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Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of the Taste Music
Show. I am your host Ed Porter.
This is the place for full music and culture. And how do y’all connect?
Oh dude, I’m going to watch it now. I think it’s Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of the Taste Music Here
Food Podcast Show. I am your host Ed Porter and this is the destination for
food, music, and culture and how they all connect. Today we have a a pillar,
if you will, in the the food space, everything hospitality based in the Twin
Cities and abroad because she does travel. I’m going to attempt to to to pay my
proper respects with this intro here. Today’s guest is someone who has spent
years documenting the heartbeat of the Twin Cities through food, culture, restaurants, and human connection. As
editor at large at Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine and co-host of Weekly Dish. She
has helped shape the way Minnesota talks about dining, hospitality, and culture
itself. But beyond the headlines, restaurant openings, hot list, she’s become one of the most trusted voices
documenting how food connects people emotionally, socially, and culturally.
Her work consistently highlights the people behind the plate, the chefs, the servers, immigrant communities,
creatives, and hospitality workers who helped give a city its soul. And through her involvement with the Salt Cure Fund,
she’s also helping push forward important conversations around mental health, addiction, burnout, and
emotional wellness within the hospitality industry, reminding us that beyond every dining room and every great
meal, a real human being, a real human being carrying immense pressure, passion, and responsibility.
Today we’re talking about taste, memory, identity, restaurant culture, music,
emotional connection, Michelin coming to Minnesota, and why food is never just food. Please welcome to the Taste Music
Here Food podcast show, my friend Stephanie March. That is quite an introduction.
[laughter] I should just have you like following me and like talking to people for me.
Yeah, I I could do that. I would I I would eat well. You would eat well. You really would. You would never starve. [laughter] No.
Thank you for coming. Thank you for being here. I I Yeah, this is uh a long time coming. Um you are
uh a trusted uh pillar, like I said, in in the food
industry, specifically in the Twin Cities. Let’s just jump right in. Um
what’s the first off, how did you get into Let’s just talk about because you there’s so many there’s so many slashes,
right? There there’s a lot of, you know, there’s the writer, there’s the there’s How did you When was food the thing?
How did I get there? Yes. Um, honestly, I was just in college. Uh, I went to Lawrence University in
Appleton, Wisconsin. And, um, I was just a college kid who ran her college bar. I
think that was probably truthfully the first real entryway. Like, I needed a gig. I needed work study. And the bar
was hiring. Yes. I mean, all comers. What girl [laughter] is not gonna do that? Right. Right. So, I got
this job doing that and then after I graduated um you know I I got a job in advertising as one does and in the ‘9s
and um of course the madman. I know. Well, that’s [laughter] when we thought we all were going to be instead
I got fired. So, right. I mean like laid off as the last one hired. And so we um
I ended up getting a bar job again. And so that was like okay I guess I’m going to do this hospitality thing. I’m going
to do the industry thing while I figure things out and then that became a gig. So I started by opening restaurants
around the country as Bua Deepo grew. So I was uh a bartender at the
third one and then I eventually became the director of training and opened uh like 30 of them around the country. Um
and then I moved from there into working um with the Ocean Air Seafood Room and
grew that a little bit and the Parasoli group and then that finally led me into
uh you know in 2008 when that hard time hit. Uh and people stopped opening restaurants. Then I went into writing
and so that’s where I started doing um I started writing for people and I went and I joined Minneapolis St. Paul
magazine right around then. Very cool. Very cool. you said something that that that really struck a chord to
me and a lot of people take um the negative part of that, you know, being um
le leaving a job, right? That is opening another door. Yeah. Had that not happened,
you don’t know, right? So that when the one door closes, that means there’s another one that’s about to open up if
not the thing. I have my life has blown up a lot and I’m the better for it every time.
So if you want to take that as like [laughter] That’s a little bit of hope for everybody out there.
No, and that’s a real thing. It’s a real thing. It’s a It’s a It’s a real thing. Sometimes by choice. Often not. And
then, but every time something’s put in the path, then I figure it out and I’m better for it.
Absolutely. Absolutely. since starting in the writing space because that’s uh
that so you was doing that at the height of that’s where people got the information and knowledge of restaurants where to
eat uh where to go what what it was like and the writing sort of painted a
picture about what your experience could be if you went so since how do you think
things have altered because right now it’s about influencers and things of that nature and and it’s not all good I
will I will say yeah no it’s You know, the thing is media in in itself, you know, and how we
food media has been evolving as much as restaurants have been evolving. And I think that that how we take people at
what they’re saying and how we put stories out and take them back is really
fascinating to me. I I near I nerd out on the the the meta of it all. Um, but
if you think about it, the way that we see fine dining, right, fine dining had to really break itself in order to come
to these new ways of seeing it. You know, [clears throat] we are no longer in the era or we have vestigages of of
the, you know, the old school stuff hanging out. But truthfully, we don’t eat like that every day and we don’t So,
in a weird way, food media also had to catch up because we didn’t have gatekeepers. You know, we no longer had
people who were like, especially in the Twin Cities, we didn’t have people who were like, I they will make or break a
restaurant, right? Because the popularization of food and it’s such a good thing that like our
kids know what kinoa is. You know what I’m saying? Yeah. No, absolutely. And so like the fact that there’s all this information that could come to them
and then they could make decisions and then learn about things that opened up the possibilities for audiences and the
kind of food that we eat. But the problem is the food media had to figure it out along the way as well. And and
because it is a paid model, you know, because because media has to make money too. People don’t re like I know we
consume it in so many different ways that and often time we don’t have to pay for it in the consumption of it, but yet
in order to support hierarchies that then support other things, you have to think about that. So, it’s been
interesting and it’s been I mean, I’ve gone from feeling very threatened by um
influencers, [laughter] you know, in the print media, we were like, “Well, this is a blip. This isn’t
going to be long term.” And then it’s like, “Wait, no, it is here to stay. Is print [laughter] a blip? Wait a
minute, you know, and as we’re watching it and having to adjust to people to meet them where they are, just like
restaurants have to meet people where they are. They can’t inform. They can’t say this is what I’m cooking. I’m
cooking an all high fat, high meat. You know, I’m cooking this and you will like it. Maybe they won’t. Maybe you won’t surv
survive. So, everyone has to be a little bit more fluid these days. And I’m for that. I’m up for change.
Yeah. It’s it’s there’s just right now there are it’s kind of the
wild wild west. [laughter] Yeah. If you will, with how things are structured and you know, Zach is gone.
There’s no there’s no, you know, definitive and then there’s voices like yours. Yeah. Which
you are are are saddling the fence because you’re known for print and now
people are learning all the new people are learning you through socials which I think is so cool because and you play
nice in the sandbox. So it’s like that’s that’s the other thing is that you are
the the perfect person to be able to bridge the two. And so I think you do that wonderfully as well. I think
there’s the I’ve always very much embraced this idea that once I once you realize the old way of print wasn’t
going to be like you know it’s it’s only one part of the conversation then you decide to open yourself up to being a
multiplatform human and that’s like I’ve been in print for 20 years I’ve also been on radio for 20 years and so it
never was just one really it was sort of both and then the idea of the digital space opening up and then how do you
tell a story differently from that and that to me is is the soul of all of this. This isn’t one message. Yeah. This
is meeting people in speaking in different ways. Just as if you and I are having a conversation like this, if you
and I are sitting at the bar, we’d have be having a different conversation. Absolutely. And so that’s where I think that we all
have to understand that there’s the multiplatform is great because it really gets to the complexity of the the story
or the message or or you know, whatever is happening. We get to have that. It isn’t it shouldn’t be a threat. It
should be an understanding of what are the tools and how do we use them, right? And and plus you’re you’re meeting people where they’re at. So like
there’s some the people that would read you won’t catch online anyway, right? So So you
Yeah. No, there’s people who h it still shocks me having 20 years in print, 20 years on broadcast, and having 30,000
some followers on Instagram, and then I have 10,000 on a Substack. And you know, all of these things have a strange way
of somebody still going like, “Oh, I didn’t know that you did this as well.” And you’re like, “But I get it, right?”
And I had I was on What’s funny is I used to be on for 10 years. I was on KMSP on Channel 9 on Friday mornings and
I did a food segment and I haven’t done it for about a year now. Um, and I still get people be like, “Oh, I think I saw
you last.” I’m [laughter] like, “No, you didn’t. You didn’t. I think you remembering me from a year ago, which is amazing.
That’s that’s how much can people hold and and and how much can we just dip into little bits of their lives. I I
feel like that’s the gift, right? If I can be in anyone’s life. Absolutely. Absolutely. Do you feel that you know since the pandemic
people are craving more from the the the third spaces than ever before and and
that’s why they are so much more important. Yeah. Do you remember in the pandemic I always thought it was so funny. I mean,
watching people say like, “Oh, ghost kitchens are the future and pe restaurants are done.” And I was like, “Yeah, no, no, you guys don’t get it,
but no, like we can have ghost kitchens and delivery will be a part of the, you know, the matrix, but people will need
to go out again.” And I knew that before it all happened, you know, just because, you know, when Yeah, you you crave that
you get tied into it. And and so I think that you know we talk a lot about the loneliness epidemic and we talk about
how our kids are you know learning socialized from being screens first and then moving into you know people spaces.
I’m just I am very very optimistic about how restaurants and third spaces are really going to save community in a lot
of ways because it’s when you sit down next to someone and you really see them as you know like a human in the same
space and you that’s where you get the real picture of them. It’s not about like what they’ve written on a 140
characters. Absolutely. You know. Yeah. Yeah. So, I think the humanity can only come out in those spaces and I think that
that’s what’s going to save us. Yeah. The interaction, human inter. The one thing that I learned that was the biggest telltale sign for me is that we
all crave human connection. So, that not not having it, not being able to even if it’s a banter with someone, not having
that is is it’s a necessity. We are we’re communal, you know, uh uh uh beings and we we thrive off of energy.
Yeah. And there’s no better, you know, gathering place than a well- cultivated
restaurant in my opinion. Yeah, mine too. Yeah, mine too. Or coffee shop or like even like sitting outside of a taco truck. Absolutely.
Like you can find people like as I’ve traveled around the world and or just even into other cities. It’s like, you
know, you end up sitting at a bar and you’re just like take having a coffee or whatever and it’s like people there’s
people around you who are willing to like engage. Yeah. And that’s that’s a lovely thing. Speaking of that, what and
there’s been tons because you know the restaurant industry is is taking a major hit, you know, everywhere and here as
well. What Minnesota restaurant closure
hurt like losing a family member? Oh man, I mean I have to just it’s so
hard to not say all of them, but like I would say that um and this one goes
way back though. I mean I think uh and this is a it’s kind of well
the original Butcher and the Boore. Okay. Yes. You know what I mean? And so for me, the original Butcher and the Boore uh had
something about it and it was a Jack Reeel thing for me personally, obviously. Um good friend uh the late
Jack Reel, the late great, but the idea that that that restaurant opened with an idea of being craft American food. Yeah.
And they opened with an aesthetic that was a little bit not, you know, here,
maybe a little too barnwoody now that we see that, but they had this sort of like whiskey and like the patio and the fire
and the smells and it it opened up and it opened at a time when other restaurants were struggling and it just
took off and it was like a $6 million restaurant like off the get-go. And I just think like that had such a a a way
of welcoming people to a different kind of eating to say like you can have refined and it doesn’t have to be
expensive. You can have we can take the finer ideals and package them in a way that is both accessible and fun and
speaks to you on a level that makes you hungry but yet it also challenges you in some ways. Yeah. Um I thought it just was a perfect entry
point for the city and I just regret that you know it went the way it went. And you’re right. So, it’s it’s kind of
surreal how it doesn’t feel it’s not the same. It’s just it’s not the same.
And I mean, I I get it’s not supposed to be, but Yeah. And I would say that the fact that it came back twice that one company
said, “We’re doing the butcher’s tail in the same space.” And then the other company said, “We’re going to do the butcher and the boar and give it a
little bit of a flare.” I appreciate both of those efforts and I and but that to me shows the impact of that one
restaurant on a that it had to come back twice and and and I think that you when you do bring back a restaurant you do
have to give it something else. You have to give it another you have to land it
in the era that it is in we couldn’t have had an exact replica and been like okay well this is what this was. It
wasn’t like we are all different now because of that and so I like the fact that each of those spaces have their own
identity with it. Absolutely. Yeah. The smells. I’m just I’m thinking about just walking in the smells just Yeah. That’s
those memories, right? So those as we’re talking about this I’m I’m I’m thinking and and and feeling, you know, that’s
that’s the good that’s the sign of a a wello oiled machine.
Yeah. Yeah. To where the the whole aesthetics of what it was and what it
was trying to convey, the hospitality of it, the fact that you could get a a burger or you could get a hot dog and a a paps blue ribbon, you
know, at the bar with a whiskey back and you could be and it was well done and it was crafted and it was important as much
as like the beef long rib, you know, which was something that people hadn’t been doing until they started doing. All of the the eyes were dotted and the
tees were crossed. It was all the the finer details of it all. And I think maybe also and as you’re saying the
smells and everything else, my uh my my friend set, my girl pack, the clutch as
I like to [laughter] call it, we sort of formed very specially and a night in that private dining room um that we were
there and we called oursel we’re the ladies league. We’re L2. [snorts] And so this ladies league of women that you
know are my soul sisters like that was like we jelled there and then that’s also why it’s special that you just said
that that just made me that’s probably why I pulled it up. That’s very cool. Very cool. Very cool. All right. Right now we’re gonna get
into a little segment that is called Cold Truth. Oh. Okay. So, every flavor tells a story.
Every story holds a truth. This is Cold Truth. Presented by Just Fruit Sorbet Ailier. The new standard in sorbet. Pure
fruit. Thoughtfully crafted fruit at its most honest. Chef driven small batch sorbets. Made with real fruit, organic
ingredients, and flavors designed to hit like a perfect moment. Um, so while
we’re going to start the cold troops, how this is going to go, we’re going to taste a flavor. First of all, are you
allergic to any fruit? All fruit? No, just kidding. [laughter] Just no fruit. What if we did that?
Yeah, that would be hilarious. I do have a backup. Okay. I do have a backup. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I prepared for that.
Yeah. As someone who has allergies, I will definitely, you know, I have a shellfish allergy, so Oh, yeah. Now, let’s not have any
shellfish serving here, by the way. No, definitely not. I don’t think it will go over like a lead balloon. Yeah. Um, so yeah. So we’re going to
[laughter] All fruit. I’m good. I’m good. So I’m going to have you taste. We’re going to taste the sorbet. Um, and then
uh, you know, I believe that honest conversations usually happen over flavors and and doing things
specifically with something cold. I think it’s a good It’s like a polar
punch, right? Yeah. It’s like a palette cleanser. Feel like you can be your best self. Absolutely. And why why not with this?
Okay. So, I’m gonna ask you some questions, okay? And all you’re gonna do
is is is give me your pure unadulterated truth.
Probably it could probably sit for a little bit. It’s probably been a little too sit. Okay. So, I’m going to ask you questions and then we’ll dip in.
Okay. All right. What food trend are people pretending to love? [laughter]
Oh. Oh, okay. Can I just preface something with the fact that I have a very famous aversion to balsamic glaze,
you know? Oh my god. I when people glaze balsamic glaze something, that’s like sort of my known
thing. But I got to be honest, I’m a little bit this sort of So maybe that’s will explain to you why I can’t hot
honey everything. If they can just like pull back on the hot honey, like I’m into a dish and they’re talking about it
and they’re like, “And then we we top it with hot honey and I’m like and I’m out.” Yeah. Like enough of it. Enough. It’s
definitely uh just taken over. It’s the new Calabrian chili. It is. [laughter]
You got to thank Bobby Fle for that. Um that’s a good one. That’s a good one. Okay. What taste more powerful to you?
Nostalgia or innovation? What’s more powerful? What taste is more
powerful? No. Nostalgia or innovation? I’m going to say nostalgia for sure because there’s something um there’s
nothing there. It’s unlocking yourself within a moment. That’s what happens
with nostalgia. And innovation can spark the mind and can be exciting and thrilling, but it but something that’s a
part of you, that’s a nostalgia that’s going to spark something deeper. And innovation can become nostalgia. It can
become part of that. But no, I think that if you’re Yeah. I mean, and that’s also why people are like, I love Rocky RCOO pizza.
Empirically, not a good pizza. But but if you ate it during college and you were like so stoned and it’s like the
best night of your life, you’re in. Yeah. It’s the it’s the ratatouille moment and um Yeah. Yeah. But the food credit ego.
Yeah. Exactly. Zoom back to a kid. Very strong emotions. Uh nostalgia is definitely big.
Okay. What’s the most overrated restaurant trend of the last decade? [laughter]
That feels real hard. the overrated restaurant trend of the last decade.
oh god, [laughter] this feels I mean like the avocadoing of everything got me
a little bit, but I that’s a food trend. You know, if we’re going to go into restaurant trend, what I would really like to sort of cease is just bad
lighting, you know? I mean, like I like a actually I really like a dim lighting
and Oh, here’s the deal. How about this one? This is sort of flipped around. It’s really people using lighting to
light their dishes. So, like [laughter] I don’t want to be in a restaurant and have all the a bunch of cameras.
Yeah. And so, like I don’t know how to fix that for people. I wish that they would like if they A lot of people come
with their own lights, but then it’s still happening. So, I don’t know. I I think the Instagramming thing it’s both
great and it’s horrible. Yeah. It’s a gift and a curse, but like I’m not a big fan of um like overly bright places in
order to facilitate the Instagram or the other way around. Yeah. As a diner, you know what I mean? Absolutely. Absolutely. That’s that’s a
great one because Yeah. When you if you’re ever in a place, if you’re ever in a restaurant and then you you you have the mood the
mood ruined by the uh the bunch of the paparazzi lights looking at, you know, taking the the food got to eat first,
the camera got to eat first. Yeah. That’s pretty funny. Yeah. What flavor reminds you of home?
Oh, well, that’s a tough one. If it’s my home, if
I’m thinking about whatever whatever home I know. I’m trying to It’s really hard because like I think about what my mom
cooked and what we ate and versus what you know and you know, my mom had some
singular dishes which I’ve now passed on to my kids and we all sort of have this we have a pound cake thing, you know
what I mean? And so we have this cake that is like if you ever eat a pound cake, there is no such thing as any
other poundake other than my mom’s pound cake. And we all make it now. My kids and I all make it. But so I guess that
would be the thing that like when I think about if I need to bring um but here’s a thing that’s sort of
personal in signature is um potato leak soup. And I make that in batches for
people who are going through tough times. Wow. So I I routinely drop off like five gallons of potato leak soup to
your house and say this freezes beautifully and you can just take this out whenever you need it, you know, and
you can do whatever you need with it, but it’s there and I know every time it’s going to be comforting. It doesn’t,
you know, it’s going to be nourishing enough and it’s going to be fulfilling for whoever needs it. So that’s a great
one. It’s easy. Yeah. And it’s it’s tied to emotion. That’s a great one. Yeah. What’s the most overrated restaurant
trend of the last decade? Oh, overrated. Overrated. Isn’t that what we just did? No. No. We
did What did we last do? We did one that that basically Oh, no. No. We did do that. We did do that. We
did that. You’re going to make me do it again. No, no, no. We did that already. What What restaurant do you believe is best
suited for Michelin to come into town? Well, that’s a toughy. Actually, it’s
not a toughy. Um, I think that obviously Gavin Kase is plays on a different level than a lot of our restaurants. um and
that he is attuned to it because he’s been experiencing it, you know, through his experience through his career for a
long time. He knows what it takes. I also think um for me personally, I’m just the bummer is that Muriel is in St.
Paul because that would have been a wonderful one. But I do believe that between Gavin, I’ve kind of been saying
that I think obviously I feel like Demi is probably going to get it. Yeah. Um and I think that uh she at Kadonomi will
probably get it because he’s doing his um kaisaki dining is something completely singular and it is tied to
tradition and it is tied to form and it has a beauty to it that is sometimes a little bit harder to understand in the
Minnesota framework. You know, it’s definitely for a certain set of diners. It’s not necessarily for everyone. Um
and that singular experience kind of appeals to the Michelin kids, I think. Yeah. Yeah. It’s this is a long time
coming in. So, first off, let’s jump in and talk about that. How do you feel
first off? Long time coming, right? Yeah. And should have been here before. Yeah.
Now that it’s here, does it help
to obviously it helps to broaden everybody’s horizons and it puts
Minneapolis on the map, the Twins? Well, Minneapolis unfortunately. Yeah. on the map. The food map, which
it’s been a scene here for a while. Yeah. No, most people don’t they’re not pimp to it. No. And let me tell you, I was at a food
conference in Philly and the chef assembly, which is a great conference, but they had a panel and we had K
Tomlinson was sitting on this panel and uh Johnny Curiel from Denver, um there
was a guy from um uh Madison, I think, or Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and then there was a guy from Charleston. And the and
the title of it was emerging markets. [laughter] And it was like
it’s hard not to feel like New York doesn’t see us as a colony. Yeah. You know, they they see us as like they
they like we’re emerging to them. They’re like and the the questions were asked by a journalist from the New York
or the Washington Post who was wonderful. But the idea that they’re like, “So, what’s it like out there?” And
like, “Isn’t it better? Like, don’t you get better real estate and don’t you get this things?” And they’re like, “Listen, we are unto ourselves an entire
ecosystem. We don’t rely on you guys coming out to us.” Because the whole thing was why are chefs moving to these
emerging markets and it’s like no no these markets exist and you’re coming because you are finally understanding. Absolutely. But
that doesn’t make us any less. So Michelin I think in a way brings just a different understanding.
It’s just a window in. And I think here we get very worried that that’s going to put a level of judgment and a hierarchy
on our dining scene that we’re maybe not as that we don’t want someone else from
the outside to judge for us, right? And so we have these feelings that are like, well, you know, you’re going to miss this and you’re going to miss this and
you know, all lists miss things because they’re that’s what they’re they’re limited and they’re supposed to be. And
so for me, this is just an opportunity for other people who who love a Michelin
moment and seek a specific kind of dining to find it here, right? That’s what this is. Yeah. Broaden the horizons. We’re
exposing sectors of the city to the masses in a way that we haven’t
before. Um, it’s been quietly a food mecco. It just has been. You can get the best of just about any food here in in
the Twin Cities. I mean, I guarantee you, take anyone who has never been to town to the Mung Village. Oh, I was just I was just talking about
the M village. [laughter] Oh my god. And if you go there and you’re just like, “Wait a minute. What do you have here? What’s going on?” And if and anybody in Minnesota who hasn’t
been there was like, “Well, I don’t you know, if you’re worried about, you know, if you don’t speak the language or whatever, everybody speaks English. It
is St. Paul.” and [laughter] and and nonetheless, it’s it really is
just seeing a cultural expression of food in a way that maybe you’re not getting if you’re just sticking around
your neighborhood. You know what I mean? And I think that that’s it’s like it’s like going on vacation in your own city
for God’s sake. So, but finding those things for other people and and exploring the way that
food is expressed here in community. Yes. Because the number one thing about us
isn’t necessarily the plate or the exactness. And that’s the only thing that I have a little bug about Michelin
is and that’s why I put it over here. It’s what this is. The rest of us and the rest of how we
eat and what we judge is good and what we decide are who are the best. That’s all stuff that we can do for ourselves.
Absolutely. And we do it by our dining dollar and we do it by our community. Absolutely. Okay. So, you already
I already went in. You already went in. So, I got to go in. What’s our flavor? Ruby Red Kiwi.
Oh. Oh, good. Jesus. I’m glad you said it. I had no clue.
Oh, were we supposed to guess? No. I was just sitting back here. I saw you guys eating it. So, yeah.
Gabe plays that game. I would never have guessed, but it’s delicious. Yeah, it’s really good.
It’s tart. Yeah. I love the the the little sweet tart texture and the texture of
texture. Yeah. Of the uh with the with the with the seeds in. Yeah. Okay. Okay. That has been cold truths
presented by just fruit sorbet atilier where the flavors are cold but the conversations are honest. For more information head to www.jestfruits
sorbet.com. Okay. I I always say that you know food and
music are are paired together for ever.
Yeah. And th those are the two universal language of thriving and cultivating
emotion and feeling. Um they’re so such a powerful thing and in your opinion
the with the diners being I want to use trying to word this the diners being
more informed. Okay. Okay. I don’t want to use the word educated, more informed about about food
um in general with the you know influx of Food Network and the Celebrity Chef
and all these different things. How do you see is the is the memory, the emotion,
the is all of that still as important as before? Because previously I feel that
people were going to these third spaces with the intent to be to feel a certain way.
Yeah. And now it’s the same thing like I I’m not a person that wants to look at a menu before I go to a restaurant. I’m
not Yeah. I just want I want to go and I want that experience. A lot of that is being taken out of it because of people are have all this
access. How do you think that plays into the the overall experience of really
embodying the the what the chef and the restaurant tour is trying to do. Right. Right. You know, I think there’s
um I think that the hard part is is like we have to you have to reach people in
some way, shape or form, right? And you have to reach people to get them to come in. And so what you have to choose is
what’s your story and how are you going to convey that story. There is a fantastic restaurant in Portland. I’m
just going to tell you and I’m telling you it because my child works there. Okay? But um it’s called EM and it’s EM
and it’s like a Thai barbecue place and it is it is but their Instagram is just
bizarre and it’s just it is Portland. It is Portland [laughter] and it’s just like a crazy it’s just a dish or
something but it’s an all caps caption that is just off the wall and it’s crazy but it’s it’s it’s great, you know, and
I follow it, you know, because it’s it’s captivating and I know some people here who follow it because it’s got
something. Yeah. And so I think like we are all trying to figure out what story
we lead with and then the challenge really truly is then to bring that story
to life at the table. Yeah. And that’s a thing that when we have labor issues or we have supply issues
and everything else that adds this complexity to restaurants that the general public doesn’t know, right?
They’ll never understand it and they’ll never know why like, wow, there’s no tomatoes on this. They won’t necessarily see that there’s no tomatoes on you.
They may feel like, “Wow, there’s no red sauce or something.” And you’re like, “Well, tomatoes are $75 a case right now.”
Exactly. Yeah. We’re not doing tomatoes. We’re not doing tomatoes right now. Yeah. Avocados next. Yeah. Exactly. And [laughter] so and so
figuring out this storytelling is is an an additional layer on that. I wish that
people would just allow restaurants to do instead of figuring out like I guess
for my part of it is um you know, people call me all the time and they’re like, “What should I eat when I go to so and
so?” And I’m like, “Oh my god, I don’t know. Who are you?” Like, “What do you like? What do you normally eat?” I’m not
going to get into the psychics of your diet, you know, to tell you which dish is great. I find it weird when we’re our food
media is saying like, “Eat this dish or go for this because it’s so personal and
it’s so momentary and it’s so like there should be a bigger picture than just
tell me what the best thing is to order.” Now, for the diner side, I get it comes from a fear of a missing out, b
uh wasting money. Yeah. And I I that’s a very precious space. And as a food media person, like you
have to be very very respectful of that because people are like, I have only got 60 bucks to spend on this dinner and I
don’t want to waste it on something that I’m going to be like, this is a bummer. So, I understand that space. But I also
believe that the minute you get into a place in a restaurant and if you trust your server and you trust the
surroundings and you trust the smells and the the activity of the holistic, you know, sort of experience, you’re
going to be more educated than you think. And I think if you trust yourself with the plate and the places and and
the vibes, you’re going to have a great time. Yeah. It also depends on the company you keep, too. So if you true very you can
shoot a place to hell because of the company that you arrived with, right? or even like the day that you had
and I think like you go in and places people who are like looking to restaurants to be perfect. You know my
famous saying that I would that I will die on the hill that I really hope that people will like know this after I die
is restaurants are made of people. Yeah. And so that means that it can never be perfect because we are
we are imperfect beings. Nothing is gonna and like four stars like I’m I personally have I don’t
have a love of star ratings. I think it is a disservice to both the diner and the uh restaurant. I don’t think it
tells you anything. I think it’s fools us into believing that we can trust or know something and it makes us feel
maybe maybe as a diner it makes you feel like you know or maybe there’s an ego bit of like feeling like okay four stars
I I can go to a fourstar restaurant that’s all the ones I eat. Well, you can have crap at a four-star restaurant for sure. I have had raw chicken served
to me at one of our best restaurants in the state and it was like, okay,
it’s a mistake because of something happens because people are the ones doing this. Absolutely. It’s not like I
would ever say I’m never going back to that place. I’m going to let them know. I’m going to say, by the way, make sure you check all your other stuff. Yeah.
And then I’m going to come back again and make sure that everything’s good. Yeah. No, that’s a great point. How
important do you think music plays into the ambiance of a restaurant? I got to be honest, it’s it’s such a dicey
endeavor for me because I want to be able to have a conversation and I’m getting older, so [laughter] like I’m
sure that my hearing isn’t as good as it used to be, but at the same time, I just want to be able I want the vibe. I want
vibe, but I got to tell you, like the minute a playlist kicks in, that’s my
jam. I am in love with the restaurant. Like it can like heal any wound that has
been already like if the lighting’s bad but the list is jamming, I’m there. I don’t care. Like it does it does
something to your entire physicality. I think when you get into a music space
that works. Yeah. And it’s personal for everybody. This is true. I’m looking for Gen X stuff, man. You know [laughter] what I mean? I want By
the way, this is my yacht house summer. Like I am all about Brandy putting in
with like the h the house music. Let’s do it. If I can hear that, I’m gonna hang out and I’m gonna order more drinks and I’m gonna eat all your food.
And there’s a there’s a there’s a there’s a fine line between and it also depending on when you go to
a place and and with the timing. Yeah. Because the level of of the music is is you know the the
the volume is is key just as key as the what’s being played. 100%. Um, and I I just think again,
vibrations, we’re we’re electric beings, so we are there’s something to be said for a perfectly curated playlist that
goes and fits with the theme of the restaurant. Right. Right. Yeah. You’re not going to have yacht house music playing at Mara
at the four season. That would be a little bit weird. But, you know, I mean, there is something to say about like if
you’re in that space and you’re sort of dressed up and having something that’s a little bit off the nose, you know,
that’s a little bit different and interesting, that’s an innovation that you can court and subtly and it’s subtle and it could be like it
could be a game changer and you don’t even it doesn’t it’s like a behind-the-scenes game changer. Absolutely. But if it’s not there, you
notice you notice. So, when it’s quiet, people complain about too much noise and I’m like, if it’s too quiet,
when it gets quiet, people don’t like to hear themselves think. So that’s that’s uh it gets weird very very very very
very very fast. Okay. I want you to match the energy. Okay.
To the energy of a restaurant. I’m going to name a bunch of restaurants to a genre of music. Oh god, this is hard for me.
Okay. Fai [clears throat] uh to a to a like you want me just pick a genre. A genre.
A genre that you think that matches the energy of that restaurant. Um, that one would Okay, this is gonna be so bizarre,
but it would be country music. And why? Why do you say because I feel like there’s something very rural about the way that that food
is about a homeland and it’s a it’s a personal story. It’s about family for, you know, Chef Yang. And um so weirdly
enough, like it’s not country as in like country western American, but there’s something about that notion of slower
farmland time and and working from the land. I don’t know. That’s what that’s what came to me.
No, that plays though. That that that’s that’s a great one. He would be mad at me probably. He wouldn’t he wouldn’t he wouldn’t.
Spoon and stable. Oh, Spoon and Stable is sort of like Okay, this is uh that’s that Gen X thing
I want. I want like [laughter] I want like I want like alternative like deep cut Gen X stuff going on
there. And I just want it to be this knowledge of like you can relax now. Like you’ve you’ve
made it like you’re in the right place and and like you are seen. I guess
that’s what it is. No, that that’s great. And and and I feel the same way. That’s that’s awesome. Travail
[laughter] I want Afro Jazz only. Afro jazz. That’s it. I just want the biggest funk that I
can get. Yes. You know? Yeah. I just want it to be discordant but also cool and challenging. That’s what I want
there. Okay. Diane’s place. Oh, Diane’s place. Um I want Girly Pop.
[laughter] But that’s because I know how to drink with Diane. So like I just want Girly
Pop and I know her and she’s such a vibrant bright star and all the women who work there. I just want you know
like fun lady. It’s a great vibe. It’s almost secondary to the food, which is so comforting and
so intuitive and so challenging also with spice in the right ways, but yet it
still just speaks to me of womanhood. Yeah, for sure. I don’t know. For sure. Hi. H high. [laughter]
That’s got to be yacht house. I want yacht house only there. Yeah,
that’s a great one. Okay. And finally, Muriel. Muriel. Yes. Oh, Muriel is a strange one for me. Um,
I think that’s like uh alternative Minnesota bands. I want garage rock. I want it to be but like not overarching
hard or anything. I just want it to be garage band music that has like a little bit of a twangy that Minnesota thing
like oh um Oh, or there’s like a specific musician that I can’t remember her name of but who I love and from here
who would be great there. Okay. Okay. Yeah. you’ve consistently highlighted cuisines
and cultural restaurants and the storytelling about how that makes Minnesota like and that to me I think
that’s the magic ingredient. I think the fact that we have all of these cultures and restaurants to to to serve them.
Y that’s what makes this place unique. Um and it’s also I believe that’s why most people don’t you can’t pinpoint
what we’re known for because it’s it’s a melting pot. It’s like the perfect gumbo. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And nothing, no one
thing sticks out. Now, depending on what you’re looking for, we could fortify it with that. If you Okay. You want a seafood gumball? Okay.
This is the place you go. Yeah. How do you First off, you have championed a lot of
these places as well. Why has that been such an important thing for you to do
in exposing people to all the cultural offerings that we have here? So there’s
a really I thought about this actually a little bit in terms of um what’s really important in the food scene is obviously
diverse opinions and obviously viewpoints. I mean like you’re coming to the table I don’t know about you but I
do not cook the same Thanksgiving every year. I do something crazy wild [laughter] every time, right? But I also
expect there to be a Thanksgiving every year and I’m also going to you’re we’re going to have a turkey or whatever. Um,
but so I am very into the idea that you can have tradition and you can have your
roots, but you can also then expand yourself and you can expand those around you in that way. And I think about the
food scene a little bit like that because I am uh I am a daughter of an immigrant, a German immigrant, but that
ties a different way to the Minnesota landscape, right? But that’s still the daughter of an immigrant, which is like
uh so is Diane. She’s the daughter of an immigrant. And so there are those cultural stories which you know the the
the Midwest, the north, the plain states and everything else. We were um we are
an agricultural state, you know, by economic factor. Um and we are a place
where people have settled. You know, they were on their way west from the coasts, you know, in the way long ago.
And people come here, you know, the monk population in the 70s and this was a large settling space. And so we have
these sort of um cultural notes that I think we only have really begun to understand in a wider experience than
our own. And that is because of food. And I would say that that is the reason
is because we can sit at a table together and we can break bread and you can bring in something from you know
your family’s past and it’s and what it comes down to it’s the ultimate potluck.
So it’s the ultimate potluck is what Minnesota is. Then when you say that to someone outside of us, they don’t get
it. And then when you say to someone inside of it, I I used to be afraid that they would boil it down to ketchup is of
spice, you know, or like mayonnaise is what we think of as, you know, important. And and
I’m not saying they’re not, but it’s the fact that it’s no longer that way. And that culture is a living, breathing,
evolving thing that we all have to respect in the ways that it will turn
regardless of where we are. We can’t stop it, right? I can’t say you have to have hot dish at every meal. And I
wouldn’t ever tell someone they have to have a hot dish to be motan, right? But I would say that hot dish is motan as
well as you know, fu and as well as you know a a beautiful
rendition of um you know like burria um or whatever it is like however this
works and however we pull these things in together those are motan. Yeah. And so as we take that aspect and
then try to teach that to people, the hard part is is there’s other places like New York is like we’re pizza, you
know, or we’re bagels and we have all this stuff. They have much diversity there, but they still seem to st uh, you
know, stake a claim on things. And I think that we’re weirdly about staking a claim that we’re kind of we’re like it’s
the neighboring thing. Yeah. Yeah, it’s the welcoming and that’s a part of the potluck is like we’re saying we’d rather have everything than to say like
we’re just pizza just we’re not just Juicy Lucy’s. You know what I’m saying? And that’s the other thing too because
it’s a community of creatives. Yes. Creatives are horrible self-promoters. Yes.
So you can even ask people most people like they they can’t tell you right what makes it special.
Yeah. You know it’s it’s a weird it’s a weird dichotomy. That’s a good segue into the salt cure though. Oh yeah. So let’s let’s talk to me about
the soil cure fund and all the things. Yeah. So that was um that is you know as we talk about like why it’s important to
shine light on things. I don’t believe in and this is also it kind of dubtales from the Michelin thing too because like
I get it that we’re saying that some things are best. You can say that. That’s great. I love a superlative. I
love an accolade. Um but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a the only vision and it doesn’t mean that that
means that there’s nothing else but. And so in my mind, we can’t have a food industry that supports a Michelin
starred restaurant unless we work to celebrate and support everything underneath it. It does not exist in a
vacuum. Absolutely. And so what we have to do also is think of the health of the industry is that we
have someone in like a Gavin Kase, uh Steven Brown, you know, these guys who are, you know, cooking and and
influencing those kids. Those people then have to bump up and that’s how we get a beron and that’s how we get Dian’s
place is because of those things you know of of because those line cooks have decided to then become owners themselves
that all has to bubble up from food trucks and it has to bubble up from someone owning a taco stand like we
don’t have we don’t have gustavo you know unless we have these other things so when and the idea that that I’m
talking about immigrant run kitchens is a fallacy that I’m talking down here. I’m talking all of it. Right.
They are all immigrant run kitchens. We do not have a fully non-immigrant.
There’s no such thing. There’s no such thing globally though. Exactly.
Full stop. Yeah. So when January came around and it was actually December,
you know, we were in December and those of us in the industry knew what was happening because we had already started hiding people and we knew and we’d
already started losing people and but nobody wanted to talk about it because first of all they were kind of hoping
that they’d go away at Christmas, right? But um mostly because they didn’t want to be targeted. So it was a very quiet
thing that was happening. Um and then when January came and they doubled down on the number of people and it became
unavoidable of what was happening the occupation um it became a point where I
was working with people to try to figure out how do we how do we how do what do we do? Um and so we were started it by thinking
of we needed to hire vans for restaurants to be able to then drive their people. I was shutting the people. Yeah.
Yeah. We were all driving, right? And so and then that became a thing where it was like that’s not going to work because they don’t the employees don’t
want to trust strangers. So and I get that. Um and so it became the idea that we saw
all this money pouring in um you know to from around the country and we got and I
had so many people calling and saying like well who should I send money to? who should I buy gift card gift cards to cuz I know this is affecting them and I
was like I can’t tell you one place like how do I say go to you know Veni and do it there but then but then there’s like
element pizza down the street is also suffering like how do we do that and then there were restaurants that had the
platform that were known and then there were the rest of them that didn’t have a platform or who were staying so quiet
because their teams were asking them to be quiet so the inequity with that was terrifying to me and I thought we have to make a
clearing house we have to bring it all together into one space and then we have to then give funds directly to
restaurants because they were out there also then raising funds for other people. It was Rectangle was the perfect
one. Yeah. Rectangle goes and says we’re going to be we’re going to do community aid. We’re going to take your money and we’re
going to give it to the neighbors and feed people and they raised what, like $200,000, right? But they couldn’t access that
money themselves because of the way they had this all of a sudden they had to be like, “Oh, by the way, we have to become a nonprofit.”
Yes. And you’re like on top of the fact of you’re trying to keep your doors open. Yeah. We need that 5113 [laughter]
like this like now which is not a it’s not a fast thing. It doesn’t happen like that. And so we
said we act talking to them I was like well you know cuz they’re like we’re can we apply for funds because [laughter]
we won’t be able to do this work if we can’t keep the doors open because we have to pay our rent. We have to pay our people. And they weren’t touching that
funds cuz that was earmarked for that. Um and so and that’s a legal thing and it was all of it. it’s not like just
being a good guy. Um, but so that’s when I was like, we need to support the people who are supporting us and we need
to support the people who are quietly doing this work. And so I came together with a couple of friends. We we packaged
up as much, you know, like uh that we could and we went to the Minneapolis Foundation and said, “Can you help us
cuz we can’t do a 501c3 in a couple of weeks. We got to get this rolling now.” And so on January 30th, we launched the
SoulCure Fund, which um was uh is aiming to give critical funds directly to
restaurant ownership. Um and then they filter it out to pay their lease, you know, to pay their uh extra wages for
employees, to pay gas for employees, to do all sorts of stuff. And um whatever
they needed. And it was just we decided to do free grants. So, we gave up to $10,000 per person, you know, and
sometimes, you know, we had to make a measure, but we were we were lucky enough to be able to hit a a good stride
and we raised um we’ve raised close to $1.4 million. Wow. In like less than I mean in 60 days.
Yeah. So, and then we’re continuing to raise because what happened was we were allowed to we we opened an application
process. We got around 350 400 applications after we went through vetting. um you know in terms of what
who can apply and all that kind of stuff. We basically got down to a little over 300 um and then we have funded more
than 250 I think at this point. So we still have some left.
Yeah. Yeah. So we got to get going. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There’s still there still some help that has to be uh rendered. Yeah.
Yeah. And we did it on a rolling basis. We went we did it in the way that we could figure out through a metric of the
application process um and a selection committee um and we had financials and
things like that that we vetted you know kind of the the that they were a business in Minnesota and that they were
functioning in whatever way that they could currently. Um and then we were trying to give the most emergent people
yes funds first. So our first wave, you know, we we I think we hit 20 restaurants like right away and then we
hit another 20 and then we did 70 and then we did another 70. And so we were trying to do it in waves just so that we
could make sure that we were reviewing people and and right supporting. I think alongside with just
the funds, the just having that support from from from people um is
probably just as important as as getting the funds to help because that support
is what and then you know always standing on it. So listen, we have to we have to go patronize these these places.
This we need to go and utilize these third spaces and and celebrate
all that is that makes them special. Um not just cuz you know otherwise just
putting a bandit in a balloon, right? And that’s you know and that was we really do see ourselves as having a
twofold mission and one is obviously direct funds to like stem the tide or do you know and we’ve we’ve helped people
fix their their walk-ins, you know, like they’ve told us they were we funded someone who who was like basically you
brought my uh my co-owner back like we like the legal fees were used like
that’s what it was. I was like, “Great.” You know, but then the other side of it is putting butts and chairs. Yes. And so butts and chairs, midweek dining
is the thing that is going to help, I think, really sort of shore up restaurants. I mean, weekends and the
support that we’ve seen from people is fantastic, but if we can get people to go out on Tuesday, Wednesday nights and
and maybe go to places that they haven’t that are off their beaten path a little bit. Yeah. That’s really the gift that will kind of
shore everything up. So, we’re focused on raising money, but we’re also focused on doing collaboration events. And so,
anybody who wants to do something with us to like help promote their spaces, we are in like whatever I can do, I will
throw as much media as I can at it. Yeah. So, and that, like you said, that that is the important piece of it all is, you
know, butts and seats is the lifeblood. It’s the butts and Yeah. You got to have that. You got to have that specifically in the weekend,
the middle of the week. Yeah. The weekends will always take care of themselves. The weekends will take care of themselves. Will always take care of themselves. Um
what [snorts] what do you think the future of cuisine
and in terir being a part of that will be for you know cities like the twin
cities because because we’re so influenced by a lot of different things there’s now there’ll always be trends
there will always be those things that eb and flow but the the lifeblood of the
industry without people coming here for it used to be people come would come downtown because there’s all these
businesses right yeah and so we don’t have the the business traveler kind of it’s not like it was
because that’s how I remember when when a was open that was open because of some business trips that were taking like oh
this is a okay cool it’s a great place you know proximity is great
downtown is bustling but when the businesses move out of downtown
how do be, you know, what’s going to what’s going to be the thing that makes people, you know, commune in places
where there’s not a thing anymore. Like Target left from downtown. Yeah. So, downtown is pretty You have North
Loop, then you have the bank. Yeah. And everything in between is kind of
there’s stuff there’s a little bit there’s some stuff still kind of bustling in there. But I do believe that
there’s the city is trying to figure that out. And I couldn’t give you like this is the answer, but I will tell you
that we held that dinner due Nord last year. Yeah, that was amazing. And that was that was amazing. Blocks and blocks and blocks of humans
coming in to sit at a table and have dinner. The visual was it was amazing. It was fantastic. And it was Scott Mayer
who is such a genius at this um figuring those kind of things out. And I do believe that we, you know, it just was
so bummer that like I feel like in 2025 we had just really kind of like started
to get that back. We started to pull people back and then this whole thing in January forced another
yeah, you know, thing that’s a consideration. But I do believe honestly that um it is
going to take what we saw in January and February and the neighborm of it all um
that’s helping in a lot of ways in a lot of things and so I think that it is I think it is going to be an easier road
back than it was from the pandemic but I do believe we have um we are still going
to it’s still going to be tough. So it’s going to take I know that our convention bureaus and our our city meet
Minneapolis visit St. all they are doing really good work. Explore Minnesota, they are all trying to do that. And the
the best news I can say is that as I’ve been traveling around, it’s different out there as far as
people’s um opinion of of of Minnesota because I think, you know, with I think
with uh the uprising in 2020, there was this like, oh my god, it’s injustice,
it’s fear, it’s horrible, and like what is going on in this and like all that stuff was just fear. But that was also
baked into the fear that everybody else was feeling everywhere else. So then this time around, I think people
saw um a community coming together instead of falling apart. Yeah. And they saw us coming together and I
feel like they have a different feeling about Minnesota wherever I go. And I have like a I love Minnesota pin and
people are like, “Oh, you guys are great.” Yeah. And so I’m hoping that that can continue
to be a metric that then drives people to come. Yeah. Yeah. because we went like
overnight went from a fly of a city fly of a state to be completely honest
to ground zero for for everything. Why have we been so important in the
last six years from from George Floyd and ICE and and all the different things. And so I I do
think the narrative has to we need to put as much good stuff out into the ethos. Yes. because um there’s a reason
I people would be hardressed at somewhere in in else
to have that many people to to to march and to protest. It was
negative like 11 yeah it was likeative 111 that day on a on a Friday like you
if the weather was perfect in most places that that wouldn’t have happened. There’s something in the DNA of the
people that makes this a special place and that people choose to be here. Agree. Yeah. And that that to me is I think the
special that’s the secret ingredient. It’s the secret sauce. And I do think that there’s something like we’re trying to bring, you know, I’m working with a
couple different groups and and Soulcure is wonderful because it gives people a reason, you know, to feel like they’re
doing something. And that’s one of the best parts is that it’s like if I can if I can imbue this for you, this visit
with something that’s important to your moral code, then that’s great. Then that’s more important because the more
we do those actions, the stronger we are as a community, the stronger any community is. And so the things that the
cities are trying to do to bring, you know, people is wonderful, but I also want to encourage all of us who live
anywhere to bring our friends in from, you know, just even the suburbs and stuff. And I live in semi suburbs. I
live just just outside of the city. But I mean, I’m, you know, obviously a different person, but I I I understand
that culture is it is to it is it is it is participatory,
right? It doesn’t exist without our involvement. And so if we want to have a beautiful, if we want even have a, you
know, like a football team, you know, like we we’re going to get the NFL draft here in a couple now. We just found out. So it’s like if we want to support that
and we want to be a part of that national conversation and we want those things if you live in you know Egan you
have to come to the city and participate. Yes. This is how this works. Yeah. Yeah. And get away from the land of train restaurants. Okay. We’re going
to get into the lightning round before I let you go. We got to do the lightning round. All right. So I’m going to ask you a
series of questions that you just give me the first thing that pops to your head. I’m so bad at this. No, you’re good. You’re good. Okay. One
Minnesota food item you could never give up. I mean, Juicy Lucy’s for sure. Never.
Not gonna do it. [laughter] I went to, by the way, I went to Matts when I my my 90-year-old nana took me to
Matt’s the first time when I was like 11. Like, I’ve been I’m like died in the wool. Juicy Lucy girl. Okay, go ahead.
Got you. Dive bar or fine dining? Dive bar.
[laughter] Dive bar is fine dining. It is. It is. It is. It it definitely can be. One restaurant you wish still
existed. Oh, well, Corner Table. Corner Table was in
in its original form was one of my uh one of my or in its in its secondary
form, I would say. um with Nick and Thomas and everybody there. It was like it was
just one of those beautiful places that and again it maybe speaks a little bit more to the girl pack that I had, but I
mean we would roll in there and sit at that and sit at the corner table and we would just like and there’d be people we
knew and farmers and wine purveyors and it was just that perfect confluence of
interesting people, great food. I mean it was it was magical. I loved it.
That’s amazing. I miss it. It’s amazing. One food you refuse to share.
Pickles. Really? [laughter] Literally. Like everybody knows like I love pickles. Oh my god. I absolutely. So I order
everything Pickle City. I don’t just say extra pickles. I’m like you got to make it pickle city. And then if we’re at
like if we’re at um Lion’s Tap, you know, all my kids know to give me their pickles. Like if they’re on the side,
they’re like fork them over. That’s literally I have pickles. Kind of mobish. Kind of mobish. Yeah, it is. Pay your tax.
Fork them over. I will not share my pickle. There’s no way anyone is getting a bite of the pickle hilarious on my plate.
Food trend you’d ban immediately. Food trend I would ban immediately.
Oh, I was just thinking about one, but um [laughter] um
uh God, I don’t know. Um well,
okay. Like those people who made the weird sushi casserles [laughter]
when you’re taking like the sushi thing and you’re baking it like they’re taking the I don’t know why but it’s like and
they’re mixing it all up. It looks horrible like like I reverse food. Yeah. And so when someone’s like forget it.
No. No thank you. [laughter] Don’t do it. Okay. Most underrated Twin Cities food
neighborhood. Oh good lord. Um,
most underrated Twin Cities food neighborhood. Well, it’s hard because I, as someone in the media, I’m like, I
hype them all. I get it. You know, but I would say that the corner over here is sort of my favorite. Can I say that right now?
You can you can you can definitely say that because obviously, you know, we’ve got it’s what I love about this is it is
literally feels like a like a neighborhood. Like I was in Veni once and and Kate from uh Oro came over and
was like, “Hey, can I borrow some olive oil?” I’m like, “Is that the cup of sugar situation?” I am I am this this
where we are located right now where we are filming at this is I this is the block
and then having Minari open up the way and having but even yet like Cafe Margarite which is a beautiful little
very it’s a little cafe coffee breakfast sandwiches very art artist focused she
has a poet in residence I mean come on that’s so motan anchors right right around the corner
and then saffron’s about to and saffron’s going to be like such a great neighborhood addition to this absolutely
yeah I know. I love this neighborhood. Absolutely. Describe Minneapolis food culture in one word.
No. [laughter] Um, uh, I would say I would call it
I guess surprising is what I want to say or I want to say it’s it’s revoly. Yeah. And I’m going to I’m going to
reward that to Twin Cities because I don’t want to leave out St. Paul because St. Paul is You’re right. It’s Twin Cities. It’s revvely. I think people are you
routinely surprised by what you will find here and what you can find here. Even those who are feel like they know
it. Y and they’re interested. The curiosity is is and maybe that’s it. It’s curious.
Maybe that’s it. It’s curious because people are curious. Diners are curious. Chefs are curious enough to like not
just copy somebody from the coast. They’re finding out their own ways with their own ingredients and their own food
here. And I think people are are, you know, they think of us other people think of us as provincial or, you know,
un you know, cuth in a way, unsophisticated, but we’re not. We’re just very rooted and then curious.
There you go. It’s beautiful. Okay. You have to tell everyone where they can follow you, how to to to immerse
themselves in all the things Stephanie March has going on. I mean, my god, [laughter] it’s real hard. Um I’m so I’m at Stephanie Merch
on Instagram and that’s probably the easiest way although I don’t do as much social as I used to because girl’s busy.
Yeah. But um you know the Saltcure Fund is is at the saltcurfund.org and we’re always
uh evolving that. So that website is kind of what it was in January. Y we’re going to relaunch it again with a
little bit you know different of a focing and focus. And also there’s a
newsletter. So there’s a Substack on uh Sulkare which gives a lot of this is where we’re doing some storytelling for
restaurants. This is where we’re also going to you know when we have events and collaborations it’s the best way to find out and you can just find that on
the website too. Absolutely. Please go and follow Stephanie March. Please check out the salt cure fund at saltcure fun.org
and uh read up on all the good things that’s going on. Yeah. Thank you again for for being here. Thanks. Seriously so fun.
[clears throat] Absolutely. This has been the Taste Music Hear Food podcast show. I am your host Ed Porter. Thank you for being
here. If you do appreciate and like content like this, please like, comment,
and follow. Check us out. Until next time, peace.
