
Carl Thorne-Thomsen
Restaurant Story (Read a review)
Location Prairie Village, KS
Why He’s Amazing Because he’s turning out incredible European-inspired dishes in a shopping center in suburban Kansas.
Culinary School Self-taught
Background 40 Sardines (Overland Park, KS); Michael Smith Restaurant, Extra Virgin (Kansas City, MO)
Quintessential Dish Lamb crepinette (lamb-tenderloin-and-sausage roulade) with cauliflower couscous
Former Career Writer: “Short stories, novels, plays, lots of fiction.”
How He Got into the Food Industry “There wasn’t any kind of light switch. I gradually became interested in food. My first job was in a gourmet food store/café/coffee bar and we did lunches. I was introduced to that shop because I bought ingredients there. I had a dream of opening [my own] simple little restaurant, and the dream never went away.”
Secret Indulgence “Kettle Chips. The plain one in the brown wrapper.”
Paul Berglund
Restaurant The Bachelor Farmer (Read a review)
Location Minneapolis, MN
Why He’s Amazing Because he’s redefining Nordic cooking in Minnesota with his sophisticated and modern treatment of its humble ingredients.
Culinary School Self-taught
Background Oliveto (Oakland, CA), Rustica Bakery (Minneapolis), Heartland Restaurant (St. Paul)
Quintessential Dish Poached eggs, braised celery root, savoy spinach and porcini whey
Heritage He was raised in St. Louis. “My father’s side is 100 percent Swedish.”
Former Career Officer in the US Navy
On the Bachelor Farmer “Our food is, first and foremost, representative of where we are, which is Minneapolis, the upper Midwest, but there’s a strong Nordic heritage here. [The food is] inspired by Nordic cooking but not necessarily attached to any hard and fast traditions.”
What He’d Be If He Wasn’t a Chef A park ranger
Thomas Boemer
Restaurant Corner Table (Read a review)
Location Minneapolis, MN
Why He’s Amazing Because he combines European techniques, Low-Country influences and prime Midwestern ingredients in clever ways.
Culinary School Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts (Mendota Heights, MN)
Background Hotel Sofitel, 20.21 (Minneapolis); Mandalay Bay, Mix (Las Vegas)
Quintessential Dish Pork belly with braised cabbage, apple puree and pickled watermelon rind
Hog Crazy Boemer uses Red Wattle and Berkshire hogs from southern Minnesota, going through a whole animal every two weeks.
Heartland Pride “I feel like the Midwest has a lot to contribute to the food culture as a whole. I’ve worked in the opulence of a Michelin-level restaurant. But the Midwest approach is very simple: [It’s] ‘I don’t need all that.’ There’s a Midwestern way that things are done, and that doesn’t have to mean steak and crappy burgers.”
Tim Dahl
Restaurant Nostrano (Read a review)
Location Madison, WI
Why He’s Amazing Because although he trained as a pastry chef, Dahl’s Italian-inflected savory dishes are spot-on.
Culinary School Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts (Mendota Heights, MN)
Background Blackbird, Avec, NoMI (Chicago)
Quintessential Dish Seafood brodetto in chile oil-spiked tomato broth
Local Produce Dahl planted a garden at his parents’ nearby business, a kids’ learning center.
On Learning the Value of Simplicity “I think as most chefs progress, they find that simplicity is where it’s at. I need three things on a plate, and that’s it. I think that when you’re younger and a little bit more inexperienced, you want to keep adding more and more and more because you think that’s going to make it better, when really that’s what’s holding you back.”
Mike DeCamp
Restaurant La Belle Vie (Read a review)
Location Minneapolis, MN
Why He’s Amazing Because of his playful and down-to-earth takes on high-end cuisine, which involve inspired techniques like microwaving foie gras for an appetizer with rhubarb and pickled raisins.
Culinary School Self-taught
Background D’Amico Cucina (Minneapolis), NoMI (Chicago)
Quintessential Dish Braised rabbit agnolotti with fava beans, pancetta, morels and mascarpone
Most Notable Feature His red goatee
How He Got into the Food Business “I started washing dishes in high school. It seemed like working in a kitchen was awesome.”
On Whole Animal Cooking “We use Au Bon Canard foie gras, so I think we should use the rest of the birds. So we have a duck breast on the menu and we use everything, down to the feet for stocks.”
Justin Haifley
Restaurant The Tavern (Read a review)
Location St. Louis, MO
Why He’s Amazing Because he’s brought upscale gastropub cooking (with a Hawaiian accent) to St. Louis.
Culinary School The Pennsylvania Institute of Culinary Arts (Pittsburgh)
Background MK, Tru (Chicago); Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine (Chicago, New York City, Hawaii and San Diego)
Quintessential Dish Char siu pork steak with pineapple-habanero salsa and fried-egg fried rice
Culinary Roots His grandmother was a food writer for Good Housekeeping magazine.
How He Fell in Love with Food “My grandma lived on a farm and she made everything from scratch. I always helped her out. Everything from canning to butchering was done there.”
On Roy Yamaguchi “The nicest guy in the world, so chill. I owe it all to Roy. He was a coach, an inspiration, as well as a listener, a mentor and a friend.”
What Makes the Tavern’s Steaks So Good “‘Meat butter,’ a compound butter made with lemon juice, lemon zest, shallots, fresh thyme and a little ground bay leaf, our secret ingredient.”
Thomas Hauck
Restaurant C.1880 (Read a review)
Location Milwaukee, WI
Why He’s Amazing Because of the unexpected flavors in his hyper-seasonal cooking, for instance, venison with brussels sprouts, pear, salsify and coffee-cardamom dust.
Culinary School The Culinary Institute of America (Hyde Park, NY)
Background Le Globe (Perpignan, France), l’Essentiel (Chambéry, France), Citronelle (Washington, DC), Mason Street Grill (Milwaukee)
Quintessential Dish Lamb with baba ganoush and pita panzanella
Insider Info C.1880 is known simply as “Circa” by locals.
Super-Seasonality “When tomatoes are good, we’ll serve tomatoes. We’ll have them everywhere because it’s awesome. For two weeks, we’ll go crazy on tomatoes. You’ll get your fill while you can.”
Hometown Pride (and Humility) “We do things really well here (in Milwaukee), but we don’t bang our chests and brag. [But] we can compete with anyone. We’ve got it here. Great beer, great meats, great farmers.”
Jamie Malone
Restaurant Sea Change (Read a review)
Location Minneapolis, MN
Why She’s Amazing Because she’s masterfully running one of the country’s best sustainable seafood restaurants.
Culinary School Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts (Mendota Heights, MN)
Background Porter & Frye, Barrio, Cocina del Barrio, internship at La Belle Vie (Minneapolis)
Quintessential Dish Scallops with chicken “crumble” (fried chicken skin) and carrots three ways: blackened, as a confit and as a foam
Young Adventurer After high school, she traveled alone to Hong Kong, Beijing, Vietnam and Europe, sampling street food and exploring food markets.
On Fresh Ocean Fish in the Midwest Recently, “I’d ordered an ahi tuna [for the restaurant], and it missed its flight.” The fish she serves isn’t “just a commodity that you can go and get at the store. Each fish is special, and if he misses his flight, we don’t get to have that fish.”
Favorite Non-Fish Ingredient Jidori (free-range Japanese chicken) eggs. “They’ve got a superbright-orange yolk, and a rich, farm-y flavor.”
What She Learned from Chef Tim McKee “Keep your head down. Don’t talk. Be organized.”
Patrick Ryan
Restaurant Port Fonda (Read a review)
Location Kansas City, MO
Why He’s Amazing His food truck was such a sensation, he had to open a restaurant to meet the demand for his deftly spiced regional Mexican cooking.
Culinary School The Western Culinary Institute (Portland, OR)
Background Frontera Grill, Topolobampo (Chicago); Room 39, The River Club (Kansas City, MO)
Quintessential Dish Tacos de lengua (braised beef tongue tacos)
On the Port Fonda Trailer In addition to serving Mexican street food to sidewalk customers, “We would do four-, five- or six-course dinners inside the trailer. Just one table could fit inside. It was the hardest table to get in the city for sure, probably the hardest in the Midwest.”
Most Underappreciated Ingredient The tomatillo
What’s Banned in His Kitchen Black chef coats, combat boots, Zubaz pants (garishly patterned baggy pants from the ’90s) and floppy chef hats.
Cassy Vires
Restaurant Home Wine Kitchen (Read a review)
Location Maplewood, MO
Why She’s Amazing Because she channeled her love for throwing dinner parties for friends into a full-time career, serving delicious, inspired New American dishes.
Culinary School The Art Institute of Houston
Background Ernesto’s Wine Bar, Viking Cooking School (St. Louis)
Quintessential Dish Chicken confit with rosemary waffles and maple-balsamic gravy
On Being a Female Chef “I always really struggled to make my way into the kitchen. Growing up in a small town, putting a female in the kitchen wasn’t at the top of most chefs’ lists, but my mom told me, ‘You’re my daughter. You’re a fighter. You’re going to go to culinary school and knock those doors down.’”
Double Threat Vires was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award—for her writing as a columnist for Feast magazine.
Wine List All glasses on Vires’s list are $8; all bottles, $30. She wanted patrons to pick based on preferences, not price.
*NOTE: Many chefs change their menus frequently; “quintessential dishes” may not always be available.
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