Season celebrations: birthdays, holiday tea, champagne toasts and 50 years of Italian cheers

CHEERS FOR THE PARTY SEASON, AND BLOW OUT THE CANDLES…for birthdays too. We helped celebrate the 25th birthday of one the Twin Cities finest businesses. No, not a restaurant, but a fellow that certainly respects them, when local interior designer extraordinaire Billy Beson celebrated his 25 years in business and unveiled his new logo and name for the creation of the Beson Kading Interior Design Group as he added Bruce Kading as a partner.
To make it extra special, Beson knows food and drinks is what makes the memories and the fun, right? And he promised “cocktails and canapés” in the invitation. He recruited the talented team from Mission American Kitchen & Bar - for the catering and bar service. Good choices all around.

First of all, he set the stage at the historic Pantages Theatre, then he brought in a stage legend for musical entertainment—songstress and cabaret/recording artist Marilyn Maye. She has been a long time favorite in New York City and on the Johnny Carson show, where she appeared a record 76 times. But before the stage show, we were wowed with live performances by the Mission’s staff with a cool, three-bar setup—(a lobby bar, one in the theater itself, and one on the balcony) where martinis ruled the day…er, night. A toast to Mission martini makers and their Quaker Vodka Martini list, from a mango’tini to cosmos’tini with those cute little cans of favored nutrisoda as mixers.

Husband and wife team Anoush and Ellie Ansari, partners behind the Mission’s success, seemed calm even with all the hustle and bustle about them. Hundreds of guests jockeyed for positions as servers passed canapés among the hungry crowd, and they were perfectly bite-sized and perfectly delicious. Bravo and cheers to Beson.


LA BELLE VIE BLOWS OUT ONE CANDLE…Across town near Loring Park, the old 510 Groveland sparkled for another birthday. It was a first birthday of their restaurant tenant La Belle Vie, now well settled into their new Minneapolis location. Some may have been toasting their nearly eight-years old history, since it was back in 1998 when Josh Thoma and Tim McKee took the plunge and opened their first restaurant. They followed a few years later with their Spanish inspired Solera on Hennepin Avenue. Between these two spots you can pretty well keep your palate happy forever.

A quick look at this six-course anniversary wine dinner proved you can not eat like this every night, but it sure would be fun to try! Burp. Chef/owner Tim McKee was in the kitchen creating magic with his team. Picture this! We had every flavor and texture you could imagine from a paper thin beef carpaccio to delicate poached rabbit loin with cured foie gras to Nantucket Bay scallops and slivers of black truffle to a lamb and pumpkin agnolotti followed by tender grilled duck breast.

Last but not least came a caramelized pear and almond tart with quince sorbet. It was wrapped in delicate threads, rising into a pear shape, of golden spun sugar by Pastry Chef Adrienne Odom. Magnificent! It didn’t hurt to have an elegant and irresistible German eiswein (ice wine) paired with this dessert. We loved it.

It was just one of the seven wonderful and unique wines we tried, paired for the dinner by guest wine expert, importer and speaker for the evening, Terry Theise. What a “wow” he put on the night too—especially when he said, ”Champagne is the best wine with anything in the world.” Yeah, always a favorite with me, too. He also strongly recommends you serve champagne “when you start to smell the turkey.” He also says wine serves the foods—it’s there to be helpful and to flatter the food, not the other way around. I’d say he succeeded at this dinner.


IT’S MRS. KELLY’S TEA TIME…Not a champagne lover like me? Try tea! December marks the annual holiday tea tasting, at Mrs. Kelly’s Tea in Northeast Minneapolis in the old beer warehouse where Grain Belt used to be the beverage of choice. The only thing brewing in December will be Mrs. Kelly’s Tea. From December 1 to 2, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., owner Mindy Kelly opens up all her tea making warehouse space for steeping, sniffing, tastings and sales.

This once a year opportunity allows you to sample more than 100 of Mrs. Kelly’s most popular freshly blended teas. Kelly will be on hand to answer all of your questions about tea, too. Kelly also features seminars and chocolate tastings with Brian McElrath, founder of BT McElrath Choclatier and an executive chef from Let’s Cook will be sharing the secrets of ginger molasses cookies. While waiting for your tea to steep, you can also browse the brewery’s open art studios while sipping your new favorite teas. Details are on the website at www.mrskellystea.com.


MORE EXOTIC TEA BLOSSOMS AT VIEW…Another holiday tea tip with a real exotic performance all its own is the one-of-kind Chinese jasmine tea bulbs being served over at View. Located on the street level of the Calhoun Beach Club, this popular lakeside eatery was a hot spot in summer with its large outdoor sidewalk café. Now, with the arrival of winter wind chill, Chef Joe Gentile and his team have made the inside view of the frozen lake the new hot spot to be, complete with bubbling hot soups and drinks, coffees and tea—jasmine tea, like I’ve never seen before—ever!

This tea presentation is one of the most show-stopping acts I have seen in the food world. It even beats my old-time favorite snap, crackle and pop sounds when I had my first bowl of Rice Krispies as a kid. For this show you are served a tall-stemmed glass full of hot water. Floating in the water is the inch long cylinder of dried tea bulb imported from China. The bulb slowly opens and blossoms as it steeps in the hot water. Then, voila! Within a few minutes you’ll be faced with a beautiful, full flower that fills the glass and gives the air and the water the lovely taste and aroma of jasmine tea. Cheers!

And if hot soup is your “cup of tea”, then ask for Joe’s new “soup sampler”—a must for those who hate to make a choice. All three soups on the menu are offered in three small cups on a serving plate for a super light lunch with a sandwich or starter at dinner. This new sampler, is also a perfect pairing in the afternoon with many of View’s happy hour drinks and appetizers available daily between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.


CHAMPAGNE WILL BUBBLE AT A WINE AFFAIR…Looking for more bubbly to ring in the holiday season? Thanks to Three Sons Signature Cuisine, you can mark two December dates on your calendar for toasts and cheers with my favorite beverage—champagne! First, add Thursday Dec.14 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. over at the St. Anthony Main Event Centre for the monthly Three Sons Wine Tasting series A Wine Affair, located on Historic Main Street in Minneapolis. This month features champagne and sparkling wine.

A Wine Affair is the brainchild of Three Son owners and partners Chef Ben McCallum and brother Aaron (two of the three sons) along with Ben’s wife and partner Jodee McCallum. They promise, “you will not find a better two-hour palate pleasing extravaganza for $30!” Chef Ben designs intriguing and divine delicacies inspired by each month’s selection of wines. While he likes to have a few traditional menu items from the region being featured, the menus are ultimately about style and fusion. Even though their business is primarily catering for others, they celebrate with these monthly events to showcase the site and Chef Ben’s talent and flexibility.

Then December 31 will be the second chance for a champagne toast at the Event Centre when the McCallums host a New Year’s Eve party they’re calling “Vintage Las Vegas” with the timeless glamour of a classic old fashioned black tie affair. They will feature a five-course dinner and wine pairing plus live performances by Stockcar Named Desire, plus psychic readings, gaming tables and karaoke. Of course, down along the river you also have the riverfront’s annual fireworks, too. Jodee adds, “Even though we are known as by-design caterers…we sure do like to throw our parties too. And we treat our clients as a part of the family.” See details and prices for these special events on their website at www.threesonskitchen.com.


MORE HOLIDAY CHEERS FOR VESCIO’S…Raise a glass to Vescio’s where it’s still a family affair and third generation no less, heading into their second half century. Since 1954, a Vescio has been cooking and serving us their family favorites from homemade meatballs and sausage to salad dressings and pastas to those super little rolled braciole (pronounced “brah-shol”). When I stopped by for an Italian fix at the St. Louis Park Vescio’s Cucina last month, grandson Fred Vescio who heads up this second location (opened in 1983) reminded me most of the family recipes can be attributed to Grandma Lizzy. “Grandma and her sisters Mary and Dorothy were really the hard working cooks behind the scenes while my dad Frank was welcoming guests in Dinkytown.”

He adds, “Today, my brother Frank Jr. runs the Dinkytown store (with his son Tony—that makes it a fourth generation) and we both build on what we learned from Grandma Lizzy and the Vescio’s southern Italian traditions.” That means they make and bottle homemade salad dressing, can their own peppers, bone their pork butt, grind their own sausage, make meatballs and that fun old square cookie sheet pizza (it filled the oven better). They also make about a half-dozen of their homemade sauces from pesto, to meat and meatless reds, to a fontina mushroom sauce. They hand roll, stuff and fork the edges of their very irregular, triangle shaped ravioli and make their own fettuccini and gnocchi, too. But a touch of “newness” is good too—hence the fancy “cucina” moniker and white tablecloths and candle lamps on the tables.

Manager DeDe Conkey, who is instrumental in coordinating their growing on and off site catering business (including contracts to serve the Gophers and the Timberwolves) says, “Watch for more emphasis on our updated Italian wine menu too—already 30 strong, we have recently tasted and selected another 20-plus Italian wines from small, family owned vineyards, and people are pleased to discover we have new ports and sherrys as well.”

She also pointed out they have been offering quarterly wine dinners and a wine feature each month. On Tuesdays they serve half-price bottles as well. My favorite wine was the dessert choice of the new Whiskers Blake Classic Tawny Port. It’s a real winner and perfect with their homemade carrot cake or cheesecake or maybe the tiramisu or the pizzelle cookie or…? Cheers!