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By Carla Waldemar
You're still drinking what? How last year is that? Goodbye Cosmos, Mojitos, tequila shooters and the rest: The hip new drink is sake.
Maybe you tried it in the distant past — say, 2007 — served warm from little pottery tchotchkes. Wrong. And Blake Richardson is here to mend those ways.
Call him the Johnny Appleseed of rice wine: While he's been brewing quality beers at Herkimer's, the man's been moonlighting as a sake aficionado — OK, fanatic — and, after years of research, visits to Japan, book learning and hands-on apprenticeship, he's now turning rice into his favorite elixir at Lyn-Lake's moto-i, the only sake brewpub in the U.S., he says, and one of only two worldwide.
The front of the former Macchu Pichu has been tastefully transformed into an izikaya: a Japanese establishment serving sake that also offers compatible snacks on the side. In the back room loom the tall steel tanks that do the heavy lifting, where Richardson acts as his own brewmaster. He's currently producing three distinct sakes (more to come). You want to know how? Just read the back of the menu. Here, let's just say, as Richardson does, "It's fermented similarly to beer; both are based on cereal grains," yeast and water. "Sake has more flavor components than wine," he's quick to add. And it's roughly the same in alcohol (just a titch higher, at 14–18 percent). Like wine or beer, sip it cold. Heating is simply a cheap trick to hide flaws in inferior sake and dissipates its flavor.
Wait a minute. I was drinking those passé Cosmos a minute ago: What's a sake virgin to do? One choice: Submit to the guidance of the staff, who have undergone what Richardson calls "extensive" training (I can think of crueler words, like sake boot camp), including mastering blind tastings and surviving a "very difficult" 50-question test.
Better yet, opt for the sampler: Three 2-ounce portions ($12) that includes junmai nama — light yet robust, with a hint of melon; the best-selling junmai nama genshu — drier and more hearty, yet with a hint of sweetness; and junmai nama nigori, created by a looser pressing that leaves a cloudy appearance and more mouth texture, as well as a slightly drier taste. Soon Richardson plans to sell 750 ml (wine-size) bottles to go as well.
Bar snacks? You betcha. How about some familiar items with an Asian twist, like taro shoestrings served with spicy chili mayo? Or karaage: deepfried chicken bits marinated in soy sauce? Ribs braised with spicy soy? Or summon the baby octopus with seaweed or dried squid with wasabi mayo for those jaded palates who think they've tasted everything. With snack prices mostly in the $3–$6 range, you can't go wrong. Lots of Chinese-style buns, dumplings and noodle dishes also appear on the menu, as well as plenty of vegetarian offerings. Tell you what: I'm coming back for the sake rice pudding, too. But that's another story.
moto-i
2940 Lyndale Ave. S.
821-6262
www.moto-i.com
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Art beat // Closing and opening
By Dylan Thomas
Art of This leaving current space, but won’t cease to existLYNDALE — A few weeks before they planned to shutter their Nicollet Avenue art space for good, John Marks and David Petersen of Art of This Gallery reflected on “Open Summer,” their ongoing, open door, last blast summer project. A free-for-all residency program that eventually enrolled 80-some artists, the slowly percolating “Open Summer” was building steam as it headed into its, and the gallery’s, grand finale at the end of August. And for all the potential pitfalls in telling some seven dozen people where the gallery key is hidden, about the worst thing that happened all summer was when someone spilled salsa in the refrigerator and never cleaned it up.
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On the mat // Green yogis in Linden Hills
By Sarah McKenzie
Devanadi Yoga, a new studio near Lake Harriet, is a trailblazer in the local yoga community. The small 525-square-foot studio, tucked behind the Bruley Center on West 43rd Street in Linden Hills, is the first yoga studio in the state to be certified by the Green Yoga Association for its environmentally friendly efforts. The studio’s green practices include using non-VOC paint, controlling the thermostat to keep the building energy efficient and encouraging students to walk, bus or bike to class. Tanya Boigenzahn Sowards, studio director/owner of Devanadi Yoga, said being green is “core value of the studio and it ties back to the yogic philosophy of doing no harm.” “Minneapolis frequently ranks as one of the top green
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Everyday gardener // Q&A
By Meleah Maynard
Struggling tomatoes, rain barrels and rootbound plantsEven though spring started in earnest in March this year, it still seems like summer is going by too fast. So, fast, in fact, my inbox has been a bit stuffed with questions. As always, I’ve replied directly to people who asked for help with various things. But here in the column I’m going to cover some of the questions that seem likely to be of interest to a lot of gardeners. By far, the questions I’m getting most are about tomatoes, so I’ll start there. Q: My tomato plants look good and have a lot of flowers, but I’m not getting a lot of fruit this year. What’s going on?A: It’s been too hot for tomatoes to set fruit
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Flavor // A smokin’ sensation on Nicollet
By Carla Waldemar
If you’re wondering what caused the traffic stand-still on South Nicollet the other evening, let’s just say I should have kept my window shut. When passing cars got a whiff of possibly the best aroma in the galaxy — I’m talking about barbecue, of course — they halted to demand, “Where’d you get that?” At C&G’s, of course. Greg Alford launched C&G’s Smoking Barbecue exactly a year ago; the anniversary balloons in the otherwise-Spartan, clean-as-a-whistle hole in the wall provided the only touch of whimsy in this serious business. Greg was born in Louisiana, which may explain his superior taste in food. He grew up in Detroit, one of 12 kids whose mamma set him to cooking when he was 5, he
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Wild city // Eating the yard
By Mary Jean Port
I love August. It is so lush. All summer, as I nurse the garden along, I anticipate these eating days. We now have too much of everything: tomatoes, green beans, heat, humidity, and also thunder, for those of us who have a dog frightened by it. I have been working our piece of ground for 14 years, and have good soil to show for it. Back when we first started, my husband was more of a lawn guy. He liked the idea of a garden, but drew a line in the grass with his toe. Don’t dig up anything beyond here, he said. So I dug my first of what are now 10 beds, and planted the pumpkin right on his line. The vines ran out of the garden and took over the whole backyard. My husband good-naturedly threw up his hands. We started with vegetables, and
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Kid rock
By Sam Lane
Twin Town Guitars hosts a camp that gives young musicians a chance to play and perform in a bandMore than 60 excited, camera-toting fans packed Cause Spirits and Soundbar on a warm August afternoon waiting for two headline bands to take the stage. The hotly anticipated musicians weren’t well known. They weren’t 20-somethings trying to strike a record deal. They weren’t middle-aged men trying to relive their youth. They were kids, ages 8–17, who spent prior weeks at Twin Town Guitars, 3400 Lyndale Ave. S., preparing for their first concert. In an economy where budget cuts deal constant blows to public school music programs, the owners of Twin Town have spent the last three summers providing a haven for aspiring
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