Tag Archives: Bakery

Two Twin Cities Bites & A Sysco Food Show: Los Paisanos Taqueria & Sun Street Breads

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This past weekend, Jake and I headed to the Twin Cities for the wedding reception we never had. We had said our vows in October at a small ceremony and were finally able to extend the celebration to family and friends.

Neither Jake or I enjoy planning party details such as color schemes and table decorations, so our family turned the reception into a beautiful, food-filled surprise at the Embassy Suites near the airport where Jake’s uncle manages the food services. Bites from the evening included Rustica’s bittersweet chocolate cookies, absinthe cocktails, crab salad served in tiny, edible spoons, and rosy roast beef with my favorite creamy horseradish sauce. I’ll share more as we collect photos from friends. We are continually humbled by the kindness and generosity of our family and friends and extend our gratitude to everyone who planned and participated in the reception.

We stayed with both of our families, who spoiled with home cooked foods. We also managed to grab a few meals out. Here are a few tastes from the past week:

Los Paisanos Taqueria, East St. Paul, MN
Mexican torta sandwiches are difficult to find in Fargo-Moorhead, so I always find one whenever we stay with my husbands folks in East St. Paul. A reader recommended Los Paisanos Taqueria, noting that it’s his favorite place to grab a torta in East St. Paul. This was my second visit since he left the comment.

The restaurant is located down the road from the Rainbow Foods on Arcade. It’s painted in bright colors and looks a little worn. Those who are concerned about sanitation might notice the current ServSafe Food Handler certification prominently displayed near the register. My typical order of a small horchata and beef milenesa torta costs about $10.

The sandwich is the size of my face. The bottom bun is spread with re-fried beans while the top covers layers of avocado, cheese, shredded lettuce, mayonnaise, and pickled jalapenos. My favorite part is the thin beef cutlet and its crisp breading that’s heated on the griddle. Don’t hesitate to ask for a small cup of the spicy red salsa to dip the sandwich in if it’s not included in your take-out bag. There are tables for customers who want to dine-in, but I find the restaurant smells strongly of fruity air freshener. Service has always been friendly.

Sun Street Breads, South Minneapolis, MN
My husband’s found a friend in Sun Street Bread’s breakfast biscuit sandwiches. He remembered enjoying one earlier this winter and wanted to return for our first post-reception meal. You know it’s good when Andrew Zimmern continues to mention Sun Street as one of his favorite bakeries. He even specifically mentioned the egg biscuit sandwich on his list of “personal bests.”

On this visit, Jake ordered the Southern Fried Biscuit ($7.50) to soak up the beverages from the previous evening.

A tender, toasted biscuit, runny fried egg, bacon, fried chicken and gravy laden with chunks of sausage. I feel my arteries constrict just looking at this photo. My goodness, it was really good. Especially that peppery country gravy.

I’m not sure this side of fruit ($3.50) offset all of the Southern fried, but it was generously portioned and of high quality. I ordered from Sun Street’s lunch menu and tried the Steak & Swiss ($9.75), their version of a cheese steak. Ironically, I wasn’t crazy about the bread because its texture reminded me of Olive Garden breadsticks (thought it was certainly acceptable), but liked the other components. Especially the flavorful beef, spicy pickled banana peppers, and swiss cheese sauce.

Each lunch sandwich comes with one’s choice of fries, salad, fruit or soup ($1 upcharge). I was pleasantly surprised by the large size of my accompanying salad and its freshness. A scoop of beans was a welcome gift of randomness. They tasted of smoked paprika.

Sun Street is very busy during weekend brunches, but during the past few times I’ve dined, there I’ve never had trouble finding a table.

Sysco Food Show
As culinary students, we’re invited to attend Fargo-Moorhead’s food service shows for free. Last semester, we visited US Food’s sprawling show held in the Fargo Dome and this week, we attended Sysco’s show at Scheel’s Arena. I have a mixed feelings about Sysco. Obviously, they make purchasing convenient for restaurants, but also seem to be making efforts in purchasing meats from distributors who raise their animals humanely, supporting sustainable seafood practices, and increasing partnerships with local distributors. On the other hand, I wish more restaurants would more intentionally seek food from local suppliers and farms and make their own foods from scratch instead of relying on pre-made convenience products. But what kind of fool turns down free food? Albeit, most of the food is frozen, canned, jarred, of a mix, or pre-baked, but it’s fun, nevertheless.

Most of the food vendors at these shows are gracious to the roaming pack of hungry students and provide engaging interactions. Some are a little less thrilled. On this visit, I tried to restrain myself to a walleye finger, lemonade, iced tea, a few nachos with self-serve cheese sauce, and a dinner mint. One can certainly go overboard sampling from the platters of most any fried food imaginable, cheeses, and desserts.

As the token Korean, I took it upon myself to try a Korean empanada, a new product from one of Sysco’s internationally-themed lines. I found that it tasted surprisingly. . . Korean. Nicely done. My classmates seemed content to end their tours with ice cream cones dispensed by the Blue Bunny cart.

Wanderlust: Hillsboro and Mayville, ND

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When I get bored, I drive. When I feel sad, I drive. When I have the time, I drive.

My life is flecked with wanderlust. Or, more like plagued. I’ve read enough travel memoirs to know I’m not alone and that there are more like me out there. This week, I felt great kinship with author Irma Kurtz as I read her memoir The Great American Bus Ride, cover to cover.

I like the safety and security of my home base. My nook on the couch and the flop of my husband’s favorite slippers as they slap the hard floor. I like waking up to the sound of his morning showers and the smell of freshly brewed espresso. But I also like to wander and this wanderlust always leaves me with a certain amount of discontent. One small town or back road is never enough. Once I visit, I want to know more about that town and then I want to move on to another. Ironically, my wanderlust is both propelled by both enthusiasm and fear. There’s nothing I find more invigorating or terrifying than solo travel.

It’s Thursday and nearing the end of my spring break from school. At the break’s start, I became enamoured with Andrew Flier’s website Everydot, in which he photographs every town in North Dakota. I spent hours working my way down the list, from A-Z, lost in big skies and fields of soft, waving grass. Some of the locations were nothing more than an intersection of rusty dirt roads. Others reminded me of the abandoned towns depicted on AMC’s television series the The Walking Dead. I kept an eye on those that seemed to have active cafes and bars and notated them on a map. Flier was kind enough to email me back and mention a couple memorable dining experiences.

I stayed up late drawing majestic itineraries that would take me to the far reaches of North Dakota. Straight north to the Canadian border, passing through Grand Forks, Cavalier, Langdon, Pembina, and ending at the strange, pyramid-shaped safegaurd complex. Another took me through the south-central part of the state in search of German-Russian cuisine, passing through Fredonia, Wishek, Napolean, and Linton. Unfortunately, March in North Dakota might as well be February. The roads have been prone to iciness due to the temperature fluctuations and precipitation so I put my grander plans on hold. It’s hard waiting for the spring.

Recently, a Twitter friend mentioned a new bakery in Hillsboro, a town of about 1,600, located less than a half hour north of Fargo on I-29. Our Town Bakery opened early last December. According to this Grand Forks Herald article, the cafe was a community effort. The residents helped Amanda Johnson, the bakery’s owner, save the buildings, built in 1890, from destruction.

Not Your Typical Coffee Shop View

I parked across from towering farm buildings, stopped in a quirky antique store, and almost walked past the bakery whose window was marked with a paper sign. The interior was beautifully remodeled. Exposed brick walls, interesting wooden tables, and a sleek contemporary feel. The bakery counter offered a small selection of treats such as cookies, bars, and turnovers. Shelves to the left of the counter offered homemade marshmallow creations and hinted at freshly, baked bread, although I did not see any that morning.

A whiteboard described the daily lunch special ($8) and soup of the day. I ordered two beef pies, one for me and one for Jake, and sipped on a bottled soda. The pie crust was buttery and flaky, like it had merged with phyllo. Its golden top was thoughtfully sprinkled with salt and pepper, encasing stew that comforted with carrots and tender beef.

I paused to enjoy my pastry. The tables were few and I watched people who appeared to be in a business meeting extend an invitation to share their table with a pair of elderly women. As I returned back to my car, I heard the tinkling of a carillon. I half-heartedly drove in search of its source before rejoining the freeway towards Mayville.

The city of Mayville is about 20 minutes north east of Hillsboro, home of Mayville State University It’s smaller than it’s counterparts in Fargo or Grand Forks, and its total enrollment hovers around 1,000 students. I figured Mayville would have the type of charm that usually accompanies college towns.

I spent my college years in Waverly, IA, a small, rural town along the Cedar River. The campus was surrounded by neighborhoods. We could walk to our favorite bars, a small grocery mart, and a movie theater that treated students to 99¢ cent movies one midnight a month. On these evenings, we marched to the theater in packs. I loved running on the bike trail along the river and we always felt safe. Back then, I resented the smallness of the community and have now grown to miss it.

Mayville is quite a bit smaller than Waverly. About nine times smaller. The main street was dotted with the usual suspects. A pizza joint, drug store, bank, bakery, cafe, and even a small theater. Paula’s Cafe was packed for lunch and I slowed my car down to examine the day’s specials including a hickory burger, roasted ham, and roasted turkey. Since I was full of beef handpie, I made a mental note to return and moved on to the Soholt Bakery.

A woman greeted me as I gazed at the small shop’s products. A sign let me know they did not accept credit cards, so I averted my gaze from loaves of bread and packages of cookies. With two dollars in my pocket, I focused on the smaller treats and settled for a tray of plain donuts.

“How much are they?” I asked.

The woman replied about $2.50 for six or 45¢ each.

“May I have four?” I asked after trying to do some quick mental math.

“Whatever,” she responded in a sing-song voice. “You can have however many you’d like.”

By this time in the afternoon, the donuts were cold. A little dense, a little soggy, with enough crisp left on the outside. They tasted like nutmeg and I found them strangely addicting. I enjoyed them with my next couple morning coffees.

Before I left Mayville, I drove around the campus and admired a stately, red brick building. Maybe it was the winter or the cloudy day, but the town looked tired. I’ll pop back on my grand tour North. Everything looks better in the Spring.

I-94 Is Delicious: Jacobs Lefse Bakeri and Tip Top Dairy Bar, Osakis, MN

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Our morning trek back to North Dakota encountered some minor speed bumps.

For one thing, we both had a raging case of the Tuesdays.  Our three-day weekend was coming to an end and we were anticipating our return to the corporate grind.  Jake was especially anxious to be home, unwind, and process his backlog of laundry.  However, I was itching for an adventure and wanted to stop in a new town for lunch.

When we ease onto the freeway, I realize I left my laptop charger at his parents’ house.  By the time we return to the freeway, Jake’s in a foul mood.  We bicker about stopping or not stopping for lunch and whether or not we should choose a sit-down or take-out joint, until Jake notices a billboard for Jacobs Lefse Bakeri located in Osakis, MN.  Our bickering halts.

I’m not sure what caused Jake to perk up.  Maybe it was the sight of his name, the mention of lefse (which he happens to love), or the combination of both.  Regardless, I was happy to embark on a food adventure.

Osakis is located along I-94, East of Alexandria.  The main street is less than 10-minutes from the freeway and snuggled close to Lake Osakis.  The city has a sleepy charm and I desperately wanted to stay for the evening.  I still fantasize about sitting on that dock and dangling my feet into the big blue lake.

We wandered inside Jacobs Lefse Bakeri.

It smelled like my grandmother’s home.  Any grandmother’s home.  The front counter was adorned with a small selection of baked goods while an adjacent cooler contained lefse.  We decided to pass on the packages of lefse and ordered four lefse rolls, two of each filling.  Lingonberries and butter, and butter, sugar, and cinnamon.  A pleasant woman prepared our lefse rolls in the big, back kitchen and returned with boxes.

While we waited, I sampled sweet, flaky flat bread.  The lefse rolls were delicate and airy.  The sheets were quite large, and each roll was cut into two, substantially-sized pieces.  Each roll was filled with a generous slathering of real butter and sweet fillings.  I still like mine better but I will always like mine better.  All we wished for was a cup of strong coffee.  We would return for some road lefse.

Down the street, I noticed an ice cream shop and suggested we stop.  I was hoping for something savory and salty to wash away the lefse’s lingering sweetness.

Tip Top Dairy Bar reminds me of places my family visited when I was growing up.  We made countless drives to Dairy Delite in Lakeville, MN, which my mom loved even during her last stages of cancer.  When I was much younger, our family used to bike the Cannon Valley Bike Trail.  I remember devouring the ripe raspberries that lined the trail.  No ride was complete without stopping for ice cream, burgers, and onion rings from similar, summer establishment after our ride.

I smiled as I read through Tip Top’s menu that included fried zucchini and pizza burgers.  I half-heartedly ordered a chili dog, while Jake ordered a hot dog and sloppy joe.  Expecting the food to have the after-thought quality of Dairy Queen, I was curious about why our order took a few extra minutes to prepare.

Between 7-10 minutes later, our food popped out from the pick-up window.  The first thing I noticed were the toasted buns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These hot dogs laughed in the face of those typically found at Dairy Queens; Mysteriously cooked without any tell-take signs of having been cooked, and stuffed into spongy buns.

No.  These buns were carefully toasted and the dogs were charred on the outside, juicy on the inside, and garnished with hearty pickle chips.  My chili dog was slathered in a meat sauce that was both savory and sweet, complimenting the hot dog’s salty quality.  We both agreed that this was a damn fine chili dog.

The sloppy joe tasted similar to the chunky, homemade version my mom used to make.

It, too, was garnished with pickle chips and I was happy I was quick enough to grab a forkful.

The thoughtfully prepared food melted away the morning’s crankiness and temporarily numbed our back-to-work anxieties.  Even Jake didn’t regret that our food detour added an extra 45-minutes to our journey.

Each time I drive to and from the Twin Cities, I look forward to proving that one can find compelling food along I-94.

The drive may not be as infamously boring they say.