Dandelion Kitchen co-owners Natalie Coleman and Alex Brand are fresh from a yearlong bicycle trip that took them from Prague to Bangkok. Inspired by the street food they encountered on their journey, the couple decided to return to Brand's hometown to start producing seasonal and affordable fare while sidestepping the considerable overhead involved in a bricks-and-mortar restaurant.
Their first effort: A stand at the Midtown Farmers Market, where Coleman greets customers and Brand, bent in concentration over his portable griddle, carefully crafts a handful of dishes to order.
Last weekend the menu included a fantastic fried egg-pesto-Parmesan open-faced sandwich, delicate sweet corn arepas filled with garlic and roasted mushrooms and a grilled cheese-caramelized onion sandwich served with a side of cabbage-fennel slaw. All dishes are $5, and the options will evolve as the growing season progresses.
Another highlight was the made-from-scratch soda ($2), a taste bud-awakening blend of tart lemon and feisty ginger. Coleman said they'll be changing soda flavors all summer, so look for basil-lime, lavender-lemon and others. "I've been thinking up all kinds of combinations," she said. "I want to do cardamom-plum, but Alex thinks that's too weird."
Coming soon: A dandelion-yellow food truck in downtown Minneapolis, delivering farm-to-trailer cooking to the weekday lunch crowd. No site yet -- the enterprise is lodged in the licensing process -- "but as soon as the city can figure out where they'll let us be, we'll be there," said Coleman.
Same here.
RICK NELSON
Dandelion Kitchen at the Midtown Farmers Market, E. Lake St. and 22nd Av. S., Mpls., www.midtownfarmersmarket.org. Open 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays and 3 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays. For a complete list of Twin Cities metro area farmers markets, go to startribune.com/taste.
