Thursday 2 p.m. Lucky me: Despite a steady stream of customers, I scored one of the four tables inside the snug confines of Rabbit's Bakery. First the crackle of burning pine popped over Bob Dylan mumbling "Tangled Up in Blue" on the stereo, then its woodsy scent began tickling my nostrils. Turns out co-owner Dan Patterson uses pine kindling -- remnants of a few sacrificed shrubs -- to spark fire in his red brick wood-burning bread oven. "It seemed like a cost-effective use for them" he said with a laugh.
Slow-burning oak supplies the heat to transform Patterson's carefully crafted doughs into breads of exceptional flavor and texture. The baguettes alone should put Lake City, Minn., on the culinary map, with deeply browned, jaw-aerobicizing crusts covering enviably pliant interiors. For the best darned lunch I've had in weeks, Patterson piled shaved ham, long sheets of parchment-thin Swiss and mellow pickled jalapeños on that singular baguette. The finished product was so tall it took a firm two-handed grip to wrestle it into submission. I wish I hadn't been dining solo, because all I wanted to say to someone was, "Now that was a sandwich."
There was a hearty soup and a simple garden-fresh salad, both excellent. Unfortunately I missed out on the roast beef/ roasted peppers/pepperoni-salami-basil sammies; both had sold out. Ditto the menu's other two entrees, biscuits buried under sausage gravy and fried chicken with bacon-flecked corn bread. Get this: The top price is just $7.
Like Patterson, co-owner Hallie Abbott's résumé lists next-door neighbor Nosh Restaurant & Bar as well as Lucia's Restaurant in Minneapolis. Abbott is responsible for the sweets, and hers is a Long John-free bakery case, boasting well-made muffins, onion- and poppyseed-topped bialys, walnut-crusted brownies and dainty vanilla cupcakes crowned with just-picked strawberries. On my way out I greedily grabbed the last of the rectangular cinnamon-swirled loaves. After savoring each slice, my morning Puffed Wheat ritual now feels like a punishment.
Friday, 8 p.m. When Nosh Restaurant & Bar decamped to Lake City last summer, it left a hole on Wabasha's main commercial thoroughfare. In May, chef Michael Murray-John and his spouse, Debbie, filled that void when they opened Vinifera. "I run the spatulas, she runs everything else," said Michael, whose last kitchen gig was running the Seven Pines Lodge in Lewis, Wis.
Since the restaurant takes its name from the Latin designation for all wine-producing grapes, this is obviously a wine-obsessed operation. Every dish has a pairing suggestion, and every wine on the list is available for retail sale at the same moderate price. A well-appointed patio seems designed for wine enthusiasts, and those hanging at the bar might notice that it's built from flattened wine barrel staves.
The cooking is bold and well-crafted. I loved a plate of swooningly tender slow-braised pork shoulder and its nicely fiery roasted pepper-paprika sauce. Ditto a trio of sizzling lamb chops, crusted in herbs, hot off the grill and sharing the plate with a mellow braised spinach-orzo combination. House-cured bacon added a brawny touch to a frisée-fig salad, and a ginger-laced crème brûlée was just right. (Other menu items include mussels steamed in white wine and shallots, cedar-plank salmon, coq au vin and lunchtime paninis). With entrees averaging $14, this was a meal well worth the drive, even at $4 a gallon.
Saturday, 6 p.m. "Why didn't I bring my camera?" That was my thought as I admired one scenic vista after another as we sped down a narrow, winding country road toward the Stone Barn in Nelson, Wis.. Once we arrived, I was really kicking my absent-minded self, because the place is a stunner, the remains of a 112-year-old barn now graced with flowers, herbs, a bubbling fountain and plenty of tables. Step indoors and order wood-fired pizzas ($18 to $23), inexpensive beer and wine and ice cream. Ours were more flatbreads than pizzas, sauceless but liberally topped with pleasing combos such as smoked salmon-cream cheese-dill or balsamic glazed chicken-asparagus-spinach-feta. Nice.
Sunday, 2 p.m. Set aside any preconceived notions of what a cookware store in rural Wisconsin should look like, because the Palate, in Stockholm, Wis., will shatter them. Nancy Fitzsimons and Shana Finnegan, the mother-daughter ownership team, have a sharp eye for the beautiful, the useful and the unique. Case in point: Fitzsimons' made-to-order table linens, sewn on her Singer in the back of the shop, or the dozen kooky patterns of picnic-table-ready oilcloth, sold by the yard.
Bakers will appreciate the selection of stone-ground organic flours from Great River Organic Milling in nearby Fountain City, Wis. (Fitzsimons likes the cornmeal for shortcakes), and anyone cursed with a sweet tooth will jump at the store's exceptional baked goods, which come out of the oven all day long. Maybe it's some kind of glazed scone -- blueberry-lemon or cranberry-orange -- or a coffee cake, or a pan of seven-layer bars. But Fitzsimons is really known for her totally awesome chocolate chip cookies. They're a dollar a pop, and regulars are in the habit of walking in, grabbing as many cookies as their addiction dictates and leaving an appropriate amount of cash in the flower pot on the counter. Try seeing that at Williams-Sonoma.
Sunday, 5 p.m. Nosh Restaurant & Bar is the best thing to happen to Lake City since the invention of water skiing in 1922. That might be a slight exaggeration. But only slight.
There should have been a big brass band welcoming chef/owner Greg Jaworski a few months ago when he relocated his three-year-old restaurant upriver from Wabasha. He sure landed a dreamy chunk of real estate. Not only is the new place roomier, but it has the address to beat among Lake Pepin restaurants: right on the town's marina, with gasp-out-loud views.
Another bonus: The new location slices about 20 minutes off the drive for Twin Cities diners. That's a good thing, because Jaworski's cooking is better than ever. He has a knack for hunting down the region's most pristine ingredients, and then treating them with care and respect. An incredible grass-fed tenderloin, ruby red on the inside, nicely charred outside, might have been the best piece of beef I've had this year. An intensely flavorful braised pork shoulder, fork tender, easily earned my top pork vote, and the richness of quick-seared Minnesota-raised foie gras was nicely balanced against roasted pineapple.
Jaworski is an accomplished sausage maker (they're often spiced with seasonings that his mother sends him from her Michigan home, where she shops a huge array of Middle Eastern markets), and his nose for cheese, all Wisconsin and Minnesota artisanal knockouts, is right on the money, especially when those discoveries are paired with his expertly made mustards and preserves.
The kitchen doesn't shy away from bold flavors: garlic-punched shrimp, a strawberry soup peppered with dried chiles, pungent olives marinated in an intense harissa-preserved lemon marinade. But Jaworski can be subtle, too, with twinges of honey peeking through dates stuffed with salty blue cheese and crusted with pistachios, smoked tomatoes and house-cured pork belly warming up a risotto served with nicely sweet sea scallops or a light saffron scent in a seafood-chorizo paella. This is food that is definitely worth the drive, and service is warm and observant.
Back to those View-Master vistas. Maybe it's a we-just-moved-in-and-haven't-unpacked issue, but my suggestion is to be sure to ask for a window or patio table when making a reservation. Then keep your eyes focused outward, or on Jaworski's pretty plates, because the blandly generic decor -- it's a very suburban McMansion great room -- isn't terribly memorable. But those views? They just might be all the decoration any restaurant needs.
Rick Nelson • 612-673-4757
Address book Nosh Restaurant & Bar, 310 1/2 Washington St., Lake City, Minn., 1-651-345-2425, www.noshrestaurant.com. Open Monday 4 to 9 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday 4 to 9 p.m., Sunday 3 to 8 p.m.
The Palate, W12102 Hwy. 35, Stockholm, Wis., 1-715-442-6400, www.thepalate.com. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday and Monday.
Rabbit's Bakery, 304 S. Washington St., Lake City, Minn., 1-651-345-3199. Open 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
The Stone Barn in Nelson, S685 County Rd. KK, Nelson, Wis., 1-715-673-4478, www.nelsonstonebarn.com. Open 5 to 9 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
Vinifera, 260 Main St. W., Wabasha, Minn., 1-651-565-4171, www.viniferarestaurant.com. Open 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday, 4 to 9 p.m. Friday, 2 to 9 p.m. Saturday, 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday.
More dining. . : Red Wing, Minn: After five years of cooking 5 miles to the east, Greg and Sarah Norton have landed smack dab in the middle of Red Wing with Norton's Downtown & Lucky Cat Lounge (307 Main St., 1-651-388-2711, www.thenortons restaurant.com). Cannon River Trail pedalers should stop by the cheery Smokey Row Cafe & Bakery (1926 W. Old Main St., 1-651-388-6025, www.jennylindbakery.net) for hearty sandwiches and soups as well as baker Ruth Raich's tried-and-true sweets. Don't miss the fantastic cardamom rolls.
Hager City, Wis.: Cross the Mississippi into America's Dairyland and keep on the lookout for the unassuming Hager Heights Drive-In (Hwys. 63 and 35, 1-715-792-2118), an anti-McDonald's pit stop for quick burgers, fries, shakes and fried chicken.
Maiden Rock, Wis.: Once on the Wisconsin side, cruise-control south on Hwy. 35 into this sleepy hillside town, where well-informed tourists brake for the Smiling Pelican Bakeshop (W3556 Hwy. 35, Maiden Rock, Wis., 1-715-448-3807). Co-owner Sandra Thielman, a one-woman baking machine, artfully fills her case with all-American beauties: blue-ribbon-worthy pies, layer cakes, quiches and her trademark lavender-ginger sugar cookies (One problem: the bakeshop is closed for renovations until September 2010). Maiden Rock's other food-lovers' landmark is Rush River Produce (W4098 200th Av., 1-715-594-3648, www.rushriverproduce.com), the Cuddy family's extraordinarily picturesque blueberry and currant U-pick farm.
Stockholm, Wis: Speaking of scenery, the winding road south to tiny Stockholm, Wis., is a landscape painter's dream. The village's best bet is the Bogus Creek Cafe & Bakery (N2049 Spring St., 1-715-442-5017), the place for plus-size breakfasts and lunches and a lovely patio. Pies, and lots of them, are what's in store at the bantam-sized Stockholm Pie Co. (N2030 Spring St., 1-715-442-5505). The Stockholm area's worst-kept secret is A to Z Produce (N2956 Anker Lane, 1-715-448-4802), an utterly enchanting farmstead pizza operation open Tuesday nights only. It's strictly BYOE (Bring Your Own Everything, including beverages and utensils), and be warned: Slavishly devoted locals show up for the glorious wood-fired pizza in droves, so expect a long -- emphasis on long -- wait.
Pepin, Wis.: The next town to the south is home to the granddaddy of all daytripping restaurants, the Harbor View Cafe (314 1st St., 1-715-442-3893, www.harborviewpepin.com), where new ownership hasn't altered its warmth, its seasonally focused chalkboard menu, its popularity or its no-reservations/no-credit-cards policies. At the Homemade Cafe (809 3rd St., 612-396-5804, www.thehomemadecafe.com), the sign out front distills everything a hungry daytripper needs to know into a single word: "Pie." Owner Julie Elwell knows how to put up an exceptional seasonal fruit pie (just $3 per slice), but she's also adept at lunchtime burgers and sandwiches and gigantic breakfasts. The $10.95 Friday night fish fry features hot-from-the-oven popovers, and au gratins instead of fries for an extra buck.
Nelson, Wis.: The star of this bridge-across-the-Mississippi town is the Nelson Cheese and Creamery (S. Hwy. 35, 1-715-673-4725, www.nelsoncheese.com), stocked with gourmet foodstuffs, wines, a wine bar, a pizza/sandwich counter and tall, super-cheap ($1 and $2) ice cream cones, which explains the near-constant line of customers.
Alma, Wis.: Ok, so Alma is a little south to be considered part of Lake Pepin, but it's worth a stop, not only for the breaktaking view from Buena Vista Park, but for an all-American lunch or dinner at Kate & Gracie's (215 N. Main St.,1-608-685-4505, www.kateandgracies.com), or for an ice cream cone and a peek at the lovely gardens at Fire & Ice (305 N. Main St., 612- 423-3653.
