The 5 best things our food writers ate this week

Remember green? That glorious color with the promise of spring and sun and the return to outside activities that don’t involve dodging ice slicks or braving face-freezing winds? I found it behind a bakery case of the newly re-opened Cha Yes Tea on University Avenue.

With a glistening green dome and artful candy flower, this little matcha tea cake was irresistible in the depths of this frigid January. Fluffy mousse surrounds a sweet red bean filling; it’s all coated in white chocolate and garnished with a little toasted coconut ($7).

The tea cake is just one of several enticing baked goods from La Delicious Bread that’s stocked inside the stunning pastry case. The just re-opened cafe now partners with that fabulous Rice Street bakery. The new menu is filled with savory temptations, too: sticky rice bowls, Vietnamese-style egg rolls and banh mi, in addition to all boba tea options. Plus, the sunny space has a hot commodity along this bustling thoroughfare — ample parking. (Joy Summers)

738 University Av. W., St. Paul, facebook.com/chayestea

Even the most practical errands — say, an airport drop-off — are made exponentially better with a detour. If you’re stop-starting down Interstate 494, Las Cuatro Milpas is easy to spot from the highway, a deceivingly large space that’s half casual restaurant, half modern banquet hall.

At the counter, a row of agua fresca machines filled with bright juices churn away. Before we even sat down, my kids were already shouting their orders: watermelon! strawberry! pineapple!

But on the coldest days, I take my liquid in consommé form. The birria is described simply as a “red sauce stew,” but don’t let them undersell it. This is the same rich broth that comes alongside the restaurant’s popular fried birria tacos with cheese. Here, glossy red broth fills a wide clay bowl, brimming with braised meat a spoon can easily reduce to shreds. I ordered the beef, but you can also get goat or lamb, all $15.99 and served with a side of warm tortillas. It’s a huge portion, and fortifying enough to get back in the line of traffic and continue with the day’s to-do list. (Sharyn Jackson)

Manny’s Tortas was one of the original tenants of Midtown Global Market, and much like owner Manny Gonzalez, the soft, crusty Mexico City-style tortas have become iconic to the Twin Cities. The menu here leans heavily toward those sandwiches, but a hot tip from a superfan led us to the potachos, hiding in plain sight on the appetizer section.

The potachos are Manny’s riff on totchos — in which tots take the place of tortilla chips in nachos — except here the base is shredded hash browns. What arrives is essentially a hash brown-nacho hybrid, in which slices of provolone cheese get griddled around hash browns cooked until golden-brown and crispy; and then it all gets topped with pico de gallo and sour cream.

There are big breakfast-for-dinner vibes in the contrast between the hash browns’ crunchy exterior and tender, soft and potato-y interior. But then magical things happen with the deeply caramelized, savory griddled cheese, the bright heat from the pico and the cooling richness of the sour cream, all working in concert to create a sensational dish that’s nearly impossible to stop eating. (Raphael Brion)

920 E. Lake St., #125, Mpls., mannystortas.com

Pangea World Market is a destination for stocking up on Middle Eastern, Asian and East African groceries. The north metro spot also has a bakery, featuring pitas, flatbreads, date breads — and standout Jerusalem bagels made fresh daily.

As we snacked our way through, we talked about how melted cheese would be a great combo to try next time. And at $1.99 for this substantial and easily shareable bite, there’s no reason not to head back, stock up and savor the endless possibilities. (Nancy Ngo)

8500 Springbrook Dr. NW., Coon Rapids, pangeamarket.com

L2, a hidden Taiwanese bar, feels miles away from the street-level boba shop below it — and from everything else happening out there. A great happy hour helps, too, and a playlist of ‘90s women-led hits. Three of us claimed a corner of the bar this week and ordered our way through the dazzling drink menu infused with flavors of Thai tea, tom yum soup and pho.

The food here is meant for sharing, and we did just that with baskets of ultra-crunchy popcorn chicken and tofu squares we skewered with wooden sticks. For dessert, we ordered an enormous bowl of biing or Taiwanese shaved snow ($9.95.)

The mound of delicate ice shavings, almost as silky as gelato, comes doused in condensed milk and, in the Mango Tango, topped with mango and strawberry chunks. (There are five other combos with toppings like mochi, taro pudding, Oreos or Tajin.) By the time we dug our three spoons in, “Cornflake Girl” was blasting, and a hard day had turned into a very good night. (S.J.)