A dozen trips to Mexico have given food editor Mecca Bos the unique ability to decipher a Mexican menu. See her handy cheat sheet here.
Food editor Mecca Bos rarely misses a meal, especially when that meal is breakfast. Read about some of her favorite new joints in the January issue. Visit them first thing in the morning, or whenever you happen to wake up. They’re as good in the afternoon as they are with dreary eyes.
Favorite place not on the list? Tell us about it on twitter @metromag, or on our Facebook page.
I’ll never be a vegan, or a vegetarian. Cheese is my religion, and my vocations demand an omnivore’s palate. And yet, an occasional bang on the old “pause” button has so many good benefits that it’s likely to bring moderation into my daily, regular life.
Food writing is an inherently subjective endeavor. Like the people who run them, restaurants grow and evolve so quickly that it is often impossible to make judgments based on even a handful of visits. Our palates, of course, are unique as well.
There are, however, certain places that one visits and immediately identifies as being among the best in show. These four places, drawn from a year’s worth of dining in Minneapolis and St. Paul, connected with us in just such a way. Along with our restaurant of the year, The Bachelor Farmer, are the places we returned to, again and again, in our time of hunger.
There are other restaurants that we loved as well (our list of runners-up is testament to that), and places we hope will continue to improve as their number of services grows. And whatever conclusions we came with, it’s clear that there’s never been a better time to dine in the Twin Cities.
See our complete list of the Twin Cities’ best new restaurants here.
Sea Change chef de cuisine Jamie Malone and her husband, Ryan, recently hosted us at a holiday party in their stylish south Minneapolis home. Old pros at this entertaining stuff, the Malones have everything in order for the party in question: drinks (Red Breast Manhattans and plenty of bubbly), killer music (mostly old soul on vinyl) and, of course, amazing food (chicharrones—otherwise known as pork rinds—and freshly shucked oysters to start, and a flavor to suit almost every pleasure as the night wears on).
To help you re-create the evening — or inspiration to create one all your own — we designed recipe cards for each of the dishes on Jamie’s menu, and some entertaining tips we gleaned from our hosts. Click here to download (advanced notice, it is a large file).
At $20, the Manny’s burger seems like a luxury item at first glance. And yet, order one and you’ll soon learn that it arrives in roughly the size of a human head (if you please, they’re happy to split it in two). What you and your date will ultimately receive are two perfect, juicy, hefty burgers, with a surprise base of pot roast nested in your bottom bun. Like the malted milk ball in the bottom of an ice cream cone, it’s a treat within a treat. All told, you’ve spent $20, unless you spend a fortune on fancy booze, which we did. It was a holiday, after all.
My foodie friends and I have spent countless hours discussing eggs. To our minds, there is perhaps nothing more luscious than the gush of butterscotch-colored egg yolk, flowing down onto a plate. A perfectly poached egg is a welcome crown to almost any dish I can think of, adding a subtle richness, a perfect sauce, that none other than nature could have created. And yet, a perfectly poached egg is one of the most botched items I see coming out of kitchens—even good ones.
- METRO food writer Mecca Bos, writing about her love of poached eggs.
Photo by amlamster via Creative Commons.
Downtown St. Paul has long bore the brunt of the joke that the streets roll up at seven. And like any good joke, there’s some truth in it.
But these days, the streets roll up closer to ten, and while it’s still no metropolis, who says it needs to be?
With its small, lovely rivertown vibe, downtown has all the character and color of the Garrison Keilor stories that this town inspires. And whatever the city lacks in excitement and adrenaline, it more than compensates for with charm and class.
- METRO food writer Mecca Bos, in the intro to her story about St. Paul’s dining scene.
Photo by Ryan Desiderio via Creative Commons
