New Restaurants: Kinzo Udon and Lynette

The Churn for Friday, November 1, 2024

“Tonight the lion of contentment
has placed a warm, heavy paw on my chest
and I can only close my eyes and listen
to the drums of woe throbbing in the distance
and the sound of my wife’s laughter
on the telephone in the next room” - BILLY COLLINS, “OSSO BUCCO” AS ANTHOLOGIZED IN THE HUNGRY EAR

In this week’s edition of The Heavy Table’s Churn newsletter, we check out a boundary breaking new noodle shop and a Longfellow restaurant that’s bringing a high level of polish to everything from early breakfasts to late-night cocktails.

THE MINT HARVEST

James Norton / Heavy Table

The weather is see-sawing from summer warmth to the chills of winter, all over the course of a week. This is to say: We’re having a regular autumn, albeit one that’s warmer than the historical norm.

Every year at some point during the autumnal whiplash, our backyard mint patch goes down for the count. The ice crystals demolish the internal structure of the plants; they slump, fade to black, and pass away for the season. 

In recent years, Becca has taken to snipping entire strainer baskets full of mint, washing it, taking it off its stems, and baking it on a low temperature, on and off again, for most of an afternoon until every leaf is crumbly, delicate, and entirely dry. That process - and this was a surprise to me a few years ago when I learned it, I’m embarrassed to say - is all that’s necessary to make mint tea. Now when I make roast lamb or falafel for friends, I can offer everyone a cup of tea that was literally grown, harvested, and brewed in house. It’s absurdly simple but truly enjoyable.

More than 20 years ago, when I was editing Middle East news for the Christian Science Monitor, I found myself dispatched to Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Territories before the outbreak of the Gulf War. I had the opportunity to visit some government officials and regular people in the West Bank, and I would inevitably be greeted with a cup of mint tea so sweet it tasted like you could stand a spoon up in the sugar. It was the most ordinary of formalities over there, relatively speaking just a shrug in the direction of hospitality, but it always felt surprisingly warm and comforting to me.

I try to remember - as I send money to World Central Kitchen or vote against extremism here - that there are far more people in the world who would rather be shooting the breeze over cups of coffee or tea than blasting guns at people who have been declared their enemies. It’s hard to feel that sometimes, these days, but it’s important to think positive as autumn begins its dive into winter. -- James Norton

HEAVY TABLE’S HOT FIVE

#5  Lemon Lingonberry Pancakes at Taste of Scandinavia | Bloomington, Minn.

Jeanne Lakso / Heavy Table

Like the squirrels, I’m in full-on eating-for-hibernation mode, which means a stack of good pancakes every couple of weeks or so. That desire was sated by Taste of Scandinavia. Tucked off to the side of a Festival Foods in Bloomington, at 10:30 on a weekday morning the place is half-full of mostly seniors enjoying coffee, pastries, and substantial breakfasts. The lemon lingonberry pancakes are face-sized fluffy buttermilk rounds laced with lemon zest and lingonberry bits ($12 for 2/$13 for 3). Served with a generous ladle of lingonberry jam, a surfeit of butter, and your choice of breakfast meats, they’re a Sibelius tone poem of sweet, tart, bright, and comforting, with just enough salty snap from the meat (get the bacon or the Swedish potato sausage) to balance out the not-quite-dessert flavors of the cakes. – Jeanne Lakso

#4 Margherita Pizza at Bricks Neapolitan Pizza | Hudson, Wisc.

James Norton / Heavy Table

There’s absolutely nothing special about the margherita pizza at Bricks in Hudson, Wisc., and that’s what’s so special about it: it’s a bog standard, incredibly simple, properly realized VPN-esque margherita pizza bursting with fresh basil flavor and graced with rich blobs of melted mozzarella cheese. The crust is chewy and crispy, with enough substance to carry the weight of the toppings, but not so much that it overwhelms them. It’s a lovely pizza worth a drive to enjoy. – James Norton

#3 Tempura Fried Shrimp Tacos at Colita | Minneapolis

James Norton / Heavy Table

I think I may have nominated these tacos for a Hot Five before - I simply do not care, because I went back to Colita recently, had them again, and fell back in love with them. They’re the ultimate realization of this food concept, with shrimp that pop with moist freshness and crispy-crunchy coating, a ton of delightfully fresh greens to push back against the seafood, coating, and rich sauce, and delicate, beautifully made tortillas to carry the whole package to your mouth. Easily some of the best tacos in a metro area drowning in good examples of the food. – James Norton

#2 Tangy Mango Curry with Tofu at Namaste Cafe | Minneapolis

Stacy Brooks / Heavy Table

The tangy mango curry at Namaste Cafe is flagged on the menu as a "regular's pick," and no wonder.  Somehow, it captures the joy of a summer Friday evening, when the sun is soft and golden and the weekend stretches out in front of you.  It's a sweet dish, but not in a cloying way.  Instead, it's bursting with the juicy sweetness of a perfectly ripened mango.  The peppery black mustard seeds, curry leaves, cayenne, chili, and paprika provide a warming, nuanced flavor profile that balances the sweetness, and my selection of spice level 2 added a hint of heat.  Next time I order this, I'll go with level 3—there absolutely will be a next time. – Stacy Brooks

#1 Duluth Coffee Company Superior Chocolate bars | Duluth, Minn.

Even if Duluth Coffee Company hadn’t been founded by a former Heavy Table writer, we’d love the place - from sourcing to brewing to packaging, these guys are pros by any measure and they make some of the most sophisticated and most pleasant-to-drink coffee around, offering flavor profiles that offer depth and complexity without compromising on balance and enjoyability. Now founder Eric Faust is working on developing chocolate bars that continue the company’s bean-to-cup (or bean-to-bar, in this case) ethos, using careful and transparent single origin sourcing and best practices bean to bar crafting to create chocolate bars that offer truly “grown up” and thoughtful flavor while still being absolutely delightful to eat. – James Norton

STREET REPORTS

UDON A-GAME
Amid an ocean of knockoffs, the noodles at Kinzo are the real deal.
By Stacy Brooks

Stacy Brooks / Heavy Table

The website for Kinzo Udon seems less like an advertisement for a restaurant and more like scene-setting for a transformative culinary experience.  It opens with photos of Tokyo at night with teeming crowds and brightly lit-buildings.  There’s an 11-second video of the noodle-making process,  complete with a dramatic soundtrack.

There’s information about udon noodles, including the correct pronunciation (“wu-don”), and a brief biography of the owner, Chao, who trained in Kagawa, Japan, the origin of chewy, sanuki-style udon noodles.  (Chao and his wife Bella Zhan also own Soga Mochi Donut, which was reviewed in the Heavy Table on March 18, 2022).

Stacy Brooks / Heavy Table

Kinzo Udon’s physical location mirrors its online presence.  The Prospect Park restaurant is half a block from the University of Minnesota campus, but it feels more concerned with creating a Japanese-inflected atmosphere than appealing solely to a student clientele—Goldy Gopher is nowhere to be seen.