The Rake Magazine

Over the weekend, John and I went to a new restaurant on Franklin and 24th called simply Himalayan. To be honest, we didn't have great expectations going in.

Our experience with Tibetan and Nepali food in town has been lukewarm at best. There's Everest on Grand, which is. . . .fine. And there used to be a place on Hennepin Avenue called Tibet's Corner that had wonderful, haunting music but food that tasted strange, Americanized, ketchup-y, and bland. (It was no surprise to us when it closed.)

Last month -- while in Madison, WI, with our son -- I ate at a modest but terrific little Nepali cafe called Himal Chuli and mourned the fact that such simple, clean, authentic ethnic fare had not found its way to the Twin Cities.

Well, now it has!

Himalayan is, perhaps, the most Spartan restaurant I've been inside in my adult life. There was zero investment in creating ambiance: no beaded curtains or pewter elephants or colored lights. This is a small, white box of a room with windows on only one side. There is a buffet table next to the cash register, a smattering of booths and tables, and a single photo of Mt. Everest on the wall.

Yet, it is comfortable. We chose a booth and settled in. There was a lovely, light scent of lamb and spices coming from the kitchen. We ordered two cups of Masala Chiya (spiced tea with milk) and appetizers.

We liked the Kathmandu Momo with meat ($6 for half a dozen), which were soft and savory. But even better were the Wo: lentil pancakes with ginger and fresh cilantro (a steal at four for $4.50). These reminded me of latkes -- only meatier, with flavors from the mountains rather than the steppes.

For our main course, we shared a platter of Choyala with chicken ($11.95), a platter of grilled-to-nearly-blackened meat with peppers, onions, and herbs, and an extra-spicy order of Aaloo Cauli ($9.95): stir-fried potatoes with cauliflower and peas in a rich red sauce. Both were served steaming -- which improves a spicy meal ten-fold for me -- with white rice. It was a cold, rainy night and this meal was filling and satisfying and hot.

Ours, however, was the only table in the place. And this is tragic.

While Himalayan won't win any David Shea design awards, it's exactly what we need in this town to diversify our ethnic food offerings. It's inexpensive and family-owned, serving the simple, traditional food of a region that gets short shrift. But it's also in a location (2401 E. Franklin Avenue) that has some sort of curse over it: restaurant after restaurant has failed to make a go in that spot. Don't let this one be another casualty on the list.

Just go. Now. Shake off that Chipotle habit. Whatever you're doing, stop, put on your shoes, pick up your wallet, and drive over to Seward with a mind to eat something more interesting and support a local businessman who wants nothing more than to make you a great meal.

Or, you can call: 612-332-0880. Himalayan also does takeout.

The Twin Cities' gastronomic bio-diversity seems to be concentrated in three main hot zones: Eat Street (Nicollet Ave.), with its mix of Mexican, Chinese, Vietnamese and German eateries; Central Avenue in northeast Minneapolis, where the blend is Indian, Mexican, Ecuadorian, and Middle Eastern; and University Avenue in Saint Paul, where Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian, and Thai restaurants predominate.

But another hot zone seems to be emerging — in recent months, several new ethic restaurants have opened up along East 38^th St. in south Minneapolis and on nearby streets. The former Jamaica Jamaica at 3761 Bloomington Ave. S. is now home to Marla's Caribbean Cuisine. It's a sister restaurant to the original Marla's at Lake and Emerson, but with a different menu — more Caribbean fare and fewer Indian dishes — except for those that have taken root in the East Indies. Marla Jadoonanan herself is now cooking at the new restaurant, and is keeping the Lake St. store open until she can find a buyer.

Some of the new Caribbean dishes on the menu — like the Callaloo, and the salt fish and ackee — are carry-overs from another family restaurant. Marla happens to be the sister of Harry Singh, who has been dishing out Trinidad-style West Indian cuisine at Harry Singh's Original Caribbean Restaurant in various locations for the last three decades. Fans of New Orleans gumbo will love the callaloo, a savory and slimy stew of shrimp, spinach, okra, and spices. Many other favorites from Harry's menu are also featured, including Caribbean curries, Jamaican jerk, Caribbean-style fried rice and chow mein, and a big selection of roti wraps and parathas, stuffed with jerk or curried meats, fish, or vegetarian fillings

A few blocks down, the retro '50s diner at 1024 E. 38^th St. that cycled quickly through incarnations as Mary Eileen's Café and Mazzitello's Restaurant is now La Bahia Picanteria Restaurant. It's got a few tables and a tiny counter. The menu promises Spanish & Italian food, but it's really mostly Ecuadorian, with a little bit of everything else thrown in — a few spaghetti dishes, broasted chicken, buffalo chicken wings, a hamburger, and a burrito. Ecuadorian restaurants are popping up all over town — we now have Sabor Latino and Charly's Polleria in Northeast, Guayaquil and Los Andes on Lake Street. Ecuadorians make up a big part of the local restaurant workforce, or so I am told. La Bahia is small and unassuming, but the waitress and cook were friendly — and maybe a little surprised to see a non-Ecuadorian customer.

My churrasco ($10.50) was typical — a generous portion of thinly sliced grilled marinated top sirloin topped with a savory sauce of grilled onions, peppers, and carrots, accompanied by rice, seasoned French fries, two fried eggs, and half a ripe avocado. There is a lot more that I would like to try — the caldo de bolas — a stuffed plantain dumpling soup traditionally made with beef, that has an odd resemblance to matzo ball soup ($9.25); hornado (roast pork) served with mote (hominy) and llapingacho (fried mashed potatoes with cheese) ($9.25); and ceviche de camarones ($8.25) — a shrimp cocktail marinated with onions, tomatoes and lime. Weekend specials include cows foot soup, catfish soup, and morcilla a la brasa, a grilled homemade Ecuadorian sausage, stuffed with rice and veggies ($9.50).

Not too far away, at 4157 Cedar Ave. S., the former Paradise Pastry Shop is now the Lucuma Bakery & Deli, offering a unique combination of Peruvian, Colombian, and Mexican cuisine. The selection of baked goods in the pastry case looked a bit forlorn, but there is lots to explore on the menu. Breakfast options include Mexican and Peruvian tamales, or chorizo sausage with arepas (Colombian corn cakes.) I haven't tried any of the Mexican burritos, quesadillas, chimichangas, etc., but I can recommend the Peruvian seco de carne ($8.50), chunks of beef in a very savory cilantro and spinach sauce, served with steamed rice. There's lots more that sounds interesting, including the carapulcra, sundried tomatoes in a Peruvian aji salsa ($9.50), and the cau cau, a beef tripe stew with hierba buena sauce ($9.50).

Back in January, I submitted a blog called Sex and the Fat Man that was about my forthcoming novel in which a large hero has a lot of quality sex and fesenjoon -- the dish over which he and the lady with whom he has all that great sex fall in love.

For the past four months, Sex and the Fat Man has remained in the top 10 most popular daily blogs. NOT, I'm sorry to say, because the world is so breathlessly awaiting my new novel that people are crawling the Web to find information. Nor because the eating public is rife with fesenjoon fanatics who were swooning over my description of the version served at Shiraz Fireroasted Cuisine.

No, the only reason my blog rates hundreds of hits a day is because it begins with the word "sex." So I want to be totally up front here: there is no sex in my story today. No allusions to sex. No hints of sex. Just fesenjoon.

I was lunching at Atlas Grill & Clubroom yesterday when Gholam-Abbas Shahbazi, the head chef whom everyone calls simply "Abbas," wandered through. I asked if Abbas would be willing to make me fesenjoon some time. And he said, "It's on the menu! Only I call it pomegranate-walnut chicken; otherwise, no one would know what it was." It was Americanized, he admitted. But I know Abbas and whatever he makes tends to be good, so I decided to give it a try.

The meal that arrived was deconstructed fesenjoon. Typically, this dish is like stew made of chopped chicken, pomegranate juice, carmelized onions, crushed walnuts, and citron, served over rice. Here, however, the chicken was two boneless breasts topped with a thick gravy of pomegranate and walnuts. The rice (basmati, perfectly cooked) was mounded to the side and topped with citron. There were vegetables garnishing the plate.

And it was fabulous.

Meaty, sweet, plummy with pomegranate sauce and that brickle-ish hint from the salty nuts. Lighter than the standard typically served in the Middle East, the Atlas take on fesenjoon is ideal for lunch. And this was fortunate, because after my dining companion and I had finished, Abbas suddenly appeared with a dish of homemade ice cream.

I'm not an ice cream eater. First of all, it's too cold (makes my teeth hurt) and sweet. For me, it's all about salt, wine, and coffee. But in order to be polite, I took a spoonful and my mouth filled with a difficult but wonderful taste. This was rosewater, saffron, and pistachio -- a triangle of red, yellow, and green. And it took full moments to wait out each flavor: the rose so strong it was like a fairytale (then the princess began to sing and rose petals streamed from her lips), the saffron delicate -- vanilla with spice -- and the pistachios whole and satisfyingly crunchy at the end.

It wasn't as good as sex. I'll give you that. But it was close.

I bellied up to the bar at Vincent A Restaurant yesterday evening, and started to dig into what has to rate as the best happy hour deal in town: tap beers and wines by the glass for $3, appetizers for $3.50-$4, and the Vincent burger, stuffed with braised short rib for $8 (regularly $12.75). The happy hour, or heures joyeuses, runs Monday to Friday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

I ordered Joe's Potato Hot Dish, a small cast-iron kettle filled with baby fingerling potatoes in a creamy chorizo and melted cheddar sauce ($3.50), and a socca, a thin chickpea pancake filled with shrimp, chorizo salami, parmesan and chevre ($4), washed down with a glass of Aramis Tannat-Cabernet blend.

Halfway through this little feast, up walks Vincent, with only one arm visible, making the rounds of the tables in the bar. It turns out he recently broke his collarbone in a bike accident, so his usefulness in the kitchen is limited. I started grilling him about restaurant news, and learned that Vincent plans to open a patio on the Nicollet mall by Memorial Day weekend, if the gods and city inspectors approve. Francoual still plans to compete in a triathlon in Paris in June, and in his annual team triathlon ride in support of Fraser, a local non-profit that serves special needs children and adults, in July.

This Thursday, as part of his Minnesota Chef Series, he's teaming up with a young chef, Justin Schoville, from a hot new restaurant in Rochester called Sontes. Schoville will lead off with courses of octopus crumb cake with citrus, spiced cocoa and mint; and monkfish cheeks a la plancha, while Francoual will dish up the last two courses, a duo of roasted rabbit loin and rabbit shoulder; and a citrus tart with lemon sabayon. Cost is $60 all inclusive without wine, or $80 with wines. Call the restaurant at 612-630-1189 for reservations.

I was already pretty well stuffed when Vincent sent over another dish for me to try - a half order of his stuffed pig trotters appetizer ($12.75). The pigs feet are cooked "sous vide" (in a vacuum pouch at very low temperature) for 24 hours, and then combined into a forcemeat with ground pork, and served over cannelini beans with a quail egg, sunny-side up, and a subtle hint of aromatic black truffle sauce. Magnifique!

There's lots more on the happy hour I would like to try, including the flat bread topped with smoked chicken, carmelized onions, blue cheese and red grapes; the breaded fried walleye fingers (which looked irresistible from a distance), and the seared chicken morsels marinated in coconut milk.

Even body sushi couldn't save Temple. I can't say I was really surprised by today's news, reported by WCCO, that Temple Restaurant and Bar has closed - it's a tough market these days. I only made it to Tom Pham's Asian Fusion restaurant a couple of times in the one-and-a-half years that it was open, but I found it gastronomically underwhelming, and overpriced. Visually, the restaurant was stunning, but the cuisine wasn't really the cutting edge fusion that it claimed to be - more gimmicky than inventive. My favorites for Asian fusion are Cafe BonXai, and Ngon Vietnamese Bistro, both of which offer imaginative Asian fusion cuisine at very reasonable prices.

Speaking of over-priced, I have been stunned lately by some of the prices I have run into for wines by the glass. Recently, at B.A.N.K., in the Westin Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, when I requested the wine list, my waitress tried to steer me towards the Duck Pond Pinot Noir - for $18 a glass. I scoured the list for something more affordable, and settled on one of the cheapest glasses - a Woop Woop Australian Shiraz for $14. It's a very drinkable Australian wine of no great distinction that usually sells for about $8-$10 retail, and I've seen it on local restaurant lists for about $6-$7 a glass. B.A.N.K. does offer a big pour, but still...

Also recently at Bellanotte. Carol asked for a glass of Cabernet without checking the price, and got a bit of sticker shock when the bill arrived - around $14.50 including tax. She didn't note the label, (I think it must have been Dynamite Vineyards, a bottle that sells for around $15 retail, and Bellanotte marks up to $50). She recalls it as a nice wine, but, still felt a little sticker shock. Maybe a price like that ought to come with a warning.

Gotta run, but check back tomorrow - I'll have some tips on more affordable dining.