Lots to talk about kids. Buckle up.

It's getting a little out of control at the Great Minnesota Get-together. Pig Lickers, Pickle Pops, Big Fat Bacon. Charlie Torgerson, who last year gave us Kool-Aid pickles, is doing the Pig Licker, chocolate-dipped bacon strips seasoned with sea salt. Sounds fine to me! Pickle Pops are freezer pops made with real pickle puree and juice. Sounds like that treat will only be as good as the quality of the pickle and the brine. If it is vinegar-based brine and oversized commodity cukes are used, then watch out, not so hot. On hot summer days, I have been known to tipple a juice glass of Ba-Tempte brand pickle juice.

Big Fat Bacon sounds glorious. "One-third pound of bacon, fried and caramelized with maple syrup and served on a stick," according to press releases. I think that barring large execution or quality snafus (always a problem!), this bacon treat should be a huge hit for years to come.

The pickle juice freezer pop will be a dud, and the unless there is a huge surprise, I could care less about the tater tots on a stick (I like mine in a cup or on a plate!); Norwegian-style cheese curds served with lingonberry sauce (again, this is less of a new item and more of a twist on something old—and not a very good one at that); and Leprechaun Legs, which are deep-fried green beans. That one sounds like a complete waste of time—although, I think that somewhere in there is a good idea . . . mixed vegetable tempura, anyone?

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Oceanaire is launching a serious menu in celebration of Copper River and Yukon king salmon season. It all kicks off on June 28.

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Salut in St. Paul is kicking ass and taking names . . . or not taking names in case you are one of the people who would rather not wait in long lines for tables at the outdoor café on Grand Ave. The early reports are very good, service is efficient and friendly, and the food is what we have come to expect from Salut, which is exactly what Grand Ave. needs: simple fare that is well-prepared in stylish and family-friendly surroundings.

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Seth Bixby Daugherty’s new charitable endeavor, Real Food Initiatives, finally has an Internet presence; the site is up and running. You should check it out and forward this link on to all your friends and family. More than a year ago, Seth decided to make this his life’s work, and in that time, the issues he is confronting from a solutions-based perspective (child hunger, healthy school lunch programs, child obesity, rising food prices, etc.) have only grown louder in terms of national conversation. His appearances on national talk shows and his growing roster of contacts have made RFI a program to keep your eye on as the year moves onward.

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Punch Pizza on Grand Ave. opens in September in the space that was formerly occupied by the short-lived Hazelden Book Store, across the street from the Wild Onion. The Punch location will not be one of the full-service restaurants (ie: Highland Park) but will be one of the quick-serve locales (ie: all the other Punch Pizza outlets). Now I don’t know about you, but the speed and efficiency of the Punch outlets doesn’t get me excited at all.

I keep going back to the Punch in Highland Park because I want the offerings of a true Neapolitan-style pizzeria: salads, antipasto, and all the pizza and calzone choices. I understand why the suits at Punch are eager to roll out the kiosks in certain locations (office and business districts, etc.): They are easier to build, replicate, and manage. But in residential areas, such as Grand Ave., I think they have misjudged the marketplace. I would create a duplicate of the Highland location on Grand Ave., and I don’t think it would cannibalize the business by having two sit-down eateries so close to each other. On Grand Ave., there are so many families, so many potential customers willing to contribute to the larger check averages associated with a sit-down eatery that I am dumbfounded as to why the Punch mavens would open a quick-serve property there. And as a customer who lives closer to the new locale than the Highland restaurant, I will continue to go to Highland Park. I love that place.

Last week in Jeremy’s blog, he noted the challenges posed by the nature of the Beard Awards’ voting system and how hard it is to get it down to a science. It is maddening, but each year or two, they keep tweaking away. I am eager to hear ideas from anyone on how it could be made more efficient and more representative of awarding excellence. It is tough to figure out. And until they decide to go with a full-time panel of paid reps who fly around the country eating at all the nomination-worthy restaurants in the U.S., no one will ever be happy. Sign me up! Sounds like a good gig. Hey, I’m frustrated, too, but I think it’s as good as we can get it.

Iggers then asked the question that has been asked a lot these days and has been addressed by me both in print and online, but I wanted to open up the idea to this group of readers. Are professional restaurant critics obsolete? Iggers does not come right out and say it, but he seems to be leaning toward saying, “yes, they are going the way of the dinosaur.” He notes that professional critics are expensive to fund for a newspaper or magazine; consumers are becoming better educated about food and, therefore, have less need for ‘experts’ to explain the gastronomic universe to them; and because of the digital revolution, you can instantly ascertain what the last few thousand customers at Porter & Frye thought of the place if you look on the right website. He accurately points out that yes, although one or two people can have a great meal or a bad one, when you look at a larger sample group, you can see a clearer picture of overall quality. That is, if you trust the Average Joe(s).

Here’s my take on this fascinating topic: First, we will always have the need for expert opinion. What Iggers fails to mention is the utter lack of credibility some of the popular dining columnists have in this town because they don’t understand food or how restaurants work, and I think readers want to know what Rick or Dara think about food because we have come to know them through their work—both as experts and, more importantly, as personalities. These are funny, smart people who we want to eat with; we trust their takes because throughout the years, we have come to zero in on what they like that we like and vice versa.

I think Average Joes get to vote with their feet and wallets, and restaurants need to make them happy first and foremost. And most do. I call it Kincaid-itis, so named after a restaurant that I don’t care for one iota but remains doggedly popular with the masses. No one needs an expert to explain that place. But I think people do want to know if the more-popular food writers like it, too. The media is in the business of selling personality in cases such as this; very few entities are in the business of simply selling facts when it comes to movie, theater, or restaurant reviews. But they can sell columnists and their personalities. I think newspapers are slowly going the way of the horse and buggy, and the better food writers will simply find new homes in digital media, and their audience will follow.

I do, like Iggers suggests, think that we need experts to help us put restaurants that challenge convention into perspective. I could care less what anyone thinks about the local grilled salmon and flatbread place. I am probably more influenced about dining by location, hours, convenience issues, and the like. But as dining becomes more and more aspirational, as my dining dollar stretches shorter distances, I want to know what my favorite dining columnists and critics say because I trust them and their expertise.

The one trend that Iggers mentions (but I was sorry to see him pass up the opportunity to explore further) was about judges for the JBA and how rare it is for someone to have eaten in two nominated restaurants in different states in the service category, for example. I agree, but I also think that as we move through the years, we are going to rely more and more on writers with true national and global experience. I remember when Chambers Kitchen opened here a few years ago. I was really eager to see what the restaurant was like and was anxious to see how it measured up to other JGV restaurants in NYC and other cities around the world. When I wrote about my CK experience, I made sure to include that info because I had the frame of reference that some other writers did not and wanted our readers to benefit from that. I think that media companies will always want that type of expertise in their stable for the simple reason that in today’s digital age, even the most casual food fan knows about chefs such as JGV and wants to know if their local outpost is anything like one of his NYC or London eateries. As the food world grows explosively, and the ‘information of the many’ clutter our browsers, we will always need experts to help us sort through the piles of opinions, perhaps even more than we do now.

Below are the winners of the major James Beard Awards . . . ouch.

Let’s recap the most outrageous surprise: Despite the fact that I voted for Mike Lata at FIG, Bob Stehling is a choice you can’t argue with. Same with most of the other winners, some of who, such as Carrie Nahabedian, are make goods from years past when they should have won. Patrick Connolly is doing great things at Radius in Boston, and my meal there last September (my third time there but first while PC was doing the cooking) was amazing. It is my wife’s fave spot in Boston, but Rob Evans at Hugo’s in Portland, Maine, should have won the top prize. Just my opinion.

Many of the chefs and restaurateurs I voted for ended up winning, but I still can’t help but feel that chefs in smaller states and cities that are less traveled by the voting members get the short end of the stick. Which is why when the Twin Cities moved out of Chicago’s region, I thought a local chef winning the award would be easy. In fact, I thought we would win two awards. I was only half right. I knew that Gavin Kaysen would win the newcomer award; he is a talented young man and is also, drum roll, a locally raised chef. Congrats GK, you deserved the JBA! And with all the respect in the world to Adam Siegel, who deserves a congrats for wining in our region, he is not half the cook that Tim, Alex, or Isaac are. I was shocked to learn he won. In fact, I would go as far as to say that Bluestem in KC and our three local eateries whose chefs got nominated are all better experiences than Lake Park Bistro. I am convinced that any judge who ate at all five restaurants would be hard-pressed to make any case that Siegel was the best chef out of the five nominated, so I am left to believe that many of the judges simply got forced into voting for LPB and Siegel because they had eaten there throughout the last umpteen years it has been open and had not dined at the other nominated chefs’ restaurants. I’ve got to figure out a way to make this work a little better. Any thoughts? Also, as much as I love David Chang’s three restaurants, Wiley Dufresne should have won the JBA in NYC.

But, none of those shockers are half as disturbing as the fact that Lisa made it into the final three for tomorrow’s Top Chef finale!!! C’mon! She was not even one of the six best cooks in the competition. Anyway, as much as I have come to admire some of Richard’s dishes, I am rooting for Stephanie to win, and I think she will.

2008 James Beard Award Winners

Outstanding Restaurateur: 
Joe Bastianich/Mario Batali
, Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca

Outstanding Chef: 
Grant Achatz, Alinea, Chicago

Outstanding Restaurant: 
Gramercy Tavern, NYC, 
Danny Meyer

Best New Restaurant: 
Central Michel Richard, Washington, DC
Chef/Owner: Michel Richard

Rising Star Chef of the Year: 
Gavin Kaysen, 
Café Boulud, NYC

Outstanding Pastry Chef: 
Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson 
Tartine Bakery, 
San Francisco

Cookbook of the Year: The River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (Ten Speed Press)

Best Newspaper Feature Writing About Restaurants And/Or Chefs: 
Brett Anderson, The Times-Picayune, "Landmark Decisions: A Five-Part Series Chronicling the Ruin and Restoration of a Classic New Orleans Restaurant."

Best Website Focusing On Food, Beverage, Restaurant, Or Nutrition: 
Epicurious

Best Multimedia Writing On Food: 
Josh Ozersky and Daniel Maurer, New York, "Grub Street"

Best Television Food Show, National and Local: 
Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie

For more winners, see complete results here.

I'm not sure which is worse: the fact that restaurant chains, such as Chili's and Applebee's, calorie claims are off the mark according to a recent study (in some cases the actual calorie count is double what they claim it is) or that I'm not surprised at all that this is the case. Check out the link, and let me know what you think. Chain restaurants have taken it upon themselves to be responsible and to label calories, and now they have us duped. Why were we so naïve to think that a low-cal count or savvy marketing campaign meant that they really ‘got it’? I think it is now the consumer's responsibility to accept that chain restaurants are simply not a place to eat if you are concerned at all about your health.

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In more calorie news, if you are looking to cut back on caloric intake, stop drinking those fancy water drinks loaded not only with vitamins but with sugar. This blog on the subject is a follow-up on a previous post broaching the subject, detailing that what you drink may be adding more pounds than what you eat.

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I love this one: Opinionated About Dining's most overrated restaurants list is out. Some restaurants that made the list include Gotham Bar and Grill and Blue Ginger, to name two. GB and G is awesome, always was, still is. But Blue Ginger is easily the most overrated restaurant in the Northeast, and Ming Tsai is without a doubt the most overrated Uber Chef I can think of right off the top of my head. He is all hat and no cowboy. I have eaten at Blue Ginger twice, and each time was a disaster.

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Closer to home, I ran across a local food blogger duo regaling us with tales of eating out . . . haven't had a chance to dive into it and see if they're a good resource or not, but I thought I'd alert those of you who love to read Jane and John Doe restaurant write-ups. 

Later this week, the James Beard Awards will be handed out in NYC, and for many of us who delight in such gamesmanship, they are a fantastic way to talk shop and stir the pot. Who is the best chef in NYC? How to compare David Chang and Wiley Dufresne? Fun stuff! Closer to home, our chefs compete in a region that includes Iowa, the Dakotas, ‘Sconnie, Nebraska, Kansas, and Mizzou. I like it, despite the fact that it lumps together all the states that many coastal food snobs sneer at. It does take our lads out of the same category that the Chicago chefs are in, and because judges only can vote for restaurants that they have eaten in, well, you can see why the playing field wasn’t even in the past. More food writers and chefs eat in Chi-town than in Milwaukee. End of story. The JBA’s rules are as good as you can get under the circumstances. It’s tough to come up with rules and regs for a contest of this type, and I am thrilled to be a part of them once again, but as always seems to be the case, I will be away that night and unable to participate in all the fun. This year is especially sweet because three of the most deserving chefs in our region are all Twin Cities chefs. Here are the regional nominees:

BEST CHEF: MIDWEST (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WI)

Isaac Becker, 
112 Eatery, 
Minneapolis
Colby Garrelts, 
Bluestem, 
Kansas City, Missouri
Tim McKee, 
La Belle Vie
, Minneapolis
Alex Roberts, 
Restaurant Alma, 
Minneapolis
Adam Siegel, 
Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro, 
Milwaukee

I have eaten at all five restaurants, having dined at BLPB two years ago while covering a story for this magazine. Most recently I ate at Bluestem in KC when I was there on an overnight business trip. It was fantastic, a teeny little restaurant with several multi-course tasting menu options. I would run back in a second to eat there. Imagine food as easy to relate to as 112 Eatery’s served up with all the plating style of La Belle Vie in an atmosphere like the one that Alma has. Anyone heading to that part of the world should check it out: Killer foie gras, and the chef’s wife does the pastries. But I didn’t vote for him, nor did I vote for Adam Siegel who turns out great bistro fare in a giant-sized eatery on the lake in Milwaukee. I also didn’t vote for two of my favorite chefs in the Twin Cities. I adore the food at 112, and Isaac Becker has invented a genre of restaurant for our community that deserves huge praise. He is talented and runs a great boite, which is why it is packed all the time. I have never had a dud dish there, and several of his dishes I can taste right now as I am writing. Alma is Alex Roberts’s labor of love, a quiet and serene restaurant, not too fancy, serving what—to my taste—is some of the best food in town. I can not wait for the end of summer to see if he is making his striped bass magic again; I would bet on it. I have never had a bad meal at Alma, and it is one of the three best restaurants in town for food.

I did vote for Tim McKee. And here is why. Day in and day out, McKee and his team execute the most exciting food consistently and with style. Is LBV the best restaurant in town? Not if you like a casual, rootsy vibe. But the award is for best chef in our region, and McKee is just that. It will be interesting to see how the region shakes out in years to come, as Steven Brown and Stewart Woodman become eligible in their restaurants. Right now, they haven’t been open long enough to qualify. This is a very exciting time for our town; think about what a JBA for a Minnesota chef would do for our Twin Cities? More food and travel writers would steer readers here, there would be more exposure for the dozens of other deserving chefs in our state, and with all that would come more economic investment in our food community. Heck, it might even get some local couch potatoes to eat out more often! Congrats to all our local nominees. They are all winners in my book.

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Tonight at 6:30 p.m. is the Taste of the Nation cocktail party at the Chambers Hotel. Tickets are $38, and all money raised goes toward ending child hunger. With your admission, you get a drink ticket and a chance to sample hors d'oeuvres prepared by chefs at several of the top restaurants in the Twin Cities, including Chambers Kitchen, Saffron, Sanctuary, Oceanaire, Cafe Ena, and Solera. To purchase tickets or for additional information, please go to the website. Also, the Twin Cities Taste of the Nation dinner will be held at the Graves 601 Hotel on Sunday, September 14. Tickets for that event start at $150 and go on sale tomorrow at the same web address. Be there!