Bara chirasi at Nokko
J-pop plays on the sound system at the new Nokko restaurant in south Minneapolis, an indication that this Japanese eatery is not of your everyday variety.
For one, chef/owner Hide Tozawa is spotlighting ways to enjoy sashimi-grade fish beyond traditional rolls and nigiri. Instead, a sizeable part of the menu is dedicated to handrolls ($7 to $8), the small nori wraps gaining mainstream popularity. Then there’s the gorgeously presented bara chirashi ($25, includes miso soup).
Chirashi means scatter in Japanese, and the dish is just that — a generous scattering of almost a dozen ingredients. A bowl starts with a bed of sushi rice and a trio of diced, buttery yellowtail, tuna and salmon. It gets sprinkled with salmon and tobiko roe, adding superb saltiness and texture, as did the pickled veggies, while avocado and microgreens gave fresh salad vibes. With so much variety, it was a party in each bite.
Beyond sashimi and rice dishes, tartare, tempura and noodles are also among the menu offerings. Note that the place is quaint with about a dozen tables and a few counter seats; reservations are highly recommended. (Nancy Ngo)
4747 Nicollet Av., Mpls., nokko.house
Caramel roll at Tobies Restaurant & Bakery
Halfway between Duluth and the Twin Cities just off I-35, Tobies in Hinckley has been a favorite Minnesota road trip tradition for decades. Probably best known for the enormous cinnamon rolls, it’s a full service operation that includes a gas station, car wash, a seasonal ice cream parlor and gift shop. Most importantly, it’s a restaurant and bakery turning out a broad selection of baked goods, including doughnuts, muffins, pies, loaves of bread, English muffins and potica, a traditional Slovenian nut roll pastry.
There are three varieties of cinnamon rolls: One covered in a heaping mountain of sweet vanilla icing, another coated in caramel and then one piled high with caramel pecans. You can have a box loaded up with a selection of baked goods and get them to go, where you will devour them immediately while inevitably get icing all over the inside of your car.
Or alternatively, you can just eat at the restaurant. We recommend the deep-fried walleye breakfast that comes with two eggs, hash browns, and toast. With most of the breakfast plates ($14 to $18), you can sub in a cinnamon or a caramel roll instead of toast for an extra $1.50, and it’s well worth the cost. Light and airy, springy and tender, flaky even, the cinnamon roll is delightful, but our table found the caramel roll to be far superior, less of a sugar bomb and a better expression of the spirally layers. At the restaurant, the caramel rolls even come with pats of butter, which to me seemed a little extra, but as my colleague Joy said, quoting comedian Chris Farley, “It needs a little hat!” (Raphael Brion)
