Home Sweet Home

After traveling all around the world for the past year, it's time to return to our roots with a visit to Brasa Rotisserie. Representing the United States, Brasa features "comfort food inspired by the Creole cooking traditions of the Americas & Caribbean" made from all locally produced and organic products.

Brasa has received a fair amount of national attention; This year, the owner, Alex Roberts, was named Best Chef in the Midwest by the James Beard Foundation. Brasa was also featured on the television program Man vs. Food and has received a number of awards from City Pages, including Best Takeout in 2008 and 2009, Best Chef (Alex Roberts) in 2008, and Best Soul Food in 2010.

Join us this Friday, December 10th @ 7:00 PM (at the Saint Paul location).

Brasa Rotisserie

777 Grand Avenue

Saint Paul, MN 55105

651.224.1302

South America, here we come!

This Saturday we'll be dining at Chimborazo (named after the highest peak in Ecuador), rounding off our first full year of the Twin Cities World Tour! Our first trip to South America -- and to Northeast Minneapolis -- Chimborazo is an Ecuadorian restaurant with a "big heart and a warm and welcoming atmosphere." The restaurant is small, so please make sure to RSVP so I can make sure they can accommodate us.

November 13, 2010
7:00 PM
2851 Central Avenue NE

Minneapolis, MN 55418

612.788.1328

The Taj Mahal of Indian Food

This month we're hitting up Gandhi Mahal, a Bangladeshi and Indian restaurant located in Minneapolis. The owner and executive chef, Ruhel Islam, features "dishes cooked from recipes that have survived in our family for many generations."

What would put this stop completely over the top? We'll be dining with our long lost cohort member! That's right, the Amelia Cotton Corl and her future hubby are back in the Twin Cities for one weekend only. Join us on Friday, October 29th at 7:00 PM. Please RSVP by Wednesday, October 27th (you know who you are)!

Gandhi Mahal
3009 27th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55406
612.729.5222
(map)

I can see Russia from my house

This month we'll be heading to our own little slice of Russia right here in Saint Paul! Moscow on the Hill has everything we could wish for in a Twin Cities World Tour stop: authentic food, patio seating, and a full vodka bar.

The plan is to meet for happy hour next Friday (September 24th) from 5-6 and then order dinner a little after. Please let me know if you can make it. If you have to skip happy hour (which I don't recommend, but understand), let me know what time you'll be able to get there. We'll be sure to have a horseradish vodka shot waiting for you!

Moscow on the Hill

371 Selby Avenue

St. Paul, MN 55102

An Algerian August

In true world tour fashion, the coming months we will cap off the first full year of the TCWT by traveling to 4 different continents! Our first stop? The Barbary Fig: specializing in "south-Mediterranean comfort foods" from Morocco, Algeria, and France. The owner, Brahim Hadj-Moussa, does all the cooking. When he is not in the kitchen, the 13-year-old restaurant is closed.

The specials change every few days, but the dishes are almost always touched with cinnamon, thyme, cumin, marjoram, coriander, and/or dried fruits. According to one review pubished in the Star Tribune, "Whatever the combination, you can count on it to be delicious." Ordering the "thick, raisiny North African wines" also paves the way for a house-made dessert wine of white Moroccan vintage steeped with "oranges, juniper berries, and cinnamon" which is offered up by the owner if "customers behave."

Need another recommendation? The brik appetizer is a "glassily crisp envelope of pastry folded around tuna brightened with parsley and lemon and given a bit of an edge by harissa, the Tunisan hot sauce made from roasted chiles, garlic, cumin, caraway, coriander, and olive oil." Just ask, and they will make it "like they serve back home" with capers, herbs, and a gooey, soft-cooked egg.

If you're in the mood for African, this is your chance! Next stop is Europe, Asia, and then South America, so stay tuned! If you'd like to attend this month, please RSVP by email. Here are the details:

Friday, August 20th
7:00 PM
The Barbary Fig
720 Grand Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55105
651.290.2085

"The Tallest Taste in the Twin Cities"

In just over a week, we'll be enjoying some fine Nepali and Tibetan food from Everest on Grand. Nestled in the Himilayas, Nepal is home to eight of the world's ten highest mountains.



But they also have great food...

Nepali cuisine is "a blend of tastes from rice-based, North Indian spicy curries and sweets, to dumplings and noodles from Tibet and China." Typical Nepali dishes include the steamed juicy momo (dumplings) and daal-bhaat (typical Nepali combination meal - shown below) with curries, soups, and achaar (specialty house sauces).

Please RSVP if you can make it on July 23, 2010 @ 7:00 PM. This is one you don't want to miss!

Everest on Grand
1278 Grand Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55105
651.696.1666

a summer trip to Europe...

On the agenda for June is a trip to Minnesota's first Turkish restaurant, The Black Sea Restaurant. Located in St. Paul, the menu features assorted meat platters, salads and soups, and gyros at a low price. Be aware, however, that they do not accept credit cards!


Let's plan on Saturday, June 12th at 7:00 P.M. See you then!

Black Sea Restaurant
737 N. Snelling Ave.
Saint Paul, MN 55104
651.917.8832

(old doodle poll here.)

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, this month we're dining at Pancho Villa in Minneapolis.

Wednesday, May 5th @ 7:30 pm
Pancho Villa Mexican Restaurant
2539 Nicollet Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55404
612.871.7014

April showers bring May rice paddies

Indonesia is the world's fourth most populated country. Over 44 percent of the 95 million workers are agricultural workers, producing, among other things, palm oil, rice, tea, coffee, spices, and rubber. Indonesia mastered wet-field rice cultivation, shown above, as early as the eighth century BCE (thank you, Wikipedia), helping it to become the main staple food.

Indonesian cuisine is a collection of dishes from all over the 6,000+ islands that make up Indonesia. Rice, together with poultry, beef, seafood or lamb make up many of the common dishes. Indonesian cuisine has combined its own native spices and cuisine with influences from India, the Middle East, China, and Europe to create a richly-flavored offering. Popular Indonesian dishes include satay, beef rending, and sambal.

Bali, the next stop on the Twin Cities World Tour, is described as “Indonesian soul food in a sleek and striking modern space.” So join me there on Friday, April 30th at 7:00 p.m.

Bali Indonesian Cuisine
1410 Nicollet Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55403
612.354.3302

Mówię po polsku!

After last month's successful trip to King's for some great Korean food, this month we're heading to Nye's Polonaise Room for some authentic Polish food. Rated the best bar in America by Esquire Magazine, Nye's is where Captain Kirk would have visited "had he come to Earth in Nordeast Minneapolis circa 1968 and had wanted to seduce a Polish princess" (yes, City Pages is ridiculous).

The plan is to meet up on Saturday, March 27th at 7:00 PM. There is also a piano bar and Polka dancing if you're up for it. As always, please let me know if you are coming so I can make reservations in advance. See you there!

Restaurant Info:
Nye's Polonaise Room
112 Hennepin Ave. E.
Minneapolis, MN 55414
612.379.2021

Stop #3

This month we'll be dining in the 'burbs at King's Restaurant in Fridley. Winner of City Pages' Best Korean Restaurant Award in 2007 and 2009, King's is a "Korean-karaoke spot with some of the best spicy comfort foods around. The room can get pretty loud sometimes, as Korean moms sing their hearts out in front of karaoke monitors full of cherry blossoms. Still, King's--with its full bar, friendly service, late hours, low prices, and giant bowls of chile-laced soups to cure whatever ails you--is one of the best restaurants in the underserved north/northeast/Columbia Heights/Fridley corridor."

For the brave, we may have to do some soju bombs to muster up the courage for karaoke (blame Wes for the idea). Dinner will be Saturday, February 27th, at 7:00 PM. Please RSVP by that Thursday so I can make reservations in advance!

Here is the restaurant address:
1051 East Moore Lake Rd.
Fridley, MN 55432
Google maps directions from Uptown

It's about 20 minutes from the city, so let me know when you RSVP if you are interested in carpooling (or have room in your car for another person or two) and I'm happy to organize ridesharing.

I hear Korea is nice this time of year...

Okay, so maybe this isn't the best time of year to actually visit Korea, but that's no reason not to enjoy some authentic food! Let me know when you're free in February if you want to join us...

Next stop, Ethiopia!

This month we're heading to FASIKA in St. Paul. Please let me know if you're available so I can make reservations in advance. I hope you all can join me on Friday, January 15, 2010 at 7:00 PM!

Location: 510 N Snelling Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55104

Here's a blurb from the restaurant's website: "Dried spice combinations unique to Ethiopian cooking lend a rich, piquant taste to many dishes. All in all, it is food that is exotic, healthy and extremely satisfying. Topped off with a cup of strong, hot Ethiopian coffee, it is a wonderful way to feed the body and experience something of another world at the same time."