![Stephen Dahl of Knife River holds one of the 25 commercial fishing licenses for the Minnesota waters of Lake Superior. . He says commercial fishing on the North Shore is healthier than it has been for a while thanks to the local food and wild-caught food movements. (IN THIS PHOTO) Stephen Dahl heads home after dropping of a cooler of Herring filets at the New Scenic Cafe south west of Knife River. Dahl supplies fish to a few restaurants and two grocery stores in the Duluth area. ] BRIAN PETERSON](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/EDLUYFDUQJ6MYVCK2GJ53BCT6M.jpg?&w=1080)
Scott Graden, chef/owner of the New Scenic Cafe in Duluth, has immersed himself in his first cookbook, a real beauty filled with nearly 130 recipes — including pie, hurrah — that will be familiar to anyone who has made the pilgrimage to his worth-the-journey lakeside restaurant.
In a recent telephone conversation, Graden discussed cookbook inspirations, the merits of lard vs. shortening and his love of pistachios.
Q: Why a cookbook?
A: I've always wanted to write one. I think that a cookbook is an overall part of a restaurant's DNA. Not everyone can get to our front door, and some of the ones who do want some kind of memorabilia. Another motivation was the innumerable requests that I receive for recipes. Instead of chasing e-mails, and tweaking recipes to home size, my status-quo answer became, 'It's going to serve everyone better if I put as many of our favorites into a cookbook.'
Q: It's a substantial, coffee table-esque book, just over 400 pages. Are there any authors who you turned to for inspiration?
A: "The French Laundry Cookbook" — that's a bible. I've always been enamored of Charlie Trotter's work, that's a 10- to 15-year-old crush. Magnus Nilsson [of Sweden's Fäviken], I like his work a lot. And I have to say Alice Waters. We find people to take inspiration from, but it's also easy to be pulled into the vortex of other people's work. It can be hard to separate your work with the work you've been inspired by.
Q: Your menu, and therefore your book, has many global references. Where does that come from?
A: My stepfather traveled the globe, and when I was a child, he would dabble in the kitchen. My friends would say that we had weird food; it wasn't lasagna from Stouffer's. But to me it was normal. I spent time in India and China, and I was bitten by the Oaxacan bug. I really took to Rick Bayless and Diana Kennedy. I guess that's why, when I want to do better, I look globally, and not to my neighbor.
