These 5 Twin Cities area spots offer gourmet delights for summer picnics

This is summer’s sweetest time. We’ve weathered the celebratory obligations of seasonal holidays, gardens and farmers markets are in full bloom, and we’re (finally) basking in sunshine and lush surroundings, our reward for the weeks spent dodging raindrops.

Best of all, it’s picnic season. While it’s not difficult to slap together a sandwich, grab some fruit and a juice box and head to the nearest park, sometimes the occasion warrants something special. A long-overdue day with friends, an impromptu date night or playing hooky with the kids on a lazy Wednesday afternoon are all valid reasons to leave the picnic prep to the pros.

We checked in with four local restaurants, all with proximity to prime picnicking areas, and asked them to curate baskets for such occasions. Then we shopped a supermarket’s prepared food aisles for the final basket, a nod to those who need convenience more than curation. Plus, sometimes summer means embracing spontaneity, both in picnics and life.

Lazy days lakeside followed by a night with the family tucked in together watching a show at the Lake Harriet Band Shell: There are reasons why Linden Hills is one of Minneapolis’ most popular neighborhoods. All you need is a picnic, which is exactly what Elizabeth “E” and Andrew “Kitz” Kitzenberg thought before they opened their new restaurant, Picnic, just a short walk from Lake Harriet. The answer is in the name, and straight out of the kitchen chefs pack up a spread of dishes ideal for snacking. Build your own sandwich or nibble on tapenade, baba ganoush or creamy pimento cheese while downing a fresh-squeezed lemonade. It’s the best of lake and city living wrapped up in one pretty container.

Where to shop: 4307 Upton Av. S., Mpls., 612-505-0785, picniclindenhills.com

In the basket: The $60 basket includes four shrimp rolls, a bag of Carolina potato chips, dip board with three selections and pickled veggies, Old Bay-seasoned crackers, pimento cheese, smoked trout dip and four small bottles of lemonade.

When you’ve got a big friend crew with many different palates, get a little of everything. The new Kowalski’s at Southdale is a wonderland for hot and cold prepared foods; they seem to eat up more square footage than the actual grocery aisles, and there’s something for absolutely everyone — especially those who didn’t plan a menu ahead of time. The ready-to-go cheese plates are an obvious place to start building a picnic. Less obvious, but just as crowd-pleasing: a platter of mixed maki from the sushi bar. More traditional picnic fixings come from the chicken counter, where you can get fried or rotisserie pieces, corn dogs for the kiddos, and all manner of pasta- or potato-based side dishes. The refrigerated cases are stocked full of dips and other apps, and crumbles, cakes or pies from the bakery are the perfect end notes. Choose your own adventure, and then drive it a short way to nearby Centennial Lakes park for a picnic-turned-buffet with friends.

Where to shop: Kowalski’s Edina Market, 324 Southdale Center, Edina, 952-697-4200, kowalskis.com

In the basket: Cheesemongers’ Pick large cheese plate ($29.99), fried chicken breasts ($3.99 each), fried chicken four-piece ($8.99), corn dogs ($1.99 each), premium sushi sampler ($17.99), olive bar ($10.99/lb.), deviled egg tray ($6.99), fiesta taco dip ($9.99), caper tomato salad ($12.99), country potato salad ($5.99/lb.), tortilla chips ($4.99), watermelon spears ($6.99), carrots and celery ($5.99), organic strawberries ($6.99), blackberries ($3.99), rhubarb crisp ($14.99), peanut butter grahams ($7.99).

While this St. Paul restaurant is known for its fine dining, it also sports a farm stand market next door that opens at 11 a.m. most days. Stocked inside are handmade wares, food prepared in the restaurant’s kitchen and fresh items straight from local farms. Shop the stand for goodies, beverages like a local NA wine or seasonal iced tea, then nab a bouquet of local flowers for a romantic picnic for two in the breathtaking setting outside Como Conservatory and the neighboring park. (It’s a popular spot for engagement photo shoots for a reason.) Like the farms, the available goods change with what’s in season, but there are always staples, like giant salted chocolate cookies and just-baked focaccia. Let the stand know you’re loading up for a picnic and they can pack it all in an adorable cardboard container, or bring your own basket.

Where to shop: 779 Raymond Av., St. Paul, 651-340-0254, herbstsaintpaul.com

In the basket: House-made focaccia ($6), chocolate chip cookie ($6), Lowry Hill Provisions salami ($15), imported tinned fish ($8-$14), snack mix ($12), bread-and-butter pickles ($6), baby red potato salad ($6), grilled vegetable and lentil salad ($6), fresh produce ($2-$6, depending on choice and season), walnut cutting board ($35), sacred blossom iced tea ($3.50), Dry Wit Bruce ($30), flowers from Hmong American Farmers Association ($24).

Middle Eastern food is eminently shareable, with heaping plates of veggies both bright and briny, and bowls swooped with creamy hummus just begging for a hunk of pita to take a dip. At the grocery store, you can grab containers of creatively flavored local brand Baba’s hummus and baba ghanoush, plus bags of their adorable little pita puffs. And at Baba’s flagship Hummus House in Minneapolis, you’ll find those picnic-friendly packaged products and much more. You can easily mix and match a spread of sandwiches, salads, flatbreads and their signature hummus bowls to cater a small group gathering on a grassy spot along the nearby shore of Lake of the Isles.

Where to shop: 2220 Lyndale Av. S., Mpls., 612-254-8884, lovebabas.com

In the basket: Chili Baba bowl ($12), fatoush salad ($10), falafel wraps ($13 each), Za Za hummus bowl ($12), Arabi pickles ($8), jibna and za’atar mana’eesh flatbread ($11), sujok sandwich ($14).

Be the proof that romance isn’t dead. There’s a whole world of cheese, charcuterie and foodstuffs at your fingertips inside this Minneapolis institution, which just celebrated 90 years. You’ll find meat and cheeses from across the state and across the ocean, as well as soups, olives, jams, mustards, locally sourced baguettes and housemade desserts for any occasion — even if the occasion is just to say “I love you.” Chart your own culinary course, or enlist one of the experts on staff to help curate. Stroll along the Mississippi to nearby Boom Island Park with your ad hoc dinner for two, or head home (but grab a bottle of wine first) for a backyard picnic under the stars. If love is in the air, the destination doesn’t matter.

Where to shop: 303 E. Hennepin Av., Mpls., 612-379-3232, surdyks.com

In the basket: Apricity by Minnesota’s Alemar Cheese Co. ($8.99), Queso Iberico Spanish Manchego-style cheese ($5.28 for 1/3 lb.), locally made Fischer Farms smoked ham ($3.46 for 1/3 lb.), locally made rosemary salami from Lowry Hills Provisions, $8 for 1/4 lb.), French cocktail olive mix ($4.50 for 1/2 lb.), Rose Street Pâtisserie baguette ($3.99), quince and apple preserves ($9.99), Edmond Fallot mini seed-style mustard ($1.69), Torres Mediterranean herb potato chips ($3.49), Surdyk’s housemade dark chocolate brownie ($3.49), pint of Surdyk’s housemade gazpacho ($6.99), Hellenic Farms Fig Salami (vegan, $13.99).