Chili cook-off
Taste the best chili that Midtown Global Market chefs have to offer on March 26, at the 16th annual Global Chili Cook-Off.
Participating restaurants include: Andy's Garage, Arepa Bar, Eastlake Craft Brewery, Grass Roots Gourmet, Indigenous Food Lab, Manny's Tortas, Moroccan Flavors, Sabbai Cuisine, Salsa a la Salsa, Soul to Soul Smokehouse and the Kitchen by Baked Brands.
Cost is $20 for tastes of all 11 chili recipes, with proceeds benefiting Friends of Global Market. There's only enough chili for 150, so reserve your spot at https://bit.ly/3L35jd1. Samples are available between noon and 2 p.m. — eat in and vote for your favorite or take them home and find out the winners when they're announced via social media. Midtown Global Market is at 920 E. Lake St., Mpls., midtownglobalmarket.org.
Quality time with Yia Vang
Newly minted James Beard nominee chef Yia Vang, of Union Hmong Kitchen and the upcoming Vinai, is keeping busy.
On March 26, Vang will be behind the bar at the Hewing Hotel (300 Washington Av. N., Mpls., hewinghotel.com) from 6 to 9 p.m., mixing up six specialty drinks he designed featuring some of his favorite ingredients, including lemongrass, kulantro, galangal, Thai chiles, passion fruit and guava.
And from April 13-16, Steady Pour will play host to Vang and his Vanai restaurant for a series of prix-fixe dinners at Steady Pour's event space (2125 E. Hennepin Av., Mpls.). The four-course menu will highlight a variety of Hmong flavors, with drink pairings by Steady Pour founder Jeff Seidenstricker. Tickets are $100 (plus 20% gratuity) and are on sale now at steadypour.com.
Celebrating spring
Here's a new way to welcome spring: a sensory dining experience.
Tullibee, the restaurant at the Hewing Hotel (300 Washington Av. N., Mpls., hewinghotel.com), is holding what it's billing as "an intimate culinary celebration of spring." Called Into the Woods, the five-course tasting dinner will be accompanied by the sights and sounds of nature, from a lush North Woods-esque dining room to the sounds of loons and waves.
The menu includes oysters, rainbow trout, rye gnocchetti with morels and ramp butter, duck breast with fermented beets and glazed carrots and s'mores roasted tableside. The dinners are March 31-April 2, with seatings at 6 and 8:30 p.m. Cost of the five-course dinner is $100, with drink pairings extra ($40 wine, $50 cocktails, $30 non-alcoholic). Buy tickets at https://bit.ly/3tylCJ0.
High time for tea
Usher in spring with chef Michael Rain's five-course Springtime in Paris Tea on April 3 at the Nicollet Island Inn along the Mississippi River. The menu includes smoked shrimp cheese puffs, quiche Lorraine, strawberries and cream, scones and more. Cost is $65; reserve your spot at nicolletislandinn.com. Or plan even further ahead — the annual Mother-Daughter tea is May 1.
Opening Day treat
Nothing says baseball like a beer and a hot dog. This season, the Twins and Summit Brewing Co. have teamed up to release Twins Pils. Summit's classic pilsner is available now, but will make its Target Field debut on April 7 — Opening Day. It's not a new beer; it's a relaunch of the Keller Pils featuring the Twins' name, logo and throwback baby blue color — the color of the Twins uniforms in 1986, when Summit was founded.
