The downtown Minneapolis street food scene continues to blossom.First tip: Get your appetite to 10th Street and Nicollet Mall on weekday lunch hours, when Joe Radaich and Russell Ericson are manning Untamed Cart.
Radaich is one of the few bricks-and-mortar restaurant owners -- he's the guy behind Sporty's Pub & Grill (2124 Como Av. SE., Mpls., www.sportyspub.com) -- to jump into the food cart/food truck scene, and he's doing it well.
Given the cart's space constraints, the menu sticks to just a few sandwiches. One features hunks of juicy pork butt ($7.50), slow-roasted with fennel and topped with arugula, pickled onions and a horseradish-Dijon mayonnaise, a much more animated play on the porketta that is a part of Radaich's Iron Range family's tradition. The other is a mouth-melting pot roast ($7) braised in tomatoes, ancho chiles, cumin and bay leaf until it has a gently spicy kick; it's spooned into a golden brioche bun and garnished with radishes, cilantro and an avocado aioli. Both are fantastic.
Next up: Scratch Food Truck (www.scratchfoodtruck.com), where former Subo chef Geoff King and spouse Aimee King are pulling together superb Asian-accented sandwiches -- tender, wonderfully charred beef flavored with sesame, coconut-braised chicken topped with pickled mangoes and papaya -- that run $7 to $8, along with crispy pork egg rolls and tofu-stuffed lettuce wraps ($4 to $6). Don't miss it.
Off the fairgrounds
For the next 12 days, Modern Cafe (337 13th Av. NE., Mpls., www.moderncafeminneapolis.com) owners Jim and Patty Grell are injecting a touch of the Minnesota State Fair into their landmark northeast Minneapolis restaurant. Not Pronto Pups or cheese curds, but art. Specifically, a best-of display of "Farley at the Fair," the dyspeptic cartoon creation of former Star Tribune graphic artist L.K. Hanson, a longtime Modern customer.
"Farley" ran in this newpaper's pages from 1989 to 2006, and the series captures the weirdness and splendor of the Great Minnesota Get-Together like nothing else. The show remains up now through Sept. 5 (be sure to ask for a souvenir "Farley" place mat), and the Grells and Hanson are hosting an opening reception next Thursday from 9 to 11 p.m., which will include a few food and wine deals, including some fair-inspired fare.
"We did find a bunch of sticks that we want to get rid of, so we're going to confit some pork belly, deep-fry it and put it on a stick," said Jim Grell. "Doesn't that sound good?" It does indeed.
