My new Chef Crush

Look out world. I have a new chef crush.

My chef crush list is small but powerful.First there was Vincent Francoul the owner and chef of Vincent’s. When I had his Madelines and homemade chocolate sauce for the first time I was in love. Can I admit that his French accent didn’t hurt either and as if that wasn’t enough he is a triathlete? What’s not to love? The second chef crush was Scott Pampuch from Corner Table both for his amazing food and fun and warm personality - he is a great guy that you want to hang out with. Third was Alex Roberts, the 2010 James Beard Award winner for our region and owner of Brasa and Restaurant Alma. Scott is a chef who really stands by the Local movement. He is a generous lovely man and not bad looking either. So... sorry Alex, I have kicked you to the curb and am moving onto my latest.

The new chef crush is Don Saunders formerly of Fougaisse and now of In Season at 54th and Penn in Minneapolis. I liked Dons Restaurant Fouigasse in NE Minneapolis. The food was really inventive and took risks without being too weird. I loved the Frog legs I had there. Who serves frog legs in Mpls? The only bummer about Fougasse was the room was cold and uninviting and just didn’t feel good to sit in and enjoy such amazing food. “In Season” changes that.

When I first head he was opening a restaurant called "In Season", I was cynical. I dint think the name was very inventive. If you area chef worth visiting in this town aren’t you cooking with seasonal ingredients? Wow, was I wrong. In Season is at 54th and Penn across from one of my other favorite neighborhood spots Café Maude. The room is small and intimate and really well designed. It has dark wood, white walls and feels very cozy. The lighting is perfect and our server, Ben, was amazing from the second we walked in the door. He took our coats like we were a guest in his house and showed us to our seat.

The menu was presented to us. On one side are all the ingredients that they are using “In Season” Our menu included, Turnips, Squash, Grapefruit, Monkfish, Kale, Clementine’s, Cabbage, Beets, Fennel, Oxtail, Root Vegetables, Sun Chokes and Sweet Potatoes. On the back is the actual menu and each of the “In Season” ingredients is highlighted in bold in each menu description. Ben, our server who has worked with Don for 9 years, was an amazing waiter. He suggested wine, answered all our menu questions very knowledgably and frankly was so excited about the whole menu – it was hard to order because it all looked so good.

Here is what we ate with pictures:

Appetizer:
Sea Scallops with charred onion, Quinoa and Grapefruit. I loved this. It was a bright, tart perfectly balanced with the richness of the seared scallop that was cooked perfectly.



Crispy Oysters and glazed pork belly with Sweet and Sour Cabbage and Mustard. My fellow dinner that ordered this loved it. The oysters were breaded and cooked perfectly and were delightfully crunchy and earthy and the flavor of the oyster was not hidden in the breading.



Veal Sweetbreads with Rutabaga mash, truffle salt and sauce “Forestiere” which I have no idea what that is built it was a classic French sauce that was delightful. Sweetbreads are not for everyone (thyroid?) but if you love them order this. Both our diners were oohing and ahhing. The sauce was really an amazing example of how to make a classic reduction shine.



Seared Limousin beef tenderloin with Baby Turnips and Sweet Potato. This beef was amazing. It is a type of cattle raised in SE WI on a cattle farm there and is less fatty but was so flavorful. It was like the best filet mignon I had ever had on top of root vegetables. The meat was a PERFECT Medium Rare.



Spiced Oxtail with creamy polenta, Kale and Crisp Serrano. This dish was really great. Braised Oxtail that was then pulled off the bones, shredded and made into a delicious stew on Polenta. It was like the richest most flavorful pulled beef ever. This made me re-think Oxtails as nothing other than soup bones.

Roasted Monkfish with 5-spice sweet potato gnochi and roasted garlic. The gnochi were tender and subtle and the spice was realy nice. The fish had a great crisp exterior and the sauce was lemony and bright.


I cannot wait to go back to "In Season". Chef Don Saunders is my new chef crush. Did I mention he came out to the table and was a lovely looking tall, lanky Nordic man? OK, I am not going to lie, looks never hurt in my chef crush equation.