The Spoon and Trowel

Locally Grown or Locally Made? How local is local enough?

The Spoon and Trowel — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:04:30 +0000

Eating local is important to me: it improves the quality of the food I eat, it puts me in touch with the seasons, and it keeps my food dollars in the local economy. But sometimes, I find myself on what you might call an eating tangent. I’ll be strolling through the Brooklyn Flea or a specialty store and see locally...

An Accidental Radical

The Spoon and Trowel — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:07:30 +0000

The dinner table of my Minnesota childhood was not a place for making statements. Some nights we had spaghetti with Prego sauce and a salad; other nights we had Shake ‘n Bake chicken, or tacos, maybe a roast from the Crock Pot. There was always at least one fruit or vegetable...

What’s Local: Wild Rice Burger at Common Roots Café

The Spoon and Trowel — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:43:29 +0000

When people think of Minnesotan foods, they often think of lutefisk, foods-on-a-stick at the State Fair, and the infamous “hot dish” (that’s casserole to the rest of you). But Minnesota’s food culture began long before both the State Fair and the waves of Scandinavian settlers arrived in the 1850s. In...

What's Seasonal: Cocktails at Back Forty

The Spoon and Trowel — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:55:32 +0000

Eating seasonally isn’t just trendy—for much of history, it was a way of life. Before refrigeration and widespread shipping, people ate whatever was growing within traveling distance of their homes. During the winter months, they depended on the kinds of food that could be preserved. They salted pork, kept root vegetables in the cellar, and they used alcohol. Lots...

Turkey Dealers: When butchers disappeared, did restaurants fill the void?

The Spoon and Trowel — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 04:50:35 +0000

We’ve all heard what it was like in years gone by: you bought your meat from the local butcher one cut at a time, carefully wrapped in paper by hands as thick as steaks. But as American cooking habits changed (to involve, generally, less cooking) butcher shops have disappeared across the...

Dinner from the Heartland: Fine dining meets local food market in downtown St. Paul

The Spoon and Trowel — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 03:36:56 +0000

Living in New York City, it’s easy to get lulled into thinking that NYC is the center of the food universe. Of course, we do have some of the best restaurants in the world here, but it’s a mistake to think that the rest of the country is full of culinary bumpkins who survive on Budweiser and Hot Pockets. Beyond...

Fall Into a Local Brew: Seasonal craft beers from across the country

The Spoon and Trowel — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:33:22 +0000

As we’ve written here before, local beer is just the greatest. It’s one thing that everyone from Nixon-loving Grandpa Joe to Wall Street Occupying Cousin Janie can agree on: local brews are best. As we carve our yearly pumpkins and Christmas lights start appearing in drug stores, let’s take a quick tour around the country for some seasonal craft beers...

Egg Restaurant and Goatfell Farm: A farm feeds a restaurant in more ways than one

The Spoon and Trowel — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 02:42:23 +0000

Egg in Williamsburg is also known as “the place you have to wait for brunch even if you go at 10:30am on a Thursday.” The small restaurant serves Southern-influenced breakfast and lunch seven days a week, and lines during peak hours on weekends can border on ridiculous. Why all the fuss...

Farm Camp: Learn the ins and outs of farming with Flying Pigs Farm

The Spoon and Trowel — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:32:51 +0000

We all know why farms are great: they grow our food, they’re beautiful, and the people who work on them know a lot of stuff. And let’s take a second to remember what we loved about camp: getting out of the city, meeting new people who are kind of like us but also a...

Dine Out Irene: Make a reservation, help a farmer

The Spoon and Trowel — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 03:30:25 +0000

If you follow either food or weather news, you’ll know that while Hurricane Irene blew over New York City without much fanfare, it devastated farmland...