The Bloated Belly

Saffron's Sameh Wadi launches 'Spice Trail'

This press release just in from the man himself, Chef Sameh Wadi, who co-owns Saffron Restaurant & Lounge with his brother, Saed. Sameh has been nominated for the James Beard Award-Rising Star Chef a coupla time now. The Twin Cities is lucky to have him, and now lucky that they can have a bit of the restaurant in their own homes. —The Hack

Spice Trail leading to the Heart of Minneapolis; Chef Sameh Wadi Launches “Spice Trail," a Gourmet Spice Collection  
 
(Minneapolis, Minn.)—After two and a half years of business and numerous accolades and awards, Chef Sameh Wadi is exited to unveil his first line of gourmet spices, “It’s always been on my mind to share the culture and culinary history of my ancestors. The basis of Middle Eastern and North African cuisine is in the spice blends, I’m pretty sure we have the biggest spice collection of any restaurant in the cities.” When guests approach him about how their home cooking can taste similar to the things they order at his restaurant, Wadi tells them it’s all about the spices. And now, he’s going to make it easy on those guests by offering spice blends for sale at the restaurant, the restaurant website, online and hopefully in some specialty stores soon.
 
“When you buy ground spices and spice blends off the shelf at supermarkets, they could have been sitting there for over a year, shipped from god knows where, they have anti-caking agents and additives to extend shelf life, they lose most of their aroma and that just doesn’t compare to the real thing.” 
 
The Spice Trail blends are authentic recipes, hand crafted in small batches from carefully chosen ingredients, salt free, MSG free, most of which are organic and all natural. “We seek out the highest quality spices such as the Iranian saffron that we have imported directly to us, hand grind and blend with about 25 other exotic and hard to find spices to produce Ras El Hanout.”  He’ll also offer Garam Masala; a special spice blend used in Indian cooking, The Exotic Spice Blend; a blend adapted from his mothers recipe and a Tagine Blend; which packs robust flavors from North Africa. 
 
The blends are packed in an airtight tin, which measures 2-1/2 inches in diameter and 1-3/4 inches in height and will range in price from $8-$12 for two ounces.
 
The Spice Trail will be available by October 31, 2009 for shipment or pick up from Saffron Restaurant & Lounge, in the Warehouse District of Minneapolis at 123 North 3rd Street.
 
For more information, please contact Sameh Wadi at 612.746.5533 or via e-mail at sameh@saffronmpls.com

St. Paul without Russo? That's crazy talk.

By The Hack

The Hack has semi-regular conversations with Lenny Russo at Heartland, and knows him to be funny, extremely smart, and extremely passionate about professional path he's chosen. His rants are never without a succinct point. This issue is a big one for restaurateurs in St. Paul.

Great Waters Brewing Co. beer dinner: Good food, beer, scenery

By The Hack

The Hack has a question for you, dear readers: What is this photograph’s subject? The Hack grasps that most ladies don't like to be "objectified," but when attire like this (with directions posted) is worn, what's a healthy heterosexual male to do? Snap a picture, pretending to be aiming at food, that's what. Then post it on the Internets.

Anyhoo, the Hack, for all his socializing, had never attended a beer dinner. He’s had several beers with a dinner, of course, but never food/beer pairings. His judgment of the Great Waters Brewing Co. beer dinner on Monday, August 17: Neat-o.

A bit about the Hack: He’s no beverage expert, but he has had some formal training. He can reasonably navigate a wine list, and pick something that won’t be terrible with the food. He also grasps that good beer varieties are complex enough to be paired nicely with particular foods.

Five courses, five beers. Beers were served in eight-ounce glasses, meaning there was no stumbling at the finish, and no one got too filled to enjoy themselves. Highlights on the food and pairing side were an arepas chicken tinga drizzled with cilantro aioli paired with the Golden Prairie Blonde (a light golden ale) and a pork tenderloin with fried polenta and chorizo and corn salsa paired with the Brown Trout Brown Ale. Also interesting (and tasty) was a pistachio encrusted walleye with corn fritters and a yellow pepper and orange sauce paired with the Kaizerweizer Hefeweizen.

The Hack’s never been a huge fan of hefeweizens (wheat beer), and still isn’t, but the one that poured down his gullet that night at least got him thinking. First, it was nearly transparent. Hefeweizens are traditionally not filtered. This one wasn’t either, explained Great Waters master brewer Robert DuVernois, it was just not moved when stored and any particles just went the way of gravity. The flavor, while tasting like a hefeweizen, was also unique for its overall lightness, and in the way it fell away (at least it did for the Hack) on the palate, almost like a fino sherry.

It was a very tasty, inventive meal, and the Hack was impressed that it was pounded out from a small kitchen that still served the regular crowd without missing a beat. Owner Sean O’Byrne was there, hustling plates and mingling. Visit the Great Waters site for info on upcoming dinners.

 

The Citizen Café: Yes, it really is great food for the people.

By The Hack

How often would you describe a ham sandwich as “savory”? Um, never. Unless, of course, you try the ham sandwich at The Citizen Café, the restaurant opened by former Sample Room executive chef Michael MacKay. I’ve eaten fine dinners at this restaurant, and always meant to give it the big thumbs up, but, alas, never got to typing. It’s that damn day job. Which reminds me, I wrote about it for the day job just prior to its opening.

But anyway, the sandwich I ate yesterday. Or, rather, my half sandwich and cup of French onion soup. Grilled ham and brie cheese with roasted pear mustard on brioche. It’s the little details that make this place go—such as the brie and roast pear mustard that turn an everyday sandwich into something memorable. Pops ordered a half BLT with hand-cut bacon, which also looked and smelled fantastic.

You’ll find that throughout the menu. There’s nothing outwardly that sounds revolutionary, but the innovation is in the details, like that roast pear mustard. All that stuff—and everything else (including the gravlax)—is made from scratch, in-house. Serves breakfast faves like a fried egg sandwich, steak and eggs or healthful choices like yogurt smoothies, house-mixed granola and fresh seasonal fruit. Lunch is a variety of sandwiches and salads; dinners include roast turkey breast, a sumptuous three-day pork roast, seafood and vegetarian options.

MacKay has the skills to do whatever restaurant concept he wants. But he found a great location in a working-class neighborhood a short walk from the LRT on Hiawatha. He looked around and built what works—what the neighborhood needed, rather than inserting an ego-driven restaurant that might make a short-term splash, but have no long-term life.

It’s food made with care by knowledgeable hands that’s a perfect neighborhood joint. Funny thing, though. It’s that care for the details that also make it a destination restaurant.

Fugaise, Don Saunders' joint, to close March 14

Posted by: The New Guy

Yep. You read that right. Just received a press release from Mr. Saunders at the day job, and you can read that release posted here on the day-job blog.

Stinky news, it is. But Saunders acheived a lot in that restaurant, and raised the bar for many chefs around town to aim for.

James Beard Awards: Twin Cities chefs, restaurants get love

Posted By: The New Guy

Here's the quick, just released list from the James Beard Foundation, and for my whip-smart commentary, click here for my day-job blog.

Outstanding Restaurateur
Larry D'Amico and Richard D'Amico, D'Amico & Partners, Minneapolis

Outstanding Restaurant
Lucia's Restaurant, Minneapolis

Rising Star Chef of the Year
Sameh Wadi, Saffron Restaurant & Lounge, Minneapolis

Outstanding Pastry Chef
Khanh Tran, Cosmos, Minneapolis

Outstanding Wine Service
La Belle Vie, Minneapolis

Best Chef: Midwest
Isaac Becker, 112 Eatery, Minneapolis
Tim McKee, La Belle Vie, Minneapolis
Scott Pampuch, Corner Table, Minneapolis
Alexander Roberts, Restaurant Alma, Minneapolis
Lenny Russo, Heartland, St. Paul
Stewart Woodman, Heidi's Minneapolis

Bravo: the burrito joint and a new era

Posted by The New Guy

I was planning some sort of introduction for my first post, but decided against it. There’s enough navel gazing going on in blogdom—and plenty among the professional writing ranks these days, what with the threatened demise of tree-based journalism. Regular readers will pick up on the vibe as we go along.

The only items I will mention are:

1. The Bloated Belly will take its tagline "comments on consumption" to include many other topics.

2. I won’t be a ranting restaurant critic. Hope you understand why. As the editor of a publication covering, among other things, the restaurant industry, it’s my job to dive into the business, and it wouldn’t be fair (or smart) to use the access I have and then turn around and slam or praise effusively the food I might eat. Further, any breaking news events in the restaurant world will be posted at this blog, ‘cause, umm, that’s what they pay me for. All that said, this will still be a place to share ideas about food, cooking (oh, plenty of that) and places around town and in my travels that are worthy of checking out.

That includes the signage posted above, Bravo Burritos Mexicatessen. For the day gig, I usually travel to St. Cloud at least twice a year for a conference of some kind (this past Tuesday was the 2009 Commodities Show—more interesting than it sounds, trust me). St. Cloud, to me, is a strange, sprawling place that doesn’t grab my senses in any context despite my exploration attempts. For comparison, Eau Claire, Wis. is also a college town with a similar population (about 65,000). I don’t feel the university vibe at all in St. Cloud, whereas in Eau Claire it’s a recurring theme. Granted, St. Cloud’s had major bridges out for two years running, which makes it difficult to get around, but still…

Whenever I’m up there, however, I will visit one of two eateries. Val’s Rapid Serv or Bravo, depending on my mood. More on Val’s, one of the last independent, quick-serve burger joints on the planet, later.

Bravo’s owner, Bill Ellenbecker, and his wife lived in San Francisco for about 15 years soaking in traditional Mexican food and recipes in the Mission District. They moved back to St. Cloud in the mid-1980s and opened Bravo. When I first heard people drove hours for the goods I thought that insane, but about a year ago I changed my tune. St. Cloud is less of haul for me because of this joint (and Val’s). All meats, sauces—even the chips—are made in-house. It’s all good, but Tuesday I went with chicken verde, which was both simple and sublime. If the name sounds familiar to Twin Cities dwellers, he had a location on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis for a bit, but shut ‘er down because the back-and-forth haul got to be a drag.

Bravo Burritos Mexicatessen
68 33rd Ave. S.
St. Cloud, MN 56301
320-252-5441