Minnesota trip: Day 5, Minnesota Musings
We finally get a bit of snowfall here, in the form of a light and passing snow shower. I’ll take what I can get. I mentioned to the owners of the Linden Hills yarn store next to Wild Rumpus that, as nice as the bright and comfy 50° weather was, I was still hoping for the typical MN winter. (I also prefaced it by calling myself a “spoiled California boy,” to keep things in perspective).
Nel was able to contact the crew at Studio on Fire to set up a studio visit/tour, and they were super cool in letting us bother them and getting all up in their stuff for an hour. They do it all: fantastic letterpress, embossing/debossing and diecutting, designing from conception to finished products, and pretty much their facilities are capable of doing all of this in one warehouse!
As mentioned in a previous post, we had an amazing dinner at Piccolo on Bryant and 43rd. Each plate is small, but the impact they had was tremendous. The meal literally had me thinking, not just of the food in front of me, but of so much more. It had me thinking about the definition of design in all aspects of creativity. It had me question what priorities and values I currently hold. I’ll try and explain.
On design: Each plate is a stand-alone experience. Each element is meant to balance the other. The dish fails if one element is left out or overpowers another. Nothing is wasted, everything is sacred.
On Foie and of life: You can’t force what wants to happen naturally. You can guide, trick and teach, but use of force will always have a lasting negative impact.
On balance: Each dish has a leading actor of sorts, but it never outshines the other ingredients. As good as the foie gras is, it would not be the same dish without the other ingredients to highlight its own subtleties. Despite being fairly strongly flavored (and unique to the point of almost gimmicky) the bacon powder becomes subdued by the vanilla and cream, and brings out the spice in the cake. Even though they seem like mere decoration, the micro sprouts in the scrambled eggs help cut through the richness of the truffle butter & parmigiano.
On ambition: The chef and the owners could easily create a restaurant that would have more mass market appeal, but instead forced a challenge on themselves. Local MN are known to be thrifty, so a meal like this is usually out of the question and reserved for the rare special occasion. To have a rotating menu also means you prevent yourself from keeping a steady flow of return customers, banking on those that will take a risk on a completely new menu. This is so ingrained in them that it’s the restaurant’s motto: “putting what is seasonal and creative ahead of what is safe and familiar.”
I feel that I’ve caught this restaurant at just the right time in my life. My mind is just mature enough to appreciate it beyond the novelty of a fancy dinner. You are a reflection of the collective experiences in your life. It stands to reason that the more fulfilling experiences you have (and the greater your capacity is to understand them), you will become a much greater person in the end.
Hope this didn’t turn into to weird of a post for y’all. If you’d rather just see the pics there’s tons more here at the ol flickr. Enjoy!
