Corn and brats to benefit Northeast market

The Northeast Farmers Market will have its 13th annual Corn and Brat Feed on Aug. 20, honoring the peak of the season and the community spirit of the market. All of the event proceeds will benefit the Northeast Farmers Market. Roasted sweet corn will be served along with grilled brats from Kramarczuk's, with lemonade, iced tea and herbed butter from Chowgirls Killer Catering as well as various condiments from vendors. The event is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot of St. Boniface Church, 7th and University avenues NE.

Pie Place shares more secrets

In 2013, "The Pie Place Cafe Cookbook" brought the flavors of Grand Marais to fans of the North Shore restaurant. Now, owner Kathy Rice is opening the door even wider. "Secrets of the Pie Place Cafe: Recipes and Stories Through the Seasons" (Lake Superior Port Cities, $19.95) features never before published recipes such as radish dill soup, maple sausage and the cafe's popular creamy breakfast potatoes. (They involve cream of celery soup.)

Rice also provides history, with stories about residents up and down the North Shore who have contributed to the region and the restaurant, thus filling the mind as well as the stomach. Rice writes about learning to cook from her grandma in rural Michigan, and her circuitous route to Grand Marais after careers in nursing and interior design.

No longer a restaurant, the Pie Place continues as a pie and catering business.

Buyer beware

You can fool some of the people some of the time, as diners from around the world have discovered with misnamed seafood. But it's mislabeled wild game in Fairbanks, Alaska, that most recently received attention.

The Associated Press reports that the Pump House restaurant had "reindeer tenderloin" on the menu since 2013, with a description that noted that the meat was "similar to caribou and raised in Western Alaska where they are harvested by the Native people."

In fact, the restaurant had intentionally been serving New Zealand elk — not reindeer. The state fined the restaurant $50,000 for its mislabeling.

At least it didn't taste like chicken.

KIM ODE and LEE SVITAK DEAN