Schneier on Security

One of the problems with restaurant reviews is context. You can’t judge fine French restaurants by the same criteria as Mom-and-Pop restaurants. Of course the former is better, but it’s also 30 times the price. But when our imaginations overtake us, we consider the possibility of a neighborhood restaurant with a chef trained in the finest kitchens. We imagine the good food, the unpretentious and congenial dining room, the reasonable price. We’d travel for such a meal, oh yes we would.

Heidi’s, however, is walking distance from our home. Run by Stuart and Heidi Woodman, Heidi’s occupies a narrow South Minneapolis store-front. Stuart Woodman, of course, is one of Minneapolis’ star chefs, and a former sous-chef at New York’s Ducasse. Heidi’s dining room is pretty and unassuming…

The best thing about Korean cuisine, we think, is the panchan. That’s the little dishes of pickled vegetables that are served with your meal, and are refilled as needed. The most famous of these is kim chee: napa cabbage pickled in brine with peppers and other seasonings. Some say a Korean meal isn’t complete without kim chee. But panchan also includes things like daikon radish, brined and seasoned in various ways; mung bean sprouts boiled and served cold, dressed with sesame oil; and potatoes boiled, brined, and served with garlic and ginger. And Hoban serves some marvelous greens—a mix of lettuce and spinach, gently cooked and dressed with peppers…

For the most part, if a restaurant doesn’t look like it’s thriving, we’re skeptical about it. Not every dusty storefront is worth checking out. But we’d heard enough about the counter at Abu Nader that we decided to give it a try.

There’s nothing fancy about the food here, but everything’s tasty and some things are superb.

Let’s start with the pita sandwiches. You can order shawarma, made from spiced beef and lamb, or chicken shawarma. Either one is great. You can order a falafel sandwich. All of these come with some combination of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cucumber sauce, and tahini; and all the ingredients are fresh and good. Our favorite was the Abu Nader special: ground beef mixed with onions, parsley, and spices and served in a pita with humus…

You longtime readers know we like spicy food. We don’t need a bowl of habanero squeezins to make us pay attention, but we do like food hot enough to make us notice the endorphin rush.

We have encountered food too spicy, though. Some authentically hot Thai dishes leave us struggling. And we’ve had jerk chicken we found inedible.

Marla’s Caribbean Cuisine
3761 Bloomington Ave. S.
Minneapolis
612-724-3088
www.marlascuisine.com

Cuisine Type: Caribbean
Reservations: Not required
Diet Choices: The menu accommodates all manner of vegetarians.

Marla Jadoonanan, sister to local jerk-chicken legend Harry Singh, has also been in the restaurant game for a long time. These days, she’s concentrating her culinary skills on 38th and Bloomington. What with a reggae record shop up the block, this is the most Caribbean corner in Minneapolis…

We’re waiting at the bar for our table, which would have been impossible to get without a reservation. Both the restaurant and the bar are noisy and crowded. With people sipping $9 cocktails. At 8:00 PM. On a Tuesday. At 54th and Penn, in South Minneapolis! What in the world is going on here?

Café Maude is going on here, a delightfully good neighborhood bistro that’s worth driving to.

There’s plenty to like here. We recommend almost everything on the “Small Plates” part of the menu, from the delicate and crunchy cumin chicken wings to the baked escargot with brioche to the seared ahi tuna with tomato, avocado, and tangy citrus. The lamb skewers were also tasty, but the couscous adds nothing to the plate…

We first became aware of the oddly bright, oddly harsh light of light-emitting diodes (LED) in flashlights and those new Christmas lights. We couldn’t imagine lighting a room with them. So of course we were curious when we heard that Kari and Kim Bartmann’s new supper- club is entirely lit with LEDs.

Frankly, we expected ugly. But the room gets light through its many windows while there’s daylight, and the LEDs themselves are filtered through colored glass that tempers their brightness. The lighting works: it’s perfectly pleasant.

The Red Stag is a salute to an old and venerated American dining experience, but it’s been given a 21st-century twist: it’s Minnesota’s first LEED-certified restaurant. LEED has nothing to do with food. “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” is a standard for green building design and operation: site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. Those LEDs use a tiny fraction of the power of an incandescent bulb. In an industry with tiny profit margins, cost savings like these can make or break a place…

Apparently large enough to seat an entire Guthrie theater audience at once, the dining room at Cue is space-age cool, with glowing light pillars and silver accents seeming to float over a rich blue carpet. Forget the river view and go at night: it’s a stunning dining room.

Cue
806 S. 2nd St.
Minneapolis, MN 55415
612-225-6499
www.cueatguthrie.com
Cuisine Type:
American, upscale
Reservations: Recommended
Diet Choices: The kitchen can cater to all dietary requirements.

This ultra-modern space is an odd juxtaposition to the homegrown flair with which the place opened in 2006. Lenny Russo, one of several area flag-bearers for the local food movement, was Cue’s original chef. And, indeed, the place garnered all sorts of awards and attention, local and national, that first year. Now that Russo has moved back to his kitchen at Heartland, the Cue kitchen turns out less inspired, but perfectly serviceable meals, with no particular emphasis on locally sourced ingredients, though they do strive to include them…

Cabin fever. Some fight it by getting outdoors to ski or skate, and these build up a good appetite. Some give in and nest, all the while craving the warm richness of comfort foods. Either way, we recommend visiting Brasa to get you through the long dark of winter.

Their Southern-heritage dishes evoke humid air and sunshine. Before long, you’ll be thinking of Carolina mountain air, steamy bayou evenings and the Gulf breeze playing over the surf.

Even better, these updated dishes have a fine modern flair and an eye toward top-notch, locally sourced ingredients. Alex Roberts, the chef at Café Alma, owns Brasa and brings his undeniable talent to this menu…

We chanced upon a gem of a café about a year ago, near Raymond and University, in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood. It’s the sort of place you want to keep secret since it’s fabulous, but the space is tiny and often full. But we’re good guys, and we’ll share what we know about the delightful Jay’s Café.

Jay is Jay Randolph, owner and the café’s original chef. Five months ago, that job was taken over by Carl Gerstenberger, who’s picked up some impressive West Coast cooking credentials: Chez Panisse, Stars, Oliveto, and a stint as the private chef for the Estée Lauder family. He’s the visionary in the kitchen today…

A short-hand description for Nepali cuisine: “It’s like Indian.” Unfortunately, that’s horribly wrong. There’s no such thing as Indian cuisine—India is a large, diverse country consisting of many different cultures and traditions—and Nepali cuisine is unique in its own right. But the curries, lentils and spices used are similar to Indian cookery.

Namaste Café
2512 Hennepin Ave. S.
Minneapolis
(612) 827-2496
www.namastechai.com
Cuisine Type: Nepali
Reservations: Recommended for large parties
Diet Choices: The menu is varied enough to accommodate everyone…