Shrimp bánh xèo at Banh Sizzle
It was like watching a Swiss watch work. Past the rows of vendors outside the Guthrie Theater, through the shrouded interior packed with goods and into the sun-dappled atrium of the Mill City Farmers Market, a couple manned a busy bánh xèo stand. A line of black crêpe pans are tickled by blue flames while a chef pours batter, lays bean sprouts at just the right moment, then folds the edges over into a perfectly cooked, crispy-edged dish. Each pan was in a different state of readiness, and she never lost sight of which one needed tending.
Bánh xèo is one of those dishes that’s best served immediately. It tastes even better when eaten on a tiny plastic stool, folding lettuce and a handful of Thai basil and mint around the lacy, crisp-edged crêpe, dolloped with chili sauce before being plunged into a container of nuoc cham.
Banh Sizzle is the work of Hang and Jonathan Jauquet, and the two-person team operates with breathtaking precision. It’s a crowd-pleaser of a dish, too — gluten- and egg-free for those with sensitivities. There’s a vegetarian version ($10), but the shrimp ($13) was the choice I made and will be ordering again. (Joy Summers)
Saturdays at the Mill City Farmers Market, 750 S. 2nd St., Mpls., instagram.com/banhsizzle

Florentine bowl at Red Rabbit
Brunch, but make it Italian. That was chef Adam Lerner’s task when designing the new brunch menu at Red Rabbit. The Italian restaurant, known for its wood-fired pies and pasta dishes, previously served incongruous eggy fare on the weekends: breakfast tacos and burritos and the like. But that breakfast burrito has now been replaced by breakfast stromboli. Pancakes? Made with ricotta in that wood-burning oven. Zeppoles instead of beignets. And a hash that’s gone full Florentine, with wilted spinach leaves, blistered tomatoes, grilled artichokes and the crispiest breakfast potatoes that have been oven-roasted to the point of dehydration, smashed and then deep-fried. The $15.50 bowl of veggies is topped with two perfectly poached eggs, and pure liquid gold of a Hollandaise sauce.
It’s the biggest menu change to come to Red Rabbit’s two locations (North Loop and Grand Avenue) in its eight years, and that’s thanks to Lerner, who came on board last year as corporate chef for both the Red Rabbit and Red Cow brands. He’s done most of his tinkering so far at Red Rabbit, and now that brunch has been refreshed, he’s turning his attention to Red Cow. Expect the burger spots to lean more into a California direction with French and Asian influences, Lerner said. Poke has already been added to the mix, and he’s working on lettuce wraps and tempura fried veggies. All of that will be followed by, you guessed it, a new brunch. But make it burgers. (Sharyn Jackson)
788 Grand Av., St. Paul, 651-444-5995; 201 Washington Av. N., Mpls., 612-767-8855, redrabbitmn.com

Gorgonzola pizza at Pizzeria Pezzo
You can thank Kowalski’s for bringing Pizzeria Pezzo to Minnesota. The quick version: Jim Kowalski plucked Gary Bougie and his Chicago-style pizza-making skills from the Windy City and brought him to Minnesota, where they opened a pizzeria in White Bear Lake in 2014. In a cruel twist of fate, both Kowalski and Bougie died within about a year of making that deal.