The Rake Magazine

It's really good to see that Wolfgang Puck has jumped on the sustainable, humanely-raised, locally-grown bandwagon, but when he came to town last week to promote his new food policies, I couldn't resist asking him one tough question.

The Austrian-born chef's sprawling network of fine-dining restaurants, fast-casual outlets and catering operations around the country served some 10 million diners last year, so when a guy like Puck makes a well-publicized move towards humane and sustainable eating, it's likely to have a real impact.

The new program, created in partnership with the Humane Society of the United States, is called WELL (TM), which stands for Wolfgang's Eating, Loving and Living. (Catchy, huh?) The standards include using and serving only eggs from cage-free hens, serving only all-natural or organic crate-free pork and veal, and chicken and turkey from farms that comply with progressive animal welfare standards, serving only certified sustainable seafood, eliminating foie gras, and expanding the use of organic foods, and increasing vegetarian offerings.

The program hasn't required him to raise prices at his upscale restaurant, Puck said, because they already use a lot of sustainable, locally produced ingredients. At 20.21, the restaurant at the Walker Art Center that Puck operates, the kitchen has already been serving local meats and produce, including pork from Fischer Purebred Hogs near Waseca, and poultry from Wild Acres near Pequot Lakes. But at his fast-food restaurants, he has had to raise some prices by 10 percent or so.

Still, Puck volunteered that Americans need to eat less – and that they could eat less, and spend less at his restaurants by ordering dishes to share. "I would much rather that they come twice a week and spend $40 than come once and spend $80."

So far, so good, but I had to ask: If people really want to eat locally and sustainably, shouldn't they avoid restaurants owned by big national companies like Puck's, and patronize locally owned businesses?

The question seemed to catch Puck a bit off-guard. "I think that's stupid," Puck replied. "Why exclude somebody if they do the right thing? We do something for the city, so the city supports us. I think it makes everybody better. If there is more competition it makes everybody work harder and think twice about what to serve. If you only had a local scene, it would make everybody stagnate. We are a country of different origins different cultures and that's what makes it exciting."

I mentioned the Cheesecake Factory, and the other national chain operators at Southdale as example of big chain restaurants that take millions of dollars away from locally-owned independent restaurants, but Puck didn't buy it:

It is true, but we are a free country. "There is a reason why people go to the Cheesecake Factory. If I lose a customer, there's a reason. They might get a better deal there. The food might be better. The service might be better. The environment might be better." If the small operations want to stay in business, says Puck, they have to innovate. "You cannot today just have a little restaurant and keep it going and going like it used to be. People today are fickle; they want new things."

True story.

Back in the mid-90's, my friend M. got married. I didn't much like the guy -- he was shifty and weird -- and for his bachelor party, his "friends" took him to a club downtown, where an exotic dancer slid her way across the bar, presented her spangled G-string to accept his $100 bill, and whispered in his ear that he was the hottest guy there (I assure you, he was not). Why do I know this? Because he was so proud he told everyone, including his wife-to-be.

A year later, M. noticed money was disappearing from their joint accounts. I mean pouring out. At first, she thought her husband had a drug habit. No. He was back at that joint where the dancer -- Trudy, he knew her quite well by now -- would tell him almost nightly what a studly man he was. It helped him feel confident, he explained to M. The attention he received from Trudy was good for their married sex life, he insisted.

Now, imagine if he'd been able to say, "Honey, I'm only going for the food -- this place has the most amazing steaks. Why don't you come with me next time? You'll love their Cobb Salad." M. and her husband might still be married today!

Someone finally caught on to this; the day when you can get a lap dance along with a juicy sirloin has arrived. Just as Playboy runs breakthrough interviews and short stories by the likes of Joyce Carol Oates among the cheesecake photos of women touching one another in forbidden places, savvy upscale adult entertainment purveyors, such as the Penthouse in Manhattan, are incorporating haute cuisine. Locally, Schiek's Palace Royale -- easily the classiest, most upscale strip club in town -- is opening a high-end restaurant called The Kitchen, where restaurant owner Mike Stone promises to serve steaks on par with Manny's and seafood akin to that at Oceanaire.

"Our clientele is upper middle-class and higher," Stone says. "They're spending $15 on a single cocktail. Weekdays, we get mostly business travelers with corporate American Express cards. These are people who can afford really good food."

For years, Schiek's has allowed customers to bring food in from downtown restaurants, then charged $20 to $50 (depending, Vegas-style, on how "good" the customer who was asking) to heat and plate it. But when new owners took over recently -- VCG Holdings, a group out of Denver that has more than 20 high-end gentlemen's clubs throughout the U.S. -- they decided it made more sense to keep, um, satisfied patrons right on-site. So they approached Stone, the man behind Stone's Restaurant and Lounge in Stillwater, and asked him to be their Minneapolis partner.

Stone recruited chef Stephanie Hedrick, formerly of The Independent and Pi Bar and Restaurant, to oversee the kitchen. And what a smart move! Because according to stats compiled by Schiek's, FORTY PERCENT of their customer base is made up of couples. And not just curiosity-seekers; these are men and women who return, together, over and over again.

Hedrick has put together a menu of upscale American classics, with a heavy focus on steak (a 42-ounce Porterhouse, Kobe beef hamburgers, thick-cut pork chops), grilled fish and seafood, hefty dinner salads, and big shareable desserts. Something for everyone.

"Look, I have no delusions," Stone says. "We're never going to be a great destination restaurant that happens to have adult entertainment. We're always going to be a premier gentlemen's club that serves dinner. But the food component has many elements, and one of them is enablement. If someone really wants to go to the strip club and check it out, they can say, 'Hey, I read about this goofy restaurant at Schiek's that's supposed to have great steaks. Let's give it a try.'"

The Kitchen will open for business November 2. Call 612-341-0054 for a reservation.

The real test of a chef's talent isn't what they can do with foie gras or fresh black truffles. Those ingredients can make any chef look good, and the less you do with them, the better. The real test is what you can do with more mundane ingredients like beets, brussel sprouts and beef short ribs.

By that standard, Stuart Woodman's work at Heidi's (named after his wife and co-chef) is impressive. An appetizer billed as beet variation 13 combines a beet sorbet with roasted beets, topped with fennel and shallots, scented with juniper. The originality of the combination commands your attention, and then the subtlety of the flavors rewards it. Another appetizer, seared ahi tuna, breathes new life into the most over-exposed ingredient currently to be found on local menus: Woodman serves it over a thin slice of marinated roasted eggplant, and tops the fish with fried leeks, creating a delightful interplay of textures.
Woodman built his reputation at two high-end restaurants, Restaurant Levain and Five, both now out of business. Heidi's, in the former Pane Vino Dolce space, is a much more modest venture, with minimal decor, and entrees priced from $9-$19. You can get a decent glass of wine for as little as $5 (a rarity nowadays), though the list of wines by the bottle ranges all the way up to $109, for a 2005 Justin Isosceles Paso Robles.

My favorite dining companion, who doesn't eat meat, was delighted to find four acceptable options on the entree list: barramundi in a mussel broth; steamed halibut with kale, artichokes and fingerling potatoes; turnip ravioli with brown butter and pea greens; and (her choice) a vegetarian bolognese with firm, al dente pappardelle and an intensely flavorful mushroom chard sauce.

Lots of restaurants serve a pretty standard version of the molten chocolate cake, but Heidi's version (actually made by Heidi, unless I miss my guess) adds a flavorful seasonal twist: a hint of gingerbread spice.

My only gripe is about the decibel level. I only went to Pane Vino Dolce once, though I liked the food, because I found the decibel level painfully loud - like being trapped inside a steel drum. It's much better at Heidi's, but there is still room for improvement.

Heidi's Minneapolis, 819 W. 50th St., Minneapolis, 612-354-3512.

I got this sinking feeling the other day when I drove past one of my favorite Chinese restaurants, the former Yummy at 25th and Nicollet, and discovered a new sign above the door. The sign said Relax, which made me worry that the place had been turned into a sauna/ massage parlor, until I read the rest of the sign, which promises Exotic Chinese Cuisine. My doubts returned when I saw the restaurant's new menu, whose cover promises authentic Chinese cuisine, but features two hula girls in grass skirts and bikini tops (actually, one wore only a lei), undulating under palm trees. Has Yummy gone Polynesian? Will I find pu-pu platter on the menu?

Luckily, it turns out that not much has really changed. Employees told me that the former owner, Mr. Chang, moved to Florida and sold the restaurant to his head chef, Jackson Liu. The menu has added a few new dishes, not including a pu-pu platter, but it's basically the same as when the restaurant was Yummy. The food has actually improved, the employees insisted: the new owner has hired a professional dim sum chef from New York, whereas Mr. Chang used to make the dim sum himself. I tried a few of the dim sum yesterday for lunch (they're available every day, but the selection is bigger on weekends), and I don't know if they are any better than before, but they were quite good, and very reasonably priced.

My guess is, Ryan Aberle dreams of someday running a restaurant like Grant Achatz's Alinea in Chicago, or Thomas Keller's Per Se in Manhattan. For the time being, though, he's the executive chef at North Coast in Wayzata. During the summer months, Aberle runs a high volume feeding operation, turning out Thai chicken wraps and bacon cheeseburgers and Caesar salads for the crowds that pack the dockside patio.

When the leaves start to fall, and the crowds thin out, Aberle gets a chance to do something a bit more creative. He has already pushed his dinner menu about as far as a menu at a dockside restaurant can go, with dishes like Moroccan spiced rack of lamb, and Kobe beef short ribs braised in Guinness. But it's his five-course tasting menu that really gives him a chance to show off his talent.

The prix fixe offerings change every couple of weeks, but recent offerings have included starters of juniper-scented Kumamoto oysters with apple-smoked King salmon and yuzu beurre blanc or a lavender braised Angus beef cheek with Stilton and Yukon potato croquette and herb-poached cherries. Last week's menu, which I tasted, started with a salad of mache with sesame dressing and duck prosciutto, accompanied by a crispy tempura-fried poached egg and a wedge of Cabrales cheese with honey, followed by a vanilla-scented squash and lobster bisque. These were followed by a lamb chop with spiced figs and a pickled fennel and onion slaw, and then braised boneless beef short rib with horseradish spaetzle, and a sweet and sour finale of mango poached in black vinegar with coconut ice cream and a butterscotch pudding.

Not every course was as memorable as the first, but the overall batting average was pretty high, and it's hard to beat the price: $35 for five courses, ($29 on Sundays), plus $20 for the optional flight of four 4-oz. glasses of wines (decent, not great) to accompany the first four courses. The new menu, which starts today, starts with kobe beef shabu-shabu, followed by monkfish Benedict, Tallegio "eclairs" and a pheasant confit cake with pumpkin coffee gnocchi and a spiced poached crab apple with hazelnut cream.

The cuisine may be haute, but the setting and service are more casual - a long bar in the center of the dining room is ringed with at least 10 large flat-screen TVs, mostly tuned to sports channels, which creates an atmosphere a bit less refined than, say, the dining room at Cosmos or D'Amico Cucina. And our young server was friendly and attentive, but not as polished as her counterparts at other restaurants that attempt cuisine of this caliber.

A six course $85 wine dinner featuring the wines of Cakebread Cellars on Friday, November 2 is sold out, but there are still a few places left for the second dinner on Saturday, November 3.

North Coast, 294 E. Grove Lane, Wayzata, 952-475-4960.