain Dew are headed to Louise Avenue and the extra bar space will be very handy during televised football games and pre-live games at the Arena.

Keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks if you are heading out there. It looks like the construction is going to get a little more serious and a brief period of closure might be required. You might want to call ahead before making the jaunt.

Breaking News: Shonna Haugen Leaving Parker's

2011-09-18T10:13:00.000-07:00

Wow! I was just literally writing a glowing review of Parker's. I think they have done a remarkable job of getting the whole operation into high gear in the last year. Shonna Haugen, Executive Chef at Parker's deserves a lot of credit for that. It's not easy to crank out consistently great product night after night and also to change and develop new twists on familiar ingredients. This is especially remarkable to me, because as far as I know, Shonna does not have any formal culinary education.

As I am working through my post, I just happened to jump over to Shonna's Facebook page and noted the most recent post stating that she just completed her last Saturday evening shift at Parker's and her last day will be Thursday, 9/22. She is apparently heading over to Carnaval Brazillian Grill.

I don't know quite what to make of that. I think Shonna and staff have done a remarkable job with the food at Parker's. (Despite a slight leaning toward Asian-Fusion on occasion that I personally do not particularly care for.) I am not necessarily a Carnaval fan, but will be interested to see what touches Shonna brings to a menu that is comprised mostly of protein on a stick. Best wishes to Shonna with her new endeavor.

As for Parker's, I am sure Stacy Newcomb-Weiland has her bases covered. Stacy and Parker's have undergone a change in the culinary team line-up previously. The guys who opened Bros. were the original Parker's culinary staff. That transition was seamless and I am sure the next one will be, as well. It will be interesting to see what changes a new Executive Chef might bring.

New B-Dubs is Open!!

2011-09-13T08:12:00.000-07:00

Buffalo Wild Wings has finally opened the long-awaited new location on the West Side. The new location is in the former Sportsman's Warehouse building along with some furniture stores.

For those of you who have only experienced B-Dubs at the West Avenue location by the Arena, this will be quite a change for you. From what I know, the new spot is created in the image of the standard B-Dubs layout. If you have been to B-Dubs in Rapid City, or another community, you know what I mean. Much different feel with the black and yellow color scheme everywhere. Family/restaurant style seating is in the front, and a big bar area in the rear.

One of my foodie friends, the Secret Soup Spoon, and I love B-Dubs at the West Avenue location. It sets a pretty high bar for tasty, spicy, suck-the-sauce-off-your-fingers wings and good service. The Secret Soup Spoon and I were worried the new Louise Avenue location wouldn't be able to live up to the high standards set by the original location. In a word, they have. Good service. Tasty wings.

Two cool features to check out at the new location. First, there is some upper deck seating above the bar area. A person could perch themselves up there and have a commanding view of the entire place. It's pretty cool. Second, the place is absolutely loaded with TV screens, including what has to be the biggest projection screen in Sioux Falls. So big in fact, that you might want some Dramamine if you have to sit up close to the huge screen in the bar. This place is seriously loaded with TVs. If you suffer from epilepsy or an advanced case of ADD, you might want to head back to the cozy confines of West Avenue.

First Trip to Luciano's... and it might be the last.

2011-08-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

I recently got around to trying Luciano's recently. Luciano's is located on the main level of the Falls Center, the space formerly occupied by Food & Fermentation, the Brickhouse, and the Sioux Falls Brewing Company. It's gorgeous space-- open, rustic beams and brick and wood floors. There is also seating available outside with really nice views of the courthouse and the Cathedral. Great place to sit on a nice evening.

Luciano's here in Sioux Falls is an off-shoot of the eatery of similar name in Sioux City. I don't spend much time in Sioux City. Like most people from Sioux Falls I am rather skeptical of almost all things Sioux City and pretty much limit visits there to hitting the occasional concert. But, word on the street is that the Sioux City Luciano's is pretty decent and, hey, the place is new, so gotta give it a try.

Despite the Italian sounding name of the place, the menu is more European than it is Italian. Yes, there is some typically Italian sort of fare, such as lasagna or other pasta dishes, but there are also things like different varieties of schnitzel (complete with German potato salad), and French dishes like Flemish beef. There are also seafood selections.

We started the evening with some antipasti. I love these assortments of meats, cheeses, and pickled vegetables. I didn't notice anything particularly "authentic" on the plate, i.e. a good dried sopressata or mortadella or aged provolone, but still, pretty good. Unfortunately, this was the high point.

We'll skip the unremarkable soup. It was unremarkable. Let's get to the main dishes. I had lasagna. This is a dish that I often puzzle how one can screw up. They did. Overcooked pasta. Practically flavorless sauce, odd ricotta/béchamel. And a really flat, poor presentation to top it all off. The Secret Salad Fork had a fish dish- Salmon Wellington. I had a bite that was mostly the mushroom duxcelles and puff pastry. I kid you not, I nearly had to spit it out, it was that bad. That's a new one on me.

Service got a solid C+ for being friendly and somewhat knowledgable. I give the guy credit, he tried. But I didn't want placation or platitudes at that point, I wanted out.

I am told the place does a great job when owner Ray Hoffman is in the house. I hope so. But even then, it is going to take a great deal of convincing to get me back in the place.

Forget you, Chevy's! I'll make my own beans!

2011-04-16T21:30:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: Look. I know I try to write about the finer aspects of food around here. And when it comes to Mexican food, I have often crowed about the virtues of the extremely authentic Mexican food experiences available. This post is not about that. I freely confess that, sometimes, I want a particularly un-authentic experience and for sit-down dining, when it comes to Mexican, nothing gets much more un-authentic than Chevy's. At least not since Chi Chi's closed. Remember that??? I do! Anyway, there is nothing wrong with un-authentic, if that is what you are looking for.

So, I went to Chev's a little while back and when ordering my entree was extremely surprised to learn that the charros beans are no longer available. What the fork? How does that work? For those of you lacking the foggiest what I am talking about, charros beans were the frijoles that were not refritos. They looked like, well, beans In a spicy sauce. And now they are gone.

So, like Cee Lo Green might say, fork you and your no cans menu-hoo-hoo. Make your own beans. So, with props to Rick Bayless and Alton Brown, here is a method for making your own very tasty beans at home.

Pay attention.

Get yourself about 4 slices of nice, thick smoky bacon. Cut it into small, but roughly cut pieces and cook it in a suacepan, maybe 3 or 4 quart, over medium heat. Let it get crisp and render that fat out. (No, don't drain the damned fat. The beans soak it up and that's part of what makes this so good.) Pull the bacon out of the pan with a slotted spoon and set it aside on a plate. Don't eat it all while continuing the recipe. Now, at this point, you got options. You could saute about a cup of diced onion in there until translucent and then finely chop a couple of cloves of garlic and saute that for a minute. Then you add about a half a can of fire roasted tomatoes and a half a beer. Or, you could totally cheat and add the beer and about 7-8 ounces of salsa. (Know what salsa is? Chopped tomatoes, peppers, onions, and garlic with tomatoes. Duh. Let David Pace do the chopping. Completely fair.)

Oh, that beer? Dos Equis Amber works great, but so does Corona, Tecate, and Miller High Life. B-double "E"-R. It all works.

Simmer that stuff. Drain a couple of cans of pinto beans. Dump them in, toss the bacon back in and simmer the whole shebang on medium-low heat for about 15 minutes. Let them thicken up a bit.

If you didn't use the salsa, chop up a few seeded pickled jalapenos and put them in there. Salt to taste. Finish them with a handful of chopped cilantro-- about a half cup.

Knock yourself out. These are good.

Crawford's

2011-04-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

I just can't quite put it another way: This time of year sucks. Sure, the weather is starting to get a little nicer, and the grass is starting to show the slightest signs of coming back to life. But, overall, it is still rather "grey" around here. Hate that.

However, if you find your visual senses needing a little jump start, you might wander down to Crawford's on Phillips Ave downtown. Crawford's is the newest addition to the Sioux Falls fine dining scene. Named after the menswear store that once occupied the same spot, the building is beautiful. Step inside and be prepared for an explosion of styles, textures, and colors. I believe I read the decor is kind of like cowboy meets gypsy. That's a pretty good start. You'll see original brick, a pressed tin ceiling, leather, iron, lighting fixtures fashioned from antlers, cowhide, dark wallpaper festooned with jewels, colored candle holders, silk curtains, etc. etc. etc. A person could probably discover something they haven't seen previously on just about any trip in there. It's quite the experience.

The menu is pretty interesting. Kind of standard fine dining fare, in my opinion. Steaks, fish, lamb, pasta, salads, soups, appetizers. On our visit, we started with some calamari, steak bites, and smoked chicken wings. Nothing terribly exciting, but all prepared well and sent out without error. The calamari was some of the largest cut and tenderest squid I have had here. We tried the onion soup, which featured something like four onions. Hard to tell that, though, because of the smoky gruyere melted on top that gave it a definite smokiness. The entrees were good. Fairly big portions.

Service was good. We had a great waitress who was friendly and eager to serve. That can get a person a long way. Her only fault was a general lack of knowledge of fine food and the nuances of the menu. Crawford's makes a pretty big production out of the service. Our entrees were delivered by at least two people from the kitchen.

However . . . decor alone won't carry the day. Even though Crawford's is off to a great start, especially for being open only a week, I would offer the following thoughts:

I personally thought the approach to the entrees was a little ham-handed. The food was well prepared, but the portions were a tad large. Big and pretty don't necessarily go together. I hope the chefs will start to experiment and get out a little more toward the "edge" like the guys at Bros have done. The food just needs a little more, well, finesse.

I'd like to see some awesome off-menu specials. I learned a long time ago that if a place is featuring a really special dish that isn't on the menu, that's probably what you want to go for.

Get that staff educated.

I also have one general question about fine dining downtown, in general. Let me preface this by saying that in my humble opinion, thanks to Parker's, Bros, and K's, downtown has wrestled the fine-dining epicenter back downtown, where it should be. But, are Crawford's, Bros, and Parker's too alike? Time will tell. Anyone who pays attention around here knows that almost any food place will be jam packed for the first several weeks it is open. Hell, Senor Wiener probably hit it out of the park for a month before everyone figured out they were serving hot dogs from a difficult to access location. Crawford's is definitely the "it" place right now. Can they sustain it, and what does this mean for other establishments?

I think David Graham should do well with this endeavor. By decor alone, Crawford's has quickly set itself apart from other venues, but in time it is going to take great food and support from the dining public. Personally, I prefer Parker's and Bros, but I will definitely be back to visit Crawford's many times, I am sure.

Revisiting old favorites- do they change or do we?

2011-03-19T07:59:00.001-07:00

I was recently in Pierre and had the opportunity to visit one of my favorite places, La Minestra. Over the years, I have had many very enjoyable dinners there and have raved about it here. I re-read that post and puzzled over whether I felt the same now. I mean, the meal I had with some friends and family was perfectly good, but it really wasn't anything terribly special. The question I kept pondering: Had LaMinestra had changed or had my experiences and expectations changed? Probably, a little of both.

If you have read any of the older posts on this blog, you probably know that I have had the extreme fortune of being able to dine in some of the very top-tier restaurants in the country. These aren't places that merely make good food, they are on the cutting edge of food preparation and techniques. The sort of things a chef like Grant Achatz of Alinea in Chicago is experimenting with today may appear on a plate somewhere else years from now. You don't think some line cook at Chili's in suburban Atlanta invented molten chocolate cake, do you? Anyway, eating really great ingredients prepared in extremely innovative ways can change the way you think about the ingredients and how they are used. At least, that's what should happen if you are paying attention.

The other factor, for me at least, that I believe has changed my perspective a bit is that we are enjoying an embarrassment of riches here in Sioux Falls right now. I credit the efforts of places like Parker's and Bros along with an absolute smathering of really excellent richly ethnic spots. We have reached a point where if you want something more interesting than a steak with baked potato or even a brick oven pizza, you can get it. Thanks to really excellent seared duck breast (Parker's) or unctuous, slow cooked pork goodies, including pork belly (Bros), even a trip to old standards like Minerva's don't look quite so attractive. Thanks to beef tongue tacos and really decent Pho, we know there are more exotic flavors out there.

My recent meal at LaMinestra was really pretty good. Steak cooked correctly and good service. But it was just lacking pizzaz. The sauce for the steak, a take on beef bourgignon, fell short. Too acidic. Lacked richness of the dish it was meant to replicate. The potatoes- eh. It was good. It just wanted something more jacked up, so to speak.

There is always going to be a place for safe, mildly-seasoned, old favorites served in familiar settings. After all this is South Dakota, and there are still plenty of people around here who believe that too much salt and black pepper can render a dish too spicy. But for those of us who understand the criticism of a judge on Top Chef that the food is not well-seasoned, and who have eaten outside our comfort zones, the old standbys begin to look, well, old.

Please make an effort to visit a small, independent restaurant in South Dakota. Order something other than a steak, stuffed chicken breast, or basic pasta dish. Treat your server well and thank the chefs- if you think they do a good job. See if your perspective changes, even just a little.

Boston's Est Mort

2011-02-02T18:53:00.000-08:00

According to the AL, Boston's is no mas. Anyone surprised?

Amazingly, Boston's has seemingly done well in Rapid City, but here in Soo Foo? Not so good.

Any thoughts?

Food Network Does The Impossible: I Actually Miss Emeril

2010-12-29T14:40:00.000-08:00

There was a time when you could watch the Food Network and watch very accomplished chefs demonstrate some great dishes. I'm not talking about Bobby Flay, or episodes of American Iron Chef, I mean chefs like Sara Moulton, Mario Batali, and, even if you could stay awake long enough, old episodes of Julia Childs' The French Chef. Even Emeril Lagasse, who was on waaay too many times each day BAMMING his way through menus was cooking was cooking things.

Now, the programming seems to be dominated by too many "reality" sorts of shows like The Next Iron Chef and Chopped (both of which seem mostly to be Top Chef knock-offs) or shows about places, like DDD.

Okay, maybe there are some cooking shows, but they mostly seem staffed by people who won the opportunity to host shows, or people with swell cleavage (Giada) or perky people (Rachel Ray) or drunk bimbos (Sandra Lee). I want to see something interesting, as far as real cooking goes. Cleavage is nice and all, but there are other channels for that. I know Food Network must realize there is an issue, because there is now a Cooking Channel.

Anyway. What killed me, literally, was the other night I was watching a show called "Guy, Off The Hook." Ok. It's Guy Fierri, same guy from DDD and Guy's Big Bite. Pretty sure this "Guy" was the first "Next Food Network Star." You would have SWORN you were watching a blonde, spiky Emeril working the crowd. And he really wasn't cooking anything interesting.

When Emeril became a caricature, the Food Network tosses him over the rail. Now they got Guy Fierri becoming equally, if not more, annoying. When will poor Guy sleep with the fishes?

So, like I said, I finally miss Emeril. That means I REALLY miss Mario. Molto.

Turning Japanese? Chuck Williams thinks so.

2010-12-21T17:06:00.000-08:00

This is a two-part pre-Christmas rant.

Part I: Williams-Sonoma. And, that's Williams-Sonoma, NOT Williams & Sonoma. (This is a similar lesson to learning not to say Bracco's and Spezia's.) Chuck Williams is a guy who opened a cookware store north of San Francisco in an area famous for wine-- Sonoma County. Hence, Williams-Sonoma. Williams & Sonoma sounds like a law firm.

So, anyway, there was probably a time when Chuck was the MAN when it came to mail-order gourmet cooking equipment. That time was probably from 1956 to some time in the late 80's or early 90's. I remember getting the WIlliams-Sonoma catalog back at the time I was starting to do a lot of cooking. That was right about the same time I got my very own subscription to Gourmet magazine. By the way, Gourmet was a much different publication back then, too, but that's another rant entirely. Anyway, I felt like I had arrived.

If you wanted/needed a cherry pitter, chocolate shaver, and a big old 5 pound bar of Callebaut to shave, Chuck could hook you up. In other words, you could find things at W-S that you probably couldn't find elsewhere. Nowdays, there are many more outlets and W-S has changed.

If you are a student of the W-S catalog, or the retail stores for that matter, it's more about what they think you should want instead of what you need. It's more about life-style than equipment. I think the demise came about around the time Chuck started a housewares outfit called Pottery Barn. Yeah, yeah, yeah, this stuff is real cool and it looks really nice, but if you are a shopping addict, you are going to be remodeling every 6 months to keep up with whatever the latest style might be.

Try this- walk into a W-S store and try to find a decent pair of tongs. Not the big-ass rosewood BBQ ones that are like squeezing one of those spring-loaded grip workout dealies, just a decent pair of stainless steel tongs. End of story- you won't find one, but you will find an espresso machine you'll need financing for, sauces that conveniently make Beef Bourgignonne in a $400 All-Clad crock pot, or whatever the hell color of Provencal place mats they are hocking this year. See, it's not so much about selling you equipment as it is an image.

I suppose this is just good retail and it apparently works. But I seriously just want a pair of tongs or maybe a decent China cap chinois. Need to go elsewhere. My choices? Whenever possible, a local retailer, like Kitchen Window in Uptown of Minneapolis, Someone's in the Kitchen in Rapid City, or Treasures from the Heart on 57th and Louise. Seriously, check that out, they got major stuff in that store disguised as yet another Yankee Candle retailer.

Part II: Despite my ever-growing infrequent purchases from W-S, I do still get the catalog and here comes the turning Japanese part. Remember that song from the 80's, by the way? "Turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so." Did you know it's about masturbation? Look it up.

So, the reason I say Chuck thinks we are turning Japanese is because besides outrageously expensive espresso machines, this year's holiday catalog features some crazy spendy Asian-style knives. Specifically, Shun Bob Kramer Meiji knives that you can get ON SPECIAL as a 6-piece set for the low, low price of $1599. Serious bargain considering the regular retail is $2177. Now, I may not know why Owners Equity plus Liabilities = MC squared, or any of that other funny accounting stuff, but I sure as hell know that's $266.67 PER BLADE, on sale. In the same catalog you can get a 12-piece set of Wustof Classic for $500, or for another $200, you can get the same knives with Asian-style handles.

Now, I must admit, the really spendy Shun knives are gorgeous. Damascus steel, cocobolo handles. Really sweet. But who buys these things? My guess, people who have more money than sense or people who want everyone else to be super-impressed because they have really expensive stuff.

Having knives like that is kind of like having a custom-made Holland & Holland shotgun instead of a good old Remington 870 to shoot ducks. They'll both get the job done, but which one are you going to toss in the bottom of the boat while you set decoys? Or, to put it another way, it's perhaps a little like checking a Louis Vuitton hard-sider suitcase for a three-stop trip to vacation. Sure, you can, or could, but why? I mean, who the hell do you think you are the Prince of Whales? You gonna use that $300 santoku to hack through half a chicken, or open a can? Exactly.

The other major beef I got is Asian knives, actually. To give credit where credit is due, they are usually well-made and extremely sharp. But, they are different than the traditional French-styled knives that most of us have seen in kitchens forever. Besides that half-cleaver, half-chef's knife santoku design, these puppies have different edges on them. The bevel on the blade is ground to a different angle. The steel is also a little different than what the Germans crank out in Solingen. It's harder. The point? (Har Har) It's a little harder to maintain the edge on these. The designs of some of these knives are very purpose-oriented. Watch a good Japanese sushi chef use one of those long, skinny blades. If he came up through the traditional Japanese apprenticeship regime, he probably mixed rice for 20 years before he was allowed to wash that knife. Anyway, if you aren't used to these knives and their functions, know they are different, and not necessarily for everyone. Just because they look cool and might appear to give you some out-of-the-box cache, you might not like them.

Good equipment doesn't always come cheap, but it helps to have the right tools for the job. If your budget is somewhat limited, I recommend you take your time finding and buying high-end equipment. Eventually, you will find what you like and be able to afford it, even if it means buying a pan or a knife a year. In the meantime, you are better putting your money into decent ingredients and concentrating on your technique so as not to screw them up. If you can't do that, Damascus steel Shun knives won't save you.

You sound like an idiot, just so you know.

2010-12-19T08:34:00.000-08:00

I've heard some people say that we midwesterners have no accent, especially us South Dakotans. Tom Brokaw was the anchor for NBC Nightly News. He didn't have an accent. Right?

Well, just because most people don't run around here talking like extras from the movie "Fargo" doesn't mean that we don't seem to have certain proclivities to abuse the beautiful thing that is the English language. For instance, some people have a seeming inability to pronounce a "g" at the end of most, of not all, words that end in "ing." "We went runnin' down to the pool to go swimmin!" Hate that.

So, what does this have to do with food? I'm getting to that. If there is anything as "Sioux Falls" as two-fer burger night on Tuesday, it's the powerful urge to add "'s" to the end of any restaurant name. Sure, there is McDonald's, and Minerva's, and Foley's. Unfortunately, around here we also have Bracco's, Inca's, and Spezia's. Honest to goodness, I've seen other businesses near 57th and Western advertise their location by stating they are behind Bracco's.

Come on, pay attention. Bracco is not a bar and restaurant founded and operated by Bruno and Barb Bracco and their kids Billy, Bruce, and Bobbie. Inca is the name of a native Central American culture. It is not a surname. Same with Spezia- whatever the hell a "spezia" is. La Spezia is a location in Italy.

Anyway, do yourself a favor and quit adding the possessive "'s" to the end of every restaurant name.

Bring out your dead!

2010-12-19T08:17:00.000-08:00

It's been kind of a tough year on a few restaurants here in River City. The free market is kind of a bitch. Let's tally a few things up.

Joey's Seafood is now sleeping with the fishes. It wasn't that hot anyway, as mentioned previously.

Buffaloberries closed with its owner reportedly planning on doing more catering and "education." Ummmmm, ok.

Hoageez, a Philly cheesesteak joint over on 57th and Marion closed. Actually, that location is proving to be a bit of a Bermuda Triangle. This was the former Big City Burrito location, then Hoageez, now Inca Express. Maybe the good folks at Inca can break the curse.

Keg Chicken, East Side location. I'm not quite sure what happened with this one. In my opinion, Keg is the definitive fried chicken experience here in Sioux Falls. From the report in the local daily paper, it sounds as if another venture made the Keg folks an offer they couldn't refuse. We'll see what transpires. At least Keg is still open on the West Side, to satisfy the old fried chicken cravings.

Taste of India. This may be the what the fork of the year. I mean seriously. Dammit. The place wasn't long on decor or ambiance, but the food was divine. Being able to get really great Indian food here was a real plus and made me feel like I don't necessarily live in the middle of nowhere.

I have a sneaking suspicion that we aren't done with casualties in the coming year. There are a couple of places that I am unsure how they stay open. We'll see.

Thanksgiving Turkey: Post Game Commentary

2010-12-05T08:29:00.000-08:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's been a few weeks since Thanksgiving. Things have been busy. But still, I think about that turkey a lot. Every year I scour cookbooks and magazines researching new ideas and techniques to make the most memorable turkey of all time. Every year I try little twists, and talk to many of my foodie friends who tweak their own turkey techniques to see if anyone has struck upon the perfect trick.

Here are a few of the various techniques and ideas I have tried, or that I know others have tried through the years:

Wet brine. Find a container large enough to allow the whole turkey to soak in a salt/sugar/herb/spice solution, at a safe temperature of course for a couple of days. The idea here is that the salt in the solution actually activates small electrical charges that relax tissues and allow them to absorb some of the flavorful solution. I've never tried this because it sounds like a major PITA.
Dry brine. A/K/A salting. Several days ahead of cooking, mix yourself up a salt/herb mixture and rub it all over that bird inside and out. Seal it up in a big bag and let it sit in the fridge. When I do this I turn the sucker over a few times to let gravity work WITH me for a change. You rinse it all off and let it dry before cooking. Like wet bringing, the general idea is that the salt draws out some moisture which the bird re-absorbs after mingling with the herbs, etc.
Roasting bag. Do I really need to explain this?
Brown paper bag. Same as plastic roasting bag, but a more eco-friendly approach.
Breast up.
Breast down. Making gravity work with you, again. Supposedly juices drip down into breast and not out of it.
Slow roast. Use a temperature somewhere around 325 degrees.
Hot roast. Roast closer to 500. Incidentally, this is rather how Thomas Keller makes chickens and trust me, that's a damned good roast chicken.
Different parts. Separate the breast and cook it separately from the thighs and legs and back. Breast meat is done at about 160 degrees, but dark meat should go to 180.
Ice the breasts. I am aware of a technique that calls for icing the breast meat with a plastic bag full of ice for 20 minutes or so prior to cooking to give the dark meat a head start on the cooking.
Butter under skin. Some people whip up some compound butter and shove that under the skin.
Butter on skin. The lotion of choice in flavor town. I might rub some on myself some day.
Beer can turkey. Roast vertically with a beer can, probably Foster's in this case, inserted in the poultry's kiester so the liquid in the can (beer, wine, Tab, water) simmers and steams out into the cavity.
Deep fry. I bet that's good, but I don't think I want to play with that much oil at that temperature since I really like to drink between basting the bird.

All these choices!! What to do??

After a lot of years of playing with this stuff I have reached the following conclusion: I'll be forked five ways to Fuddrucker's if any of this actually makes a difference. No kidding. Short of marinating a turkey for days in a strong marinade, I am not sure a person can significantly alter the taste of a turkey.

But all is not lost, here is what I think you can control- skin crispiness and bird moisture. If you want a crispy skin, you definitely need to think about cooking a little hotter and might even consider letting the turkey sit open in the fridge a good 24 hours before the cook to let the skin dry. Want moist? You might have to sacrifice the skin crispiness and should probably be working with a covered roaster or a bag. You might even think about breast down. Why not? If you want to hit the holy grail of crisp skin and moist meat, that is all technique, baby. Watch your temperatures and be prepared to tent the bird to keep it from getting too brown. You might also consider your cooking device and consider the benefits of steam in an oven or a ceramic grill. It takes a fine combination of temperature control, a little moisture, and a watchful eye.

No matter how you cook a Thanksgiving turkey, the point is to eat the meal with friends and family and enjoy the bounty of being together. Make a few new side dishes, but keep most of the classics on the table to keep the memories of dinners past alive.

All this talk of turkey has made me hungry and has me thinking of Christmas dinner. And that means prime rib- another ingredient notoriously susceptible to multitudes of cooking technique.

Breathe, my friends. Breathe!

2010-11-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

Last night was the first night of the long-overdue implementation of the smoking ban. And what a great night it was!

The evening happened to find me at a local establishment for some beers and dinner. Ok, I was at McNally's. If you've read previous posts about McNally's, you might know I am generally a fan of the place. Good food. Good Guinness. Great atmosphere. Not so good air quality in the past. I have been there on nights when people were smoking and it wasn't too bad, and I have been there at times when it was downright horrible.

Ironically, I stopped by there on Monday night, as well, and observed a number of patrons having what appeared to be one last cigar. The place wasn't packed by any means, but a number of the people there were enjoying a cigar.

Last night, completely different deal. How nice. And probably nice for McNally's. The place was pretty full for dinner on a Wednesday night.

I am sure the ban is going to have different affects on different places. I think the business of a few places will actually improve. It worked for BW3 a long time ago.

It is certainly working well for me. Love the fresh air.

The "new" Hy Vee sucks

2010-10-25T10:26:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to visit the "new" Hy Vee store at 57th and Cliff this past weekend. If this is supposed to be an improvement over the Sunshine that previously occupied the space, I am yet to see it. Honestly, Sunshine wasn't much to crow about, but they did have a few nice things that Hy Vee didn't, like honestly priced meat that isn't wrapped in mini-gas chambers.

Amazingly, the same people that brought the Taj Mahal of grocery shopping to Sioux Falls at 37th and Minnesota have apparently managed in one acquisition and "remodeling" to immediately establish the weakest link in its Sioux Falls chain. Maybe Hy Vee just got this location going to make 26th and Sycamore look more glamorous.

Whatever. It sucks. I could go on and explain myself, but no sense in being too negative. Check it out and see if you agree.

The Food Chains

2010-10-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

For some time I have been observing what I have come to call the over-homogenization of food. You really cannot go anywhere and not, more or less, find exactly the same things. Is that good? Is that bad? Maybe some of both. However you feel about it, the trend is here to stay.

So what am I talking about? Well, if you live here in Sioux Falls, you have probably eaten at Texas Roadhouse, Applebee's, Granite City, Outback Steakhouse, McDonald's, Ground Round, Olive Garden, etc. Chances are, if you have traveled you have, or could have, eaten at the same places. The fact that you can get about the same thing, about everywhere, disturbs me a little.

To cut to the chase, let's start with something near and dear to my forking heart: Beer. Let's go way back. Far enough to a point in time where people will wonder how old I might be. Once upon a time, there was a beer brewed in a small town, outside Denver, called Coors. It was distributed in Colorado and a few other western states like California and Wyoming. If you lived in South Dakota or Minnesota, you couldn't get Coors, which probably made you want it more. You had to wait until your no-account brother in law brought a case or two when he came back for a family reunion at Lake Poinsett. Naturally, everyone treated the dumb jackass like a hero and ohhed and ahhed over the deliciousness of the contraband beverage. Well, Coors finally got here, and how many people do youknow that main-line the Banquet beer? Exactly.

Same thing happened recently with another beer from Colorado, Ft. Collins to be exact: Fat Tire from New Belgium. Good stuff? Sure. As good as it was when you had to bootleg the stuff in? Not so much.

Now, you can get a beer that was only available for those rare trips to Texas- Shiner Bock. It's on tap at the Attic, and probably a bunch of other places around town.

My point is, these few beers used to seem much better when they were forbidden fruit. Something to be enjoyed on a trip to Houston or San Antonio, or a special run to Beulah, WY, to pick up a case of Fat Tire. Now, you can pick them up at Hy Vee.

I swear, the day Yuengling shows up on tap in Sioux Falls, I might just stick a fork in my eye.

Looking at the whole beer experience makes me think of the food. It seems we, as people, always want what we don't have, and the few times we get it, it seems so much better than anything else. If Coors, Fat Tire, and Shiner Bock don't prove that, I don't know what will. But the same thing is likely true for food.

Case in point. If there is one thing people have come to enjoy over the last 5-10 years, it is big Mission-style burritos. These thigh-sized suckers were born in San Francisco, but as it turns out, no one exactly has a patent on 1200 calories of grippable foil-wrapped meat, cheese, beans, rice, and goo. Enter Qdoba. But alas, I am yet to hear from a Qdoba patron who does not decry the fact that the almighty Chipotle has not yet made it to our fair city. "Ohhh, Chipotle is soooo much better than Qdoba! The flavors are better." Well, the jury is out on that one, kids. Been there. Done that. Good? You bet. I was starving and badly in need of a bottle of cerveza because I had already been at the damned Mall of America for 10 minutes. End all be all of big forking burritos? No. Sorry. Did it taste better because I can't get one on the corner of 57th and Louise? Probably.

My point is, I sometimes think some of this stuff tastes better because it is a special treat. You cannot get it at home and, when you are out of town, unless it is for non-stop meetings, this stuff is a treat. When it comes to town, not so much. When was the last time you ordered a straight Coors on tap? See?

This is what I mean by overly-homogenized. Everything is getting to be too "the same" everywhere. Granted, it is nice to occasionally find a safe place to eat, where you know exactly what you are going to get before you go in, but is that really what life is about?

Take a chance, and eat local, my friends. Find places that are not franchises. Eat somewhere that is not advertised in an airline magazine in the seat-back of the plane. Go somewhere you haven't heard of. And soak it up. It will always taste better than a Coors on tap.

RIP: Joey's

2010-10-04T09:20:00.000-07:00

The local daily paper is reporting that Joe's Seafood has closed. It's always somewhat sad when we lose a dining option in Sioux Falls, but with all due respect, this one comes as no surprise.

I had a couple of meals at Joey's over the few years it was open. Nothing particularly bad, but nothing particularly good. Overall, a sort of Red-Lobsteresque kind of meal. The times I was there, I thought the service was a little spotty and the beverage choices, particualrly the wine choices were less than stellar.

Ok, one story. A couple of years ago, a friend and I were dining at Joey's. We decided to order mussels as an appetizer. When they appeared, at least a third of them weren't open, which is not really a good sign. We ate the ones that had opened and they were fine. Returning to check on us, the server offered to take the unopened ones back to the kitchen to receive a little more steam time so they would open. Now, anyone who knows why shellfish, like mussels, don't open when they are cooked. If you don't know, it's because shellfish should be live when purchased. When they are cooked, they open. If they don't open, they were dead when they went into the pot and no amount of further cooking can reverse that process. If you are daring enough to pry one open and consume it you will find yourself remembering that particualr meal for a very long time. Very long. Anyway, I was amused to overhear the conversation in the kitchen about the possibility of re-steaming more mussels. To the manager's credit, he offered us a whole new order, which was very nice.

We need more seafood in this town. Good seafood. The sushi places prove it is possible to lay hands on very good fish. Now we just need someone to make the jump on preparing and presenting it properly.

Three Fork Alert: Go to McNally's Right Now and Get a Lamb Burger!

2010-09-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

This is the first official Three Fork Alert. And, probably the first thing that justified one. Anyway.

McNally's has a new Fall menu out. Love feature menus. Two things you must have.

First, an appetizer. It is a deconstructed Reuben sandwich. Well, actually, it's dip. It's corned beef, sauerkraut, and cheese. It's all heated in a kiln, from what I can tell, because when it hits your table, the cheese is at like 950 degrees Fahrenheit. Very hot. Very, the roof of my mouth will slough off hot. It is served with little rye bread slices and pita wedges. It's good. And it goes good with beer. Just wait for the cheese to stop glowing like lava until you eat it.

Now for the big one. Huge one. LAMB BURGER. A one-half pound patty of lamb with a slice of cheese, a slice of prosciutto, and some lovely onions braised in balsamic vinegar. Top it with a slice of fresh tomato and that great bread and you got a major winner. MAJOR WINNER.

I cannot figure out what the deal with lamb is around here. The Fork has been West River. You know, that part of the map that starts with Pierre and ends with Wyoming? Hint: Deadwood and Rapid City are "West River."

Anyway, they raise lamb West River. Lots of it. There are towns that are almost founded on lamb out there. Newell comes to mind. (Aside. Newell High School teams are called the Irrigators. That's kinda cool. Better yet, the team from Vale. Yeah, Vale, used to be known as the Beet Diggers. They raised sugar beets out in that country. Serious). Anyway, the St. Onge Livestock Market Sheep auction is in Newell. There is a town near Newell called Nisland. There is a bar in Nisland and there is a saying that goes "Crazier than the Nisland Bar on sale day." Sale day is when the sheep were sold in Newell. Anyway. End of Western SD stories. Trust me, though, if you have ever been to Nisland, or known someone form Nisland, this would make a hell of a lot more sense.

Bottom line is, we raise a bunch of sheep right here in SD, but I will be damned if I can figure out where it goes. I mean, when I buy good lamb to cook, I inevitably end up at Sam's Club buying New Zealand lamb racks. Great price and trimmed well, by the way, but a shame to buy foreign lamb from the bastards who are destroying the whole country. But that is a different story. I do not know why we cannot buy good local lamb locally.

For those of you who think you don't like lamb, go get one of those burgers at McNally's. Seriously. The bomb. You will probably be at the Turner County Fair next year getting real lamb chislic.

The Politics of Food: The Event Center

2010-09-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

It is fall and fall in an even-numbered year means political season in South Dakota. Politics and food often intersect. If you have ever been in Pierre during a legislative session, you would most definitely get a feel for that.

It is not on the ballot this year, and may not be for some time, but as anyone around here knows, the construction of an event center is a major political football here. Just when it looks dead, it returns with a vengeance. The mayor seems intent on building a facility, according to some notion hatched during the last campaign. But the history of getting this project to sell with the electorate is not favorable. Where the whole concept stands now is any one's guess. The city leaders continue to discuss some form of a project, but are reluctant to share that concept with the public. So much for transparency.

I have no doubt that at some point, a new event center will be built in Sioux Falls. This city has an uncanny ability to get these things done somehow despite the loud voices of the naysayers. Let;s just hope it gets done right, And right, by my estimation, means that it gets built downtown.

A downtown event center is a win win win proposition. Assuming you agree with the proposition that this town needs an event center for better concerts, sporting events, and conventions, downtown is the place.

Face it, the only reason to have a new event center out by the arena, or worse yet, somewhere out by an exchange of the only two interstate highways in the state is to have acres of dead flat parking surrounding the thing.

The reason to have an event center downtown is to leverage everything else. I imagine if you could drive downtown for say, an Elton John concert, or a hockey game, and grab a little diner in any of the number of fine places within walking distance. You could enjoy the concert and then take a nice stroll up Phillips Avenue and around downtown to look at sculpture, or perhaps catch some jazz at Touch of Europe, late dessert, or a libation. Try and do that at West Ave and Russell or out in the middle of nowhere.

As an added bonus, just think about what that boost in development downtown could do for getting the West bank and Phillips to the Falls jump started? How about the surrounding neighborhoods for that matter. So many times I hear places like Detroit criticized because the city planners and developers kept moving outward from the city center leaving the older areas to whither on the vine or rot outright. Building the event center between 6th and 8th, near Cherapa Place would jump start revitalization of the Whittier neighborhood like nothing else.

I truly hope we can get this thing built and get it built in the right place. Downtown.

Do as I say and no one gets hurt.

2010-09-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

Those are words to live by. Seriously. If everybody would simply do what I tell them to do, how I tell them to do it, and when I tell them to do it, everything would work out a whole lot better around here. This simple rule is the law in my kitchen, but it could transform life as we know it. I can think of several examples right off the tips of my tines. For instance . . . Well, I digress.

"So, what the fork does this have to do with the food and fun scene?" you ask. Simple. I sense some level of ennui with the local scene these days. As blessed as we are here to have a pretty good, and ever developing food scene, things could always be better. And, considering that things are always better when people do what I tell them to do, here are a few instructions. So, pay atttention.

Decent seafood. If there is a really great place to get seafood here, I haven't found it. Sure, sure, almost all the nicer places in town have some sort of fish selection on the menu. And by that I generally mean one selection. I am talking about a restaurant that wants to specialize in seafood. Good seafood. Not Joey's. Not Red Lobster. I said good. We used to have two restaurants that tried very hard to offer great seafood: The Galley and The Maine Lobster. In this day and age, we should have at least one seafood centered fine dining option in this town.
French. A few places flirt with French-like cooking, but no one seems to be willing to take the plunge and go all out. I don't think it would have to be a starched white linens type of place, but I would love to have a place in Sioux Falls that wants to embrace the true art of French cooking.
Indian place. The great food tragedy of the last year is the closing of Taste of India. WTF? Who let this happen? Indian cuisine is sublime and Saif did a masterful job preparing it at Taste of India. Tragic. When you need vindaloo, nothing else will do.
More wine. I am getting tired of drinking the same crap everywhere I go in town. We have some very good retailers, but I want to sit down somewhere and try about 20 wines by the glass some afternoon. With such a resurgence in wine, why can't we have a really good wine bar.
Pass the damned smoking ban. I am soooooo ready for this. My political intuition tells me the voters of SD are going to snuff out smoking in bars. Somebody must be polling and those numbers must be looking good, otherwise it would be absolute jihad between the campaigns by now. I cannot wait to go to some of my favorite watering holes and not have to worry about coming home smelling like I have been at a chain-smoking convention. Breathing is kind of nice, too.
Steak. When I say I can cook a steak at home better than anyplace around here, I am NOT exaggerating. Ironically, if I lived in Pierre, I might not be able to make that claim. I swear the Cattleman's Club soaks their steaks in MSG, because I just cannot seem to get a steak anywhere else in SD that has that kind of great flavor. We got bupkus for really good steak options here in Sioux Falls. If your idea of a great steak is a meal at Texas Roadhouse or Outback, you don't get it. And just for the record, Foley's sucks. We produce some of the best beef in the world here, we just refuse to serve it properly, apparently.
Tapas. How good would that be?
Thai. Ditto.
Deep dish Chicago-style pizza. We got thin crust brick oven pizza like Carter has pills. There was a time when we had a small place cranking out respectable Chicago-style pies. Why can't we have one now.

So, if someone would get on this list, pronto, things would be a lot better. Trust me.

For the love of God, don't take them to Applebees.

2010-09-19T11:07:00.000-07:00

Not long ago, I was listening in as a relative was mentioning places to take some guests from another country. When the host mentioned a likely stop at Applebee’s after picking up the guests at the airport, I exclaimed, “Please, for the love of God, don’t take them to Applebee’s!” This started an argument that lasted for about a half hour, but that is another story.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t harbor any grudge against Applebee’s. I’ve had some decent, reasonably priced meals at Applebee’s through the years, and it’s a reliable option when you find yourself in someplace like, well, Watertown. But when foreign nationals are visiting, it just doesn’t seem right to take them to a place they can find in almost any American city or airport. So, where would you take foreign visitors?

Here are a few of my own ideas:

Fine Dining. Although Sioux Falls restaurants really cannot compete with those in places like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, or Las Vegas, you can get some damned fine fine dining fare here. Because it features great local ingredients handled with great care and turned into really stellar meals, Parker’s gets a nod. Also going on the list is the Blue Sage Grill at Cherapa Place. Unfortunately, the best place to get a really decent piece of South Dakota beef cooked perfectly is my house, and I am not hosting everyone’s friends and relatives. Blue Sage does a pretty masterful job with some ingredients that are more South Dakota-y. If you want to feed the guests some buffalo, that might be a good place to try.

Casual. Now here is a broad category. Anyway. Let’s say you have a relative from Southern California that insists there are no decent Mexican restaurants outside California. Here’s a week’s worth of eating projects. In a town where Mexican used to mean Chi Chi’s, there are now many options for Mexican ranging from the familiar Tex-Mex to seriously authentic food. Inca, Nikki’s, Puerto Vallarta, Azteca, or numerous others should give you more than enough to choose from and keep you out of the chain joints. Although, having just said that, a late-night run through a Taco Johns drive through may be in order for a little embarrassingly American indulgence.

There are lots of other unique casual options. Buffalo Wild Wings for copious amounts of tap beer and wide varieties of wing sauce. Bracco for the whole deck experience.

Pizza. Here’s another category replete with options that show off lots of local talent. For me, Red Rossa is a must do. For a gourmet pizza experience, I think Red Rossa is hard to beat. Grille 26 also offers some great pizza options. It’s not quite the same as Red Rossa, but I like the softer crust. Great happy hour deals at Grille 26. Spezia also offers the same type of pizza, but I’ve never liked the pizza there as well as Red Rossa or Grille 26. For non-brick oven pizza, I prefer Tomacelli’s to the other local options.

Burgers. If there is an official food of Sioux Falls, it must be burgers. Seems like every place serves them, and a BOGO or some other sort of burger feature is pretty much standard in all Sioux Falls eateries. Tre offers 20, count ‘em 20, different burgers on Monday evenings. McNally’s makes a pretty credible burger with good beefy taste and a nice bun. Remember though, the kids aren’t welcome at McNally’s. If you are looking for a “family bar” option (another seemingly SD offering) try the Attic for a burger. Bracco used to make a pretty good burger, but I frankly haven’t been in the place recently enough to say how they are doing with burgers these days. They used to be great. Hemmer Brothers makes a phenomenal bar-style burger without the bar. If you want the whole-hog bar experience with your burger, Little Coalinga is the only clear choice. For a burger time machine, try Hamburger Inn.

Treats. You simply have to get some soft serve ice cream squirted, whipped or whirled into various creations. You could go to Dairy Queen, but I am taking my guests to B&G Milkyway. I love that small town service and flavor, accompanied by the slightest twinge of the sanitizer water used to clean the mixer between Avalanches. Another great thing to try at B&G is the super nachos. This is pretty much the low brow deconstructed pile of goo. All the makings of the usual nachos are there- non-chunky chili, bright orange cheese-flavored ooze, pickled jalapeno slices, chopped onions, a blast of sour cream dispensed from something that looks like a caulk gun, and a neatly arranged row of chips in a styrofoam container. You’d have to blend this stuff with more chemicals and put it all in a tin can to make it any more processed, but in a way, it is kind of an ultimate junk food nod to haute cuisine. All the ingredients are separated, hence the deconstructed thing.

Good Bye Sunshine, Hello Hy Vee

2010-08-03T10:56:00.000-07:00

So, Hy Vee has purchased three stores in Sioux Falls and plans to close one and convert the other two to Hy Vee stores in the near future. Yikes.

I hate to see this kind of thing happen, because in the end it is going to affect the choices grocery shoppers have every day. With this move, there will only be two major grocery retailers in Sioux Falls: Hy Vee and Walmart. (Don't even get me started on Walmart.) Sure, there will be other small, independent grocers like Andy's and Franklin Food Mart, and specialty stores like Look's, Cleaver's, and even The Market on Phillips. Even though some people enjoy grocery shopping and will seek out certain products from certain places- steaks from one place, wine from another, fresh vegetables from the Farmer's Market- for a whole lot of people going to the grocery store is a real chore and a large expense, so if it can be done in one fell swoop, all the better. And, at some point, almost every consumer has to stop for something at one of the big grocers.

Hy Vee tends to drive me nuts. I am often astonished by the poor quality of produce at 26th and Sycamore, assuming they even have what I wanted in the first place. I've been confronted with pricing on fruit that could have easily formed the basis of a math problem on the SAT. The bakery bread selection sucks unless all you want is soft wheat or white formed into different shapes. The meat pricing at Hy Vee is an absolute sham- I nearly stroke out while I stand at the meat case running the numbers in my head. Seriously, it's a screw job. But, glutton for punsishment that I am, I keep shopping there. It also turns out that the Secret Teaspoon is a member of a local sports team that takes advantage of scrip programs to help fund the activity, so a part of our purchases at Hy Vee are credited toward our tab with the team.

The thing I don't think a lot of people realize about Hy Vee is how deftly they have been able to remove some barriers to their business model. For instance, there used to be a limit to how many retail off sale liquor licenses a corporate entity like Nash Finch or Hy Vee could hold. The South Dakota Legislature passed a bill to revise that limit. That's why you see huge liquor departments in every major grocery retailer these days. When the bill was making its way through the Legislature, it was referred to as the Hy Vee bill. See the connection? Remember when you could only buy beer on Sundays? That was a city ordinance, and a dumb one at that, but who do you think led the charge to get that one changed?

Sunshine isn't exactly a grocery palace itself, but they did several things better than Hy Vee. Honest meat that isn't sealed in little portable gas chambers priced in a straight-forward manner comes to mind. Sunshine also has some sales and specials, including Milk Mondays. that we usually took advantage of. The bottom line was, at least with Sunshine, you had an option. Now, not so much.

The loser here is the consumer because Hy Vee will be the dominant grocery retailer in the area. If you think you can't get decent produce at 26th and Sycamore now, just wait until they know that your options are to go to Hy Vee on E 10th, Minnesota, or 57th and Cliff. Good luck with that. And good luck seeing a major competitor come in and try to muscle into the market in the near future.

I might just have to swing into Andy's one of these days. I wonder if we can get Andy's on the scrip program?

Wine Pricing at Restaurants

2010-03-07T10:55:00.000-08:00

As a follow-up on the corkage fee discussion, I thought it might be time to discuss wine pricing at restaurants. Anyone who is familiar with retail wine prices should have a pretty good feeling for the markup of the price of a bottle of wine when you get that bottle at a restaurant as opposed to a retailer. It can literally be a factor of 1.5 to 2, or even a skosh more. At first blush, this seems a little excessive, but a little logic explains why this is necessary. It takes time, money, and space (all critical to any business) to procure, properly store, and serve wines in a restaurant setting. Even though the price of a bottle may be two or more times what you might pay at your local wine shop, I doubt most restaurants are raking in the cash selling wines.

The bottom line is that wine can be a spendy accompaniment to a meal when dining out. You are going to pay more. Get used to it. It's a fact of life. The real question is how do you recognize a value and how do you decide some particular price is just too high? Granted, it's not easy, and you will most definitely pay your share of "tuition" to become somewhat comfortable in the area. But, it is not as daunting as it seems.

Get familiar with wine prices in your area. Next time you run down to your retailer of choice, take your time and explore the shop. Look carefully at what is available and make note of the prices. In South Dakota, our "three tier" alcohol distribution system esentially means that certain distributors have dibs on certain wines. Accordingly, one would expect that the veritable monopoly this creates means that prices of a certain wine from the distributor to the retailer remain identical across the board. Not necessarily. Some retailers get deals- maybe based on volume, maybe based on relationships- there is not always rhyme or reason to this. Needless to say, though, retail prices can vary. The only way to get a feel for those prices is to get out and check them out. Take notes if that would help.

Once you have a feel for the retail price of wines, you can start to benchmark them against prices at various restaurants. My advice is to find a couple particular wines to use for comparisons. For example, you might know that J. Lohr Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon goes for about $18 bucks a bottle at most retailers. If you see it for $40 on a wine list, you can get an idea of the markup. If you notice it for $35 somewhere else, file that away into your data base.

Study, study, study. This is a touchy subject for me. Although knowledge of wines is power, too little is dangerous and too much can either vapor lock you or turn you into the worst kind of wine snob. Personally, I think you need to be familiar with varietals, appelation, and vintage. Older wines are not necessarily better wines. It all depends. Some years are better than others for certain varietals, but that can vary by location (appelation). If you aren't reading or talking to people, you might not know why, say 2005 was better for Sonoma cabs than 2007. If you aren't personally wired into the industry, you are going to have to read to keep up on this stuff. It can pay off, though, because sometimes local restaurants and servers aren't paying attention to vintages. You order the Seghesio Old Vine Zinfandel, that's what comes out- but you might get a superior vintage, if you know what years you are dealing with. Don't be afraid to point out to your server that you were hoping to get the 2004 instead of the 2005. Nevertheless, too much knowledge can be a bad thing. Easily, one of the most annoying things I encounter in the wine world is the seeming ability of some people to memorize and rattle off the Wine Spectator or Robert Parker ratings for myriad wines. Look, if you can't consistently distinguish a wine rated 95 from a similar wine rated 85 in a blind tasting, just shut the hell up. Ratings have a place, and can be very helpful, but they are not and should not be the bellweather for selecting and distinguishing one wine from another. Only your own palate can do that for you.

Make friends with the "wine person." At most of the snazzier restaurants here in town, there is someone wandering around there that knows a whole lot about the wines on the list. He or she probably selected most of them for specific reasons. Don't be afraid to talk to this person and definitely don't be afraid to be very frank about what you want. Although restaurants are in the business of making sales, they also want you to leave happy and to come back. Tell the wine person what you are considering for entrees, what your likes and dislikes are, whether you are particularly interested in a certain appelation or varietal and what you are looking to spend. Please don't be afraid to ask about the values on the list. A good sommelier will point out wines that are drinking beyond their price.

Oddly enough, the more expensive the wine, chances are the less steep the markup. It's a little odd, but it's true. For instance, you might notice wines that you can buy for $10-12 on a list for around $25-30-- think Black Opal, Fisheye, Yellow Tail, etc. More expensive wines are not going get that kind of treatment. An example I have noticed right here in Sioux Falls are some of the Jessup Cellars wines. A bottle of Jessup Zin retails for about $40. You won't find that wine on any wine list in town for $80-90. You might even find it somewhere for about $50.

Get out there and check it out.

Corkage Porkage?

2010-03-05T19:44:00.000-08:00

I was reading reviews on urbanspoon the other day and noticed a comment by someone regarding the $25 corkage fee charged by Parker's. Needless to say, the writer thought the fee was utterly uncalled for, excessive, and greedy. Hmmmmm. I'm not sure if the writer was implying that any amount was too much or just that $25 was too forking high.

It's an interesting topic, though.

For those who have no idea what a corkage fee is, it's a charge made by restaurants for the privilege of opening a bottle of wine that has been brought along with the diner. This is not to be confused with restaurants that are literally BYOB. (There are none of these I know of in Sioux Falls, but I am familiar with several in Chicago. Great places and you are free to drink on the premises. You just have to bring it along.) Corkage fees can vary. A lot.

So, let's address the first question: Is a corkage fee fair in the first place? You bet your sweet bippy it is! It's a restaurant for crying out loud. You know? A place that serves food, and often offers various beverages, often including cocktails, beers, soft drinks, and wine-- for money? They prepare and serve all this in a hopefully warm and tasteful atmosphere, staffed by knowledgeable, appreciative, and professional persons. In terms of wine, they have hopefully stocked a cellar with thoughtful selections ideally designed to compliment the food they serve. If they have really done a stellar job with the wines, they have a range of styles to suit individual tastes and have a few very special selections to suit individual passions. Someone had to figure all that out, and then the establishment had to lay out the ca-ching to stock the cellar. And, don't forget all the other things today's diners and winers demand- professional staff that knows how to present and open a bottle and good glassware that is appropriate for the wine. (Think Reidel.) All this takes money, all of which goes into the cost of the bottle of wine you order.

Bringing in a bottle of wine is akin to walking into a restaurant with a meal cooked at home, or take-out from another place, and asking for plates and flatware so you can eat it at the restaurant. Seriously. Think about it. These places aren't in business to provide ambiance for free. Actually, we have places like that here in Sioux Falls- they are called parks. Restaurants deserve to make an honest buck. They are going to make something when a patron orders a bottle of wine, or a beer, or a Diet Coke, or a steak. If you bring in your own, the restaurant has to bring you glasses you might break, and that have to be bussed and cleaned. The owners get the risk without any reward. If you think you should get this for free, there is something wrong with you. And, think of this, a private business owner would be well within his or her rights to tell you to put that bottle of 1945 Lafitte back in the Hy Vee bag you brought it in, because you ain't gonna open it here.

So, what is an honest buck? Good question. It's obviously in the eye of the beholder. In reality, it probably depends on the general expense level of the particular restaurant you are visiting. If they don't offer wine at all, you might catch a heck of a break on the corkage fee. If the list trends to the high end- mostly in the three digits and several in the four (or even five) digit range, don't expect a $25 corkage fee. A fee that is more or less in line with a moderate purchase is probably about right.

Tips to avoid corkage problems, and perhaps avoid one. Yes, here it is, the bullet point list of various tips and suggestions in no particular order:

Avoid an unpleasant surprise- call ahead. Corkage fees are not always prominently placed on the menu. Bringing in your own bottle(s) might not be allowed at all. Better to know ahead of time and be prepared.

BYOB sparingly, and only for special wines. What is a special wine? Easy. If you can buy it at Hy Vee, it probably isn't all that special. A special bottle purchased at a winery on that last trip to Napa- a wine that isn't available in SD, would probably qualify. The bottle of 1996 Dom Perignon given as a wedding gift by your inlaws is probably a winner. A truly rare vintage, lovingly stored, is probably in this category. 1995 Screaming Eagle Cab? You betcha.

If you are bringing in a wine that is generally available locally, but not on the list, suggest the restaurant add it. Hell, even if it's not generally available, ask. Restaurants and retailers usually have great connections with their distributors and, believe it or not, it is possible to get new wines into the state.

Offer your servers/owners/wine person a little snoot of your special treasure. They might appreciate it enough to waive a fee or two. You don't need to get half the house tipsy. Just be thoughtful and gracious.

Don't be a snob about your juice. Jerks are a lot easier to treat unreasonably. Even if it is a 1945 Bordeaux en magnum, it's wine, not water from the fountain of youth or Love Potion Number 9. If you brought it in to make a production and have everyone wonder what you've got and wish they were you, your priorities are out of whack.

A Few Reasons Why The Attic Is A Great Place

2010-02-27T06:53:00.000-08:00

The Attic, located on the eastside at 41st and Sycamore is coming up on its second year anniversay. I can barely wait for the Second Annual Jackass Roundup!

The Attic has been a great addition to the eastside, which was facing a serious watering hole deficit after Boomer's closed. Major bummer. I still miss Boomer's. Making a quick run to Hy Vee for "groceries" just hasn't been the same since. I guess there is always Cherry Creek and Dean-Os, but the Attic offers a less-restauranty feel than Cherry Creek and more than a video lottery joint feel that Dean-Os. Its also bigger than Stubbies, which, ironically, is kind of a family bar. (I'm not kidding- check the place out on any Friday night during youth football season.)

So, what's good about the Attic? Let's run down a few points.

Fairly nice atmosphere. The inside of the Attic isn't the Polo Club, but then it isn't like a concrete bunker (Lie-brary), either. The decor is meant to look like, well, an Attic, I guess. The walls are dark and done in numerous different textures. If you are thinking about going funky finish on some walls in your house, come check it out. There are open beams and dyed concrete floors with impressions of tools and other interesting items. Hanging from the ceiling are a few remnants of holiday decorations ranging from one remaining Christmas tree to some Halloween decorations. You have to check the place out during the holidays and see the Christmas trees hanging upside down from the ceiling. It's really kind of cool. The Attic also tries to divide the place, literally right down the middle, between more-sit down tables and the higher ones generally found in sports-bar type places. Arguably, if you are inclined to bring the kids, and plenty of people do, you can sit at a more restaurant-like table than a bar-like table. There is even an outdoor patio area.

Good food. The Attic has a great selection of bar food fare, accented with some more sit-down kind of offerings like steaks or pork chops. On the menu, you will find plenty of appetizer selections including chislic (good stuff) and a platter of nachos that would feed a family of 8. In addition to burgers (which are really good when you need that Jimmy Buffet fix) there are also fairly creative and original sandwiches. One interesting item on the former menu was the Prairie Chicken- a piece of fry bread (think Indian taco) topped with sliced grilled chicken breast, lettuce, ranch sauce, and guacamole. On the new menu there is a sandwich consisting of an Italian sausage patty topped with cheese, peppers, onions, and a mustard sauce. It's good, but plan on dropping a few Zantac. As sides, you can get fries, horseradish mashed potatoes, waffle fries, ranch fries (cubed potatoes sprinkled with ranch), potato salad, etc. There is also a nice offering of salads, soup and chili. And, if you missed the hint, they change the menu a little now and then- always good to keep it fresh.

Reasonably-priced, quality adult beverages. Does this need an explanation? Go to happy hour with your pals. Drink several rounds. Giggle when you get the check. If you like beer, you'll also appreciate the extreme cold of a frosty mug. You might not get one of these if the place is busy, but they are super nice. If you ever drank at a place in Vermillion called Friday's, back in the good old 3.2 beer days, an Attic frosty mug will bring back some memories, or at least a flashback. Like the sign at Famous Dave's says, "Tooth Crackin' Cold Beer."

Plenty of electronic diversions. If sitting around drinking and eating isn't enough stimulation for you, the Attic offers two pool tables, two dart boards, a Golden Tee game, a Big Game Hunter video game, various televisions, and a great "juke box." Video lottery is in a completely separate space, physically separated from the main bar and dining area. I've literally never been in there. I doubt the players mind the relative isolation and I know it sure doesn't bother me.

Great Staff. Over the last few years, there has been a little staff turnover at the Attic. Fortunately, some of the very best are still there. (A few are going to need a little more training to meet the caliber of the vetrans.) Treat these folks right and they will make sure your needs are definitely met, if not anticipated.

Fun Special Events. About twice a month, the Attic tries to have some sort of special event. In December, it was an ugly Christmas sweater party. In January, a Snuggie part. There is also a special birthday night to celebrate all the birthdays of that month. Also watch for special events in the fall and summer, like the Annual Jackass Roundup, when you might get to enjoy a live band in the side lot under a tent.

If there is one drawback to the Attic, it's got to be the general smokiness of the place. If it's not too busy, and someone isn't chain smoking right next to your table, it's not too bad. Even if it's busy, it's relatively good if half the place isn't puffing away. Nevertheless, there are times when I swear it gets as bad as places where you expect to be overwhelmed. I also swear there are smoke epicenters in the place. I was once in there chatting with a friend and about 12 feet away sat an older woman (hell, she could have been 35, but looked 60- smoking will do that to you) and from the smell and general disgust, you'd have thought you were sitting on her lap. YUCK.

I understand Attic management considered voluntarily putting the ki-bosh on smoking around the time the ban became effective (and then referred) but opted not to do so. I can understand that, but WHEN the voters finally enact the long-overdue ban on indoor smoking, the Attic is going to be among the very top tiers of fun hang-out places in Sioux Falls.

A Follow Up Visit to Parker's: Reflections on a Bad Experience

2010-01-01T11:09:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to write this post for some time now. The What The Fork incident that inspired it really torqued me off. I've been stewing/seething over it, trying to think of a way to turn it into a positive experience, to look for some deeper lesson, to not sound like a PO'd crank tossing verbal hand grenades from the anonymity of the blogosphere. I think I finally reconciled the experience, or perhaps rationalized it. So, for what it may be worth, here it goes-

The Incident:

Some time ago, in the not-so-distant past, I had a special occasion to celebrate. A particularly thoughtful friend had supplied me with a gift certificate to Parker's and the Secret Salad Fork hadn't been there yet, so a trip to Parker's was most definitely in order. A couple days before the special occasion, I figured I better call for a reservation. If you are in any way tuned-in to the food scene in Sioux Falls, you should immediately recognize that Parker's is the "it" place right now. Yes, Parker's can get busy and reservations are definitely recommended.

Unfortunately, getting a reservation for dinner was almost an insurmountable task, but not for the reason one would expect. I had a difficult time getting a reservation because NO ONE WOULD ANSWER THE FORKING PHONE. Parker's has an answering machine, but I am not sure why. A message was left, but alas, no call was returned. Under most circumstances, I would have ceased all efforts to patronize an establishment that presents such challenges to doing so. I really wanted to go, though. I tried again- no answer. After my last call, literally placed from a cell phone from across the street, went unanswered, I resorted to walking in to get a reservation.

But wait, it gets better (or worse, depending on one's perspective). As I patiently waited at the host station, the phone started ringing, Ha! The sucker should have known you can't actually call for a reservation, you have to walk in like I did. Wrong. I got to stand there and wait while Stacy answered the telephone and booked a reservation! This takes several minutes. While standing right there, trying to will my blood pressure out of the danger range, I am also intently noting the reservation that is being booked. It's for the date and time I wanted. And it's for a group! Now my vision is starting to blur. I just knew I was going to get hosed because lucky caller 13 actually got through to a live person and I was going to helplessly watch the situation unfold.

Finally, Stacy gets the reservation booked and has an opportunity to address the hapless walk-in, me. Sure, she'd be happy to make a reservation, but it takes several awkward moments to find the book wherein she just noted the reservation for the group that phoned it in minutes ago. Once found, and reviewed, it is noted that the restaurant will be particularly busy at the appointed date and time because several groups will be coming in. (No kidding. I was standing right here when it happened.) Perhaps I am interested in coming in earlier, for instance an hour, or so, earlier. What I should have said was, "No, thank you. It's a special occasion and I'd really prefer not to adjust my plans." Instead, I said, "That'll be fine." By God, I went in there to get a reservation and I was going to come out with a reservation. Of course, I then spent the balance of the evening running over and over this series of events making myself angry all the while.

Interestingly, when we presented ourselves for dinner, both the Secret Salad Fork and I shared the opinion that it didn't appear the good folks at Parker's had the reservation noted.

So, how was the food? Great. Get down there and try the duck before the menu changes. It's absolutely divine. That's all I am saying about the food, though. This post isn't about the food.

Overall, we didn't think the entire experience was so hot. We weren't shown to a table- we were seated at a "two-top." (I know that's restaurant lingo, but I don't need to hear it as a customer.) I want to be shown to my table. The aforementioned two-top was located in the front of the establishment, near the huge glass window which does a phenomenal job of transmitting South Dakota's extreme winter temperature to the inside. (It was chilly. Not intolerable, but chilly.) Service was okay, insofar as orders were accurately taken and food delivered. No fresh fish, which sent the Secret Salad Fork into a tizzy. The Secret Salad Fork loves fresh fish when dining out and failure to meet that expectation will generally immediately change the tone and tenor of the evening. No one comes by to refill water. Desert isn't that hot. The owner's oldest son is observed walking around chomping on a piece of bread.

We left. Well nourished in a physical sense, but spiritually unsatisfied.

Reflection:

After much thought, and several attempts to write this post, it finally occurred to me what my problem was and what are the take aways. My problem was that I was so put off by the whole debacle of trying to get a reservation, that I became hyper-sensitive to any perceived slight or error. I will be honest enough to admit that some of this still lingers when I visit Parker's. It put a burr under my saddle, a chip on my shoulder, a bee in my bonnet, and it's going to take some time to earn back my full trust. A great restaurant should leave a person talking about the food, but also thinking that the service was attentive without being obtrusive. The owners not only appreciated the patronage, but made the diners feel welcome. In short, a person should leave with a strong desire to come back. Soon.

What are the take aways? In no particular order of importance, here are a few thoughts:

You're only as good as the weakest link in the chain. A trip to a restaurant, especially one holding itself out as a premier fine dining establishment, should be a total experience. The food should be great, but the staff should be equally warm and engaging. Wait staff need to be more than delivery personnel. Parker's has spot-on, out of sight, insanely good food. But, if the front-of-house staff, including owners, cannot match that level, the experience is not what it should be.

Some things can't be fixed. Face it. People screw up. It happens. Reservations are going to get lost. A steak is going to get overcooked. These things can be remedied quickly. A round of drinks, a complimentary bottle of wine, free desert for the table, or even comping the whole meal can salvage a whole lot of goodwill lost through simple, or even big mistakes. Heck, even a simple apology can do the trick. A good server can tell immediately when a diner isn't happy with some aspect of the food and sweep in for the rescue with a fix. But how do you fix a crappy front of house experience? I am yet to have a server come up to me and say, "I'm having a difficult day and I've kind of treated you a little like crap tonight, so let me get dessert for you." Look, we all have those days, but certain people just aren't allowed to have a bad day at work. Brain surgeons and airline pilots immediately come to mind. But that also goes for wait staff, bartenders, maitre d's, owners, and other people who collectively make up the face of a restaurant. I don't care if your kid wrecked the car and lied about flunking her geometry final, you don't get to take that stuff to work and inflict any sense of it on the guests. If you aren't fully prepared to give a 100% performance, stay home.

Most people, if not the vast majority of people, aren't going to say anything about bad or sub-par service. Should I or could I have said something about the difficulty of making a reservation? Maybe, but I knew I had to blog about this and I wasn't going to blow my cover. Besides, I wanted to see if Stacy was going to ask me why I didn't just call to make the reservation. She didn't. (Okay, last rant about walking in to get a reservation. Doesn't that strike you as a tad odd? Who walks into a downtown restaurant for the distinct purpose of making a reservation for another evening? Who doesn't use a telephone to make reservations in Sioux Falls? Really? This doesn't pique your interest just a teeny bit? End of last rant.) Anonymity notwithstanding, I probably wouldn't have said anything anyway. Perhaps I am just overly passive-aggressive. Maybe I was scarred by the experience of watching a friend who was supposed to be treating me to dinner deliver an unreasonable tongue-lashing to a waitress for a series of minor faux pas. (Some people think a license to bitch is included in the price of the meal.) Maybe I just don't want to rat out a server to the boss because I am afraid he will spit in my salad next time. Maybe the owner doesn't seem too approachable. There is a very narrow tier of people between the jackasses who live to make a scene and the people who would rather suffer in silence. I think most people will not register a complaint- they just won't come back, or at least come back as often.

It's important to treat all people like they are special. I could be wrong, or perhaps am still under the influence of my hyper-sensitivity, but from the times I have been there, I would say the ownership-types at Parker's are pretty good at warming up to the friends and favorites (folks who dine there weekly or more, or who own insurance companies, for instance) and not so good at making the new faces feel like part of the in-crowd. If I was seated at a table nearby say a prominent local lawyer who has announced his candidacy for Governor, I bet I wouldn't get a fraction of the wit and charm that would be exchanged there. Granted, people will always have friends, family, and special customers that get treated a little better, but you have to try to treat everyone like they are special.

Answer the forking phone and return messages. I'd bet anyone a pound of fois gras that if I called The French Laundry in Napa Valley right now to make a reservation, someone would answer the telephone. I don't have any delusions that I would actually get a reservation, but at least I'd talk to a real human being, who would probably apologize for my disappointment and suggest a better time to try to make a reservation.

Don't list things on the menu if you can't serve them with regularity. One of the most interesting lessons I have learned somewhat recently is that expectations can be managed. Sincerely. If you list a fresh fish on the menu, you have created the expectation that a fresh fish is available every day. Gumbo is on the menu. Gumbo is available every day. If the fresh fish menu item is not available every day, you have failed to manage the expectation. For a whole lot of people, like the Secret Salad Fork, a few shrimps on a salad or in a pasta dish is not a reasonable substitute for a piece of fish. There are two clear fixes for this: (1) take the fresh fish off the damned menu and offer it as an extra special feature on the occasions you actually have it or (2) have plan B ready. If the plane flying in the Mahi Mahi from Hawaii crashes in the Rockies, good thing you have some halibut or salmon on hand. This isn't complicated stuff.

I know others gush about the service at Parker's, but for me, lately, the front of house just hasn't risen to match the caliber of the food.

Downtown Scene Update: Check out the great happy hour specials at Paramount.

2009-12-20T14:59:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago, I wandered into Paramount for a post-work libation. Once a stand-alone facility, Paramount is now part of the Minerva's empire. A doorway was opened through the adjoining wall, and with it magically flowed Minerva's full liquor license. Prior to the merger, Paramount only offered wine and beer selections. Now, folks who would like to have a martini, margarita, or glass of Bourbon, can get one.

Another boon is the punched-up menu of appetizers available. Paramount previously offered a few things to nibble on, such as shrimp, cheeses, and other small snacks that could easily be prepared sans kitchen. Now, you can get a selection of various freshly-prepared items, including, most notably, a nice beef chislic with a nice hint of rosemary, served with some barbecue sauce for dipping and some fresh hot fries. Pretty tasty.

The real deal, though is happy hour, which runs until 7 PM, when you can get a number of items, including appetizers, wines and cocktails, for just $6 each. Beer is on the list too. You get two 16-ounce tap beers for $6. There is a nice little grouping of wines on the happy hour list, including Cline Cashmere and J. Lohr's Paso Robles Cabernet. There are also some m=nice whites. Cocktail selections include a nice margarita, served as one should be, on the rocks in a pint glass. Paramount also has a pretty respectable selection of beers on tap, which usually include something seasonal, like Sam Adams Winter Lager, and a micro brew that you might not find elsewhere in town.

If you haven't been by Paramount for a while, stop by to take a break during some holiday shopping or after work.

Owww! Owww! Too 'Picey!!! Too 'Picey!!!!!

2009-11-27T08:09:00.001-08:00

Interesting review of Parker's in the Thursday, November 25 Argus Leader. Jay Kirschenman and his bride stopped by Parker's for dinner. http://www.argusleader.com/article/20091126/ENT02/911260317/1005/ent. Here's a summary: great coffee, great service, beautiful food, awesome pork chop, and four dishes that set poor Jay's mouth on FIRE!!!

As is generally the case with the AL's feeble attempts at reviewing restaurants and food, I couldn't disagree more. Don't get me wrong, I am not taking issue with Jay's subjective understanding of what constitutes "too spicy." After all, we have all had different food experiences that shape our understandings and impressions of what is spicy and what is not. Personally, I didn't think the gumbo at Parker's was clamp-your-throat-shut spicy hot. I would characterize it as pleasingly warm with the correct use of several peppers to give you that nice multiple level of warm. I am also not afraid or put off by the idea that there is a little cayenne in the apple desert. It does kick up the apple flavor- a notch above what cinnamon might. My beef with Jay's review is two-fold. One, it doesn't tell enough about the Parker's story (locally procured ingredients, unique menu items, multiple courses, etc.) Basically, I didn't learn much more from the review then what I could have learned from talking to co-workers at the super-stressful day job, family members who have visited, or hanging out at coffee. Second, the review left a person with the impression that the food is generally overly-hot, right down to dessert. Claiming that seasoning in several dishes caused the writer to "choke" because it was so spicy borders on irresponsible. If you haven't been to Parker's yet, don't let the AL review dissuade you.

On the other hand, if it's a Chili Head experience you desire in Sioux Falls that you desire, there are places to get it. If you are anything like me, there are times when you crave the sweat on your brow, the red face, the unquenchable burn in the mouth, and the I-don't-care-how much-I-am-going-to-regret-this-in-the-morning capsaicin fueled rush of endorphins, fortunately, you are not entirely out of luck here in Sioux Falls. You want hot? You want hot? You think you deserve hot? You can't handle the hot! (Awkward, I know. Read it again, but this time think of the scene in "A Few Good Men" where Tom Cruise is cross examining Jack Nicholson.) Jay, try some of the following places to readjust your perspective of just what might be "Too 'Picey!"

Let's go right to the top of the chart. The spiciest food in Sioux Falls, hands down, is available for the asking at Taste of India. Indian food is one of the most exciting and complex cuisines in the world. It's like a beautiful painting created with layers of colors and techniques. Sweet tastes like spinach or eggplant play off of spices like cinnamon, cardamom, or clove. Add some sweet chutney, or a cooling yogurt based sauce like raita and it only gets more complex. Add a vinegray spicy pickle and you get entirely different textures and flavors. It's awesome. And, if you want it, and only if you want it, it's forking hot. I'm talking about Vindaloo- a style of "curry" from the state of Goa, a region in India with beaches and Portuguese influences. That means Catholics, not necessarily Hindus- and meat, like pork or duck. Vindaloo is going to separate the real chili heads from the poseurs, and Taste of India does a great job with it. Vindaloo is generally spicy to begin with, but the chefs at Taste of India offer you a bit more control over your experience, by offering each diner different heat levels ranging from mild to medium, to hot, to chef's challenge. For most people who think they can handle the spice, medium will probably match their expectations and hot will probably push the boundary. Chef's challenge? Never tried it. Maybe someday.

One of the best things about Taste of India is the opportunity to mix-up the experience with multiple dishes. Not all Indian food is spicy. With that Vindaloo, or even the Rogan Josh, you might want a serving of the delightful butter chicken which is delightfully creamy, or spinach paneer, a sort of creamed spinach that has cubes of delicious home-made cheese- something between mozerella, ricotta and tofu. Give it all a try, it's all delicious. But if it's tears you are after, give the Vindaloo a shot.

Buffalo Wild Wings can offer a pretty-kicked up experience with spice. This place is great, especially since they went non-smoking. Swing in for a bite before a Skyforce, Stampede, or Canaries game. The beer is cold and plentiful and the fried food is the best. BW3, as it is often referred to by its fans, offers a broad array of sauces that are applied to their flat bread pizzas, sandwiches, wraps, and their chicken wings. BW3 offers various forms of "wings" ranging from the boneless variety, to "tenders" which are the grilled breast "tender," to the traditional bone-in, skin-on variety. The menu clearly displays the spectrum of sauce spiciness which ranges from a mild traditional wing sauce and teriyaki to more spicy tastes like garlic parmesan, honey barbecue, and medium. Ranging toward the hotter end are choices like Caribbean jerk, Asian zing and hot barbecue. If you really want to test your limits, you can go to the far right hand side of the list and check out "Blazing," a traditional style wing sauce that is undoubtedly kicked up with habaneros, if not some chili extracts. Blazing would be the challenge level. It's hot. You've been warned. If you want to dial it back just a notch, there are also choices like "Wild" and mango habanero. Lots of choices at BW3 and chances to try the sweet-hot connection with things like Asian zing and mango habanero or more complex spiciness of things like Caribbean jerk that includes spiciness from cinnamon and ginger. You can get separate flavors for every 6 wings. Take friends and mix it up. One tip: get the traditional wings. The tenders are probably "better" for you since they are grilled. The boneless ones are easier to eat- two bites off a fork, but they are breaded and that changes the whole flavor profile. The regular old wings with the bones and the skin have the flavor. Besides, this place is, for the most part, a bar. (Even though there is a sit-down side of the house which is generally more suitable for families or other people who don't necessarily want to be around people enjoying an extra adult beverage.) You're not going in there for a spa treatment, so get the damned real wings, chew the meat off the bones, chomp up the little bits of cartilage from the joints with you back teeth, eat the skin, and suck the sauce off your fingers. Wash it down with copious amounts of beer. Sheesh, I made myself hungry for wings.

Various Mexican places also can offer you a spice experience, but you might have to ask for it. If you are into food, you probably recognize that Mexican food is not necessarily spicy. Like all great cuisine, it can be quite complex and can offer different textures and tastes besides "hot." But, fortunately, it can be pretty hot, too. Ask the server what is spicy and ask if it can be kicked up. One of my personal favorites is Luis' Favorite at Puerto Vallarta, a plateful of tender sliced steak swimming in a sauce with mushrooms, peppers, and tomatoes and spiked with a vinegary chili bite. Ask to have it muy caliente.

Various Chinese restaurants around town can punch your spicy button, too. Think the wonderful spicy standby Kung Pao chicken. Golden Dragon offers a great Kung Pao and will gladly use some extra red chili to make it as hot as you think you want it. Most Chinese restaurants will kick it up for you. Just ask.

Speaking of Asian food, we REALLY need a good Thai place here in Sioux Falls. If you haven't had Thai, you need to soon. Next time you are in a bigger city (Minneapolis will do, but Chicago is better) go find a good Thai place and be prepared for a great experience. Until we get a decent Thai place here, though, I am pretty much stuck at Hu Hot. Use the Pad Thai rice noodles, stick to the chicken, definitely add tofu, and do the veggies. At the sauce bar, follow the Pad Thai "recipe," but add a few extra spoonfuls of whatever appears to be hotter than hell. You should be able to get a good sweat going. Here's an insider tip for Hu Hot. Chances are you are going to defy the suggestion at the beginning of the line to use one bowl. Why wouldn't you? You eat cereal out of bigger bowls. But when you take two bowls, put the protein and the noodles in one bowl and the veggies in the other. Here's the kicker, though- you need to double the sauce. You got two bowls, you need double the sauce, so put the equivalent of your sauce of choice times two in the two bowls.

Jay, get out there and tune up those taste buds. With any luck, you'll join the fraternity of Chili Heads and someday be saying "Too 'Picey! Too 'Picey!! I want MORE 'Picey!!"

Drinking the Kool-Aid Out of German Lead Crystal: Reidel Glasses

2009-10-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

So, Maximilian Reidel, 33 year old CEO of Reidel Crystal of America, was in town recently with the Reidel Travelling Medicine Show to sell a few wares and preach the gospel of wine glasses. For those who have never heard of Reidel glasses, let me respectfully suggest that you come out from under your rock and try some wine. Reidel is pretty much the gold standard for wine glasses these days. Seriously, if you haven't heard of Reidel glasses, there is a serious question of how much and what types of wine you've been drinking. Sincerely.

Anyway, Max himself, 11th generation of the Reidel family, was in town for a Reidel glass tasting event at Callaway's this last week. If you've never been to one of these events, you must go. The event was entertaining, educational, and you walked out with four spectacular wine glasses. This is the second Reidel event that has occurred in the last few years here in Sioux Falls. If I am not mistaken, the last event featured Max's dad, Georg.

For those who haven't perviously been formally inducted into the Cult of Reidel, let me explain the format for the event. The event started with a reception featuring champagne served in the very cool Reidel "O" champagne glasses. (The "O" series is stemless. Very cool champagne/sparkling glasses.) There were also a few non-descript finger foods. One then adjourns to the next room where tables are laid out in a classroom sort of arrangement. At each place is a glass for water and a place mat set with four big, beautiful, lead crystal glasses, each holding a respectable tasting quantity of wine. In this case, we are talking about the new Reidel Vinum XL glasses and the set consisted of a glass for Riesling, Montrachet/Chadonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir (specifically Oregon pinot.) Also at the place setting is a standard issue wine glass typical of those found at almost any large-attendance event. Not those goofy "tulip" glasses like one would expect at a wedding dance at any particular Ramkota, but still, a standard, who-cares-if-you-break-it glass.

Max then introduces himself and starts the magic show. The program consists of starting with one of the pre-poured wines, usually the "lightest" in this case the Riesling. You take a big sniff out of the Reidel glass and listen to Max explain his impressions, It goes something like this:

"Ahhh, smell zat! Pear! Pineapple! Granny Smiss Appul! (Max is German) Honey! Sunlight!" Then you taste and get more of the same impressions. Then comes the trick. Max instructs the group to pour the wine out of the Reidel glass and into the standard-issue "Joker" glass. "Vhat do you smell? Nothink! Vhat happened? It's gone!"

Okay, at this point, I'd really like to ridicule Max about this alleged alchemy, but he's right. The shape of the Joker glass can't contain the beautiful aromas and subtleties of the wine. The same drill ensues when the crowd is invited to drink out of the "Joker." Sure enough, the first taste of the exact same wine you just drank tastes nothing like it did moments ago. To drive the point home, Max then has the crowd pour the wine into an ordinary plastic cup, to demonstrate that the same wine has less aroma and less taste now.

This process continues through the other glasses at the table and varies only with invitations to pour a varietal into a glass designed for an entirely different varietal. Think a big Oregon Pinot Noir in a glass specifically designed for Chardonnay. Despite the quality of the glass, the right wine in the wrong glass doesn't work.

Okay, so what the fork? Can a glass really make a difference? And, if so, why?

Well, turns out you don't need to be a German engineer to figure this one out. Engineering has nothing to do with it. These glasses are the work of artisans who have worked on glasses specifically designed to showcase the colors, aromas and tastes of specific wines. During part of the demonstration, Max invites everyone to tip the glass forward as one might do to examine the color of the wine. He directs your attention to the shape the wine is making in the glass. This is important. You should notice that the differently-shaped glasses shape and direct the wine in different ways. For instance, a Cabernet glass directs the wine to a relatively sharp point, while the Chardonnay glass allows the wine to flow more widely. You place the thin, cut rim to your mouth et voila, the glass directs the wine to different parts of your tongue. What this does is allow the wine to make it's first contact with critical points of your mouth's tasting apparati.

Reidel makes several series of glasses covering various tiers of prices. These lines cover everything from the hand-blown Sommelier series to the stemless "O" series. Irrespective of what series of glasses you have, chances are there is one that is specifically designed for a particular varietal. In the higher-end lines (Sommelier and Vinum, for instance) there are a LOT of varietal-specific glasses. There are glasses specifically designed for Spanish Tempranillio, Chianti, Port, and Burgundy, as well as glasses for single-malt Scotches or sake. The glasses we tried were part of the new Vinum XL series and, like t-shirts, the XL is for extra large. These suckers are big. The Caberet glass has a capacity of something like 22 ounces. As Max explained, the glasses are bigger these days for the simple reason that wines are bigger these days. Today's winemakers are producing wines that are bold and flavorful. Bigger wines, bigger glass. Works for me. I like a bigger glass for wines because it facilitates swirling the wine and shoving your whole nose and half your face into the glass. (I think you can tell infintely more about a wine by smelling it that you can tasting it.)

This isn't alchemy, though. The glass cannot change what is in it. That's still the same wine in there, the glass just presents it to your nose and your palate in such a way that the first encounter with it is amplified. Just to prove that point, I tried my own little experiment, which, in a way, debunked a little of the mystery. I took a drink from the Reidel glass and then made a point to work the wine aggressively into every corner of my mouth. This is what highly-proficient tasters do. Literally chew the wine and be sure to open your mouth a little and work in some air. I then did the same think with a drink of the same wine from the plastic cup. Turns out working the wine aggressively around your mouth is the great equalizer. Nevertheless, the Reidel glass did showcase the wine from the moment it hits the lips and tongue. The other glasses did not do so.

So, is an investment in glasses like these worth it. If you are serious student of wine or are hoping to increase your knowledge, the answer is an unqualified yes. If you care more about what is in the bottle than how cool the label looks and are willing to spend more than 5 bucks on a bottle, you should invest in some decent glassware. If you are going to paint, you need good brushes. If you are going to ski, you need good skis and boots that fit your ability and style. Basically, you need the right tools for the job and these glasses will compliment and accentuate your wine experience.

One last thing. If you treat these glasses properly, they will last a long, long, time. For such thin glass, they are amazingly strong and durable. A little care while washing and some attention will keep these glasses working for you long into the future.

Go buy the glasses, but clear out some cupboard or bar space for them, a full set of these puppies is going to take up more space than all those hurricane glasses you have brought back from New Orleans over the years. And, if you still have some space, pick up a decanter. You should see the Eve decanter that Max designed! But that's a whole other story for another day.

Parker's: A Very Promising New Addition to the Sioux Falls Dining Scene

2009-10-18T05:46:00.000-07:00

After a soft opening in late September, I finally got around to trying Parker's a little while back. Any new food place in Sioux Falls gets a lot of attention, and soft openings are becoming de rigeur. What's a soft opening you ask? A soft opening is when a new restaurant or bar opens without a big announcement that they are opening on some specific date. People find new places in Sioux Falls without a lot of advertising and attention. Patrons begin to trickle in and this gives the staff a chance to sort of ramp up rather than be faced with a packed house from the word "go." It allows a place to work out the kinks instead of having to open full-throttle.

Parker's occupies a space that has undergone some fairly extensive remodeling. It's on Main Avenue, near 10th Street in a space formerly occupied by a Mexican restaurant, an attempt at a Brazilian joint and a place once known as the House of Soccer. The building has benefitted from the City's facade easement program and features Sioux quartzite and large windows.

Parker's has been billed as creole/cajun/american, which I must say made me a little skeptical. The cajun craze has passed and, face it, no one (at least no one with any sense) really expects authentic cajun cuisine this far from the bayous of Lousianna. The indoor decor of the place is definitely an homage to New Orleans, though: bare brick walls, goofy flooring, old building that leads back to different rooms, high ceilings. It's pretty nice, but the lighting could be better. It's just a tad dark in there at night.

The kitchen is open- that is to say, the chefs work behind the front "bar" area in view and within earshot of the diners. Personally, I couldn't do this. I don't mind people watching me cook because I am on display anytime we cook at my house. The problem would be the diners listening to me and the things they might hear.

The menu is not very extensive, but it features some great items. The dinner menu is divided into courses: starter, salad/soup, entree. Expect familiar items: beef, pork, chicken, fish, but don't expect it to be prepared and presented like something you'd see at Minerva's or Foley's. For instance, there is usually a fresh fish item on the menu. On the night I was there, it was halibut. However, it was coated in a curry sort of rub and pan roasted. Halibut is a phenomenal fish and this particular piece was cooked exactly right. It was cooked just to the point of being done so the flesh was moist and the curry-dusted outside was dry, and well-seared, but not crusty. The halibut was served with fresh cucumber cut into ribbons and dressed with a creamy sauce- rather reminiscent of the sliced cucumbers your grandmother made during the summer months, only more delicate and definitely prettier. The other side was, as I recall, Isreali couscous. Couscous is pasta that is basically milled into the consistency of grain. It's great stuff, takes on flavor like a sponge and cooks in about five minutes. If you aren't familiar with it, you need to get with the program. Isreali couscous is bigger in size- kind of like small tapioca pearls. Personally, I thought the couscous could use a little more flavor, but I was glad to see it on the plate.

Other menu choices include a pork chop, chicken and flatiron steaks. I can't wait to try more. It all sounded great and it was hard to make a choice.

The salads were interesting and feature fresh local produce. There was an heirloom tomato salad with some balsamic glaze and fresh mozerella. This is an example of good menu writing, because in reality, this is a salad caprese- tomatoes and fresh mozerella- for nine bucks. There is also a gumbo on the menu. (Cajun/creole homage to NOLA.) Not bad. Really good creole/cajun food has an amazing quality of prolonging spice. It should be spicy, but not the sort of punch you in the mouth like wasabi or vindaloo hot. I thought the cup of gumbo I had could have used a little more front-end heat and a little less rice in the bottom of the cup. It also could have used just a tad more texture. The feature was the andouille sausage- hand-made. That was great. Like I said, though, the gumbo needed more texture. If you have it in NOLA, you might have a piece of chicken here or there or some vegetables that haven's entirely dissolved.

The real shining star of the menu, however, was the lamb sausage on the appetizer list. You have GOT to try this. Handmade by the chef, and accordingly cooked to the rare side, it is just a tad spicy and oh, so delicious.

The menu of Parker's puts it in the same category as, say, Cafe 334, K's, and probably a few places you may have visited in more metropolitan places. It's good food, but prepared with more imagination than what we have become used to here. The presentations come to the table absolutely camera ready. I guarantee you'll pause when the food makes it to the table to take in the presentation.

The staff is very competent and helpful. Ben Josten, formerly of Food & Fermentation, is there. Ben is a definite asset. He has a passion for wine, a very good understanding of food, and a talent for pairing the two. If you are in doubt about anything on the wine list, seek Ben's assistance. You can't go wrong.

I am reaching the point in my dining and food snobbery, that I wonder if an absoultely perfect dining experience is possible. Taste, after, all is subjective. Nevertheless, if you want to know what I thought could be a little different, or a little better, here it is:

Tweak the lighting. The food is gorgeous, but it's a little hard to see. Hell if I know how to adjust lighting. I am not a lighting engineer, but I know it could benefit from the assistance of someone who is.
Punch up the wine list. The selections were very nice, but there can be more of them. You don't need a Sears catalog sized list, but a few more selections would be great.
Emphasize the ingredient sourcing. In passing, the wait staff mentioned that all the fresh ingredients for the menu, with the obvious exception of the seafood, are obtained locally. Like from within 100 miles of Sioux Falls. That's phenomenal and I think Americans, in general, are finally coming around to what the French have understood for centuries- great, fresh ingredients obtained from people who care and know what they are doing make a HUGE difference. Why doesn't the menu tell me that pork came from a Lincoln County farmer? It should. Frankly, I really want to know this before I order.
Punch up the flavors, especially in the sides. Don't get me wrong, I thought the food was well-prepared, but I look for amplification and compliments to the natural, subtle nuances of fresh food. Don't be afraid to season with a heavier hand.
I hope between Ben and the culinary staff, you will try some special paired wine events.

Overall, I was quite pleased with my first experience at Parker's and I am looking forward to many return visits. I think Parker's has great promise and has the potential to be one of the crown jewels of dining in Sioux Falls, and South Dakota for that matter.

Holy Frijoles! Authentic Mexican Food in Sioux Falls: Nikki's Taqueria

2009-10-02T13:40:00.001-07:00

A couple of years or so ago, I was reading about Nikki's, a store and restaurant on East 10th Street- in the little strip mall where Subway is located, near Cliff Avenue. The point of the article was that Nikki's had become a sort of community center for the local Hispanic population, particularly those who speak very little English. I also noticed that the article mentioned good food.

Nikki's has opened a large new store on 8th Street and Indiana. The restaurant is still on 10th Street. (I don't know if a move is imminent.) I stopped in for lunch expecting a very authentic Mexican food experience and I am pleased to report that I was in no way disappointed.

Nikki's is the real deal. If your idea of great Mexican food is a Taco Bell Encherito or a big old burrito at Qdoba, the food at Nikki's is going to seem very foreign to you. On the other hand, if you have fond memories of some little tacos full of some really tasty mystery meat you ate during your last trip to Mexico, you are in luck.

Nikki's has a pretty nice selection of entrees and al a carte items. It was lunch and the taco special- four tacos for five bucks made a great deal of sense. The choices far exceeded beef or chicken, hard or softshells. (Actually, they make it pretty clear that there are no hard shells. As a matter of fact, the soft shells are corn, not flour- a plus on the authentic-meter.) There were tons of choices for fillings and you were free to mix and match them as you desired. Here are the choices I can remember: asada (spiced grilled beef), picadillo (shredded beef), pastor (a seasoned pork), carnitas (a different type of seasoned beef), chorizo, lengua (beef tongue), tripa (beef tripe), fish.

Naturally, I had to try the tongue, and rounded out my selections with chorizo, pastor, and the asada. Each taco is barely the size of an adult's palm and is comprised of two little corn tortillas with two or three tablespoons of your designated protein mounded in the middle. You can forget cheese, lettuse, sour cream, etc for toppings. In this case, you got onions and some chopped cilantro. There were also a couple of slices of fresh radish on the side.

As is so often the case with food, these simple little tacos were a great experience of flavor and textures. The soft and somewhat sweet corn tortillas palyed off the textures and subtle spiciness of the proteins. Then you get the sweet pungency of the onions and the salty-spiciness of the cilantro. Phenomenal.

Yes, the tongue was good. Tongue is an unfairly maligned cut of meat. Yes, it looks wierd in whole form and even I would have to do some research to figure out how to cook one, but it really is good stuff. It tastes beefy. Like so many odd beef cuts, the flavor is rather like the taste of a slice of cold pot roast straight from the fridge. That's probably because it has been stored in a fridge. The texture is not too soft and it's not tough by any means, either. It is very fine grained and yielding. Seriously, you have to give it a try.

I wasn't quite up for tripe- beef stomach. Don't get me wrong, properly cooked tripe is a beautiful thing. I actually had a meal at a much ballyhooed restaurant in San Francisco where the the best thing I had was the tripe appetizer. (I thought the rest of the meal frankly sucked- keep this in mind while you watch "The Next American Iron Chef" this fall because the executive chef at this particular restaurant is Nate Appleman who will be competing.) Anyway, considering the love and care put into the lengua, I bet the tripa is pretty darn good, too.

Truly, one of the best things about Sioux Falls these days is the absolute embarassment of riches we are experiencing in terms of diverse cultures. That means great food choices and Nikki's is a shining example. When you can get such a great sampling of flavors for all of five bucks, why wouldn't you?

Out on the Wine Dinner Trail: Carnaval

2009-09-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

Hit a wine dinner the other night. I haven't been to one for a while because since Food & Fermentation closed the doors I haven't yet settled on a home base for a dinner.

For those of you who have no clue what I am talking about, there are a number of wine retailers who have paired up with local restaurants to feature a particular set of wines with a meal. Generally, each course is paired with a specific wine. The idea is to try new wines and see how they can be paired with certain foods. There are also usually representatives from a particular winery and, of course, folks from the local distributors. Incidentally, some of the local distributor representatives are good people to know. They can clue you in on what is what and if there are particularly good values to be had in the local market.

Carnaval, the Brazilian restaurant over in the Foley's-Century Theaters area, along with JJ's hosted a dinner featuring a four course menu, plus appetizers paired with wines by Seghesio- a three-generation winery located in northern Sonoma County. Edd Lopez, the national sales guy for Seghesio, and practically a member of the Seghesio family, was on hand to talk about Seghesio and the wines. Keeping in mind that Edd's job is to sell the wine, he did a great job of describing each wine and telling the Seghesio story. He was very informative and I didn't feel like he had memorized tasting notes. As one more aside, you simply have to encounter someone from wine country, especially a winery employee, and listen to them describe the flavors of what is in the glass. This is where you get all the comments about pears, hint of leather, blah, blah, blah. I seldom agree, but it is always entertaining.

The wines were fantastic. If you see Seghesio around, I highly recommend that you pick up a bottle of their Zinfandel and their Pinot Grigio. Very good stuff.

The paired foods had some highlights and some low lights, but from what I could tell, the crowd was very happy with the effort.

The evening started with a glass of Seghesio Pinot Grigio and a selection of cheeses, crackers, and some Brazilian sort of hush puppy that had the consistency of rubber. The Pinot was really great. Seghesio ferments their Pinot Grigio slowly which results in a much more developed structure. It was rich and creamy, like a Chardonnay, but without the oak and the overwhelming butter sort of feel.

Next course was a salad of spinach greens with shrimp, some croutons, and a nice fruity dressing. All-in-all, a really nice effort on the salad. The greens were fresh and cool and the shrimp was cooked just right. Spot on. I can't recall the name of the wine. It was a white, lighter than the Pinot Grigio. It paired well. Normally, I hate trying to pair wines with salads because the acidity of the dressing can clash with acidity in the wine. This worked well, though.

Now onto main courses. We were presented with two glasses of Zinfandel (one of the Fork's personal favorites). One glass was the Seghesio Old Vine Zin- which is pretty much exactly what that sounds like. This is wine from grapes grown on really old vines. It is everything a good Zin should be- spicy, somewhat tannic and well-developed structure. This was a 2006 and perhaps just a tad on the tight side. Not overly tannic, but a 2005 would have been nice. The other glass was Seghesio's Rockpile Zin. Rockpile is a new AOC- that is a specifically designated appellation- an officially recognized sub-region. This was also good wine and was quite different from the Old Vine. Perhaps a bit more minerally. It was different up front. By the way, these wines were poured in great glasses- big Reidels- exactly the sort of glass a big wine like that should be served in. The paired food was a seared ahi tuna with the obligatory gingery-garlicy sauce; two smoked lamb lollipops (two overcooked lamb chops) with an odd minty lemon butter; and some braised pheasant. The pheasant was good. The tuna was okay (really, if you don't overcook good tuna, it's pretty hard to mess up), the lamb was a loser. Meat as delicate as a lamb chop does NOT benefit from the application of smoke in my humble opinion. Between the smoke and the over-cooking, you had something that really didn't let the flavors of the lamb shine through.

Next course was a smoked pork tenderloin with some kind of sauce. Joining it on the plate were servings of a carrot and parsnip puree. The vegetables were good. The pork was fine, but again, what's with the friggin smoke? It was a little too heavy. The sauce served with it was a Seghesio Omaggio. This was the most expensive wine served that evening. Omaggio retails somewhere around 60 bucks a bottle. It's a blend of Cabernet and Sangiovese- sort of a shot at a super Tuscan blend. It was really rich, smooth, and full of dark fruit flavors.

By this point, I was confronted with a very unique problem: too much wine. I know that is an extremely odd "problem" to have, but really, by this point in the evening, we were on the verge of being over-served. Granted, one is not required to consume every drop of wine set in front of you, but geez, you don't want to waste it. The Fork likes drinking, even on a Wednesday night. The deal is though, the more wine you drink the less you are actually going to taste. As it turns out, alcohol seems to affect one's body and that includes your tongue and other parts of you tasting apparatus. This is why people who are doing serious tasting aspirate (fancy word for spit out) wine after thoroughly tasting it. I could tell the gross differences between these wines at this point, but after you have had five generous pours (not a bad thing), ferreting out the subtleties is not going to happen. The glassware at Carnaval is also a bit odd. The Pinot Grigio was served in those big globular glasses- the one hoisted by Chef Tracy in the Carnaval television commercial. These look cool, but they would be better for keeping a pet goldfish than drinking wine. The white glass for the wine paired with the salad and the glasses for the Zins were perfect. Then it went downhill. The Omaggio was served in one of those silly-ass stemless glasses. The bowl (well, the whole glass, since that's all it is) was too small for a wine that big. The only thing I could smell with that glass (even after five big glasses of wine) was the soap or hand lotion used by the servers who handled the glass before I got it. (One last rant as long as we are on the subject of scent. Carnaval had burning on our table a vanilla scented candle. WTF??!! Candles are nice for setting the mood, and a scented candle is great in a family room or bathroom, but NEVER on a table where people are trying to enjoy food. Major screw up in my book, but easily remedied.) The last wine, a Port actually, was served in a small snifter- not real keen on those.

Okay, last course- a huge fudgy chocolate brownie served with about two tablespoons of vanilla ice cream and three raspberries. As mentioned above, it was served with a Port that is not even offered here in SD. The Port was very rich and had lots of character. It also had lots of punch with a 24% alcohol content. My glass was also full of sediment. The dessert was good, but it was too much. I was worried I would contract gout sitting right there. Count 'em- by then four big glasses of red wine (we got a bonus pour of the Rockpile Zin- THANKS!), preceded by two whites and then very rich chocolate and a rich port. Something a tad lighter may have been in order.

Bottom line: Phenomenal wines and a nice try at the food, but a lack of follow-through on the execution. The meal definitely looked better on paper. But, like I said, a lot of people seemed to enjoy it and the Fork is definitely spoiled when it comes to food, which means I can admittedly get overly critical about details at times. I would be willing to try another wine dinner at Carnaval, but Chef, you've got a strike against you.

By all means, if you like food and you like wines, even if you are a wine beginner trying to increase your own knowledge- especially of how to pair wines with foods- go try a wine dinner. Just ask your favorite wine retailer if they sponsor these sorts of dinners. Chances are they do.

Support Local Businesses- Or Else!

2009-09-11T07:21:00.001-07:00

A quick review of news here in South Dakota turned up a story in today's Rapid City Journal about the last day of business at Fjord's Ice Cream. The owner cited a lack of support from the local community and further stated that most of her business came from tourists in the area who actually sought out Fjord's.

Go check out the story at www.rapidcityjournal.com

It's a sad, but true, fact that if local people do not support local businesses, chances are those local businesses are going to have a tough time staying open. Granted, it's a lot easier to whip through a drive through lane of franchise place that sells frozen treats and lots of those sorts of places are also owned by local folks. But still, if your community has a local treasure like a Fjord's, you need to make a point to go out of your way to give them some business.

Really High End Fine Dining: What, Where and Why It Matters

2009-08-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

In this neck of the woods, very few people are ever exposed to truly high-end dining. I am not talking about a trip to one of the legendary steak houses, such as Lawry's, Ruth Chris, Murray's or Manny's in Mineapolis, or ever Sparks or Peter Lugar in New York. I am not talking about a meal that simply costs a lot of money. (Even though this type of eating does cost alot. A whole lot.) I am talking about once-in-a-lifetime culinary experiences designed and executed by extremely talented chefs. I am talking about meals in establishments such as The French Laundry in Napa, Gary Danko in San Francisco, Everest, Charlie Trotter's or Alinea in Chicago, and, even closer to home, La Belle Vie in Minneapolis. These are places where, for the mere price of a car payment or (more likely) a house payment, you can indulge in culinary delights beyond your imagination and step into a rarified world of cuisine that very few will ever experience or imagine.

The menu in these sorts of places is not divided into sections such as "appetizers, salads, entrees and deserts." There is no salad bar. In some cases there is actually no menu. More often than not, the menu is divided into courses. When it is possible to "order" diners are confronted with making a series of selections from various courses. This is an option at Gary Danko and La Belle Vie, for instance. However, the real treat and the piece de resistance is the "tasting menu" or menu degustation that has been carefully crafted to showcase exquisite ingredients and the talents of the chef who painstakingly engineered the ingredients into an unforgettable experience. These menus are generally presented through 5 to 15 (or more) courses, each consisting of portions that are literally three or four bites. These courses look a lot like what is presented to the judges on television programs like Iron Chef America or Top Chef. Each course is literally a work of art to be enjoyed by all the senses.

I am not forking with you about the price of these meals. For most people, this isn't a one a month or even an annual experience. Prices can literally run from just under one hundred dollars per person to nearly three hundred dollars or more. And, that's before you have a cocktail or consider the wine options.

The places of this caliber that I have had the privilege to visit have cellars that boast some of the finest and rarest wines on the planet. Fortunately, if you don't have the foggiest idea which vintage of Chateau Moulton Rothschild will pair with the third course of a braised Kobe short rib in an ancho-cocoa sauce, or the third course consisting of Idaho steelhead trout paired with salmon caviar and some sort of foam (hmmm, the vintage 1945 or perhaps the 1968), the diner can elect for wines that are paired with each course.

The Japanese call this sort of dining omikase, which literally means to put oneself in the hands of the chef. That is basically exactly what one does on these occasions. Forget about whether a particular item sounds "good" or not. Chances are the average person wouldn't dream up some of these combinations in a million years and sourcing ingredients would be impossible. Sit back and indulge your senses.

Besides the extreme talent and imagination of the chefs who design these experiences, another thing that places this sort of dining in a league of its own is the sourcing of ingredients. In many of these places, the menu chages on a seasonal basis- it is a matter of what is very good during a particular season, although in some cases the menu can change due to what is the best that very day. In some cases, these ingredients are sourced down to an individual producer. For instance, if you find yourself enjoying a particular piece of fish at Charlie Trotter's, chances are it was swimming in a stream in Idaho, or in the South Pacific a matter of hours before it landed on your plate.

So, where does one experience this sort of dining? Well, as it just so happens, I have had the extreme pleasure of dining at several of the temples of degustation, and having visited this rarified world, have developed a short list of other places I hope to someday visit. If you ever have the opportuinity, try these places.

Restaurant Gary Danko, San Francisco

We ended up at Gary Danko in San Francisco because we failed to secure a reservation at The French Laundry in Napa. (Important lesson- you have to get reservations for The French Laundry at least, and almost exactly 60 days in advance.) Even though we ended up at Danko as a second choice, the experience and the food was first rate. Danko allows a diner to custom build their own experience by selecting three, four, or five courses and then choosig among various offerings for each course. For instance, Glazed oysters with Osetra caviar, zucchini pearls and lettuce cream; horseradish crusted salmon medallion with dilled cucumber; and, for dessert try chocolate souffle with creme anglaise and warm Belgian chocolate.

Although the food was etherial, the service at Danko definitely took the experience to a higher level. Each staff member was impeccably and identically dressed in a designer suit. Dishes were unobtrusively, if not stealthily, whisked away after each course and new place settings delivered. The wine servers were knowledgeable and happy to answer questions about each selection. Overall, an outstanding experience.

Charlie Trotter's, Chicago

Charlie Trotter's Restaurant has been a pinnacle of fine dining in Chicago for over 20 years. Trotter's is a much more rarified experience than Danko. You better like your dining mates because at Trotter's you probably aren't going to be chit-chatting with the folks at the table next to you, as you might at Gary Danko. Also, at Trotter's you are not going to be presented with a choose your own sort of menu. You will have two to choose from, the Grad Cuisine menu or the Vegetarian menu. Rather than hear me describe the items, go look for yourself at http://www.charlietrotters.com/. You will also be confronted with several beverage options. when we were there, one could select from two different "grades" of paired wines, which can be referred to as the good stuff and the REALLY good stuff. (For instance, Perrier Jouet champagne vs. a 1996 Dom Perignon.) Ironically, unless you are REALLY into wine, waaay beyond the sorts of wines you can get and experience here, you aren't probably going to recognize any of it. If wine isn't your thing, you can also have the beverage pairing which consists of teas or other infusions designed to accentuate and accompany each course of the menu.

Then there is the kitchen table. At Charlie Trotter's there is a table in the kitchen. It takes a huge degree of luck or patience to get a reservation for the kitchen table. There is no menu at the kitchen table, it is a matter of whatever the chef thinks is the best that particular day. Wow!

If you dine at Trotter's you are going to get a tour of the kitchen, and there is actually a chance that you will see Chef Charlie Trotter there. He was when we visited. Kitchens at places like this are rather like magic science labs. They are fairly quiet and the actions of each chef almost choreographed. Think about it, these aren't places where the waiters are walking in yelling for steaks cooked to three different degrees of doneness, or that table six is still waiting for its appetizers. The menu is set, it is just a matter of concentrated, flawless execution.

At Charlie Trotter's you will also get a tour of the wine cellars. Wine museum is more like it. Again, jump on line and go look at the list. Ever wondered what a magnum bottle of a 1945 bordeaux looks like? Here's your chance.

Another really neat thing to do at Charlie Trotter's is to use the restroom. Seriously. It's jsut a restroom, but while you are in there attending to the usual course of business, take a look at the decor. In the restroom adjacent to the main floor dining room are a number of framed menus from very small, private dinners hosted by chefs, for chefs, and many of them are autographed. You'll find names like Emeril Lagasse, Ferran Adria, and others who you have probably only seen on television. Truly amazing.

If there is one drawback to Trotter's, it is the service, which I found to be a tad on the snooty side and seemed to go out of their way to make you feel that you were the one who was lucky to be forking over major cash for the experience. Case in point was the sommelier. This guy was not going to make any effort to stoop to our level to engage in a conversation or attempt to educate us to some degree about the wines. He was happy, though, to talk about procuring extremely rare vintages and recently stocking Charlie's cellars at his new venture in Las Vegas. I have never given much consideration to the rare wine trade or how one locates cases of very special and rare wines. I do know enough, however, to know about things like corks that can fail or "corked" wines. I wanted to know how one knew that a particular old rare wine was really any good. The asnwer: It better be. Allllrighty, then.

La Belle Vie, Minneapolis

One need not travel to the bay area, Chicago, or New York City to experience this rarified sort of dining. La Belle Vie, in the Loring Park area of Minneapolis, near the Walker Art Center, offers very big city experiences close to home. Take a look at the menu at http://www.labellevie.us/. The service was an absolute joy when we visited a few months ago.

Of course, for a lot of people the question is how do these places survive, especially in this economy, and why do they matter. Good questions. They survive because as long as there are people in this world who are so very interested and intrigued with cuisine, there will be people who are willing to spend the money necessary to have this level of experience. This is similar to other aspects of the art world- people who are willing to fork over thousands of dollars for an original painting instead of purchasing a ubiquitous print for a fraction of the cost.

This cuisine is important for the same reasons the space program has been important to so many aspects of daily life. Just as space technology spun off and trickled down to so many aspects of daily life (velcro, microwave ovens, electonics of all sorts, etc.) innovations in the culinary arts trickle down. That molten chocolate cake you enjoyed at Applebees last week was probably first presented in a high end restaurant years ago. Places like El Bulli, The French Laundry, and Charlie Trotter's provide the places where chefs can pair first-rate ingredients with their wild imaginations in places where people will gladly pay a premium to sample the product. Who knows what sorts of flavor innovations and inspirations await?

Book Review: My Life in France by Julia Child

2009-08-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

A good friend and fellow foodie loaned me her copy of My Life in France by Julia Child and recommended I read it. I was a little skeptical because the front cover of the paperback included a picture of Meryl Streep in her role as Julia Child in the upcoming (or perhaps already released) film "Julie and Julia." Personally, I do not have a great deal of interest in seeing the film about a young woman who undertakes the seemingly Herculean quest of cooking her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking cover to cover. However, if someone I deem to be a credible source reports that a good dose of the movie is more about Julia than Julie, I might reconsider.

At any rate, My Life in France begins at the end of World War II, when Julia Child's service with the OSS, the forerunner of the CIA ended and her relationship with Paul Child began. After the war, Paul Child remained a member of the US foreign service and was assigned to Paris. Julia was not content to remain a member of the somewhat cloistered group of fellow Americans in the foreign service in Paris. Although she didn't speak a word of French, she had a strong hunger to immerse herself in the culture of France and Paris. And, as anyone should know, a large part of the culture of Paris and France involves every aspect of food and cooking. This eventually led her to enroll in classes at Le Cordon Bleu. My Life in France provides heaping helpings of Julia's thoughts and insights as she took the first steps that would eventually lead her to the status of a living legend and icon of cooking and cuisine.

The book also explains in considerable detail the toils, triumphs, and frustrations of developing and writing Mastering the Art of French Cooking and seeing the book published. My Life in France is required reading for any dedicated foodie.

Reading the book caused me to reflect on Mastering the Art of French Cooking and to realize just how truly ahead of its time it was. In order to put the book in perspective, one has to reflect on the history of America and its cuisine in the Twentieth Century. Right up to and following World War II, especially during the years of the Great Depression, in many parts of the United States, putting food on the family table was a considerable task. One doesn't have to look very far back in their family history, especially here in the Great Plains, to find a time when almost everything that appeared on the table was produced and prepared within the 80 acres or so where the farmhouse was situated. Animals were slaughtered and meat preserved. Vegetables were grown and canned. Eggs were gathered. Cows milked. Loaves of bread were baked several times a week. Sure, there were trips to a market to buy things that simply could not be produced, but the trip to the grocery store as we know it today just didn't exist. Daily life and things we take for granted today required hard, relentless work. On top of those daily challenges were heaped the hardships of the Dust Bowl and the rationing and sacrifices of World War II.

After the war, things got better. The country experienced a boom, not only in terms of the economy, but also in technology. The era of modern conveniences was upon us. Great minds turned their attention to making daily life easier and more convenient. Besides being able to produce and ship all sorts of foods all around the country and the globe, the country was also introduced to things like cake mixes and all sorts of pre-cooked foods that could simply be popped into the oven, or eventually, the microwave. As automobile travel expanded and the average American became more affluent, things like fast food and an abundance of restaurants followed. In short, food and eating simply became a heck of a lot more convenient. Not necessarily better, but certainly a lot "easier."

The United States was in the midst of the Space Race and the Cold War when Mastering the Art of French Cooking was first published. My Life in France details the skepticism of publishers about the likelihood of success of the tome about French cooking, something to this day the average American is likely wont to describe or define. (Just ask someone what they believe to be French cuisine. Snails? Emphasis on sauces? Lots of cream and butter? French bread? French fries? Try it. Ask some non-foodie friends.) Nevertheless, the book sold better than expected. In my opinion, however, it still remained far ahead of its time.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking is not a work for the faint of heart and it is decidedly not the go-to source for simple little recipes to whip up something a little different for the next dinner party. I can think of no better example than the recipe for French Bread found in Mastering, Volume II. The bread requires four very simple ingredients: flour, water, yeast, and salt. Nevertheless, the recipe covers something like 10 pages and describes in great detail how to develop the dough, form loaves, and bake them to get as reasonably close approximation to the real thing as one can expect using everyday equipment and everyday ingredients. (Hint: the story of how this recipe was developed is one of the highlights of My Life in France.)

Mastering the Art of French Cooking is experiencing a major revival thanks to the book Julie and Julia and the movie. There is no doubt that the country is re-discovering food and cooking. Although we continue to enjoy many modern conveniences, people have discovered, or rediscovered, the older more labor-intensive ways of producing and cooking food. The difference is that it is now somewhat of a luxury to cook this way (wanting to do it versus having to do it). In addition, people have learned that mass produced, processed foods are not necessarily the best foods or the best for us. It seems more people than ever are interested in cooking and have the desire to purchase the tools and commit the time necessary to master the type of skills that are necessary to produce truly great food. Just look at the sort of equipment that is available to the average cook today, let alone the highly specialized equipment available to those who can afford it (induction cooktops, ovens that inject steam, etc.). If Mastering the Art of French Cooking has a time, that time is probably now, 40 years after its publication and several years after Julia Child's own death. It seems that just now people are interested in the nuances of good food- where it comes from, who brought it to us, how it is made, and how to make it ourselves.

Read My Life in France. It's not only a good read, it's a great glimpse into the life of a truly remarkable woman. I encourage you to read the book and reflect on how much of your own relationship with good food and good cooking has been influenced by Julia Child.

2009-08-27T08:46:00.000-07:00

Urbanspoon- give it a shot

2009-08-23T12:54:00.000-07:00

You know those cool iPhone ads where they display a slot machine looking app that randomly finds you a place to eat in almost any community? It's part of urbanspoon.com. Although you cannot get an iPhone in South Dakota, yet, urbanspoon is reviewing restaurants. Give it a look.

Callaways Menu Change

2009-08-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

Earlier this past summer I had an opportunity to stop by Callaways for dinner. I was really looking forward to a good, somewhat upscale meal, accompanied by a reasonably-priced wine in the nice setting. Opening the menu I frantically searched for an interesting special or some old favorites, but none were to be found. Confused, and concerned that some philosophical shift in the menu had occurred unbeknownst to me, I asked the waitress what was up with the menu. She confirmed my hypothesis and, unfortunately, my fears: Callaways had homogenized its menu with the offerings in The Pub. In other words, they dumbed-down the menu, shifting from more formal dining to more "casual" fare.

Dammit!

Well, the food was fine and the service was great, but I left unsatisfied, lamenting the loss of the Callaways of old.

Callaways is located at the rear of the CJ Callaways complex at Prairie Green Golf Course. The space is beautiful with very high, open ceilings. Even though the seating areas are fairly open, it has a nice, private sort of feel. The old menu offerings included steaks, chops, seafood, and other standard, South Dakota-esque "fine dining" choices with some interesting twists here and there. For instance, Callaways used to offer a killer spinach salad with a warm bacon dressing. Personally, I always thought the dressing was a little heavy on Dijon mustard, but it was still pretty darn good. They also had (and still do, I guess) offer a side of roasted white and sweet potatoes. At one time, I think when Amy Warren was the Executive Chef, they offered an awesome-looking rack of lamb. I never had a chance to try that, but it looked phenomenal. Why the hell doesn't anyone serve a decent rack of lamb around here? I might have to look into that.

Another thing I really liked about Callaways was their wine list. It wasn't really extensive, but had a good variety of wines at a good variety of prices. The other thing I appreciated was that the wines were priced better than at restaurants owned by the same group, particularly Foley's. I actually had an argument about this with one of my friends who was then a server at Foley's. This argument surrounded two points: (1) That Foley's overpriced their wines and (2) That Callaways offered a lot of the same wines at better prices. But I digress . . .

I think what I liked most about the old Callaways was that it provided a great alternative to other Sioux Falls dining choices. When I didn't feel like going downtown to Minerva's and didn't want to venture out to Foley's (which I confess I rarely do for a number of reasons), Callaways provided a great option. I've enjoyed several good meals there with good friends and good wine. And I miss it.

I sincerely hope the new menu is not just a trip around the drain in a death spiral. I can see how Callaways could become a victim of an economy where people eat out a little less and when they do they spend less money. Maybe it's just an effort to drive old Callaways fans to Foley's or even Tre (the other restaurants owned by the group). Whatever the reason, I hope it changes because I want the old Callaways back.

The Market On Phillips

2009-08-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

After a bit of a hiatus, our old friends from Food & Fermentation, Doug and Laurel Lather, are back and managing the newest venue on the local food and wine scene, The Market On Phillips. TMOP for short. You might have seen some stories in the local daily newspaper about it- in the last of which Doug was identified as "Dan." More great work from the folks at the AL.

TMOP is strictly retail, unlike Food & Fermentation which also offered Laurel's culinary creations. I am sure Laurel is enjoying the hiatus from the kitchen. Although Food & Fermentation may not have proved an economic success (at least post-move) there should be no doubt that from a purely epicurean standpoint, the place was an enormous success. Laurel's knack for pairing fresh, interesting foods, with great wines truly pushed local dining in a direction it desperately needed (and still needs) to go. Running a commercial kitchen, however, takes its toll, both physically and mentally. The good news is, Laurel is still around and will be more than happy to use her talent and experience to guide TMOP customers through the great wines and food products available at TMOP.

The wine selection at TMOP is about as good as you will find in Sioux Falls. These folks have some serious wine inventory featuring many varietals, producers, and price points. As an aside, I have heard on several occasions a criticism that the wine selection at Food & Fermentation trended to price points somewhat north of what the average wine buyer around here likes or wants to spend. Personally, I think that observation may be a bit misguided.

Quick aside on wine prices. Wine is a funny thing in that the price on the bottle sometimes has absolutely no relationship with how much the consumer may enjoy its contents. Great wines can be had at bargain prices, but this is usually the product of a great deal of knowledge and research or is the result of a lucky buy. Also, I find that the enjoyment of wine is also dependent on the circumstances of its consumption, i.e. paired with a great meal, drank in celebration of a special event, or spontaneously shared with great friends. Too often, I think people especially enjoy wine under certain circumstances, declare it to be their new favorite and make a point to buy more, only to find it is not as good the second or third time around. That being said, interesting wines, from smaller producers, from interesting areas, or that are generally critically acclaimed, tend to cost a little more than a bottle of Covey Run Riesling or a Bota box. If cheap wine is what you want, there are plenty of places to buy it. Just don't bitch because every wine retailer in town cannot meet your expectation of "value." End of aside.

When it comes to cheap bottles of wine, if that is what you want, my advice is to head to your favorite cheap wine purveyor. If you are looking for something different or more interesting, however, my advice is to stop down at TMOP and talk to Laurel about what you are looking for. She can help you pinpoint a wine to pair with a special meal or to drink at a special occasion. You might also want to have Doug pour you a glass at the tasting bar- you might discover something new to try that way.

In addition to the wine selection, TMOP has a great variety of highly specialized food items. Think escargots and varieties of sea salts specialized. Granted there are other "high end grocers" here, such as Look's and Cleaver's and even Hy Vee is carrying things you would find here years ago, but I think TMOP may have managed to top them all with a few of their items. For instance, Laurel, has located an artisan pasta maker that offers nearly a dozen specialized dried pastas featuring flavors such as chocolate, roasted garlic, and others. In the freezer cases, one can locate fois gras and Maple Leaf Farms duck breasts. Another great feature is fresh produce from the folks at Seedtime, so if you just can't make it to the Saturday farmers market, you can swing in TMOP. I'd even bet Laurel and Doug would be able to help with a special mid-week request.

Next time you are downtown, stop in at TMOP and check it out. Say hello to Doug and Laurel and make sure you sign up for email updates so you can receive notices of sales or other special offers. Or, better yet, find TMOP on Facebook and make yourself a friend.

Long TIme No Post

2009-08-09T17:45:00.000-07:00

Things have been super crazy with the old super stressful day job, so I haven't been able to post much lately. Lots to talk about here in Sioux Falls and the area.

Look forward to more posts and tell your friends to visit and leave a comment or two.

The Local Daily Forks Up Another One

2009-03-26T18:06:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty busy run at the super stressful day job, so I must start by offering my apologies to the small handful of people who read this blog. I am sorry. Now back to the regularly scheduled rant.

The local daily here in the Sioux Empire, The Argus Leader, has forked up yet another restaurant review. Some of you may recall my previous post about the deplorable job the AL and reporter Dorene Weinstein did with a review of Sai Gon Panda. I swear, they need to start getting it right, or get out of the business of doing this altogether.

Last Thursday, in the Link section of the AL, Ms. Weinstein turned her untrained yet highly critical eye toward the Minerva's group's new endeavor, 26 Grille. Here's a link to the story: http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009903190316

Let's start with some background. 26 Grille opened in early March- March 10 according to the AL story- in the location in the Park Ridge Shopping Center formerly occupied by Spezia. I've been waiting with much anticipation for this new place to open in that old, familiar space. Word on the street was that the new venue was going to be a neighborhood sort of place to fill the void left by Spezia's departure for more fertile grounds.

Ms. Weinstein stuck a three-pronged fork right in the eye of 26 Grille with her review:

The service was a bit lacking
The food was "off"
The decor sucks

The only bright note was attentive service and a delightful brownie desert (which was actually complimentary to make up for failing to deliver a steak cooked to order.)

Where shall I start?

First of all, since when is it really fair to write a critical review of an establishment that just opened? Sure, there is a school of thought that says if any place is going to take your money to serve you food and drink they ought to get it right whether it's Day 1 or Day 1001. But come on, this is Sioux Falls and we're talking about what amounts to yet another neighborhoody burger, wood-oven pizza, pasta, and sandwich joint. And the very first week of business! If this was the Sioux Falls branch of The French Laundry or Lutece serving a $250 eight course tasting menu (paired wines extra) that "get it exactly right straight out of the box" argument might fly. Where was the AL the first week Bracco opened? How about Spezia in the new location. You couldn't get a beer before your next birthday when Spezia opened at 57th and Louise. Regardless how experienced individual staff members might be, it takes a while to knock the kinks out of a new place. Cut them some slack, you idiots.

Second, while I agree decor is part of the overall dining experience, I don't give a dull steak knife whether the AL reporter doesn't like poppies or the color orange. I say if you can't find some element of decor almost anywhere that you can carp about, you ain't trying very hard. What the AL didn't manage to mention is that 26 Grille seems a heck of a lot bigger than Spezia or any of the previous occupants of the space. I am not kidding. It seems like they managed to find a couple hundred square feet that were stashed somewhere.

Third, if you are going to write a review, try telling me what I can find on the menu. I don't care what the dining room manager says is selling- try looking in that thingy the nice waitress gave you when you were seated. Fortunately, I looked at it and can give you a little idea what you'll find. It's not a bad menu at all. It's kind of basic stuff that we see all too much of here in Sioux Falls: wood-oven pizza, burgers, pasta, salads, soups, appetizers, desserts, etc. But I must say there were some interesting twists. For instance, on a recent visit with some friends I selected a burger that was topped with bleu cheese, some onions and (get this) some nicely sauteed apples. Neat twist and pretty tasty, too. Even more interestingly, the burger was cooked to order. (Although I'll order a steak medium rare almost anywhere, I usually won't order a burger done any less than medium. But considering I'll eat beef tendons in pho for lunch, I might just go a little lighter on the doneness next time.) A friend had chicken risotto. (Actually it was chicken and risotto- grilled chicken tenders on the side of the rice.) There's something you won't find on the menu at Champp's. I had a taste and it was pretty good. The rice was al dente, which I liked. The risotto wasn't as good as what I produce at home, but then no one else's in Sioux Falls is, either.

What to drink? Not booze. Yet. Apparently, 26 Grille is going to wait for one of those new restaurant, not bar, liquor licenses. Still, there is a great selection of beers on the menu and a pretty nice wine list. I like the fact that the wine list isn't too crazy, but is very respectable. On the occasion I was there, I opted for the house cabernet sauvignon. It was good. Three bucks a glass during happy hour and served in a decent Reidel glass. Thirteen bucks a bottle regular price. More expensive wines were available, but between those and the house wines were plenty of decently priced, interesting selections. Plenty of varietals, too. Hmmmm, one wouldn't know this from reading the AL.

Fourth, get a clue about food. Okay, your salmon burger had an "off" taste. Who orders salmon burgers anyway? (Dorene must not have been a Catholic kid in the 60's or 70's. Can you say salmon pattie?) And what is an "off" taste in a salmon burger? Bad combination of herbs? Clearly farm raised salmon with that fish fed with little dog food pellets its whole life kind of flavor? What? This is the same woman who ordered chicken, fried wontons and egg rolls at Sai Gon Panda. Hmmm come to think of it, she ordered stir fry at 26 Grille. I want to know more about the food than whether it was piping hot or gooey. What sounds exotic on the menu? What are they taking a chance on? A person has to try some standards, but 26 Grille is clearly trying to put some twists on the same sorts of fare that you can find almost anywhere else in this town. The AL folks fail to take note of that, though.

Look, here's the bottom line, Argus. If you are going to try to do restaurant reviews, hire some forking foodies to write them. Dorene Weinstein and Jay "order me a filet mignon every time" Kirschenmann aren't foodies. Foodies appreciate subtle differences and will gladly overlook a color scheme for a properly roasted chicken any time. Foodies know when a wine list is a bunch of overpriced trendy crap and when someone has put some real thought and care into making selections that will compliment the menu and provide bargains for the diner. Foodies know where to eat in town and they know CJ Callaways is not part of a private country club. Not making this up, Jay Kirschenmann said it. http://www.argusleader.com/article/20090326/ENT02/903260310 Foodies write for foodies and they tell foodies what foodies want to know, about food.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to go see how many references I can find to things that are "piping hot", "yummy", or "gooey" in a few dozen copies of Food & Wine or Gourmet. "Piping hot." For Pete's sake.

Have a good weekend. Fork the Argus Leader. Check out 26 Grille. It's good because it's good, not just because it's new.

A Practical Guide to Drinking in New Orleans

2009-02-21T07:12:00.000-08:00

New Orleans is a fantastic place for a number of reasons. If you have never been to the Big Easy, there is probably no way to mentally prepare yourself for what awaits you there. Food and drink, not necessarily in that order, are a HUGE part of the culture of the city. Also, the city is very old and the French Quarter and surrounding older parts of the city were built before anyone imagined an automobile, subway, or other modern conveniences. In the French Quarter, the streets are extremely narrow and the buildings are ancient.

There is much to discuss about New Orleans and all of the great things to do there, but today I want to focus on one thing: Drinking. If you go to New Orleans, you are going to drink. It's practically mandatory. So, if you are an avowed AA member and are carrying anything less than a 10 years chip, I'd avoid it altogether.

One other thing to avoid is taking children to New Orleans. Bourbon Street is R-rated- and that's during the day. If your kids are young, there are things they just shouldn't see and if they are older and impressionable, they are only going to get ideas that you don't want them to have. Details below.

One thing you should probably do before traveling to New Orleans is to find some sort of hangover remedy that works for you because you're gonna need it. Mind you, I am not promoting binge drinking. It's dangerous and generally not good for you. People should always drink in moderation. Trust me, though, you will overindulge at least once during a trip of a couple days in New Orleans.

If you have any sort of powers of observation at all, one of the first things you are going to notice is that some form of alcohol is available almost everywhere and at all times. There are nifty little frozen cocktail joints located on at least every other block. For less than ten bucks, you can get about forty ounces of some sort of frozen concoction to help you hold on. (These are a decent hangover remedy- assuming, of course, your idea of a hangover remedy is to commence getting liquored up again.) These frozen drinks are also great for sipping on while strolling around the French Quarter and touring the historic cemeteries.

That's right- strolling around with drinks! New Orleans has no open container ordinances. That, my friends, is enlightened thinking. As a matter of fact, from my own personal experiences, it is damned near impossible to get arrested in the French Quarter, assuming you aren't raping and pillaging. If you can manage to avoid urinating in the street or walking around with a glass container, you should be able to completely avoid the attention of local law enforcement.

If you have never been to New Orleans, you are undoubtedly going to want to check out Bourbon Street just about as bad as you want to ride Space Mountain the minute you get to Disneyland. Let me suggest that you make your first visit to Bourbon Street during the daytime hours. Trust me on this- the place is seriously too forking crazy when the sun goes down. The part of Bourbon Street you are going to want to visit is maybe 6 or 8 blocks. Start from the west- around Canal Street. (Hint: the further east you go, you are going to notice an increasing presence of rainbow flags. Gay bars. If that's what you're looking for, that's where they are.) The westerly part of Bourbon Street is decidedly heterosexual, or perhaps just perverted. What you are going to notice are wall to wall bars, a fair number of which offer very adult entertainment. Larry Flynt has a few franchises in the neighborhood. Some of these places have pretty graphic advertising of what sorts of things are available inside, including cameo appearances from the performers standing near the entrances. This is a good example of why you really shouldn't take the kids. There are also a few restaurants and souvenir shops. Actually, there are a few very notable restaurants, like Arnaud's.

The other advantage to touring Bourbon Street by day is that you have a better chance of telling one bar from another. At night, the place is crowded and, because you can take your beer to go, it really is difficult to tell one loud, crowded joint from another.

You are going to want to visit a few of the famous watering holes. For instance, you must stop by the Old Absinthe House for a libation. This is not classy drinking. The place looks and smells exactly like you think it would. It's wonderful.

Another landmark drinking stop is Pat O'Brien's for a hurricane. Pat O'Brien's is huge and features about three distinctive areas. Hurricanes aren't made- they are produced. A bartender takes that big famous glass, or a very tall plastic cup, packs it with ice, an orange slice and a maraschino cherry, and then dispatches the drinks from a muti-pronged wand that can fill three or four glasses at the same time. I imagine the basement at P. O'B's is where a series of very large tanks full of the elixir is located. At night, particualrly on a weekend, they must go through hundreds of gallons of the stuff. A word of caution: be very careful with the hurricanes. I didn't try to conduct any sort of analysis, or bother to ask for that matter, but from what I can tell they are made from two ingredients- rum and the color red. If you're smart you'll have one and then move on. If you're like everyone else, you'll have at least two. If you have four or more, you ought to get back to the hotel immediately and lie down, because chances are you aren't going to remember what happens next. When you leave O'Brien's you are going to get to take the glass with you. Attendants at the door will wrap and package it for you. You've got to bring home a hurricane galss from Pat O'Brien's. Your spouse is not going to appreciate it. The damned things are nearly impossible to wash (maybe that's why they give these things away)and they are too big to fit in the cabinet where you keep the other drinking glasses at home, but they make great iced tea glasses. Forget trying to buy hurricane mix and making your own- there is no way to credibly duplicate this drink at home.

Happy hour on Bourbon Street is a new experience. Here in Sioux Falls, the most advanced form of Happy Hour involves two-fers. If you can't find a place offering three-fers on Bourbon Street, you just aren't exerting any effort. Remember, you don't have to finish your drinks at the bar- you can take them with you- just ask for a go cup.

The Acme Oyster House is within a block of Bourbon Street on Iberville. If you go there during the day, you might avoid a line to get it. Sit at the bar and suck down a few oysters opened before your eyes by the talented staff. Wash them down with an Abita beer (pronounced A-beet-a). Be careful of the Abita Alligator beer that one of the oyster shuckers might suggest. It's like 14% alcohol which is about double the bounce of a regular beer. You're going to end up drunk enough as it is, so why rush it?

Speaking of discretion, you are going to see people walking around with funny looking plastic drinking vessels shaped like hand grenades. The shape of the "glass" should be a hint that this is something to avoid. I don't know what's in them, but they will definitely bomb your liver, and probably your judgment.

If Bourbon Street is a bit wild by day, it's absolutely INSANE at night. Sometime around 5 or 6 PM, the police start closing off the cross streets and no traffic is allowed on Bourbon. It's a little like being at the Rally at that point, only with less leather and more booze. It's a little hard to describe- the whole place is like one huge bar. There are lots of performance artists around, including young kids who will tap dance for tips using shoes with homemade taps made from aluminum cans. There are other performance artists roaming the streets, too: the ones from the adult entertainment venues who are out giving away free drink tickets or free admission tickets and, in some cases, free samples. Most bars are going to have live music and most of it is great.

My last piece of advice is to take someone with you. This is definitely time for the buddy system. A cell phone won't do. Assuming you can hear who you are talking to, they probably aren't going to be able to hear you.

Let the good times roll, but stay safe. There is really nothing like New Orleans.

Hitting The Road- Where to Eat and Drink

2009-02-18T17:54:00.000-08:00

So, you've for a trip coming up. Maybe its for business or just for fun with friends or family. Either way, you got to eat. But where? Here are a few tips I've picked up.

First, give some thought to the purpose of your travels. If you are traveling on business, will you be entertaining customers or clients, or are you traveling to a seminar or meeting by yourself. This is a know your audience thing. Some people aren't in search of the perfect bowl of pho, pad thai or Kobe beef. Also, your employer might not appreciate a reimbursement request for a meal from a famous steak house in a big city. (Personally, I don't turn those in, or if I do, I only request what a normal meal would have cost.)

If the trip is for pleasure, are you going with friends or family? Children? Another audience situation. If your kid is going to throw a fit because there are no chicken strips on the menu of the Indian place you are at . . . well, you get the idea. You should also have a good idea of what you are willing to spend and any time constraints. For instance, if you have tickets for a musical, standing around waiting for a table at Pizzeria Uno in Chicago is probably not going to work. Also, having a Primanti Brothers sandwich in Da Burg at 1:30 when you have a 6:00 reservation at some other place is not a wise move.

You also need to know where you are staying and give some consideration to how you are going to reach your dining destination. Is it a relatively short cab ride away or are you gonna put the cabbies kid through her first year of grad school because you had no idea the place you wanted to go is further away from downtown than the airport. For instance, if you are staying in San Francisco, you need to know that Chez Panisse is across the Bay Bridge in Berkeley and The French Laundry is in Napa Valley.

The number one key to successful dining during travel is to research. I spend more time figuring out and making dining arrangements than I do booking air travel and hotels, by a long shot. In no particular order of significance, here are some resources I consult for finding places to eat.

The Internet (No forking kidding, there, right?) Specifically, places like the regular food sites, foodnetwork.com, epicurious.com, foodandwine.com. But there are others. Try Chowhound and Egullet, which are sort of message boards/blogs for foodies. You might also try some search engines to see if you can find other blogs- like this one.
While you are on the internet, you might also see if the website for whatever hotel you are staying at has some local guides. Check those out.
Try some print resources. The food magazines: Gourmet, Bon Appetite, Food and Wine regularly have stories about new or hot places in bigger communities. Gourmet used to have regular articles every month about restaurants in New York City and San Francisco. Also check travel magazines. Another great print resource are the local city magazines for your destination. An example of this is Chicago Magazine which features a listing of hundreds of restaurants by cuisine and locale. Hell, there's even an Okoboji magazine available. Look around next time you're at the Big Box Book Mart and you'll probably find a magazine for the place you are going.
Consult people who have been there. If you've got a friend who spent three days in Pittsburgh last year, that might be a good person to ask.
You might also want to take a look at some cookbooks. Chicago Tribune food writer Bill Rice authored a wonderful red meat cookbook called the Steak Lovers Cookbook a few years ago. In it, he discusses various famous steak houses and other notable dining venues in Chicago and other large cities.

When you settle on some choices, get on-line or on the phone and start making reservations. If you haven't used Open Table, you might want to give it a whirl- it works very well. If you are paying entirely too much for a credit card (which is anything more than zero) you might have to resort to the concierge service to get reservations at certain places. Even then, you better be on the phone with the restaurant. Some of the very high-end places have quirky reservation policies. For instance, if you've been dreaming of going to The French Laundry, you'd damned well better know that you MUST make a reservation 60 days in advance or you're forked. That can literally be the difference between trying to make a reservation for a Friday or Saturday. Also, some places have cancellation policies, just like hotels. The opposite problem, of course, is that some places don't take reservations, at all. Unfortunately, that's not necessarily a clue that you'll get in. If you plan on lunching at Gallatoire's in New Orleans and are not in line hours ahead of time, forget it. Also, be aware of attire requirements. You may get into a particular place without a coat or tie, but you'll feel like an absolute moron.

I generally avoid asking a hotel concierge for a reccomendation, unless I am staying at a Ritz Carlton or Four Seasons, which, frankly, never happens. I have this suspicion that the concierge is more concerned about his/her status in the "Hey, Buddy" network than your dining experience. On the other hand, a concierge at almost any hotel nice enough to have such a service might be able to slide you some reservations at a place of your choosing.

Finding good drinking establishments also requires some research, especially if you want to find interesting or noteworthy watering holes. For instance, for me no trip to San Francisco is complete without a stop, or two, at the Top of the Mark- the bar located on the top floor of the Hotel Intercontinental Mark Hopkins. The views are fantastic from this perch at the top of Nob Hill. Speaking of San Francisco, on a recent trip there, we checked out a little joint in the Tenderloin District as a result of research. The bar is called Rye. They served interesting cocktails, such as gimlets made with cucumber and basil. Really good stuff.

Also, when in a different city, make sure you drink like a local. If you are sitting in a bar in Pittsburgh drinking a Miller Lite instead of a bottle of Iron (Iron City Beer, that is), you are an idiot.

Drinking in New Orleans is complicated enought to be a post all by itself- matter of fact, I think I will write that one next.

Whatever you do, when you travel, do your research so you don't miss a great opportunity to expand your perspective a bit.

Update: Food & Fermentation Closes The Doors

2009-02-17T15:03:00.000-08:00

This is the news I got yesterday through various intelligence sources. Out of a great deal of esteem and affection for Doug and Laurel, I wanted to wait until something appeared in the MSM. The local daily had a story posted today. According to that story, which quoted Laurel, F&F was unable to secure financing for an expansion, and therefore the decision was to close Monday with an eye toward getting out of the restaurant and catering business in favor of a smaller retail botique offering wines, cheeses, and "everyday grocery items."

Whatever the reasons and whatever the future plans may be are rather beside the point. It's clear from Laurel's quoted remarks to the AL reporter that F&F, as we have come to know and love it, is no more. I am sure the speculation is running rampant as to why: the "new" space at Falls Center (opened just about two years ago) must have been too big and expensive; the move away from the so-called epicenter of lunch venues cost them vital noontime business; the wines being offered were too high-end for most folks. Does any of that really matter?

If it is true, that F&F is out of the restaurant and catering business for good, that is a true loss. Laurel Lather is an extremely talented chef and she fully deserves credit for moving the food scene here in Sioux Falls ahead a few steps. In a town where fine dining unfortunately too often means a huge cut of read meat served with a starch, etc. etc. F&F served things that were, well, different. The preparations were creative and thought out. Laurel could take some chances with ingredients that usually paid dividends for her customers.

Back before almost all the wine retailers were sponsoring monthly dinners, F&F held monthly gatherings of the International Food and Wine Society. Because this is South Dakota and you are not going to be buying any wine here anytime soon without the blessing of the few distributors, the wines and the people representing those wines were the same that you would see at the events held by Hy Vee, Taylor's Pantry, JJ's, The Little Wine Cellar, and so on. The difference was Laurel's culinary talents. Laurel would get VERY creative with the courses she paired with the featured wines. Here are a few memorable courses and offerings over the last several years:

A salad consisting of tomatoes, watermelon and herbs dressed with a light lemony vinagrette. It was paired with white zinfandel. Yeah, yeah. We're all thinking the same thing: What the hell is this salad and I can't believe I am drinking this sweet pink wine." It was a phemomenal pairing.

At a Polish-themed dinner the first course was a huge platter of pickles, breads, pate, hard boiled eggs, mustards and other spreads. The instructions were to pile a bunch of those components on the bread and shovel it in. As goofy as this sounds- another hit.

About a year ago, the wine dinner was the sake dinner. Instead of wine, sake was served alone and in various concoctions. Sake bloody mary, sake with ginger, etc. The food was, of course, Asian themed. This was a really good one.

Blind tastings. Can you taste 9 or 10 different red wines and separate the shiraz from the merlot? This IS NOT as easy as it sounds, and if you have ever done it once you will understand why the real wine tasting experts expectorate (spit out) the wine after tasting. It's hard enough to make the brain work through the complexities of what makes the stuff in the glass cabarnet as opposed to zinfandel without the asssitance of the alcohol.

The last wine dinner at the old venue (where Wild Flour Bakery is now) was a camping theme. Notably, a corn soup was served in a little Green Giant can- campfire style. That menu also featured rattlesnake sausage.

South African wine dinners were especially fun, complete with a native South Afrikaaner presenting the wines and a South African inspired menu, including Bobotie.

A First Thanksgiving Dinner in 2007 to cleebrate the new venue. Laurel and her staff made a huge quantity of food and served it family style. The tables were pushed together so all the guests were seated at one table. Laurel, Doug, Ben, and the other staffers joined the guests while the food went round the table and the wine flowed.
How about the lunch specials- usually an interesting grilled cheese sandwich with some twist- like leeks or wild mushrooms. And the soups were always interesting, like tomato basil chianti- the secret was the huge volume of chianti.

Probably the neatest thing about eating a F&F is that whatever you had was good and you felt like you were among friends. You knew you could put yourself in Laurel's hands and have an interesting and good meal.

I wish Laurel and Doug well and hope we'll see them around town and into a new endeavor.

Very Sad News Today

2009-02-16T08:45:00.000-08:00

The Fork's tightly-woven intelligence network has picked up some very sad news. It appears a much beloved and unique dining location in Sioux Falls has abruptly closed its doors. Standby for more news, including the identity of the recently departed.

This could very well be the first victim of what could be a very tough ride for our local dining and drinking locations. In times when we all have to tighten our belts a little, let us not forget the people who count on our patronage to earn their livings.

Another example of just what idiots handle restaurant reviews at the Argus Leader

2009-02-12T14:01:00.000-08:00

I hate to sound like I've been laying in wait for this, but today's restaurant review in the AL is a pretty good example of just how poor a job that outfit does reviewing local eating establishments.

Here's a link to the story: http://www.argusleader.com/article/20090212/ENT02/902120337

Today's review, by Dorene Weinstein, is about Sai Gon Panda, which is a quaint little Asian place in Village Square on East 26th Street. To Dorene's credit, she got that right. The rest of the one-page article describes the meal she and a friend shared (typical AL dining review formula), using such adjectives as "piping hot" and "yummy" to describe a meal consisting of stereotypical "Chinese" fare: won ton soup, egg rolls, fried wontons, chicken and vegetables (including the little ears of corn and water chestnuts) and fried rice (also standard AL formula). Dorene then goes on to report on her internet research on the difference between Szechuan, Hunan, and Cantonese cuisine. Here's the topper, though: One sentence, count it one sentence, of the article is devoted to the concept of Vietnamese food. All that sentence does is to describe it as the "light cusine" of Asia incorporating herbs and grilled well seasoned meats served over rice or noodles.

No kidding, you had to use the internet to figure that out instead of looking at the menu and actually ordering some?

How a person can go to Sai Gon Panda and not recognize that the place is, first and foremost, a Vietnamese restaurant, is simply beyond my comprehension. The place is called SAI GON Panda for crying out loud. I know Jay Leno could probably locate a few of them on one of his Jay Walking segments, but does anyone of reasonable intelligence around here not associate Sai Gon with Vietnam? As if that weren't enough, there is a whole page of Vietnamese entrees and beverages on the menu.

Sai Gon Panda has a pretty good offering of Vietnamese fare, especially pho and "noodle bowls." This is exactly what the real Asian people in the restaurant are eating. (That's another hint.)

Pho is one of the great foods of the world. It's a bowl of thin rice noodles served in about a quart of beef broth that has been augmented with fish sauce, ginger, cinnamon and star anise. You can order it with meat such as thin sliced beef, beef tendon, or tripe. On the side are slices of fresh jalapenos, fresh basil, fresh bean sprouts, hot sauce and hoisin. The stuff is harder than hell to eat, but I swear it can cure the common cold. You stir a little hot sauce and hoisin into the broth, tear up the basil and toss that in with the jalapenos. Top it off with the sprouts and then go to work on it with a pair of chopsticks the size of knitting needles and one of those Asian style soup spoons. Good Vietnamese cuisine is a perfect balance between salty, spicy, sour, and sweet and the pho at Sai Gon Panda hits the mark. The closer you get to the bottom of that huge bowl, the more concentrated and more spicy that broth is going to get.

Here's an advanced pho eating technique I learned from watching a young woman of Asian descent eating a bowl of pho. Use the chopsticks to pick up a few noodles. They are only like a yard long, so three or four of them are goign to make for a good mouthful. Lift those up and let them wind back into the spoon that you will hold with your non-dominant hand. This technique will keep you from slurping about a quater mile of noodles up and might help keep your clothes a little cleaner.

If you don't want to deal with liquids, go for the noodle bowls. A nice big serving of rice vermicelli noodles with grilled meats or fried egg rolls served on top. You get a nice sweet-acidic sauce to pout over it and nestled at the bottom you'll find some thinly sliced cabbage and carrots and some fresh cilantro.

My only complaint with the place is that I want a Bahn Mi. A sandwich served on a French roll that usually has some pate, other meat like chicken and fresh vegetables topped with a light pungent sauce. Sound odd? This is where your history lessons come in handy. Remember, before the United States paid a visit to the country from about 1960 to 1975, the French had given it a go. Vietnamese was the original East-West fusion food.

Look, I am not suggesting for a minute that Chinese food, even the ubiquitous Americanized Chinese food like the General's Chicken, and even Sweet and Sour Chicken, served up with a mess of fried rice doesn't have its place. And, by all means, to each his own. But for the love of Pete, if you visit a Vietnamese restaurant to write about the offerings, get the Vietnamese food.

Vietnamese food is wonderful. If you go to Sai Gon Panda, let the Argus reporter and his or her dining shill eat the ubiquitous stir fried chicken veggie delight with fried rice and hot tea. Go for a big bowl of pho and, what the hell, get the tendons or even the tripe in it and wash it down with a funky beverage or at least a Singha beer.

Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

Raw Fish in Sioux Falls: Sushi Masa

2009-02-06T11:18:00.000-08:00

I had lunch with a friend at Sushi Masa the other day. We arrived at just about 11:30 AM and were the last group in the door to get a table. Although standing in line to get a table is a real inconvenience for diners, it's a heck of a deal for Sushi Masa. I have to guess other establishments around town would love to have the "problem" of having people lined up to get in the place the minute the doors open for lunch.

Sushi Masa covers what I believe to be the two critical components of overall sushi quality: excellent fish and an extremely skilled chef.

The freshness and quality of the fish is paramount. The uninitiated are always surprised to find that good raw fish doesn't smell or taste like they think it will. I think most everyone understands the concept that if the sushi smells fishy, you are probably in the wrong place.

In terms of straight-up, uncomplicated, not-too-exotic sushi, Sushi Masa offers sushi as good as I have had anywhere else during my travels around the country- Minneapolis, Chicago, Denver, Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and notably even San Francisco. The quality of the fish that is offered at Sushi Masa is second to none. This seems counter intuitive considering that really great, fresh seafood has been traditionally a little difficult to come by here in South Dakota. Duh- no ocean, no fresh seafood. Federal Express to the rescue! Thanks to overnight shipping, the fish being delivered here in Sioux Falls is probably as fresh as the fish being delivered nearly everywhere else. The exceptions are probably very high end establishments that are sourcing fish down to the individual producer and serving product that was likely swimming 12-18 hours before it appears on your plate.

Hint: In Tony Bourdain's breakout book, Kitchen Confidential, he counsels against ordering fish on a Monday. The reason why is far from counter intuitive. Actually, it's quite logical: The last time fish was shipped out for overnight delivery was probably Thursday evening for Friday morning delivery. Once when I was in Minneapolis for a business meeting, I unwittingly defied this simple rule, at a sushi place no less. Fortunately, the fish was fine. It hadn't turned to bait. I did have a scallop, though, that instantly reminded me of the rule.

Chef skill is also paramount. At the risk of sounding racist, it seems a Japanese sushi chef, has a leg up on the competition. Maybe it's just mental imagery, but I like to think a good Japanese sushi chef got to be that way because he had to work in near indentured servitude at the elbow of someone like Rokusaburo Michiba stirring rice for 20 years before being allowed to pick up a knife. If you have ever had really good sushi and really poor sushi, you will realize how important chef skill really is. An experienced chef knows exactly how to slice a fish to give the diner the exact texture for the type of fish and the correct portion.

An experience I had right here in Sioux Falls will illustrate this point. A few years ago, the only other sushi place in town was Hibachi- now the west side location of Puerto Vallarta. Hibachi used to be a pretty good sushi experience. In the course of a couple years, they had a few different chefs- all Japanese. Notably, there was a friendly woman who was very skilled. Whenever my family was there we generally sat at the nice sushi bar to watch the chefs work. She would always make the Secret Teaspoon, quite a bit younger then, a little bear made out of an orange. Hibachi didn't make it- probably a victim of too much overhead and not enough business. Yes, it went through a boom period when their four or five teppanyaki stations were going full tilt, but I never could quite figure out how they were going to sustain that level of business in this town. They didn't. I knew Hibachi was in the final throes of a painful financial death when the young, friendly, well-skilled Japanese sushi chef had been replaced by two burly Hispanic guys. Those guys knew the "recipes" but they really couldn't execute. That particular day we ordered a roll of some sort. What we got was pretty much a square (no it wasn't box sushi) and nearly required a knife and fork to eat because each piece was quite a bit more than the standard comfortable mouthful.

At Sushi Masa, they get the preparation right. And the presentation is always nice.

One thing you are going to have to get used to at Sushi Masa is the overall appearance of the place. I was never in the old Matador or Red Lantern, and as I recall, the location was empty for long periods of time on the 80's and early 90's. Nevertheless, except for a few coats of paint and a couple of wall hangings, I can't imagine the place looks much different than it must have in 1978.

Sushi Masa is small and the booth tables a bit rickety. The bathroom are inconveniently located and reminiscent of an old Texaco gas station. If you have to wait for a table, you can leave a number and the staff will call you when a table is available. If you can hear background music playing, it is Minnesota Public Radio. (Come on Fumi, would SDPR kill you?) If you have to wait for a table, there is precious little space to do so. Actually, there might be two chairs to sit in. Maybe. Chances are you'll have to leave a cell phone number and then leave. (Hint: Make sure you have a cell phone. You can wander around downtown, or walk straight to Paramount and have a cocktail while you wait. A further caveat, however, the wait for a table never seems to be as long as the staff says. I usually end up chugging half of a beer because the 45 minute wait ended up being about 14 minutes.) The sushi bar itself will seat 3 or 4 people in minor discomfort. The beverage selection is fairly adequate.

Don't expect any of this to change. Why would it? Despite icky bathrooms, a general lack of decor and atmosphere, the place is always busy. People line up to get a table at lunch time. In the winter no less! The owner and his wife, who are the sushi chefs, can work at a deliberate and seemingly unrushed pace to turn out order after order, never leaving diners to wait a prolonged period of time. From an owner's perspective, this has to be a near-perfect business model.

Nevertheless, I'd like to see Sushi Masa push the envelope just a little bit. The sushi and sashimi combo (sized depending on the number of diners) is great and offers an abundance of well- made, basic offerings: tuna, salmon, snapper, shrimp, cooked eel, egg, and even some squid. It's always all very good. Unfortunately, the squid and the eel is about as exotic as it gets. Every once in a while, though, it's fun to play the home version of Bizarre Foods. Once, and only once, I was at Sushi Masa when the server advised us that they had procured some fresh Uni. That's sea urchin. Even though I believe about 90% of the public is never going to like the stuff, it's a must try. For a lot of people, sea urchin is going to present a texture problem. It has no definite shape and is rather like a semi-firm ooze. It also has a fairly strong flavor. Overall, it's kind of like foamy, fishy, mud, but there is something so sensuous about it. It's fun to eat. You wouldn't want to make a meal of it, but it is good, and if nothing else it's fun to gross out your friends.

Also, on rare occasion, Sushi Masa might have some of the fabled toro. Toro is the fatty belly tissue from a big eye tuna. This stuff is somewhere on the menu of almost every sushi place I have ever been to, but rarely actually available. and, IF it is available, you are probably going to pay at least 5 bucks per slice. It's worth every penny. You'll know you have the real McCoy if it appears whitish, not bright red or even pink. Whitish. It should be loaded with fat. Also, once in the mouth, you should have to apply little if any pressure from your teeth. Toro will, literally, melt in your mouth. It's wonderful.

One interesting thing you should ask for is a salmon skin hand roll. Yes, salmon skin. No scales and cooked, fashioned into a hand roll (sort of like a sushi snow cone) with rice, it's delicious. Chewy and salmony tasting.

I'd love to see more of these exotic selections on the menu on a regular basis.

I'd also love to see a more expanded selection of sake. From what I am seeing when I am out and on the menu, people are becoming more interested in sake. They should. It's good stuff. Sushi Masa has expanded their sake offerings by a small margin. Let's hope this trend continues. Also on the beverage front, I'd also like to see Sapporo beer available in the can. Go buy one of these at Hy Vee liquors and you'll see why. They are way cool.

For all Sushi Masa is not, it is great for what it is- really great, really well-prepared sushi that is as good as you are likely to find anywhere. That's a hell of a good deal for Sioux Falls.

Update: McNally's Happy Hour

2009-01-31T13:32:00.000-08:00

BooooHaaaa! Turns out all the good things at McNally's have recently become a little better. Remember in my McNally's post below how I said if there is a happy hour at NcNally's I've never found it? Well seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. I found it.

There is a happy hour at McNally's. Turns out, it's two-fers from 3 to 6 pm on weeknights. That's a good deal. Two. Count them. Two pints of Guinness for 5 U.S. Dollars.

Got to love capitalism.

Inaugural Day Special: D.C. Food

2009-01-20T18:23:00.000-08:00

It's a pretty neat day in the good old USA. Even if you were not an Obama supporter during the election cycle, you have to admit, it's a pretty momentous day in our history to see an African-American take the oath of the highest elected office of the land. Sorta makes the times when people have said this was possible seem like those people knew what they were talking about. The Secret Fork wishes the best of luck to our new President, his cabinet, Congress, and all the rest of our elected officials. They are going to need it.

Meanwhile, back to the food. And, in honor of the inauguration of a new President and the peaceful exchange of power, let's talk about places to eat and drink inside the Beltway.

Washington D.C. is a wonderful town. It is probably the smallest "World City" we have here in the United States. No kidding. The place just is not that big. Granted, you probably don't want to try to actually walk from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol- which would be about like walking from the Sioux Falls Regional Airport to, say, Hy Vee at 37th Street. Nevertheless, it's a relatively small place, especially if you are relying on shoe leather and a Metro pass,both of which can get you all over. Really. I mean, where else can you stand in front of buildings pictured on the money in your pocket while on your way to a museum to see the aircraft flown by the Wright Brothers or the only Leonardo DaVinci painting in the United States?

D.C. is a damned good food town. Think about it. Anyplace where major hob-nobbing takes place, there has to be really good food and drink served to people who are not concerned with cost. You'll figure this concept out by the time you make a hotel reservation. Cheap this town is not.

Anyway, there are great places to eat and drink in D.C. Let's start with drinking and this has a lot to do with art. One of the greatest museums to visit in D.C. is the National Portrait Gallery. It's near Chinatown- more like China block- but right there. The building is the Old Patent Office. The art in this museum is PHENOMENAL. You can see old Trumbull paintings of Washington- those are on the front of the money. You can view furniture that the Keno brothers would kill each other to appraise and you can see other magnificent paintings and sculpture and all sorts of pieces that will just make the hours you spend in the place melt away. Forget the International Spy Museum across the street- you can see most of that on a Discovery Channel special. Best thing about the National Portrait Gallery: it's like going into a national museum pre-9/11. No kidding. No lines. No metal detectors. Let the people who want to see the Spirit of St. Louis and the extremely faded original Declaration of Independence stand in line with all the 8th graders from the State of Alabama. Other hint- the lines at the National Art Gallery, part of the Smithsonian, are not too bad, either, and there is a ton of cool stuff to see there, too.

So, after you spend several hours in the National Portrait Gallery, if you are anything like me, you are going to be very thirsty. Granted, chain joints are not the Fork's thing, but the closest watering hole to the museum is a Gordon Biersch brewery right across 9th Street. Have a couple of those ice cold babies. Sit at the bar and visit with people. It's a blast. They always have some sort of special, seasonal beer on tap and I have never had a bad beer there. Heck, one time when I was there, they were having a keg tapping party for the newest seasonal beer. That was pretty fun.

Here's a bonus tip. There are at least another 2 cool venues within stumbling distance of Gordon Biersch: (1) Fado Irish Pub is at something like 7th and H- not too shabby for a pint and (2) Capital City Brewing Company- New York and 11th- good beer.

Near Capital City is a steak house called Bobby Van's Grill at 12th and New York. I was there for a group dinner once. It was okay and that's about the most I can say for it. The place was so loud, you could barely hear yourself think and the steaks were nothing to write home about. The stand-out dish was the side order of hash browned potatoes that came in their own little cast iron skillet. Almost enough to make you want to dine vegetarian in the place, but not quite.

Back to Irish pubs for a minute. One of the coolest ones is located about a block from Union Station on Capitol Hill- the Dubliner. Very authentic looking place. (Remember the dissertation on McNally's? Think dive bar with really dark wood.) The Dubliner has the absolutely greasiest fish and chips you can probably find. You can probably cure a hangover sitting outside in front of the Dubliner with an order of fish and chips and a few pints of Guinness. Actually, I think I did.

As far as the Fork is concerned, if there is any mandatory stop in D.C., it is a visit to Old Ebbit's Grill at about 15th and G. This is supposedly one of the oldest restaurants in D.C and is has clearly hosted many a power lunch or dinner. The mahogany wood and white marble decor certainly gives that impression. The fact it's adjacent to the Willard Hotel helps, too. The food is all good at this place, and not terribly expensive, but the star attraction is that appetizer menu. One word. Oysters.

If you think you don't like oysters, and by that I mean raw oysters, served on the half shell with minimal accompaniments, you either (1) have never actually had fresh oysters (you Christmas Eve Oyster Stew lovers know who you are) or (2) had them in some joint on or within a block of Bourbon Street and spent half the next morning yakking your guts out. (Which had more to do with the 4 Hurricanes, 9 beers (only 3 three-fers), the sazerac, hand grenade, and shot in a test tube offered by a stripper who looked like she might have been 17, than it did with the oysters. Seriously.) Old Ebbit prides itself on its oyster offerings. I've never been there when they have had less that 6 different types, which are usually a good mix of East Coast and West Coast oysters. We're talking good, cold water oysters here. Come to think of it, I've never seen the warm water Louisiana Gulf Coast oysters on the offering at Old Ebbit. Some of the oysters are very small. Others are huge. Try the mignonette sauce- scallions and red wine vinegar- on those babies, and leave the cocktail sauce in the cup. Well, okay, try a little of the cocktail sauce on one oyster, but make sure you put most of the horseradish sauce in it to get that super wasabi, sinus clearing experience.

When you get there, the place is going to be packed. Can't get a table? Screw it. Go to the bar. No bar stool? Screw it. Stand. Order a dozen oysters and wash them down with at least two Yuengling Lager beers. I once stood for at least an hour and a half after walking all over town and downed a couple dozen oysters and several pints of Yuengling. Sitting would have been nice, but the oysters made up for it. Betcha order at least another half dozen. Phenomenal. You wouldn't dream of having these oysters fried on a Po Boy Sandwich. They are just too good.

If you play your cards right, it will be dark when you leave Old Ebbit's. Give a homeless guy right outside the door a couple of bucks and then start walking in a westerly direction. That big building across the street is the Treasury (back of the ten dollar bill). The street running in front of the Treasury is Pennsylvania Avenue. It's blocked to traffic now, so you can stroll down the middle of it and stop and gaze at the White House (back of the twenty dollar bill). Way cool. As an added bonus, the next building to the west is the Old Executive Office Building, which is absolutely beautiful. Blair House is right there, too. If you can stand a few more blocks of walking, go north west up Pennsylvania Avenue and stop to admire the fountains outside the World Bank building.

Back to Chinatown, where there is a Spanish place called LaTasca. Good Sangria. Great sangria actually- order a whole pitcher of the stuff. Sangria is the wine equivalent of fraternity party punch. It's really good. Can't beat that. It goes wonderfully with several orders of tapas- little plates of food. Tapas means "tops" and literally refers to little plates once employed by bars in Spain to sit on top of glasses of sherry or drinks to keep the flies out. Eventually, the bar owners started serving a few bites of food on those little plates. This isn't like making a dinner of appetizers at a TGI Fridays. The food is much better (think a couple deviled eggs topped with blue crab or Serrano ham with a little lavender honey and fresh rosemary) and the portions are much smaller. You'll want to order at least three plates per person and will want to mix up hot and cold choices.

You'll get good sushi in D.C. too. I managed to have myself a $60.00 lunch (just me, thanks) at Sake Club on Connecticut Ave- kind of near Woodley Park and the National Zoo. A Midwesterner has never seen so much sake. Have the sampler- which will include sake fermented with fish. Very nice. Also, have whatever fish is the special, especially if it is the sea urchin. You'll feel like Andrew Zimmern shooting your own episode of Bizarre Foods.

There is decent sushi around Dupont Circle, too. Try Uni A Sushi Place on P Street. The Secret Salad Fork and I found this place with the Secret Teaspoon when we were in D.C a few years ago. It's REALLY easy to get yourself a little disoriented when ascending to Dupont Circle from the Metro stop. The escalator itself is about a quarter mile long. We probably walked 2/3 of the way around the circle the wrong way, took a self-guided tour of some of the embassies in the area and then finally asked somebody at the Westin if there was a decent sushi place in the neighborhood and got directed to Uni. You can generally trust recommendations from people in the service industries. It was good.

One of the neat things about Uni is that it is within a stone's throw of the Brickskeller. The Brickskeller is an absolute dive, but they have great onion rings and about 1000 different beers on the menu. No kidding. I have had a bottle of Carib beer in two places on the planet: St. Thomas, USVI and the Brickskeller. (Incidentally, that Carib tasted better on Coki Beach than it did in D.C., but I don't hold that against Brickskeller.) It's a fun place to go and once you're in the place, you can only imagine that every Congressional staffer and intern has been in the place, because they have.)

Back to Dupont Circle, where we went to Heritage India. I think. Been a few years, and like I said earlier, Dupont Circle can be a little disorienting. This is the first place I ever had lamb vindaloo. I was very excited to order it. The waiter, who had a flawless native Indian accent remarked, "Sir, that dish is extremely spicy." I said, "Looking forward to it." Famous last words. Without a doubt, some of the hottest food I have ever voluntarily put in my mouth. No kidding. Heavenly. It was awesome.

D.C. is a great town. Go. See the monuments and take time to read them. Go to Arlington National Cemetery- that's a life changing visit. Walk as much as your feet will allow and then push on to the next Metro stop anyway. Go to art museums. Eat oysters. Drink beer. You'll be glad you did.

The Sioux Falls Drinking Scene: McNally's

2009-01-11T11:23:00.000-08:00

Let's get right to the point, McNally's is a great place with few drawbacks. The location is particularly "suburban" at the current time. Western Avenue turns to gravel within a mile or so of its intersection with 69th Street. Nevertheless, the place is actually kind of centrally located between the East and West sides. Moreover, it's worth the short drive.

In no particular order, here is what I think is really good about McNally's:

No kids allowed. If my memory serves me correctly, McNally's is the first bar/restaurant/pub in town to allow only persons over 21 on the premises. They are dead serious about that, too. It's been a while since I've seen it occur, but the staff is quick to point that out to people who do not heed the notice on the door and bring the kids in for a burger. I really like this. Despite the fact that the Secret Teaspoon has been with me in a few bars, particularly when she was younger, establishments that predominantly serve adult beverages are not places for kids. If I want to sit around and see how much Guinness I can drink while regaling my pals with stories, I shouldn't have to worry that I just inadvertently taught some body's five year old kid sitting behind me a new word that rhymes with "duck."

Some other places could benefit from this policy. I was at the Attic last week for a couple of post-super-stressful job beers. I made note of a couple of kids that appeared to be high-school age, and on the younger side of high-school age, at that. They had come in to have some sodas and play some pool. I am not so sure the good folks at the Attic want to be become the local after-school hangout. This isn't an issue at McNally's.

Video Lottery is out of sight. I am pretty conservative when it comes to video lottery. Or is personal responsibility for one's own decisions a liberal tenet now? Whatever. My point is: I don't give a rip who plays video lottery, why they play it, if they should play it, etc. I probably don't stick 40 bucks in video lottery machines in a year. It's fun to throw a few bucks in every now and again to try to win enough to buy another beer, but that's about it. Nevertheless, I don't necessarily like to see the machines and I sure don't want to hear the freaking things. At McNally's, the video lottery machines are in an entirely different room. Heck, they are practically in their own bar. If you enjoy playing the games, it's actually a nice area and there is always a friendly attendant on staff to provide change, cash out tickets, and take care of drink orders.

The decor is great. I've never been to Ireland, so I can only look at pictures or watch television to see authentic Irish pubs. I have been to plenty of "Irish pubs" in the good old USA, though. Most of the Irish bars I have been to have been dive bars (not necessarily a bad thing) that just happen to have better furniture and a fireplace somewhere. I think the folks who designed the place did a great job of incorporating what seem to be authentic features of a real Irish pub, like the very nice bar and back bar, the little private rooms, the fireplace, and the dart alley. I've heard some people carp about the concrete floors stamped and colored to look like wood. I think it's a great idea- it looks nice, has to be easier to maintain, and probably helps the acoustics. The copper crown moulding is gorgeous. I am a foodie, not an interior decorator, but I find myself very intrigued when the lighting is just right in the bar and the copper moulding is lit.

The food. McNally's has really good food. I've never had a bad meal there. Ever. This is a testament to using good ingredients and not trying to go overboard. If you are ever at the far end of the bar, near the window to the kitchen, look back there. It's not that big. Actually, it's a pretty small space. The place isn't equipped to run out multi course meals. This isn't "bar food" either. There is no fryolator in the kitchen, so no cheese balls, fried mushrooms, chislic, chicken wings, fries, onion rings, cheese sticks, or chicken gizzards will be found on the menu.

McNally's makes great burgers. It's hard to miss when you are using the good CAB ground beef from Look's and using phenomenally good buns that have perfect texture for a burger of that quality. The sliders are also good. Hint: On Saturdays during Notre Dame games, the O'Dwyer's burger is only 5 bucks. (That's a full size version of the sliders- regular size patty topped with pepper jack cheese, grilled onions and bread and butter pickles.) I am not so sure that burger is on the menu, so it's a special burger at a special price.

The mussels are to die for. Frankly, I am yet to find another place in town where I will order them. The green-lipped black beauties at McNally's are cooked in a broth of Guinness, garlic and parsley and served with two really nice slices of grilled French bread.

Here's another special tip: Breakfast at McNally's on St. Patrick's Day is a hoot. They usually make a special egg, potato, sausage hash concoction that goes great with a Bloody Mary or a few pints of Guinness.

The Guinness is great. Guinness is really an amazing and very misunderstood beer. It's actually much lighter than people think. In terms of calories, it's probably lighter than a Miller Lite or Bud Lite. It's not blazing hot in terms of alcohol content. People assume a beer that looks like that must be double digit in terms of percentage of alcohol content. It's not. It is also not served warm.

Lots of places in town serve Guinness now. That wasn't the case quite so long ago because it takes a special system to serve it on draught. Guinness requires nitrogen to drive it, not CO2. The fresher the Guinness, the better it tastes. Because people tend to want to drink authentic Irish beer in Irish pubs, and because the secret on the "lightness" of Guinness is out, McNally's probably taps more kegs of the stuff than any other bar in town. The bartenders also understand how to pull a proper pint. There is a six-step process to pour Guinness and one of those steps is to let it settle. I am not making this up. Go look it up. A good pour makes for a better pint. Trust me.

Besides the Guinness, you also owe it to yourself to try some Brown Jug ale. Remember the beer made at the Sioux Falls Brewing Company? (God, how I miss the Midnight Star Ale.) Anyway, one of the cool bartenders at McNally's- the guy with the long hair in a pony tail- and his buddies bought that equipment and use it to crank out beer from some location on North Cliff Avenue. Besides Brown Jug, they have turned out a Belgian-style wit. Whatever they are making, though, and wherever you find it, please drink some. There isn't enough beer brewed in this town and that's an outrage. Support these guys' efforts.

Darts. If you like to throw a few darts, McNally's is a great place to do so. There are two dart boards situated in a narrow alley that has shelves along the sides where one can set a beverage while throwing. Although the alley is probably one foot too narrow, the best part is that it's out of the way, so you don't have people walking in front of you or otherwise interrupting the game, except for people who mistake the area for the hallway to the restrooms. A word of warning- be careful not to run into the wait staff who frequently walk by the area.

The people. McNally's has good, attentive employees. A few of them have been there since the opening, but, by and large, it is McNally's Staff Version 2.0. I must admit, there was a period of time this last summer when I had some serious concerns about McNally's. The Attic had recently opened on the East side and quickly picked up some excellent staff members from some other establishments, including McNally's. We would head up to McNally's on a Friday or Saturday evening to find the place relatively empty. Unfortunately, during this time period there were a lot of new faces on the staff and they didn't seem to be orienting very quickly. Let me put this in simpler terms: Un-busy bar coupled with crappy service. A real WTF (What The Fork). I am not kidding, I almost started a Death Watch List posting and McNally's was going to be on the top of the list.

McNally's Staff 2.0 has come around very well, though. One advantage of frequenting certain establishments is that regular patrons and staff get to know each other. Not sending Christmas cards get to know each other, but good enough to know what a certain customer likes and that the customer will reward good service with an appropriate gratuity. The staff is friendly, snappy, and attentive. And, the place is back to its regular, busy, weekend night status.

Live music. McNally's also does a nice job with live music. On Friday and Saturday nights there is usually a little live music. It might be piano man Dan Larson playing Girl From Ipanema or other classic lounge lizard music, or Nick Rallis and friends, or some traditional Irish music. We're not talking on-stage, clear the floor of tables to dance or rock your butt off music, but its usually good and the most important thing is that it's live. This town doesn't do enough for live music.

Few drawbacks. As mentioned waayyy up in the beginning of this post, there are a few minor drawbacks about McNally's in my humble opinion. The first is the price. McNally's is not cheap. Pints of Guinness are usually five bucks a throw. Those phenomenal burgers are closer to 10 bucks than they are to 5. So, if you plan to make a night of it by having a burger, playing some darts and enjoying 5 or 6 pints, you better plan on blowing at least 50 bucks, and that isn't going to include feeding and watering your date or buying a round for your pals. If there is a happy hour I have yet to find it. I know I have ever got the check and giggled because it seemed so low. Personally, I think the price is worth it because the place delivers, but just know it's not bargain basement drinking by a long shot.

The other drawback is the occasional smokiness of the place. Granted, McNally's has a good ventilation system installed. That good ventilation system doesn't quite get the job done, though, if the bar is on the full side and a lot of folks are lighting up. There seems to be a "sweet spot" in terms of the ventilation. If the bar isn't too full, it doesn't seem to matter how many people are smoking, the air remains pretty fresh. Other times, it's not much different than being at the Crow.

Overall, a great experience. If you haven't visited for a while, you should go.

Bracco: WTF*

2008-12-31T08:46:00.000-08:00

WTF = What The Fork??!! I know what you thought it meant, but decorum demands otherwise. For the purposes of this blog, WTF is going to denote some unexpected screw up that I feel a need to air.

So, on a Tuesday evening in the not-so-distant past a friend and I head to Bracco for a little dinner. Tuesday is "Neighborhood Night" at Bracco which means burgers and some other sandwich are half-price. Actually, anyone who knows anything about dining in Sioux Falls should know that Tuesday night half-price burgers is almost a mandatory feature at most eateries around town. The place is busy. Dining room full, people standing around waiting for tables full. We're told the wait is like 40 minutes- that's a long time, but they serve alcohol at Bracco, so this is only a 2 to 3 beer wait in reality. Off to the bar with the little remote control buzzer in hand.

All tables in the bar are full. Fortunately, there are three barstools available. Unfortunately, they are randomly dispersed. Come on, people, when a bar is busy you don't need an empty seat buffer zone. Squeeze together so other people can sit down. We finally get some barstools rounded up. That was nice. What wasn't so nice was a wait of about 10 minutes to place a drink order. I am pretty understanding about brief delays in getting a drink when a place is busy, but I cannot abide a lack of acknowledgement. I also won't yell at wait staff to serve me. I prefer to look desparate in an effort to make them feel guilty- which usually works.

With the drink order, we ordered a flat bread, figuring we were going to be waitng another 30 minutes for a table. The flat bread rocketed out of the kitchen and was good- as expected. We decide to go ahead and eat at the bar and relinquish our spot in line for a table. No problem there. Because the bar at Bracco is so nice and because the place is smoke free, I actually prefer the bar to a table in the dining room. Bracco is an interesting place in that respect. In my opinion, Bracco is not a restaurant that happens to have a nifty bar area- vis a vis Spezia or Minervas. Bracco is a phenomenal bar that just happens to have a dining area.

We placed an order- burgers. Why not? It was Tuesday and those are the special. What wasn't special was the wait and what eventually arrived. My burger seemed fine. My friend ordered a Mushroom Cheddar burger. That's something relatively new to the menu. It consists of a burger served open-faced on what appeared to be a slice of wheat bread straight out of a plastic sack from the grocery store and covered in mushroom gravy. Underneath that gravy was a cold burger. Hardly worth the long wait. The bartender graciously took it back and offered to bring out a fresh one. I was thinking: You betcha. That sucker is going into the jukebox (microwave oven) because it took 30 minutes to get out here.

The new burger came out pretty fast though and it didn't appear to be the old one freshened up by the miracles of radio wave energy. I could tell that for sure because the musrooms in the gravy appeared to be barely cooked.

Granted my burger seemed fine- I got one that came on a bun and with fries. No gravy. But I got to thinking, "Hey, you don't suppose those meatheads in the kitchen have a bunch of pre-cooked burgers laying around that they are slapping together for the special." That shouldn't have been the case because it took too long to get them out in the first place.

Curiously, in the time we were there- maybe about an hour, the crowd had subsided substantially. The dining room was starting to empty out and the crowd in the bar was disappating. Considering it was a Tuesday, people probably mob the place for dinner and then rush back home. Weenies. Tuesday is as good a night as any to sit around and drink beer.

This recent trip to Bracco highlighted several things about what a dining experience at any decent place should be and what it should not be.

If a restaurant cannot manage decent service at a peak time, it probably needs to re-think its operation. People don't open a place to be constantly half-ass busy. Snappy service turns tables and that sells covers. Get it moving.
Get the food right for crying out loud. Those burgers should be great and spot on. Hot. Fresh. Juicy. You're slipping. Get on it.
Don't copy other place's food. That mushroom cheddar burger is a failed copy cat of similar burgers at Tinner's, Spezia and Minerva's. You really cannot put an "island twist" on the Tinner's pub burger mainly because you cannot really screw with a hot burger under a mound of hot gravy and mashed potatoes- so why try?

Don't get me wrong. Bracco is a great joint and I will definitely be back, but probably not on a Tuesday.

Sioux Falls Grocery Scene: In-Store Bakeries

2008-12-28T10:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, so back to the ranting and raving about our local food stores. The subject today is the bakery department with a particular focus on breads. But first, an acknowledgment: We are really lucky to have places like Breadsmith, Panera, and Queen City available to fulfill our needs for well-made artisanal breads and baked goods. Anyone who has ever tried to bake really good breads or attempted to turn out a batch of puff pastry at home should recognize that the skill set for baking is entirely different than that for cooking. One of the very few intelligent things I heard Emeril Lagasse utter between "Bams!" on Emeril Live when it used to be on Food Network was that baking requires the use of formulas instead of the recipes used for cooking. Producing a good crusty baguette requires time, skill, and a proper appreciation for exactly how much protein ought to be in the flour. Oh, and an oven that intermittently injects steam into the baking chamber doesn't hurt either. It's fun to play with this stuff at home, but for the time and trouble, you can probably buy a superior loaf of brioche, ciabatta, or a baguette at Breadsmith or Panera.

One other acknowledgement: The selection of baked goods at the Sioux Falls chain grocery stores is much better than it used to be. Remember when bagels were a novelty? Remember when the only place to get a decent baguette was the Minerva's 26th Street Market?

I tend to be very particular about breads. Although I don't care what pre-sliced, in the plastic sack sort of bread we have around the house for the Secret Teaspoon to make toast or to use for the occasional quick peanut butter sandwich for lunch, breads for other things must meet certain requirements. For instance, French bread should have a decent crust- not one that might chip a tooth- but one that requires a little effort to chomp into. Rolls for grilled sausages (generally either Italian sausage or bratwurst) should be a bit chewy, but not crusty like a good baguette. It's also nice to be able to get things like ciabatta rolls for grilled burgers or fancy sandwiches.

To get to the point about the grocery stores: You are not going to find these sorts of things there. Hy Vee produces various sizes and shapes of baked rolls and breads- little dinner rolls, hot dog buns, hamburger buns, brat buns, etc. Unfortunately, all those sizes and shapes are produced from the same ubiquitous, generally soft and un-crusty white or wheat bread dough. The white bread dough also seems to form the backbone for the loaves of French bread (in long, fat and twin-loaf sizes) and its identical twin sibling Italian bread.

For the most part, the same thing seems to be true at Sunshine and that other place, Wal-something-or-other. The various store-baked breads are just the same dough in different shapes.

The same thing is pretty much true of the other baked goods, particularly the pastries. Sure the doughnuts are pretty good, but try to get a good danish made with puff pastry. You're probably not going to find them.

The unavailability of some of these items in Sioux Falls is indeed puzzling. If you find yourself out in the West River Country- particularly in Rapid City or Spearfish visit a Safeway store. Safeway manages to turn out very decent loaves of French breads with nice crusts. Safeway also offers interesting selections of bagels and pastries. So, I know it's doable, but for whatever reason the grocers here in Sioux Falls refuse to kick up the quality.

In an effort to sell breads that the groceries are either unwilling or unable to make you can pick up breads like French baguettes or ciabatta rolls that are sealed in cellophane plastic and require a heat-and-eat treatment. Nice to have this option, especially when a trip to Breadsmith or Panera is not possible, but those breads are relatively expensive and where do they come from, anyway?

Don't get me wrong, the soft breads from the groceries have their place and all. If you want the really good stuff, however, you are going to have to do a little planning and a little driving. For breads, no one in Sioux Falls can compete with Breadsmith and Panera. In terms of other baked goods (cakes, scones, quiche) no one can give these treats the magic treatment like the folks at Queen City Bakery at 8th and Weber.

I've also managed to find a reasonable substitute for the kind of bread needed for a good sausage. Jimmy Johns. No kidding. For 50 cents, you can buy "day old" loaves of the French bread they make in-store for their sandwiches. If they don't have any of those, you can buy a "fresh" loaf for about 2 bucks. A little steep for what you get, especially considering that you probably cannot discern that much difference between the "day old" bread and the fresh stuff. Anyway, the bread at Jimmy Johns makes a pretty decent vessel for getting spicy grilled Italian sausages, grilled peppers and onions, and a heaping few spoonfuls of oily, spicy giardinera from plate to face. It's just the right width- just slice into the required lengths and pluck out a little of the soft innards.

P.S. If you want to gain a much deeper appreciation for what it takes to make a really good artisanal bread, go find a copy of the masterpiece written by Julia Child and Simone Beck- Mastering the Art of French Cooking. As I sit here I cannot remember if it is volume one or two that you will need. At any rate, over the course of something like eleven pages Julia sets forth a method for making French bread at home. Considering the only ingredients for this bread are flour, water, yeast, and salt you'll get a good idea of the process and care required to develop the flavor, crust, and shapes of good French bread.

You might also look for a copy of The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Berenbaum. As I recall, Rose was a chemistry major in college and she applies the same level of precision and understanding of the process to baking that a researcher for duPont would employ to develop better Teflon. The woman doesn't simply measure ingredients, she weighs them- including water and eggs. Rose also authored The Cake Bible and the Pie and Pastry Bible. You'll learn a lot from these books, although you may never be brave enough, patient enough, or OCD enough to attempt some of the recipes.

Activity at 26th and Western

2008-12-26T21:15:00.000-08:00

I drove by the old Spezia location at 26th and Western recently and noticed a sign on the building Grille 26, or maybe it's 26 Grille. There goes my hope for a nice little French place. Looks like I have some intel to gather.

Liquor Sales Update: The Fork Told Ya

2008-12-17T20:05:00.000-08:00

I said this would happen.

Anyone been to Hy Vee on 26th and Sycamore lately? Walk back to the corner where the beer is- right by the eggs and yogurt. Then walk up to the register going down the aisle where you stop to see if any of those good organic/health food nut sunflower nut cookies are out to sample. On your way, look to your left and you will see the new in-store liquor department. It's right about where bath gel or toothpaste used to be. I didn't swing in there. Pretty small and probably only a small hold over until the new super duper liquor area like the one at 37th Street and on Louise Ave can be opened where Boomers used to be.

Speaking of that remodeling, I wonder what's taking so long. Maybe they are just waiting for that Boomer's smell to dissipate before they can start construction.

Anyone want to take a whack at the over/under on how long Gregor's stays open?

Thanksgiving Post-Mortem

2008-11-30T16:05:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Sunday after Thanksgiving and the time to get back in the swing of the super-stressful day job is approaching. On the stove at the present moment is some homemade turkey noodle soup. The Secret Teaspoon loves soup and it's a great way to use the leftover turkey. I can already tell this is about the best batch of turkey soup I've ever made. I think the reason is that I am using the leftovers of the best turkey and stock I have probably ever managed to make.

Let's recap.

I started with a fresh turkey. I called around hoping to find something harvested in the not-too-distant past from a local Hutterite colony. No such luck. Worried I was not going to be able to find a bird of a certain size I got the first one could find the weekend before Thanksgiving. I paid too much for the darn thing. Ok. I got it at Look's. Note for next year- buy a fresh turkey at Hy Vee and save at least $0.70 per pound. More remarkable than the buck-ninety-nine a pound price was the attempt by the sales clerk to convince me to buy a wet brine mix. This nearly resulted in a small argument.

More background. The plan was to brine this year. Specifically, the plan was to dry brine the bird. I've been reading about dry brining (salting, really). I've brined things like pork chops before with great success. I've wanted to brine a turkey for some time now, but have never wanted to mess around with finding a suitable container that will hold a turkey and a couple of gallons of brine solution. After a lot of reading (Bon Appetite, Gourmet, Food & Wine, blogs, etc.) I found the solution to the wet brining problem-- lose the solution. I wanted a fresh turkey because I didn't want a bird that had been injected with some percentage of "a solution." Basically, the "solution" is the frozen solid turkey industry's way of trying to help you along by essentially pre-brining the bird. A fresh bird isn't injected. Also, a fresh bird is not necessarily "unfrozen." I am not sure exactly what the USDA definition of fresh is, but it's something like the bird has never been stored below 20 degrees or zero. Basically, it means a fresh bird was never frozen to the point where it was suitable for turkey bowling. Don't kid yourself though, that bird has been frozen, to some degree, so you have to make sure it is thoroughly thawed.

So here I am at Look's confirming that my fresh turkey has not been injected with a solution and the guy asks me if I am going to brine and walks me over to see the display of wet brine mixes that are reportedly selling like hot cakes. I explain that no, I am going to dry-brine my bird by salting it and sealing it in a bag so the juices will draw out and then be reabsorbed into the meat. The guy thought I was nuts, questioned my research, and informed me that because salt draws out moisture I was pretty-much guaranteed to ruin that bird.

Well, that didn't happen. On Monday evening, the bird was salted, inside and out with about 1/3 cup kosher salt that was mixed with dried herbs and pepper. I sealed it up in a roasting bag and chucked it into the fridge. On Tuesday, I flipped it over to help/counteract the effects of gravity. On Wednesday, I rinsed all the salt off- there was not a great deal of liquid in the bag. I dried the bird and put it back in the fridge, uncovered, to let the skin get dry so it would get nice and crispy during roasting.

The bird was a manifest success. The meat was juicy and perfumed with the herbs. Awesome.

Also prepared ahead of time was about 2 quarts of turkey stock made from roasted turkey wings and some roasted vegetables. Making extra stock for gravy is the only way to go.

So today, the turkey carcass went in the stock pot with the last cup or so of the stock to make soup broth. Strain it really well to get the gristle, bones, and yucky bits out of it. Saute some carrots, celery, and onion, throw in some garlic and then put the broth back in the pot and simmer it for a while. Add about a half a bag of frozen egg noodles and when those are about half done, toss in some of the leftover turkey meat. Finish with a handful of frozen peas and check the seasoning. Good stuff.

Sunday Liquor Sales in Sioux Falls and The Politics of Convenience

2008-11-16T08:27:00.000-08:00

Ever walk into World Market, or a local grocery store on a Sunday and notice those signs that advise you that state law prevents sales of wine and liquor on Sunday? The Fork always knew that was a crock, because unlike the state law that pre-empts the ability of municipal governments to handle their own local smoking restrictions, municipalities have had the ability to regulate liquor sales for some time. City ordinances prevented the Sunday sales. State law merely allowed the cities to decide that one for themselves. If you happened to find yourself in another community in South Dakota (Spearfish comes to mind) on a Sunday and needed a little wine for dinner or a refill of blood mary fixins because all you pals dropped by to watch an early football game you could visit any liquor retailer.

Well, at any rate, according to a story on Keloland.com today, http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=0,76509 apparently the Sioux Falls City Council finally relaxed the non-sensical Sunday prohibition. Somehow, news of this managed to escape the Fork's tightly-woven intelligence network.

An ordinance preventing Sunday sales is a classic example of a "blue law." The Fork isn't sure what the history of the moniker is, but the Fork knows a blue law on sight. Blue laws impose a certain standard of moral conduct, especially on Sundays. Blue laws still exist in many places today, including South Dakota. For instance, according to our state statues, there are two days when alcohol cannot be sold- Christmas Day and Memorial Day. Some municipalities do not allow on-sale liquor establishments to be open on Sunday. Vermillion comes to mind. Some cities regulate how liquor must be sold. It has only been in the last 10-15 years that Rapid City repealed an ordinance that mandated that liquor be packaged in a plain brown paper bag when it is sold. The so-called "plain brown wrapper."

Some blue laws probably make some sense, but it definitely makes sense that local municipalities should be free to determine their own community standards and pass ordinances accordingly.

The Fork cannot help but notice the timing of this repeal coincides to some degree with the decision of the Legislature last session to repeal the restriction on the number of off-sale licenses that can be owned by corporations, the so-called Hy Vee bill. (Hy Vee was a major proponent of the measure which had previously been pursued by other major food retailers.) Under the old law, corporations, like Nash-Finch, Hy Vee, or Safeway (West River) could only hold so many off-sale licenses. That's why Hy Vee on Louise Avenue had a liquor department in-store, but there was no liquor department at 26th and Sycamore or at the East 10th location. Sunshine has beer, wine, and liquor on 57th and Cliff, but not 14th Street. Lewis Drug is even in the game offering beer, wine, and liquor now. Get it? If the Fork's crystal napkin ring is working correctly, it is probably only a matter of time before almost all of the major grocery retailers in Sioux Falls are offering beer, wine, and liquor at most all of their locations. If the recent remodeling of the Hy Vee at 49th and Louise is a sign of things to come, it is only a matter of time before Hy Vee revamps the 26th and Sycamore location. The Fork wouldn't be a bit surprised to see a big liquor selection at 26th and Sycamore filling up that space where Boomer's used to be.

There is no doubt that with these changes, the consumer is going to enjoy one-stop convenience. Need some shrimp and a bottle of sauvignon blanc to make shrimp scampi, even on Sunday? No sweat. Just pull into Hy Vee or Sunshine. No more stops at the grocery store for the food and then a second stop at a neighborhood liquor retailer to pick up the wine.

Convenience is great, but the Fork hopes people will remember that there is a price to be paid for that convenience. In terms of sucking more and more of the retail liquor business into already-existing grocery stores, the clear loser is the small, independent local liquor retailer. There is no way a local independent can compete with a large food retailer that already possesses real estate, employees, and its own distribution system. Actually, if you look around Sioux Falls, you might notice a few vacancies where some of those small liquor stores used to be. It's just a matter of simple economics.

Sometimes, life is about more than doing what is easy and most convenient. If you've been patronizing a local bottle shop and developed a relationship with the proprietor, the Fork hopes you will continue to give your business to that small, local business person's establishment and encourage others to do the same. If you don't have a relationship like that, or care more about the economics of convenience, don't complain when there are no more friendly little wine and liquor shops around.

The Sioux Falls Grocery Scene: Meat

2008-11-14T17:36:00.000-08:00

Yeah, baby! Meat! The Fork loves meat. Vegetables, grains and even tofu all have their place- usually right next to something cooked medium rare.

It's hard to tell if we have made progress in the last 40 years or so when it comes to meat. There was a time when there were actually butcher shops and even grocery stores had butchers on staff. I am not talking about the people who stand back behind the counter and hand you the same boneless skinless chicken breasts available wrapped over in the meat case 30 feet away, I mean people who actually could take apart a half a beef carcass back there using a knife and a band saw and use those skills to hand you exactly what you want.

For a few brief shining moments we had such a place here in Sioux Falls a few years ago- Tom's Specialty Meats located on N. Weber Avenue by the Falls. If you wanted a T-Bone steak, you told Tom or one of his able staff members how thick you wanted one and they cut it on the spot and wrapped it up. If you wanted a nice 4-bone bone-in rib roast for Christmas dinner- call Tom. Tom also sold a pretty fair amount of goat. Yes, goat. Kind of an ethnic item, if you catch the Fork's drift, but available nonetheless. I bet a leg of goat would cook pretty well on the old grill.

Anyhoooo . . .

Let's talk about the state of the meat buying experience here in Soo Foo. And to be clear, when the Fork is talking about meat, we're talking mostly about beef.

Hy Vee. Look, as far as big, nice, features, and a variety of inventory, Hy Vee has to be at the top of the chain food store food chain around here. Hy Vee has had full service, butcher shop-style meat counters for some time. They have a nice selection of packaged meats. Everything looks great. Who could want more? The Fork, for one.

If the Fork had a dime for every time the Fork has about lost it while trying to compare prices on meats between the counter and the case, the Fork could blog full time and lose the super stressful day job. If you are going to walk into Hy Vee and pick up what you want without giving a thought to cost, then you're in good shape. If you want to compare some labels and feel like you are making a good economical purchase, good luck. It's confusing. And, the Fork thinks it's confusing on purpose. Here's an example. Say it's a nice summer night and you want to fire up the grill and make a little steak for you and yours. You go to Hy Vee and walk over to the case and find 18-22 oz of sirloin in one big steak for, let's say six bucks a pound. Or you can go over to the meat counter and ask one of the helpful smiles to wrap you up two 8oz charcoal steaks or whatever they're called (they're sirloins), two for 8 bucks. That's 8 bucks a pound. That's an insult to the Fork's intelligence and really bends the tines. Hy Vee does the same thing with pork and they do the same thing with sausages- brats 5 for $3.00 or $4.00. Go look in the packages, find one with five in it and see if it costs more or less than the ones in the case. If you think a friendly smile is in the back room stuffing seasoning cuts of pork and veal and stuffing casings, you got a cart with two wobbly wheels. Fortunately, the Fork's mother smelted all the dumb silverware, so the Fork doesn't fall for Hy Vee's little price stunts.

The other problem the Fork has with Hy Vee meats is the packaged meat that is in the little trays sealed with clear plastic. That stuff ain't being cut up behind the counter by a butcher and being placed in the case. It's coming from a central location where that meat is put in the little tray and some sort of gas that keeps the meat looking rosy red is injected before the plastic is sealed. At least with the old-style packaged meats that were wrapped on the little foam tray, you could pick it up and kind of look at it to see if its what you wanted.

To leave Hy Vee on a good note, they do usually have a selection of steaks that are cut for people who really like steaks. You know, those puppies that are at least an inch and a quarter thick and are called things like Sioux Falls Cut Strip. As long as they don't price those suckers individually, they are a decent enough deal. But, as mentioned below- you can do better if it's a big beefy steak you long for.

Sunshine. Sunshine prides itself on its meats. Definitely not as flashy as Hy Vee, but they keep guys behind the counter who can help you out. The meat in the case is wrapped and not all of it is sealed up in those mini gas chambers. That's good. One might conclude that the stuff is at least processed in town or closer than West Des Moines. The Fork doesn't know what the deal is, but Sunshine's meat seems to be a bit better than Hy Vee's. The Fork had a real decent porterhouse from Sunshine a few weeks ago. It was good and flavorful, but it would have been nice if it had been thicker. The Fork thinks Sunshine would really have something going if they had some steaks in the meat case that look like those nice honkers they have at Hy Vee.

Sunshine also seems to have a selection of some very locally raised pork and beef. The Fork might like to try some sometime, but it only comes in individually wrapped in vacuum packaging and frozen hard as a rock. The Fork doesn't generally buy meat by the cart to fill up the deep freeze and the Fork doesn't buy meat so it can thaw for two or three days before hitting the grill.

Cleaver's. Nice commercials for these guys lately. It's kind of a neat little store and there is some good stuff in the freezer cases. It's nice to be able to get a Hutterite chicken or some Kuchen from Eureka. The service at the meat counter is great.

You're gonna pay more for meat at Cleaver's than you are at Hy Vee or Sunshine. So, is it worth it? In the Fork's humble opinion: no. Personally, the Fork thinks they picked up the fresh meat at Sunshine and are just cutting it themselves. If you want the real meat counter experience and are willing to pay a premium price and want better meat, head up the hill, a little further south on Western Avenue and go see Nick Heineman and the crew at Look's.

Look's. The Fork wouldn't necessarily stop into Look's to pick up all the protein needed for a week or two (cha ching $$), but when the Fork and the rest of the Secret Utensils get a hankering for a good umami experience Look's is the only real choice. Granted, you're going to pay a higher price, but you are going to get superior meat.

The secret behind Look's is simple: they carry higher quality beef than anyone else in town. In terms of beef, Look's is the only place in town that sells USDA Prime beef. Look's also sells some dry-aged beef. Best of all, Look's basic, run-of-the-mill grade of beef is CAB- that's Certified Angus Beef. It just so happens the Fork knows just enough about how fresh beef is sold and graded to be dangerous, but that knowledge comes in handy when it's time to buy meat. The Fork is not prepared to offer an opinion as to whether Angus is better than Hereford or Limousin or Charolais breeds, but the Fork can tell you that, by and large, in order to qualify as CAB, there is more grading involved. That puts CAB closer to USDA Prime than some of that Amana Beef you are buying at Hy Vee. The pay-off is good flavor.

The customer service at Look's is also excellent. Don't see what you want in the case? Ask the fellas to go back there and cut it exactly the way you want it- like inch and a half thick bone-in ribeyes. They are only too happy to oblige and they actually have meat back there.

Besides, McNally's is right next door and a pint of Guinness sure goes well after meat shopping.

Sam's Club. I know, I know. It's Wal-Mart and the Fork HATES Wal-Mart, but Sam's Club does have a couple of unique advantages over every other place in town when it comes to meat. Actually, it's two advantages: (1) they actually carry some stuff you cannot get elsewhere in town and (2) quantity. And at least the meat at Sam's isn't coming from China. Yet.

So, what can you get at Sam's that no one else has? How about a big ol' packer cut brisket? Bone in pork shoulders, generally in 6-8 pound chunks. These are real barbecue meats- full of fat and connective tissue, tough as hell if not cooked for hours and hours at low temperatures and dirt cheap. Not the kind of thing you throw on that big stainless steel propane fired thing sitting on the deck. Real BBQ- like smoke, a temperature of about 235 degrees and 12-20 hours worth of cook time. Tastes like somebody "famous" made it BBQ. Ask one of the 17 year old friendly smiles at Hy Vee for a packer cut brisket and see if he knows what the hell you're talking about. One other interesting thing at Sam's that no one else seems to have and that is decent racks of lamb. No kidding. It's odd, but Sam's has them- only place in town I'll buy them.

Sam's is also a pretty good place to buy things like pork loins and racks of pork ribs. These meats come straight from the processor to Sam's. They are in cryovac packaging. In other words, they are the same thing that someone at Hy Vee or Sunshine cut open, dried off and stuck in the meat case where you are gonna pay a lot more for it. Buy some freezer paper, a roll of tape, a Sharpie marker and sharpen a knife and you can turn one of those whole loins into chops, chunks of pork for stew, a small loin roast or two- you get the idea.

There are some other places in town the Fork needs to check out. The Franklin Market is reputed to have pretty good meat and a trip up to Renner might be in order one of these days.

So, what's the verdict? If you want a decent deal on meat and aren't afraid of doing some of the work yourself, Sam's might be the ticket. Sam's is definitely the ticket if you want authentic meats to use for a real deal low and slow BBQ experience. Don't want to make a special trip to Sam's for a few pork chops? Well, then it's Hy Vee or Sunshine, but don't fall for Hy Vee's little pricing games. Want a special treat? Look's.

Want veal? Skirt steak? Blood sausage? Really good handmade Italian sausage? Duck breasts? Too bad. Everyone in town could do a better job with variety. I know some of this stuff is out there, but it's probably at some of the very small ethnic groceries around town- more on those in another post.

Until next time, eat more beef. The West wasn't won on salad.

The Sioux Falls Grocery Scene: The Introduction

2008-11-12T18:17:00.000-08:00

If you truly love to cook, you should probably also love to go to the grocery store and find good ingredients to cook with. If the size of grocery stores these days and the variety available is any indication, then the whole country must be refining its tastes and demanding more and better ingredients.

Here in Sioux Falls, there are probably less grocery stores in town than there were 20 years ago. Let's see around 1988, give or take a few years, there used to be Hy Vee, Albertson's (or maybe it was Randall's then), Sunshine, Prairie Market, some of the neighborhood grocers like Andy's and the Franklin Food Market, and probably a few other places I cannot remember.

Back then, grocery stores were pretty ubiquitous. They all carried the same things, more or less. As far as ethnic foods, you might find a can of Chung King chop suey and some soy sauce in the "Chinese" aisle and maybe some Old El Paso refried beans or Pace salsa in the"Mexican" area.

Now, the Sioux Falls grocery scene is pretty much dominated by Hy Vee and Sunshine. Oddly, there was a time when the Hy Vee store on 33rd and Minnesota was one of, if not the, largest grocery store in the state. That has changed pretty fast in the last two or three years.

Twenty years ago, it was tough to swing a dead cat and miss one of those little Sunshine stores 8th and Spring, 10th and Cleveland, and my personal favorite 33rd and Minnesota where, circa 1988 icy cold six packs of Miller Genuine Draft in bottles always rang up at $1.89 regardless of what the price on the shelf said.

Now we have grocery palaces here in Sioux Falls- especially the new Hy Vee stores. Sunshine has built a new store at 57th and Cliff that has to be as nice a venue as Sunshine has ever occupied. With the new stores has come services and products unlike any we have seen in Sioux Falls. We have full service meat counters, fresh seafood selections, bakeries, full selections or organic and natural foods, deli service, full wine, beer and liquor selections, and wide choices of all sorts of other products. Oh yeah, even Wal-Mart sells groceries and has some nice selections. (Note: The Fork hates Wal-Mart for a number of reasons. So, rather than devote time to saying nasty things about Wal-Mart and how it has done more to ruin the U.S. than help it, we'll just ignore Wal-Mart.)

We also have new specialty markets in Sioux Falls like Look's and Cleaver's. Even World Market offers interesting specialty foods.

Altogether, we have it pretty good, but we still have things to talk about, and will in the coming days and weeks. For instance:

Is the one-stop-get-your-groceries-and-booze-here arrangements good? Sure, it's handy to roll into a store where you can get a bottle of cheap Sauvignon Blanc to use in your shrimp scampi recipe, but will the inevitable loss of small, local liquor retailers a good thing?
Bread. We have a lot to discuss here. How can Hy Vee offer varieties of soy ice cream, but can't offer a decent loaf of made-in-the-store French bread? For that matter, why can't Sunshine offer decent French Bread?
Meat. Pricing, quality, service, and selection. Lots to complain about here.
Produce. Who's got the good stuff and who doesn't?
Deli. We have nice delis in almost every store in Sioux Falls. Can we increase the quality to match the quantity?

Gotta watch Top Chef now. Have fun, eat well, live well, and stay tuned.

Wooo Hooo: New Top Chef Season Begins Tonight!

2008-11-12T18:08:00.000-08:00

The new season of Top Chef begins tonight on Bravo. The Fork loves Top Chef. Granted, who gets kicked off when seems to be manipulated by the producers to make sure one long shot makes it entirely too far and whichever contestant plays worst with the others makes it too far and its a bit formulaic (just like all the other design shows on Bravo) but what a fun show to watch!

Its fun to watch the creativity of the talented contestants. Top Chef confirms to me that there is a huge difference between people who can cook very, very well and people who have the artistic vision and talent to create interesting dishes. The Fork can cook, but give the Fork a can of tuna, a bag of marshmallows and 15 minutes to create some haute cuisine, and don't expect much.

The other fun thing about the beginning of a new season of Top Chef is to watch the hapless schmucks who manage to screw up right out of the chute.

We'll be talking about this new season in the weeks to come.

The Great Indoor Smoking Ban Debate

2008-11-06T16:45:00.000-08:00

No sooner do we finish another contentious election season here in South Dakota and it's time to gear up for the legislative session. It looks like the smoking ban is going to have a prominent place among the issues our legislators will wrestle with during the upcoming session.

The question of banning smoking in all indoor spaces is one of those issues where food and politics collide. All across South Dakota there are towns where the only place to dine out also happens to pretty much be a bar. And, as most of us know, anyplace that serves alcohol is exempt from the current South Dakota indoor smoking restrictions. The same thing is true here in Sioux Falls, as there are plenty of places that serve alcohol and food that allow smoking somewhere inside their establishments.

Not to get too deep into the politics and away from the dining and drinking focus of this blog, but there are a whole lot of new faces that make up the 105 representatives and senators. The anti-smoking lobbyists and associations, and those united in interest are well aware of that fact and are not going away. They've been trying to pass much more stringent restrictions on smoking and have publicly announced that they are going to take a run at it again this coming session.

Is it time for the State of South Dakota to get tough on smoking? The Fork thinks it is.

The Fork reads a few political blogs, watches the news, and is generally familiar with the arguments against a tough smoking ban. Let's address a few.

"Government shouldn't stick its nose into how people run their own private businesses." The Fork will be the first to admit that the Fork has held a less than consistent position on the issue of smoking. In a state where the legislature has never adopted a helmet law and a police officer cannot make a traffic stop because the driver is not wearing a seat belt, it's easy to justify the lack of political will to get tough on smoking by resorting to the statement that it's just not right to have government dictate how private individuals have to run their businesses. After all, tobacco is a legal product. We don't need any more nanny-state do-gooders cramming their ideas about private responsibility down our throats.

Yeah, well, the Fork ain't buying that anymore. Government has no problem telling business what to do and how to do it. We can argue all day about whether government has gone too far into certain areas. (Partially nationalizing the banking industry comes to mind.) Nevertheless, anyone who has been paying attention to anything in the last 25-40 years and has the capability of being honest with themselves ought to admit that government intervention is necessary, if not proper, when the free market is not going to take care of certain public health and safety issues. The Fork understands that, in general, people have good intentions and want to do the right thing. Nevertheless, the Fork also recognizes the reality that given the choice between doing the right thing, a lot of people will defer to doing what is easiest, cheapest, or best for them at the time. That's just simple economics. Face it, if government didn't intercede once in a while, there are certain companies that would be dumping toxic waste without a second thought, cars might be a lot less safer than they are today and segregation might still be the rule in certain places. When it comes to certain issues, we, as a society, are not content to leave them to private choice especially when public health is concerned.

"The dangers of smoking have been overstated by people who make their livings combatting tobacco use." Anyone who thinks smoking is not dangerous to the smoker and anyone in the immediate area is on the same level as people who deny the Holocaust occurred. Get a grip and watch out for the black helicopters.

"People who don't want to be in smoky places can vote with their wallets and take their business elsewhere." That's true, but as pointed out above, the free market isn't going to take care of this issue on its own, at least in anyone's lifetime. There will always be owners of establishments who will never make the leap to smoke free out of fear that a smoking customer will just go elsewhere. In addition, anyone who doesn't believe the Fork that there are LOTS of places in South Dakota where the only place for a family to get a bite to eat out is a place where smoking is allowed and present. It's true. If you don't believe it, get off the frigging interstate and go see what most of South Dakota looks like.

"If we ban smoking, especially in casinos, people will flock to the tribal casinos because they won't have to follow the law." This is one the legislators are going to hear from the multiple lobbyists who represent gaming interests in Deadwood. So, if this is true, the people who come to Deadwood to visit the variety of casinos located in historic buildings on the same streets in the Black Hills town where those characters in the popular HBO series once walked in favor of heading down the road to Oelrichs, Mobridge, Lower Brule or Ft. Thompson to be held captive in one building in the middle of the prairie so they can smoke, drink, and gamble at the same time. Undoubtedly, this will also include the busloads of Canadians who flock to Deadwood to play slots and shop at Wal-Mart in Spearfish, even when the exchange rate is not in their favor. All those people who sit and pump coins into a nickel slot machine chain smoking and drinking coffee are going to drive 1oo miles or more so they don't have to step outside for a smoke. Errrrr. Right. Besides, if indoor smoking now constitutes economic development, that might be the one form of economic development we can do without.

"The Nazi's tried to enact a smoking ban." No kidding the Fork read this today on South Dakota War College (http://dakotawarcollege.com/archives/6125#comments). So what? It was 1938. Here's some other things that were true in that era: cars didn't have seat belts, a small pox vaccine hadn't been developed, lead paint was used in the rooms of children, and the only people who didn't smoke were anti-social freaks. Stopping certain practices in light of increased knowledge is kind of smart. Treating the mentally ill by using lobotomies and blood letting come to mind.

There is probably no greater proof that the world will not come to an immediate and violent end if meaningful comprehensive restrictions on smoking are implemented than to consider what has happened in other locales where smoking bans extend to bars and restaurants. Been to Minneapolis lately? Chicago? Denver? How about Anchorage? No kidding, you can't smoke in bars in Anchorage. You can risk your life fishing for king crab or get chased by a bear or moose on the bike path, but you can't light up in Humpy's. Visit Wriggleyville before or after a Cubs game, or even in the dead of winter. No lack of activity in that bar scene because people have to step outside to smoke. Same in Minneapolis. Omaha and Des Moines aren't far behind.

One last point. Smokers lack political clout with the people who elect legislators. The liquor lobby might be able to scare the crap out of some legislators, but the Fork thinks they'll have a hard time convincing the electorate to reject a ban. (Insider tip- the tobacco lobby is pretty much dead, but the liquor retailers, video lottery folks, and other gaming interests will carry this torch for them.) The voters didn't flinch to impose a higher tax on tobacco when the legislature couldn't get the job done. The Fork would bet the pepper mill and the napkin rings that, if given the choice, the voters would enact the ban.

The Downtown Sioux Falls Bar Scene

2008-10-31T18:29:00.000-07:00

The Fork's day job is at an office in downtown Sioux Falls. The Fork likes to have a couple libations after work before heading home to make dinner for the rest of the Secret Silverware and watch television. The fact the Fork has a pretty stressful job also promotes post-work libations. Drinking to relieve stress from work is not necessarily a good idea, but then neither is having a highly stressful job. So, until the Fork manages to pick the winning Power Ball numbers, it's stressful work and post-work drinks or the Secret Teaspoon is never going to get to college.

The downtown Sioux Falls post work bar scene is not too bad. This is a good deal, because the Fork has certain rules about frequenting establishments at roughly the same time on any given day. Actually, it might just be one rule, and that is do not go to the same place every day at more or less the same time. It gives people the idea you drink every day. If someone knows exactly where to have you served with a subpoena at 5:45 PM, you are not managing your post-work alcohol consumption in an effective manner. Fortunately, there are enough places in downtown Sioux Falls to make the process servers work if they are going to find you on a barstool after work.

Let's survey those locales, shall we?

Minerva's. Minerva's has a great bar. Seriously. It's a great place to stop for a couple after work. The bar is clean and neat. Non-smoking, which is most definitely a plus. The bartenders are pleasant, professional and efficient. Minerva's has a full bar, offers some wines by the glass and has a pretty good selection of beer on tap, which generally includes a seasonal selection. There is a somewhat regular crowd that frequents Minerva's and they are pretty nice people to chat with.
Falls Landing. This is a little watering hole located at the Country Inn and Suites hotel on 8th Street right on the bike path and the Big Sioux River. Jay, the guy who owns or runs the place is a heck of a nice guy and is always happy to see you. The place has a great outdoor seating area right along the bike path and the river. On a good day, you can sit outside and watch the folks over in the high rise fish in the river and watch folks ride by on the bike path. Jay also manages to have a staff of fairly hot female servers and bartenders. There is always plenty of free popcorn available. This place obviously has all the trappings of a great place to hang out. Unfortunately, there are a few drawbacks. One of the bigger ones is the fact that the place feels like a bar located in a cheap hotel, which it is. The deck is great but it seems like except for one of those 6 absolutely perfect days each year when the temperature is exactly right and the wind isn't blowing, the outdoor area sounds better than it actually is. It is situated at such an angle that the sun is always shining right on you in the late afternoon. I other words, it gets a little hot out there, so you have to be pretty proficient at downing 22oz taps before they get too warm. If the wind is blowing . . . you'l spend most of your time keeping your table umprella from blowing over. Still a good place to avoid the process server and to alter the usual routine.
Stogeez. Here is a fun place to go after work. It's nice to sit at the bar or at a table by the windows in the winter and enjoy a couple of beverages. Stogeez always has a nice selection of beers on tap and is the only place in Sioux Falls here the Fork has had a Sam Adams beer in one of those specially engineered Sam Adams beer glasses. Of course, it is a joy to sit outside on Phillips Avenue and enjoy a couple of beverages while the world strolls by. The bartenders and the usual patrons are nice folks. The Fork has two minor reservations about the place: (1) certain bartenders treat the regular regulars better than everyone else, which means that you might need some patience if you want that second round without walking to the bar and getting it yourself and (2) chances are you are going to smell like you have been sitting in a bar when you get home.
Stogeez Copper Lounge. Here's the way to give Tim Kant money and get a taste of the Stogeez experience without smelling like you've been in a cigar bar in Miami. The Copper is non-smoking, but has a great selection of liquors, beers and wines, along with some comfy chairs. The bartenders are polite and efficient. Great addition to downtown.
Latitude 44. The Fork is not entirely certain, but believes Latitude 44 is only open Thursday through Saturday. Latitude is located in the former Stockman's location in the little flatiron building on 8th Street, right where the railroad crosses 8th Street. Kind of a small place, but very clean and smoke free. There are nice seating areas and around the post-work hours there are usually a few free complimentary snacks to nibble on. At the very least, you'll get a nice dish of party mix. Beer and wine only and a generally nice, but small selection. Latitude hosts live music and its a great venue to hang out and have a few while enjoying some local live music. For a few drinks in a nice clean place where you can actually hear the conversation with your friends, this is a great choice.
Wiley's. Wiley's is the present occupant of the corner of 6th Street and Main Avenue. Prior tenants included the blues bar, Portabella, and Longshot's. Remember when the name of the place kept changing, but the same servers/bartenders and patrons were always in the place? It's changed. The place doesn't look much different than its predecessors, but Wiley's is a definite improvement. The service is improved and, it seems the clientele has also improved, as well. Wiley's also offers happy hour two-fers. How can you beat that? They also have interesting beer on tap like the beers made in the Amana Colonies in Iowa. Good stuff and a good improvement for the scene.
Monk's. This is an interesting place for a lot of reasons. The Fork isn't too sure how to feel about the place. It has its good points, like Belgian beers made by real monks. Good stuff, but if your idea of phenomenal beer is an ice cold Busch Light straight from the can, you are not going to like Monk's, although they do have a nice selection of more pedestrian beers. It's also a beautiful place to sit. There is great artwork on the walls and Jerry Hauck has placed some great woodwork inside. Monk's also has the proper glassware for their beers- more like wine glasses than mugs or pint glasses. There are a few drawbacks. This level of beer is expensive. You will be dealing with a quality versus quantity trade off. There is outdoor seating, but sitting out near the sidewalk 8th Street tossing down pricey Belgian Trappist brews while folks are walking to dinner at the Banquet really makes those heady ales taste especially bitter. The help is a plus and a drawback. If you have been there, you know of what the Fork speaks. The main bartender guy is extremely knowledgeable about the beers and can help you make a selection to suit your individual tastes, but he is also somewhat snooty/odd/artsy. No reason to avoid the place though- stop in, especially if you really like beer.
Paramount. This place is gorgeous. Anita Keeley did a marvelous job decorating the place. It's a neat place to stop to enjoy some wine or a beer. They have a nice selection of appetizers, but considering the place doesn't seem to have a kitchen, the Fork wonders where exactly they create these dishes. Paramount also has what have to be the nicest bathrooms of almost any lounge in Sioux Falls. Live piano music on certain nights. The only qualm the Fork has with the place is that Paramount wants to be a wine bar, but the Fork is yet to encounter a server or staff person who knows much more than diddly squat about wine. If Paramount could only tap into some of the wine expertise from the folks at Food & Fermentation, they might be onto something. It is the Fork's understanding from a recent news story that the fine folks at Minerva's purchased Paramount. It's going to be interesting to see where this goes.
Food & Fermentation. This is a great place. Doug and Laurel are about as nice as any people you are likely to find anywhere and Ben is a great resource when it comes to wine. This place is a great standby for a post-work glass or two of nice wine and a plate of interesting cheeses and meats. The place is spendy, though. Want a great tip from the Fork? If there are two or more of you and you plan on drinking at least a couple of glasses each, ask Ben to help you find a bottle to share. It's more fun that ordering off the by-the-glass menu and you'll probably save a couple bucks.
Applebee's. Yes, there is an Applebee's downtown. A person could get an appetizer and a drink there, if he or she were so inclined. The Fork generally eschews chain joints like Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday, Boston's, etc., but still, it's an alternative. The Fork's main issue with the downtown Applebee's is that the joint is a bit of a one trick pony. In other words, in the Fork's humble opinion, the place only seems to be capable of doing a decent job of serving lunch. That's about the only time the Fork has observed the place to be busy and the only time the staff has seemed to know what is going on. When the place is dead, i.e. after work or on a weekend afternoon, they seem to be particularly incapable of efficiently slinging drinks and nuking a sampler platter of appetizers.

There are other places in the downtown area to get a post-work de-stressification cocktail. The Fork just hasn't been to a few of these other places for a while. Smoe's, Little Coalinga, Scoreboard, Phil's, David, Top Hat, and Tommyjack's come to mind. Haven't been to that billiards place for a while, either. A few owners ago, they used to have about the best happy hour in town. Armed with coupons during a Friday happy hour several years ago, about a dozen of us got about half loaded up for a whopping 30 bucks. That was a great afternoon. Hmmm, might be cause for some more exploratory after work trips.

Coming soon- more observations on watering holes all over town!

La Minestra: One Of The Best Restaurants In SD

2008-09-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

I was recently in Pierre for work. If I am in Pierre for more than two hours, a trip to La Minestra is an absolute must. La Minestra is, in my humble opinion, one of the best places to eat in South Dakota.

Quick aside: The Fork would never try to rank the Fork's favorite restaurants. As a matter of fact, the Fork doesn't really have a favorite. The Fork has favorites. At any given time, the Fork has about three favorite SD restaurants- and they are not always the same three. It just depends.

La Minestra definitely makes the Fork's Top Three List and is rarely rotated off the list.

Mark and Stacey Mancuso have done an outstanding job with this place. For those of you who haven't been to Pierre since one of your college friends got married in Pierre and you had to drag yourself all the way out there, La Minestra is in the former location of The Longbranch Saloon on Dakota Avenue in Pierre. (The old Longbranch was a great bar. Dark. Smoky. Full of a strange mix of drugstore and authentic cowboys and cowgirls and state employees. Live country music about five nights a week.) The old Longbranch is another story, but the point is that sitting at La Minestra on what used to be the dance floor at the Branch or visiting the restroom reminds me that the place used to be one of the crown jewels of SD country dive bars. Ironically, if you never had the pleasure of throwing a few back at the old Longbranch, you'd never guess the place used to be a bar.

La Minestra does a great job with its menu. It changes periodically, but not drastically. Things kind of rotate on and off from time to time. Some items on the menu are fairly standard Italian dishes (bruschetta, eggplant parmigiana, puttanesca) and others are clearly Italian or Mediterranean influenced. The menu is not pasta heavy, but there are always a number of good pasta selections- like Mark's Favorite which consists of Italian sausage, sun dried tomatoes, olives, and rigatoni. There is usually a great steak selection on the menu and in a town where good steaks are easy to find, La Minestra can hold its own in the big old chunk of tender red meat category. Presently, they are serving a Steak Sangiovese- a big thick New York strip with a topping of wine-tomato-peppers. They used to do a great steak called a Ribeye Royale- a huge ribeye cooked to order (medium rare if you really like steak) topped with slices of avocado, crumbles of bleu cheese and blessed with Tabasco-like hot pepper sauce. Sounds odd, doesn't it? It was great. Probably the highest iteration of an Atkins-friendly meal you'll ever find.

Salads are not included with the price of the meal, but half salads are available at a pretty decent price. You must have a salad. The Fork recommends the phenomenal Greek Salad that has olives, chucks of tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onion and is dressed with what is clearly a house-made balsamic vinaigrette. Awesome. Of course, you'll be served bread to dip in olive oil. The Fork's only complaint with La Minestra is the bread service. The bread is fine- for Pierre, but the olive oil is served in individual portions on a saucer WITH balsamic vinegar drizzled into the oil. I prefer just olive oil, lots of olive oil. I could do without the balsamic. After that great Greek salad I need to get the acid out of my mouth so I can focus the old taste buds on the vino. More balsamic vinegar with the bread and oil makes that a little difficult.

Almost as important as what is on the menu is what is NOT on the menu. La Minestra illustrates one of the Fork's Golden Rules of eating out: ALWAYS give strong consideration to the special. This isn't like the special at Applebees where some particular entree is a whopping buck fifty less than the menu price. Specials at La Minestra are generally that- special. Sometimes, they are old favorites that have been rotated off the menu- like that Ribeye Royale mentioned above. More often, they are something very special like a fresh swordfish steak topped with a nice spicy tomato and white wine sauce and a big dollop of goat cheese. I've also had a special that consisted of pork tenderloin medallions served in a sauce that had a touch of curry in it and mission figs. On a recent weeknight, one of the specials was Matt's Favorite. (Matt is Mark's son and one heck of a chef himself.) Tomatoes, peppers, onions in a light, slightly spicy tomato sauce over rigatoni- and some goat cheese just for good measure. Personally, I think if you took a few of the sun dried tomatoes out of Mark's favorite, threw in a few of the chunks of fresh tomatoes from Matt's Favorite and kept the goat cheese, you might just have My New Favorite.

La Minestra's wine list definitely holds its own. The wine list is fairly simple and definitely unpretentious. (The Sears catalog size wine list phenomenon will be discussed in another post someday.) La Minestra has a nice selection of reds and whites that include some Italian selections. It's about a one-page list. In the Fork's opinion, the prices are reasonable. It's easy to find a nice bottle to accompany a meal for $30 or less, but if you want to blow a C-note on a bottle of Caymus cabernet, you can do that. La Minestra also has a great selection of beers on tap that usually include something seasonal. Liquor is available. My only advice in the beverage category: Mark, get some Grappa and some Vin Santo for after-dinner sipping.

Pierre is a great town for a number of reasons. On of those reasons is La Minestra. If you find yourself in Pierre, go there. It is a treasure.

The Incredible Potential Of The New Spezia Location

2008-09-21T17:06:00.001-07:00

Like others, I was sorry to see Spezia leave it's original Park Ridge neighborhood location to become another dining location in the greater "mall area." I am happy about plans for a new restaurant to fill it's old space- French continental perhaps? At any rate, the location is not what I wanted to discuss in this post.

The new location is gorgeous. The decor is extremely well done. I haven't walked around the whole place yet, but it is clear that some thought went into what the old location needed badly. For instance, there is a great outdoor seating area and there appear to be spaces that can be used by larger groups. Those should come in pretty handy for those Sunday brunches around graduation time.

Sad as I was to see Spezia leave Park Ridge, I think this new location is going to serve Spezia very well. Given its location, the place should be packing them in anytime a soccer, softball, baseball, hockey, etc. tournament is in town. I've got to think the business plan calls for a lot more traffic from the out-of-town folks who probably wouldn't have made the trek off the beaten path to 26th and Western.

Our experience last week was fine. Probably 5 out of 10 forks on the whole. In a nutshell, the food was okay and the service should have been better. The experience just didn't live up to its potential. I was thinking about writing about the details of the meal, but as I thought about the experience we had last week, it made me think about the "bigger picture" for Spezia. With a beautiful new location that is sure to bring increased traffic, it will be interesting to see if Spezia can take it up a couple of notches. I don't think Spezia needs to do anything drastic. it just seems to me that the place certainly has the potential to push itself a little. Some thoughts:

I'd like to see a little more Italian on the menu. I don't mean Olive Garden/Carino's Italian. I am thinking more like Mario Batali Italian. There is nothing on the menu that makes me think "Wow! There's something that sounds unique and adventurous! I am going to give it a try." The menu as it is written is just too safe and, actually, has items I could probably get at Minerva's. I can get the same roast duck that I can basically get at Minerva's. Why isn't Osso Bucco on the menu?
How about some more special events? I missed the wine tasting last week, but I definitely plan on checking one out. Spezia has a great opportunity to be the authority on Italian wines. Go for it.
How about combining the food and the wine for a really special event? Tasting menu?

I want to love Spezia in the worst way. To get there, it's going to take more than just getting the kinks out of the service, in my opinion, it's going to take some risks with the menu and special events.

This Town Needs An Enema

2008-09-16T18:20:00.000-07:00

That was what Jack Nicholson's character, The Joker, said about Gotham in the first of the "modern" Batman movies. Besides being a pretty good line, it also describes how I feel about commentary, dialogue, criticism (positive and negative), or the utter lack thereof on the food and beverage scene in and around my own fair city of Sioux Falls. So, I decided it was time to do something about it and enter the 21st Century by authoring my own blog.

Who am I? Well, this idea wouldn't work if I told you. After all, I eat, drink, or shop at the places we are going to discuss. Like the profile says I like to eat, drink, and cook. I love food culture. I love the politics of food. I live in Sioux Falls, but I travel a little bit. When I know I am going to travel somewhere- be it Rapid City, Denver, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Dallas (TX, that is), Atlanta, Washington D.C., or Pierre, I immediately think about where we can go eat at the destination. I think about the wines I cannot get here in SD, or ingredients, or equipment, or whatever. I like to talk about my food experiences with other people who like food and I like to hear their stories, too. I like to think that I not only have a sense of taste, but also a palate. I like to think there as much beauty in a good hot beef sandwich made with white bread, real mashed potatoes and that oh so tasty gravy made and served at the livestock sale barn in Philip as there is in an amuse bouche prepared by Thomas Keller at The French Laundry. Actually, I know there is.

Oh, and before I forget to say so, I am not a wine snob. (Even though I think I can hold my own in a blind tasting.) Wine is not something that one masters- one merely becomes a better student of wine than one's fellows. Wine is a journey, not a destination. I also believe that one can love and care about beer, coffee, tea, mineral water, and other beverages without being unfaithful to one's palate or one's self.

Why do this? Because, like I said above, this town needs an enema. There are other outlets, MSM and not-so-MSM that contain reviews of eating and drinking establishments. These range from publications one might have to pay for, the Argus Leader comes to mind, or publications that are given away free- by the entrances to grocery stores, restaurants, bars, etc. The information and commentaries in these various publications runs from "Chamber of Commerce" reviews to sarcastic creative writing experiments gone bad. It simply strikes me that most of these people either don't know what they are talking about (Can you really take an Argus food review seriously when the reviewer orders steaks done more than medium?) or don't particularly care- they are just writing. Well, thanks to years of experience with food and writing, I do know what I am talking about and I do care. And I think it's time to slice through the restaurant spotlight of the week articles and get to the bone marrow.

Here are some of the things I think about, practically daily, and some thoughts that are probably going to be topics for discussion in the near future.

If Hy Vee can build grocery palaces, why can't they bake a decent loaf of French bread? (And don't start patting yourself on the back, Sunshine, because yours ain't that hot, either.)
Is it time for South Dakota to ban smoking in public indoor spaces- like bars and restaurants?
What restaurants offer good values on wines?
What is the hottest dining or drinking establishment these days?
Which locations seem to have the best service and which ones seem to be staffed by the hopelessly inept or the dangerously psychotic?
Where I ate on my summer vacation.
Why anyone serious about food should blow a house payment on a meal sometime.
Why you don't have to blow a house payment to have an outstanding dining experience.
Has the Food Network gone the way of MTV? Remember when MTV played music videos? Remember when Food TV had cooking shows on?
Whatever else strikes my fancy.

I hope people will join me in this journey. The internet will provide us with a table that is always big enough for all, but all must use their manners. Taste may be subjective, but decorum is not. No jabbing with forks. No feet on the table. No foul language.

Pull up a chair, pour yourself a glass. Bon Appetite!