1. Bulls-eye's grand slam
Many baseball fans think of Target Field as the House of Joe Mauer. But for food fanatics, the undisputed king of the ballpark is Orest Kramarczuk. He's the towering figure behind the fantastic grilled bratwurst and Polish sausages that Twins ticketholders are snapping up at a rate of 6,000 per game, all made fresh daily in a shiny new state-of-the-art facility at the E. Hennepin shop that has boasted his family's tongue-twisting surname for 55 years. "It was nice for the Pohlad family and the Twins to give a small guy a chance," said Kramarczuk. "The first time I saw the long line at the stand, I cried. I thought of my parents. I wish they could have seen how much their product means to people."
2. Cheers, mate
At the Four Firkins, his well-stocked St. Louis Park shop, beermeister (and native Australian) Jason Alvey elevates the notion of craft beers -- particularly from the ever-growing plethora of Minnesota microbreweries -- to dizzying new heights.
3. Star chef
It can't be easy to step out from under Wolfgang Puck's considerable shadow. But Asher Miller, the gifted chef at 20.21, runs Puck's dramatic restaurant at the Walker Art Center with a discipline and passion that might lead diners to believe that it's his name on the door, not his celebrity employer's.
