A dive into the nosh pit finds winners and losers

These poor delegates.

That's the sentiment that kept rolling through my brain as I grazed my way through the opening reception Sunday evening at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Welcome to Minneapolis-St. Paul, would you care for a mushy chicken pot-sticker?

This red carpet seemed a bit frayed, thanks to generic, we-could-be-anywhere offerings along the lines of soggy duck spring rolls, drab commodity cheeses, fried and skewered scallops straight out of Mrs. Paul's and a mystery spread billed as olive bruschetta; within a half-hour I felt as if I were trapped at a nerdy second-cousin's bar mitzvah.

But it wasn't all disappointing. Carved-to-order roast beef was hot and juicy. Little heat-and-serve tartlets actually tasted like something, and tables piled high with dainty sweets left a favorable parting impression. Thank goodness for the platoons of local volunteers, looking chipper in their matching T-shirts and flooding the delegates with genuine smiles. I was the object of so many warm welcomes that I nervously began to wonder: Is there 10 yards of Charmin affixed to my shoe and they feel sorry for me?

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Saturday night's reception for several thousand media types, which commandeered the Guthrie Theater, the Mill City Museum and the West River Parkway, made a much more favorable impression. Visitors got a delicious up-close-and-personal taste of Minnesota, thanks to Spoonriver owner Brenda Langton and a dozen vendors from the Mill City Farmers Market.

Mike and Colleen Braucher offered zesty meatballs made from lamb raised on their Webster, Minn., farm. Paul Red Elk of Bena, Minn., gave guests brief tutorials on harvesting the state's official grain before enticing them with a summery wild-rice salad tossed with corn, pickled red onions and a chokecherry vinaigrette. There were beautiful cheeses from Shepherd's Way Farms in Nerstand, Minn., and Loon Organics served an artful array of freshly harvested vegetables from their Farmington acreage.

Under a tent that would make Cirque du Soleil envious, Mintahoe Catering roasted sweet corn, just picked from an Elk River farm, and each bite was a burst of juicy, buttery pleasure. Ripsawing through an ear of corn is not without its social stickiness: How does one discreetly extract corn kernels from teeth?

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The shindig I really wanted to crash was at Theatre de la Jeune Lune, which apparently has been scene-stealingly transformed to resemble several landmarks, including New York City's Katz's Delicatessen. Steve Vranian, chef of Nick and Eddie in Minneapolis, was doing the cooking Sunday night. No luck getting in.

So I wormed my way into the Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant, where the Nevada delegation was mingling in the balcony. Cuban jazz great Nachito Herrera worked the piano like a dream, and chef Jack Riebel and his crew turned out festive, easygoing noshes: tender cornmeal-crusted walleye strips on a stick, crostini topped with goat cheese and fragrant mushrooms, and fantastic bison-red chile sliders finished with a pungent aoili. Perfect. With each bite, my convention center memories were evaporating.

Sue Lowden, Nevada's Republican party chair, said it was no accident that her state's delegation had landed at the Dakota. "We're from Las Vegas," she said with a laugh. "We know something about hospitality."