Krik's Picks

The Chambers Hotel opened recently at 9 th and Hennepin in downtown Minneapolis . It bills itself as an art hotel. Chambers Kitchen is the hot, new restaurant in town that’s attracting a lot of attention and a lot of buzz. It’s the brain-child of Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten , specializing in Asian fusion. My wife and I chose it for my birthday dinner at the end of my Thanksgiving week vacation . Arriving at the Chambers is an experience. You can come into the lobby bar from an entrance on Hennepin Ave. , or you come into the hotel lobby if you use the valet parking service on 9 th Street . Either way, you enter a bright, open, and welcoming space. The hotel lobby and the lobby bar fuse seamlessly. In fact, the check-in desk for the hotel is slightly hidden between two white pillars. I suppose the owners of Chambers would object to me calling it a ‘lobby bar.’ They refer to it as a lounge and casual café. We had a few minutes before our reservation, so we asked to see the a...

For Thanksgiving this year, I volunteered to bring dinner rolls and a vegetarian entrée. I figured since I was taking the week off, I would have all day on Wednesday to do the cooking. I got the recipe for the dinner rolls from the New York Times Dining & Wine section online – Wheat & Cornmeal Cheese Rolls. It sounded interesting and calls for fresh sage. Since I still have sage in the garden, I couldn’t resist trying the recipe. Here are a couple of observations. First, this dough is very sticky when kneading it. I’ve had similar experience with other bread dough that uses cooked cornmeal as an ingredient with the yeast and wheat flour. I kneaded in way more white flour than the recipe calls for, and it still was sticky when I put it in the bowl for raising. However, after raising, the dough was nice and soft and not too hard to work with. Secondly, as noted, I made the rolls on Wednesday, then I stored them in plastic bags for transport to my sister’s house for...

(From NYTimes, Nov. 15, 2006) 1½ c. milk 1/3 c. stone-ground cornmeal 1½ teaspoon salt 1 packet active dry yeast ¼ c. maple syrup 1½ c. whole wheat flour 1½ c. all-purpose flour 3 tablespoons melted butter 6 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded, or 8 ounces soft fresh goat cheese 2 teaspoons minced sage leaves Scald milk in 1-qt. saucepan. Stir in cornmeal, mixing constantly, and cook over medium heat about 5 minutes until thickened. Add salt and transfer to large mixing bowl. Place yeast in a bowl and add ½ c. warm water. When cornmeal is no longer hot, stir in the yeast and syrup. Mix in whole wheat flour and then 1 c. all-purpose flour, half a cup at a time, until a soft dough forms. Knead about 8 minutes, adding most of remaining flour. Dough should be elastic and a bit sticky. Coat a bowl with some melted butter, place dough in bowl, turn so buttered side is up, cover loosely, and allow to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down dough and...

2 red peppers, cored and cut into 1-inch wide strips 2 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1-inch cubes 2 summer squash, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1-inch cubes 4 cremini mushrooms, halved 1 yellow onion, peeled and sliced into 1-inch strips 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon salt, divided 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided 1 tablespoon dried Italian herb mix or herbs de Provence 1 pound penne pasta 3 cups marinara sauce (store bought or homemade) 1 cup grated fontina cheese 1/2 cup grated smoked mozzarella 1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus 1/3 cup for topping 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. On a baking sheet, toss the peppers, zucchini, squash, mushrooms, and onions with olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and dried herbs. Roast until tender, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook for ...

I got an interesting phone call from a friend of mine a few weeks ago. She’s known me my whole career. In fact, she hired me for my first job after college. She called after she read my blog and had some observations about it. “I see you’ve got a new name,” she said. I didn’t know what she meant. At first, I thought she meant my username: SPKrikava. But when I tried to clarify, she said, “No, not that. I see you’re going by ‘Krik’ now.” “Oh,” I said, finally understanding what was behind her comment. “You’re right. I am re-branding myself. But Krik is a ‘heritage’ brand, not a new name.” In fact, I went by Krik all the way through high school. I checked my senior yearbook, just to make sure I remembered it correctly. It seems that only the guys called me Krik. Most of the girls who wrote in my yearbook called me Steve. A few called me Steven. One, quite inexplicably, called me Stevie. (If there’s any reason why, I sure can’t remember it now.) During my colleg...

I’m writing this at the beginning of Thanksgiving week. I’m taking the week off, which really means three days of vacation because the office is closed on Thanksgiving day and the following Friday. It’s a big week for me. At the end of it, on Saturday, I celebrate my 55 th birthday. So I’m taking time off to just relax, take time to do some fun activities, do some cooking, go to a few restaurants, and, of course, spend time with family. Here’s what I did yesterday, on the first day of my vacation. First of all, we went to the University of Minnesota Minneapolis campus. My wife and I both graduated from the U of M, and we enjoy just going to campus from time to time to walk the campus and reminisce. As you may know, the Mississippi River flows by the campus. The East Bank campus is the main campus where we had most of our classes. The West Bank campus (connected by the Washington Avenue Bridge ) was the hippie, counter-culture hangout during the early ‘70s...

This hearty dish makes an ample amount of richly flavored white beans. Rather than serving the individual shanks as the entree and the beans as the side dish, consider stretching the meal by spooning the beans into shallow plates and shredding the meat over the top. From Barbara Kafka 's "Roasting" (William Morrow, 1995). Makes 4 to 8 servings 4 lamb shanks (1 to 11/4 pounds each), trimmed of visible fat 2 small onions, peeled 6 medium cloves garlic, peeled 1 cup water 2 pounds dried white beans, such as Great Northern or navy, soaked overnight in enough water to cover by 2 inches, then drained 1 bouquet garni (fashioned from a 2-inch sprig fresh rosemary, five 2-inch sprigs fresh oregano, six 2-inch sprigs fresh thyme and 1/2 dried bay leaf) 3 cups canned tomatoes with their juices, tomatoes chopped 1 cup red wine 2 cups chicken stock or broth About 2 teaspoons kosher salt Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven t...

In my October 18 post, I mentioned an experience at Cue at the Guthrie . While three of us at dinner that night enjoyed our meals, we all agreed that the service was mediocre at best, and one of our group was very dissatisfied with his meal. I went back to Cue later in October, this time for lunch. My brother and I try to have lunch together in between his birthday (mid October) and mine (late November). I suggested that we give it a try, and he was game. The modern, stylish décor of the restaurant works as well during the day as it does at night. At night, the lighting is all cool and dramatic. During the day, the floor-to-ceiling windows flood the dining room with light and reveal attractive views of the Mississippi river and the hip new development along the river. This was a birthday lunch, so we started with a glass of wine. We chose a Barbera d’Alba by Pio Cesare . We both started with the puréed white lentil soup with olive oil-baked croutons and heirloom tomato coulis. I...

Election Day this year was kind of unusual for me. For the past several years, I’ve hosted an Election Night party at our house. This year, business travel precluded me from putting on another party. I got up early, as I usually do on Tuesdays, and went to spinning class at the JCC from 6-7. Usually on a Tuesday, I go to the office from the ‘J.’ But this time, I went home instead and had breakfast. (Toasted challah , cheese, a pear, and coffee.) Then I went to the polls to vote. After voting, I went to the airport for a trip to Valencia , CA . Recently, my job has taken me to California more regularly. And I like California . But most of the time, I’m in Sacramento (see my September 11 posting) or the Central Valley . I rarely go to southern California , and honestly, I don’t really like the Los Angeles metro area. It’s too spread out and traffic is awful. It took me 45 minutes to get from the LA Airport to the Hyatt Valencia . Once I arrived, however, I have to admit – it...