A cool hotspot at Via, a cookbook revisited and cheers to caterers for fun and fundraising

VIA this, VIA that, VIA FRANCE off Highway 62…Consider the use of the word “via” when you give directions or when traveling through a place en route to a destination. The dictionary example says, “They came to Europe via Turkey.” Well, now they can come to Edina via France Avenue off Highway 62 and stop at the new Via. Indeed, Via Café & Bar, which opened at 6740 France Ave South during the hot days of August, has itself become the destination and is fast becoming the new Edina hot spot, complete with cool cocktail patio and rushing waterfall.

According to Anoush Ansari, Hemisphere Restaurants Partners co-owner with Hadi Anbar (they also own Mission American Kitchen and Atlas Grill) they kept telling people how to get to their new site via this road or that road and the word via itself began to intrigue them. It even had a little romance language sound to it, and Via became the name. Previously home to Pizzeria Uno, the spot faces the West side of Southdale Mall.

I love one syllable names, and it really is cool inside and out from the new walk-around bar with glass walls and full liquor to the enlarged dining room and open kitchen. It offers a comfy and casual setting with a great view of Chef James Foley and his staff preparing your meal. Other familiar faces include Director of Operations Craig Ritacco, previously seen on the floor over at Mission, and Manager Bob Johnson, nine years with the Napa Valley Grille and California Café when they opened at the Mall of America. A good team with fun food and drink, too. Chef Foley (who moved from Mission) defines the food as “truly American menu items with Asian and European influences.” You’ll spot the likes of chicken satay or crab wontons for starters, to a BLT with dijon aioli, roasted turkey sandwich, seared ahi tuna, baked rigatoni and beef tenderloin for entrees.

Take time to try desserts or their colorful cocktails, which are even more playful if you’re on the patio. Go for cookies and milk (more than a dozen little fresh-baked morsels) or a root beer float for the kids. Or, ask for a shot of root beer schnapps to add an adult kick. Me? I’m planning to try all the martinis from their signature Mama Via and Champ-Pom (a yummy peach vodka with chambord) to the Blackberry Mintini (with mint) to the Blythetini, already famous downtown at Mission. It’s a mix of vanilla vodka, chocolate vodka and white creme de cacao—the favorite of Blythe Brendan, an active downtowner and campaign fundraiser for the Minnesota Shubert Theatre renovation. Cheers!


ALWAYS ON SUNDAY…Speaking of cookies—She’s back! Yes she caused a real déjà vu for cookie lovers and cooks of all ages, and my cookie cravings returned too. I’m speaking about the appearance and free tasting of “Everyday Cookies,” passed out at a recent cookbook signing with Eleanor Ostman. With one bite, you’re hooked; you know you need this book.

Ostman, the retired Pioneer Press food writer, hosted an unveiling of her popular cookbook last month at Barnes & Noble, 10 years and multiple printings after the initial release. She added “revisited” to the title of her “Always On Sunday” book, with a new portrait cover of her painted by a friend and new family photos, since three grandchildren are now cooking with Grandma Eleanor.

The book features her best-tested recipes from 1968, selected from over 4,000 recipes tested in more than 30 years of writing a Sunday column. She also made it fun reading with her tales and tidbits through the decades of her travels and celebrity encounters, like the lunch with Paul Newman. She won lunch with ol’ blue eyes and $2,500 for charity in 1992 with her “devilish shrimp bisque,” which including his Newman’s salsa in the recipe. It is delish!

I also love the book because I helped name it. When she said she planned to name this selection of Sunday recipes “Best Tested Recipes,” I winced and recalled the popular ’60s Greek movie and song “Never On Sunday.” The movie’s theme song won an Academy Award and I begged her to use the title. She agreed and said she’d give it a try. The rest is history.


CHEERS TO OUR CATERERS & COOKS…around town. I tip my hat with my “Pat on the Back” Award to the catering industry this hot, hot summer and their ongoing quality, creativity and courage in handling super food events in unusual and rustic settings. I have always felt it takes tons of talent and organizational skills to haul food and equipment to any outdoor tent sites, but I’m sure it must also take patience. I recall, for example, the fabulous work and elegant tents and table set up by Bon Appetit Catering at the Guthrie’s huge grand opening last year and the “tented cities” needed by Prom Catering. Each year they go thru a massive set up at TPC Golf Club in Blaine for their seasonal tournaments (not to mention their golf setups around the country). I’m in awe of the imagination and determination a catering team needs to meet the challenges of setting up tents for their temporary kitchens and the efforts for seating and setting those glamorous, crystal-decked dinner tables outside instead of an inside restaurant venue.

This summer I was impressed once again with superb tented, events from two local caterers. In July and August I hit a couple of really fun fundraisers that gave us marvelous outdoor settings and the tent challenge setup. I can’t believe the months of party planning and man-hours behind the scenes for these special events, not to mention the quantity of supplies for set-up from utensils and supplies to heavy equipment, to power boxes for warming and cooling and the various needs for ice. All of this to turn just a few hours for a fundraiser into fun memories forever. Uffdah.

On July 28, the Smile Network hosted its 5th Annual Gala Fundraiser on the grounds of a Lake Minnetonka mansion along Ferndale Road. Just the security planning for arriving guests with valet, parking and shuttles looked like a monumental job. As we rounded the home to the magnificent tented backyard with and expansive lawn rolling down to the lake, I spotted the kitchen tent setup, and discovered D’Amico Catering at the helm, one of the largest and busiest caterers in town for the past 20 years. With more than 700 guests for a full dinner and passed hors d’oeuvres, this event brought out the talents of Chef Mike Sneed and 10 support chefs in the kitchen tent, along with dozens of servers and more than a half-dozen bartenders scattered about the grounds.

I also spotted the familiar face of the grande dame of the D’Amico catering team, Barbara Scholtz, who gave her nod to platters of hors d’oeuvres as servers passed by. Now director of catering operations, I recall Barbara during the years she headed up restaurant operations for D’Amico from Campiello to Lurcat, and she was always soft spoken, calm and smiling. The perfect requirements for any harried or hectic catering event, eh? A look around and once again it looked like their team was on top of it all with good cheer. I also spoke with Linda Adam, director of catering sales, who was as pleased as punch with the Smile event. She recalled having to drive their supply trucks with a tent setup on one of the more angular slopes they had ever encountered. Plus, hauling in five enormous Carter-Hoffman heat holding carts and more—just part of the challenge to keep the bone-in chicken breasts warm. I was in awe of the global desserts. More than 2,000 miniature balls of assorted flavored cheesecake were bamboo-skewered and dipped in white and milk chocolate and still cool in the heat of the evening. It put a smile on my face, too.


GRAHAM CATERING FACED COUNTRY LIFE…and rain, too. A week later, another elegant tented affair, on a smaller scale with a Ma and Pa catering team wowed me and won over my heart. Cheers to Dusty and Jana Graham, a husband and wife team who have headed up the Art Center Café over at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts on weekdays for morning coffee, muffins and homemade lunches with super cookies since 2002. The Grahams come with great credentials and offer their talents in the evenings for private dinner parties and special events.

A rainy evening didn’t deter them or their elegant table setup for a crowd of about 250 supporters at the annual fundraiser of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center event dubbed “Country Pleasures.” The event was hosted out on the 120 acre Alpine Horse Farm, located in the heart of Medina horse country. It was the perfect setting for the horsey set, and their dining layout was complete with tables topped with sunny, yellow checkered cloths, fresh flowers and chilled martini glasses of vichyssoise and a tiny bread stick greeting you at each place setting. We forgot about the rain outside. The week had been unbearably hot, so Dusty planned some warm appetizers and a light menu around cold-poached salmon with a dill sauce and a corn and fennel relish. He had to haul in a generator and pack up Cambro hot boxes to set up his temporary kitchen for the various courses, but rain didn’t add much problem during the meal—only at clean up time.

I learned an interesting twist to the Graham team saga, too. I found they had grown up in the metro area, but didn’t meet each other until they attended the CIA in New York together back in the 1990s. When they graduated in 1997 over a decade ago, they married and moved around until the kids began to arrive. They worked at hot spots in Chicago like the Ritz Carlton and the Four Seasons Hotel, and that’s great training for catering. Now they are settled in the Wayzata area.

They have four babies under 10 years old, and when she is not mothering, Jana can be found doing most of the paperwork side of the business with bookings and sales, keeping Dusty busy in the kitchen. “She does make great cookies though,” Dusty laughed.

There’s those cookies again and I’m starving. I’d better grab Eleanor’s cookbook and whip up a batch right now.