The Rake Magazine

To know thyself. . . .no less a mind than Socrates said it's important. And I agree.

For example, I'm a food writer but I am not Ruth Reichl or Calvin Trillin. Culinary trends don't rise and fall with my whims. And I've come to terms with this. OK, I'm working on coming to terms with it. But in any case, at least 90 percent of the time, I'm pretty clear about who I am.

Many restaurateurs struggle, however. Little Midwestern bistro chefs suddenly start thinking they're on par with Lupa and take to offering scrambled eggs with foie gras toast at $24 a plate. Successful coffeeshop owners decide to open three-tier dance clubs, or franchise their "original" concept in 37 little towns. In other words, they forget who they are. And the results are rarely good.

Take Big Buck. It was opened in Minnetonka a couple years ago by Jennifer Jackson and Eliot King -- the couple who brought you Prima, on 53rd and Lyndale in Minneapolis, and Three Fish on the perimeter of Lake Calhoun. Big Buck was supposed to be their "destination" spot: they were serving wild game -- elk and boar -- along with steamed mussels and something they called "roasted duck cigars." But within months, the critics shouted en masse: great hamburgers and grilled salmon; forget about the rest. It never caught on.

So recently, Jackson and Eliot did a very smart thing. They closed Big Buck -- quietly -- and replaced it with Prima-Minnetonka, a larger, full-bar rendition of the little Italian eatery, serving panninis, pastas, and a tasty little Caesar salad, along with wines in the $5-8 a glass range.

I want to be clear: these people are very, very good at putting together a nice, neighborhood meeting place. A restaurant where you can feel comfortable and well taken care of and get out for under $25 a head. Prima is a lovely little 55-seat bistro; and Three Fish is one of the most reasonably-priced nice seafood places around. But Jackson and King simply don't have the drawing power of a Tim McKee or a Stewart Woodman or an Alex Roberts -- all chef-owners whose reputations will cause people in St. Cloud or Red Wing to get into their cars and drive into town.

Score one for self-awareness. And as it turns out, the move probably was good for the Jackson/King duo financially, as well as in a personal growth sort of way. Their press release [curiously] reports that since the change to Prima, female diners are flocking to the Minnetonka location. And wine sales are way, way up.

I grew up in Minnetonka, actually. I've been acquainted with the housewifely lunching crowd in that area for more than 30 years. And no one understands better than I the way the wine flows over servings of butternut squash pasta with pine nuts and caramelized pears.

So I may not be Calvin Trillin -- yet -- but I know myself well enough that I'm aware running to Cub and Tonkadale Nursery, then ducking in for Happy Hour at Prima every afternoon, is not for me.

Darn! Shiraz Fireroasted Cuisine offers a terrific deal on Mondays and Tuesdays: order two entrees, and get a bottle of South African Mazulu Shiraz on the house. But I can't persuade my wife to go there with me because they don't have any vegetarian or seafood entrées -- just beef, lamb and chicken. Best bests on the menu include the beef and chicken kabobs and koubideh (ground meat kabobs), the lamb shank, and the bastani, Persian rosewater ice cream. 6042 Nicollet Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-861-5500.

Kung Gang San Korean Restaurant (the former Shilla, which was a lot easier to remember) has added a sushi bar - billed as Sushi World, plus a lunch buffet ($9.95) featuring mandoo (panfried dumplings), kimbop (Korean vegetarian sushi roll), kalbi (broiled short ribs), several varieties of kimchi, and more, plus a sampling of their sushi specialties. 694 N. Snelling Ave St. Paul (651) 645-2000.

OK, so you probably can't be a Food Network star, but you can be in the presence of an infamously uncensored one. Anthony Bourdain is coming to Solera on Tuesday, November 27, for an evening of Spanish wine and tapas, during which he will answer questions [beware!] and autograph copies of his new book, "No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach." There are a limited number of tickets available at $80 a pop. Click here, if you're so inclined.

Here's my theory: the brains behind Parasole Restaurant Holdings (owners of Manny's, Chino Latino, Good Earth, Muffuletta, Figlio, Salut, and Pittsburgh Blue; and originators of Oceanaire and Buca di Beppo) have buried enormous, powerful magnets beneath all their restaurants. Then they abducted the entire citizenry of our state, one by one, and implanted corresponding metal chips in our necks.

Now maybe I've just watched too many old episodes of the X-Files. But you have to admit, it would explain a lot.

I was at Pittsburgh Blue, the newest Parasole creation, last Saturday. And it was mobbed: mobbed in that can't-get-into-the-parking-lot, six-deep-at-the-bar sort of way. The food was good, tasty but definitely not arterial-cleansing. It was mammoth and meaty: salads heaped with bacon, huge hunks of beef, the best yellow corn I've ever tasted, though I'd bet my next paycheck it was swimming in heavy cream. People were -- literally -- eating it up.

The same thing happened when Salut opened in 2005: I remember walking in one night and asking for a table, to which the young host gave a snort. "How's a week from Thursday?" she asked before disappearing again into the fray. It's still packed every night. And now, Parasole is planning to open a second one next spring, in the Milton Mall, across from J Crew on Grand Avenue in St. Paul. The restaurant will be about the same size as the one in Edina, but Salut St. Paul will sport a large, secluded patio, rather than having its outdoor dining streetside.

And the partners at Parasole are already thinking about the next Pittsburgh Blue location, too; less than three weeks after opening, PB Maple Grove is looking at a "run rate" (that's restaurant-speak for annual gross profit predictions, based on the average so far) of more than $7 million. It's a potential gold mine.

Phil Roberts, co-founder of Parasole, says they're scouting for locations like Maple Grove and Edina. "We're talking about the Chicago suburbs," Roberts told me. "Places like Northbrook. But Northbrook is just a metaphor for the kind of place we want: a high-income bedroom community.

In fact, Roberts is -- even as I write -- on his way to Honolulu, home to one of the biggest Buca di Beppos in the country (piles of pasta on the beach. . . .it doesn't sound right to me, but that's why I'm not a restaurant mogul) to shop for real estate. There's talk that Parasole will start doing "communities" of restaurants in particularly favorable locations.

Imagine: a Manny's, a Chino Latino, a Salut, and a Pittsburgh Blue all lined up like storefronts on Hawaii's white sands. Mark my words. Tourists will begin disappearing for a couple hours at a time and when they come back, they'll all have incisions just under the left ear and a rabid craving for bacon, steak, creamed corn, and red wine.

Italian cuisine is scheduled for a six-round culinary bout against Midwestern newcomer Canyon Grille October 4 in Eden Prairie, in what is billed as an Italian Wine Dinner, and we are predicting a knockout. After the Champagne reception and passed tapas (Round 1), and a salad course of haricots verts and tomato tartare (Round 2), the Italian culinary tradition will face a heavy pounding in Round 3, when the Canyon Grille will dish up a course of pork tenderloin stuffed with sweet basil, smoked ham, aged Swiss cheese and asparagus, wrapped in apple-smoked bacon and served with pancetta pasta.

I don't think Italian cucina has ever met an opponent like this before - back in Italy, fine dining usually proceeds in small courses from antipasti to pasta, with perhaps a small fish course and a small meat course, salad and dolci - dessert.

Next comes cheese tortellini tossed with pork osso bucco. The little Italian guy won't even know what hit him - in Italy, osso bucco is a veal shank, prized for its marrow. Pork instead? Okay, but if they toss tortellini with a pork shank, somebody could get hurt.
If the scrappy Italian answers the bell for Round 5, he'll be facing a Tuscan fennel crusted ribeye steak, served with "mascarpone mashed" (potatoes?) and eggplant Parmesan. If that isn't enough to drop him to the canvas, you can expect the Berry-misu dessert to deliver the coup de grace. Or maybe that will arrive with the bill - $85 per person, plus tax and 17 percent tip - adding up to over $100. That does include wine with every course - and there should be enough leftovers to fill a good-sized doggy bag.

For reservations, call 952-767-4000.