The 5 best things our food writers ate in the Twin Cities area this week
Chicken and a breakfast sandwich for the ages (and in St. Paul), a tasting dinner that still wows and the Southern charms of hummingbird cake and étouffée.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 2, 2024 at 1:00PM
Our server asked me and my dining companion what we enjoyed most off the new menu at the evocative Venezuelan restaurant Crasqui. A few minutes later, chef/owner Soleil Ramirez stood in front of our table, arms crossed. “The chicken? Really?” she said, sounding indignant.
Ramirez added this perfectly executed airline chicken breast to the menu at the urging of the restaurant’s general manager, who had a hunch it’d be a crowd pleaser. She was resistant. “I did not want to do chicken. Everybody would want chicken on the salad. Chicken diced ...” and so on. But she relented, and proceeded to make the best chicken she possibly could, incredibly juicy, with a shard of skin so crispy you can hear it crackle under your fork. It’s served over creamed leeks cooked to the texture of risotto, and comes with a spoonful of a transcendent butter sauce enriched with brown sugar and lime that had me scraping the plate for every last drop.
One of Ramirez’s cooks didn’t believe her about those ingredients working together. “She said, that won’t taste good. So I said, dip your bread in it.” The cook instantly understood then how combining sugar, lime, butter — and chicken — is sheer bliss. Ever feisty, Ramirez told the cook who had doubted her, “You’ll never have that again.”
She might have been a little extra feisty that night. Ramirez had just closed down her first restaurant, the Arepa Bar counter at Midtown Global Market, earlier that day. “I don’t cry, but I feel it here,” she said, pointing to her heart and making a sound like a nutcracker had squashed it. “It was a hard day.” Fortunately, Crasqui, with its swirling sea floors and beach resort decor, exudes serenity.
“I feel peaceful here,” Ramirez said.
It was the start of a new chapter. Complete with a new menu, with highlights such as a ribbonlike pappardelle in a peppery sauce with braised rabbit, and several transporting, rum-focused cocktails. And, of course, that mind-blowing chicken. Really. (Sharyn Jackson)
84 S. Wabasha St., St. Paul, 952-600-5578, crasquirestaurant.com
Egg Sandwich at Holman’s Table
It’s fun to step into an imaginary world, one where taking a flight is an occasion rather than a dress-up contest for a slumber party. That’s what I was thinking about while having brunch at Holman’s Table. The restaurant is located at St. Paul Downtown Airport, in the historic former terminal building. “Who do you think flies into here?” my companion asked while sipping a latte and gazing at the sandstone bluffs beyond the airfield. “People who are not us,” was my answer. Still, sitting in the midcentury modern dining room made me feel like being one of those people just might be possible.
The restaurant is part of Ally Restaurants, the same people behind Rock Elm Tavern. (Company lore has it that the business was founded by two friends over a bump of whiskey.) Opened in 2018, it’s named for early aviation wiz Charles W. “Speed” Holman, and has been a solid spot for those in the know.
Even if you’re not one for flights of fancy, this is a worthy destination for the egg sandwich alone. Called an egg stack ($16.50) on the menu, this is a beauty of a handheld brunch bite. Cheese, tomato, thick bacon and a spicy swipe of harissa mayo on sourdough toast is graced by a medium-cooked egg. (Joy Summers)
644 Bayfield St., St. Paul, 612-261-1620, holmanstable.com
Hongos y Mariscos at El Sazon
When the trio behind El Sazon opened El Sazon Cocina & Tragos in south Minneapolis, fans of their original location — inside an Eagan BP gas station — were afraid they’d moved on to urban pastures. But they haven’t forgotten their roots, or the event that helped put them on the map: the Night at the Gas Station tasting dinner. We went to the fifth installment, and the events are still selling out, still serving some of the most inventive cuisine next to endcaps of Slim Jims, and still so much fun.
The Hongos y Mariscos (mushrooms and seafood) was the standout of the five-course dinner ($80, NA option). A pan-seared shrimp and scallop were nestled into a bed of squid-ink fideos and wild mushrooms. The huitlacoche-truffle beurre blanc beneath it all was mind-blowingly delicious, and deserves to be on a permanent menu. Although the single shrimp and scallop were seared perfectly, they still played second fiddle to that stunning sauce. Magic.
El Sazon — chef Cristian de Leon, Karen de Leon and bar director Zoilo Ruacho — holds occasional tasting dinners both at the gas station (with NA pairings) and the Minneapolis restaurant (with cocktail pairings). While the tasting menus are identical at both, there’s something about being where it all began that makes it all the more delicious. (Nicole Hvidsten)
1815 Diffley Road, Eagan, 763-276-0654; 5309 Lyndale Av. S., Mpls., 612-315-5383; elsazonmn.com
Shrimp and Chicken Étouffée at the Camden Social
If there was ever a time to go to New Orleans, it’s now. In the weeks before Mardi Gras, the city’s arteries pulse with parades and the crowds aren’t yet crushing. But if you can’t make it down there, know that the good times are rolling further up the Mississippi, too.
The Camden Social opened last year in north Minneapolis’ Camden neighborhood. The large, lounge-like restaurant and cigar bar has a solidly Southern menu courtesy of chef Antonio Murray, formerly of the Lexington, and an ownership team that includes Soul Bowl’s Gerard Klass. You’ll find fried chicken, black-eyed peas, cornbread, collard green dip and white cheddar grits, along with this steaming bowl of étouffée ($19) that’s brimming with shrimp, chicken, spice and comfort.
Also, burger alert: You’ll want to try the Camden Burger ($15), a crusty-edged smashie that’s oozing with cheese and onions that have been caramelized with cognac. There’s an enticing weekend brunch, too. (S.J.)
4601 Lyndale Av. N., Mpls., 612-489-8073, thecamdensocial.com
Hummingbird cake at Steady Pour
There are a few certainties I can count on in my daily existence: I have to plead at least three times for my children to do any task, I will scuttle across a crosswalk with lightning speed if a car is waiting, to prove I am the greatest pedestrian, and I will drive all over town to find an exquisite drink and food pairing.
What I did not expect was that a recent cocktail would pair so gorgeously with a slice of hummingbird cake ($9), but that’s exactly how I spent a recent evening at Steady Pour.
Getting to this event space/cocktail bar and restaurant is an urban adventure. The neighborhood is light on nightlife. My GPS had me turn down a darkened alley, but the parking lot and back of the building are well lit. The contemporary room is gorgeous, and the drinks are worth the adventure.
Steady Pour opened in 2021, when we were barely going out for drinks, as a pop-up space and sometimes-bar from industry veteran Jeff Seidenstricker. As time passed and Steady Pour eased into regular weekly hours, chef Jorge Guzmán of Petite León was brought in to consult on the menu. He, in turn, brought on chef Jacob Schumack, who has worked places like Cafe du Nord and Black Forest Inn. Schumack, who has familial roots in the South, dipped into his grandmother’s recipe box for a little extra inspiration. And that is where we get to the hummingbird cake.
Like my GPS directions and this story, the recipe took a few unexpected turns to get to its final destination. Hummingbird cake was developed by a Jamaica tourism board to woo travelers to the region. It made its way into the American South and took a stronghold in home kitchens.
Schumack remembers the card as a clipping from Southern Living in his grandmother’s recipe collection. From there, he took inspiration from Caribbean spice cake, a classic cocktail called a Jungle Bird and a little know-how from his years of experience, and the result is heaven on a plate. The cake base is light, studded with nuts and a light aroma of warm spices. The lightly tangy cream cheese frosting has that distinctive flavor, but it’s light, like whipped buttercream. My friend declared its taste the love child of banana and carrot cake. Paired with a bourbon-balanced whiskey sour, it was the next best thing to rocking slowly on a porch painted haint blue.
“It warms my heart,” said Schumack, “to be working with a bar mastermind like Jeff and making good food and drink in pursuit of giving people a good time.” (J.S.)
Lefse-wrapped Swedish wontons, a soothing bowl of rice porridge and a gravy-laden commercial filled our week with comfort and warmth.
