Palestinian Bakeries, Oh Crêpe!, and Central Avenue on a Roll
The Churn for Friday, August 5, 2024
“Florent noticed a baker’s shop on the left-hand side of the Rue Montorgueil, replete and golden with its last baking, and fancied he could scent the pleasant smell of the hot bread. It was now half past four.” - ÉMILE ZOLA, THE BELLY OF PARIS
In this week’s edition of The Heavy Table’s Churn newsletter, we return to Central Avenue for a logistically daunting feast, dine at a new crêperie, plus Stacy Brooks writes about the boom in Palestinian-founded bakeries in the Twin Cities metro.
AN APOLOGY FROM THE EDITOR: I have been struggling mightily to make these newsletters shorter, aware that you have limited time and that brevity is a gift. However, writers keep submitting these long, brilliant stories (like this edition’s Palestinian bakery roundup by Stacy Brooks, or Eli Radtke’s upcoming hot dog tour de force), and then news happens, and you gotta keep the Hot Five in the mix, and, well… many thousands of words later, you have the Heavy Table newsletter.
We hope that you’ll take this bounty in the spirit in which it's intended: We have an incredible amount of stories and flavors to share, and we want to share them with you.
CENTRAL AVENUE IS ON FIRE (IN THE POSITIVE AND EXCITING SENSE OF THAT EXPRESSION)
This past weekend, the Heavy Table Checklist Crew (myself, photographer Becca Dilley, writer M.C. Cronin, and illustrator WACSO) attempted a feat that we expect will have few imitators: We dined at and reviewed 10 different spots over the course of two back-to-back evenings. We ate a great many tacos. We drank a hell of a lot of coffee. We learned that there is literally no relationship between how long you wait for food and how good that food turns out to be.
That effort brings our Central Avenue Update effort to a total of 15 restaurants, bakeries, and markets, and gives us a pretty vivid snapshot of everything happening up in the Columbia Heights and Hilltop part of the street.
And: What a gorgeous, gorgeous snapshot it is. We’ve had really glorious Mexican food (a machete to die for at Loma Bonita plus some world-champion level quesabirria at Los Cactus - above), some of the best East African fare we’ve found in the metro (at Adama and Awash), mind-meltingly good knafeh and baklava (at The Golden Nuts; see this newsletter for more on that gem of a bakery, via Stacy Brooks), Yemeni food absolutely worth the wait and low-level service chaos at Yemeni Cuisine, and a tres leches ice cream that was 70% cake, 30% ice cream, and 100% delicious.
That’s not even everything: the northern part of Central Avenue has become a playground for new spots making beautifully rich and vibrant Middle Eastern, Asian, and Central American food.
If you’re a subscriber to The Heavy Table, you can look forward to two really beefy, delicious, gorgeously illustrated and photographed updates in the weeks to come. Thanks for backing the team, and letting us tempt the gods of gastronomy with our hubris. We think the payoff - the words, the drawings, the photos - will be worth the wait. — James Norton
HEAVY TABLE’S HOT FIVE
#5 Smash Brgr at Merlin’s Rest Pub | Minneapolis
One of my least favorite American meals is the over-produced hamburger. Swollen to softball-sized proportions and slathered in sauces, toppings, and (generally) bacon, the over-produced hamburger tends to be too much food for too much money. The Merlin’s Rest Smash Brgr is the opposite, in the best way - it’s relatively inexpensive, and really nothing more than a thin charred patty on a bun with plenty of melty cheese and special sauce. It’s incredibly easy to eat: soft, yielding, rich, and unctuous, each bite pretty much disappearing into your mouth hard on the heels of the previous one. – James Norton
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#4 Okonomiyaki at Tokidoki Burger | Minneapolis
Our obsession with Japanese food got us to Tokidoki for their signature burgers, but a glance at the brunch menu brought us back that same week to try their okonomiyaki. “Okonomiyaki” loosely means “fried, as you like it.” The egg-based savory pancake is a common way for home cooks to use up bits of leftovers, so there are infinite variations and regional styles, some layered, some with noodles, most with shredded cabbage and green onions. Tokidoki’s arrives on a blazing hot metal platter, bonito flakes gaily saluting in the steam rising off the mound of egg batter, vegetables, and chopped crispy bacon. It’s soul food for sure; salty, the delicate funkiness of the bonito, bright sweet shreds of pickled red ginger; different flavors in each bite brought together with furikake, kewpie mayo, and savory brown sauce. One plate easily fed two of us for $14. – Jeanne Lakso
#3 Savory Strudel at Rustica | Minneapolis
When I'm eyeing up a bakery case, I don't usually gravitate to vegetables, but the glistening golden pastry of Rustica's savory strudel caught my attention. When I asked a staff member what was inside, he consulted a handwritten note and rattled off a slew of ingredients—cauliflower, peas, onions, coriander, Gruyere, more herbs and cheeses that I can't recall. The experience of biting into the wedge of strudel was less about the individual ingredients and more about how they came together to make a filling that added nourishing substance to the ethereally flaky layers of pastry. This is comfort food for an 85 degree day. – Stacy Brooks
#2 Market Bagel at Rudy’s Breakfast Bagels | Minneapolis
The lines are long but the folks at Rudy’s bagel stand are cheerful and efficient. At this fixture at both the Saturday Mill City Market and the Sunday Kingfield Farmers Market, you’ll be well rewarded with a quality bagel (the asiago’s a fave) stacked with fillings and add-ins for around ten bucks. The Market is ham and egg with your choice of cheeses (pepper jack’s the one), three veggies from a pretty long list, and cream cheese if you want. Heat from the just-fried egg melts the cheese, the veggies are fresh and crisp, and the sandwich is neatly halved for easy sharing. Perfect fuel for walking or biking home while you contemplate what to do with the rest of your locally-grown market bounty. – Jeanne Lakso
#1 Chocolate Chip Cookie at Lynette | Minneapolis
We caught the just-about-to-open / currently-in-soft-open Lynette for breakfast this week and were impressed. We tried a sublimely buttery and pleasantly balanced apple croissant that was like a super high-end play on a McDonald’s apple pie. We ordered a quiche lorraine that was rich and remarkably custard-like, with a well-dressed side salad. And - at the top of the heap - a chocolate chip cookie that is one of the best we can remember eating, no holds barred. Thin but not stingy; chewy and crispy; rich with high-quality chocolate flavor, but not too sweet; sprinkled with a lovely dusting of sea salt for contrast. A legitimate masterpiece. – James Norton
A TASTE OF PALESTINE
Palestinian-owned bakeries are changing the taste of the Twin Cities.
By Stacy Brooks
Palestinian baked goods aren’t new to the Twin Cities—Holy Land has been baking pitas since 1986, and Baba’s Hummus House, which opened in 2023, crafts mana’eesh flatbread in their coal-fired pizza oven. However, there’s been a recent uptick in the Palestinian bakery scene, with expanded sweet and savory offerings and new interpretations of traditional methods and flavors.
We talked baked goods with a trio of Palestinian-owned businesses: The Golden Nuts in Columbia Heights, Pangea World Market in Coon Rapids, and Zeytoon Bread & Co., a Minneapolis-based cottage food producer. A common thread in all of our conversations was the business owners’ desire to share Palestine’s rich culture and culinary traditions with community members of all backgrounds—so take this as a nudge to get out there and enjoy some carbs.
The Golden Nuts | 4801 Central Ave NE | Columbia Heights, Minn.
During our interview with The Golden Nuts owner Mahmoud “Joe” Rammouni (above left), he was constantly in motion: greeting people in English and Arabic, hopping behind the counter to assist customers, and passing out samples of nuts and date cookies. He was inspired to open the Golden Nuts in April 2024 because local Middle Eastern shops didn’t provide the retail experience he was accustomed to in Palestine. “The stores down there, people care about the logo and the design,” he explains. “We have a nice culture, beautiful items people [here in Minnesota] have never seen.”
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