The Rake Magazine

My recent posting about Sauced, the new neighborhood bistro in north Minneapolis brought some enthusiastic comments from neighbors, and a slightly disgruntled note from Mick Brogan, owner of the nearby Papa's Pizza & Pasta.

"We have been on the corner of 42nd and Thomas for 3 years and are still the best kept secret in Minneapolis. We offer East Coast Italian American cuisine and have quite the following. However getting the word out that we are here is a full time job. When you mention other restaurants in the area and not us it sure doesn't help. We offer food and service that is 2nd to none .... Stop by sometime and see what we have to offer."

So, let me apologize for the oversight. I did visit Papa's Pizza and Pasta three years ago, and I liked it a lot. It's your basic, no frills mom and pop pizzeria. These kinds of places used to be staples in every neighborhood a generation ago, but the relentless march of the Pizza Huts and Dominos have driven them to the edge of distinction. Locally - I can only think of Jakeeno's, Dulono's and the Pizza Shack, but I am sure that disgruntled pizzeria owners will remind me of a few more.

At the time. Papa's seemed to be facing an enormous uphill struggle. The average lifespan of a north Minneapolis restaurant seems to be under a year, and Pizza Papa's had had a couple of incidents of vandalism - the big glass windows had been smashed a couple of times.

I stopped back last night and ordered the spaghetti with meatballs, a classic rendition, served in a generous portion with garlic bread and four meatballs for $10.59. And I took home a 16" pizza deluxe, topped with sausage, pepperoni, onions, green peppers and mushrooms - big enough to serve four for $17.49. (Smaller pies are available, but this is the best value.) Both were first-rate. This is authentic East Coast Italian-American - just like in New Jersey - there is even a little tribute to Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack on the walls. A full lineup of hoagies and sandwiches is also available, plus a decent low-end wine list.

Three years later, Papa's Pizza seems to be thriving. There's a nice little sidewalk patio in front of the restaurant, and the Brogans recently added a deli, offering everything from fresh Italian sausage, imported cheeses, pasta and olive oil to bread, snacks and Italian gelato - the only deli of its kind for miles around.

The nice thing about this neighborhood mom-and-pop pizzeria is that this mom and pop really do try to be part of the neighborhood. Kris Brogan - Mick's wife, is on the Victory Neighborhood Livability Committee, and the Brogans are big supporters of the nearby Workhouse Theater. There were two signs in their window for neighborhood events this Saturday - a Victory Neighborhood Spring Cleaning and Greening Day (meet at the Victory Neighborhood Association offices, 2200 44^th Ave. N., 612-529-9558 at 9 a.m.), and a neighborhood tour of houses for sale (call 612-581-9308.)

Carol and I got really lucky last night. We were on our way back to the Cities from visiting her folks on the farm, not too far from Decorah, when we decided to stop for dinner in Rochester. I wanted to check out Söntés, the new tapas bar and restaurant at 4 3rd St. SW, 507-292-1628. The lucky part was, ordinarily, Söntés isn’t open on Sundays, but they made an exception for Mothers Day. And the food itself was really delightful. We had been munching Fritos all the way from Protivin, so we didn’t order a lot – just a salad and a few of the small tapas plates.

Each of the dishes we sampled was a playful and imaginative combination of flavors – a salad of cherry tomatoes, green grapes, cherry tomatoes, watermelon balls, watermelon gelee, olive oil and black volcano salt ($7.50); a plate of fresh sashimi of New Zealand grouper, served with a light avocado mouse, ponzu jelly and just a dab of wasabi ($9); three succulent diver scallops in a savory chocolate sauce, served over caramelized shallots and topped with shreds of sliced fennel ($12), and a light and refreshing salad of squid, tossed with marinated fennel, sections of fresh orange, smoky Spanish chorizo and Arbaquena olives ($6). Presentation was artful without being fussy, and service was prompt and friendly.

There is a lot more on the menu I would like to try: thin-crust Neapolitan pies (i.e., pizzas) topped with everything from organic chicken tikka masala to grilled pears, Serrano ham and goat cheese ($12-$15); entrée-sized shared plates such as slow-roasted Scottish salmon with wild ramps and fennel ($22) and an impressive list of artisan cheeses.

Ordinarily, we don’t dine out much in Iowa, because my mother-in-law, Elmarie, is such a great cook, but yesterday being Mothers’ Day, she agreed to let us take her out to brunch at the Dayton House Café, 516 W. Water St., Decorah, 563-382-9683. It’s a charming little storefront next door to the Vesterheim Norwegian Heritage Museum, with a Sunday brunch is a la carte, with everything $8 or less. I had the mothers’ day special, a savory seafood strata, but got to nibble a bit on some of the other specials – a Nordic interpretation of eggs Benedict, made with seared salmon and poached eggs, topped with a lemon dill sauce ($8), and some simple but delicious ricotta pancakes, served with lingonberry sauce. I would love to go back sometime and sample the dinner menu (served Wednesdays through Saturdays) – the focus is on seafood, with offerings like a seafood martini ($7), cod and clams in a butter sauce ($15), and a fresh fish of the day. The lunch menu has a few Norwegian specialties – open-face smorbrod sandwiches, varme polser (hot dogs wrapped in lefse), and several Norwegian desserts: krumkake, rommegrot (cream pudding) and sandbakkels (shortbread filled with whipped cream and berries.) No wine or beer, but guests are allowed to bring their own bottle, for a small corkage fee.

There is one other restaurant in Decorah I would love to try, if Elmarie ever decides to take a Saturday night off. With a 200 bottle wine list, and entrees like grilled Iowa pork chops with a spicy peach and corn salsa ($21) and bacon-wrapped pheasant with lingonberry, leek and smoked bacon sauce ($24), Rubaiyat, 117 W. Water St., 563-382-9463, has to rank as the most ambitious restaurant in Northeastern Iowa.

I think we're all in agreement (aren't we?) that Mother's Day as it is currently practiced is by far the most commercial, needlessly costly, guilt-induding holiday of all time. For years, I've insisted it was begun by a consortium of greedy florists and greeting card manufacturers, and I've told my children. . . .please. . . .never to observe it.

Here's the truth, sappy as it sounds: Being a mother is a privilege every day. Even when it sucks. Even when you're punishing someone or cleaning puke out of the carpet or — and believe me, I know whereof I speak — picking up your little darling one after he or she has been caught doing something off limits by the local police. Doesn't matter. Being a mother is better than anything, and we don't need some utterly irrelevant day in May for children everywhere to stop and salute, sending flowers that cost 40 percent more than they would any other time of year and sitting through tedious, mediocre brunches where everyone eats too much.

How, I ask you, does that celebrate the miracle of motherhood?

But it turns out I was wrong about one thing (ONLY one, mind you): Mother's Day was not a product of Hallmark. Its roots go back to ancient Greece where people paid tribute to Rhea, the Mother of the Gods, each spring. Then in 1872, some weirdo named Julia Ward Howe -- who also wrote the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, which explains a lot -- suggested the idea of an actual, official Mother's Day. Something tells me if Howe were alive today, she'd be a rabid supporter of George W. Just a hunch. . . .

Still, even though the history goes way back and has to do with something cool like a Greek goddess, I'm still against any kind of celebration. Particularly the ones that involve everyone getting dressed up in pastel costumes and taking photographs in which babies are squeezed until they smile, then sitting down to some putrid multi-generational meal.

That said, if you MUST go out for Mother's Day -- and according to the restaurateurs I'm talking to who say this non-holiday is routinely their single biggest day of the year, many of you cannot quell the urge -- then try Morton's. At least they're doing something different. Something cool. Something outrageously expensive, but not in a scam-like way.

They're serving a prix fixe menu, priced at $59 per person, that includes a salad, a choice of entree (beef, salmon, shrimp, or chicken), a side dish, and a gooey dessert. Plus -- and this is the beauty part -- you can get Mom a champagne cocktail with a hibiscus flower in the bottom of the glass that ACTUALLY BLOOMS (their emphasis, not mine) as the champagne is poured over it. If you don't believe me, just see above. And this rare and delicate drink can be had for only $16.

Now, forget everything I said before. This is your mommy. C'mon. Doesn't she deserve a wet flower and a good hunk of meat?

I felt a twinge of nostalgia the other night when I stopped in for a bite at the Acadia Café, which recently moved from Franklin and Nicollet to Cedar and Riverside. Back in my college days – and for many years after, the space was home to the New Riverside Café, run by an anarchist collective. In the early years, there were no fixed prices – you were supposed to "Eat what you need, pay what you can afford." A sign invited customers to practice dishwashing yoga, and I did, once or twice. I remember great acoustic music, and a couple of slogans “No Meat, No Bosses” and “The Bio-Magnetic Center of the Universe.” That was a time of revolutionary dreams and great optimism. Gradually, most of that spirit faded away, and the New Riv finally closed because of money troubles in 1997.

But there was something about the Arcadia that evokes a little of that spirit – mostly, it’s the busy program of live original music ("no cover songs allowed". On Wednesday, when I stopped in, ace accordion player Dan Newton, leader of the Café Accordion Orchestra, had put together a program that started with him playing with Prairie Home Companion guitarist Pat Donohue at 9 p.m., followed by Orkestar Bez Ime playing Balkan Music at 10 p.m., and the Mill City Grinders, an old-time string band, at 11. (Dan and the Café Accordion Orchestra played at our wedding, so Carol and I are big fans.) We couldn’t stick around for the music, but I did have a first-rate Swiss and mushroom burger with skin-on fries ($7.25). A note on the menu says the beef comes from humanely raised animals. Carol’s appetizer order of fish and chips were a bit greasy, but still good enough to be enjoyable.

The food menu is pretty basic – burgers, nachos, cheese curds, hot and cold sandwiches, but the beer list is one of the best in the Twin Cities – 28 beers on tap, and another 40 in bottles, including some brews I have never seen before, like a Furthermore Knot Stock American Pale Ale from Spring Green, Wisconsin ($4 a pint), and a dozen bottled Belgian beers.

If you park in the ImPark lot behind Midwest Mountaineering, they'll validate your ticket for up to two hours on weekdays, or all day on weekends.

Acadia Cafe, 329 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis, 612-874-8702.

I'm of two minds about street food.

Personally, I find it unsatisfying. I don't like to walk and eat (too messy!), and I hate the taste of wooden sticks and skewers. Yet, there's something about a bustling city street dotted with steaming food stands and vendors that makes me happy. I'll take a stroll the crowd, even if I'm not moved to stop and nosh.

But I'm well aware there are diehard fans of hotdogs in waxed cardboard boats, streetside falafel, and chili-roasted nuts served in canny little paper cones. In fact, the great Calvin Trillin made his mark as a food writer by sniffing out the best little stands from Singapore to New York.

If you're one of Trillin's minions, you're in luck. Because not only is tomorrow (Thursday, May 8) the opening day of MOSAIC Marketplace on the Nicollet Mall, it's actually supposed to be intermittently sunny outside. And — get this — so far as anyone can tell, it isn't going to snow!

Every Thursday from 12 - 5 p.m., these local restaurants will be cooking up global fare:

Manny's Tortas
La Loma Tamales
Pham's Deli &
Holy Land

And there will be live entertainment, too. Tomorrow will be a crisp 64-degree day with a gentle northeastern breeze, plus a troupe of Celtic dancers jigging and reeling their way up and down the mall. Here's the full schedule of acts:

May 8 - St. Paul Irish Dancers
May 15 - Tapestry Folkdance
May 22 - Jawaahir Middle Eastern Dancers
May 29 - UNL Dance Squad
June 5 - Mayan Dancers

Of course, Thursday is also Farmer's Market day on Nicollet, so after you're done eating, watching, and — perhaps — dancing along, you can pick up some fresh asparagus. What could be better than that?