Last weekend, I was at the Food & Wine Experience at the Kohler resort in Kohler, Wisconsin, about an hour north of Milwaukee. Make your reservations for next year now, and you'll thank me for giving you the early heads up on this Food & Wine Magazine-partnered event. Jaques Pepin, Ulrich Koberstein, Marcus Samuelson, Jon Ashton, Claudine Pepin, Tory Miller from L’etoile, Adam Siegel from Lake Park Bistro (2008 regional JBA winner), Joe Bartolotta, Hosea Rosenberg, and about a dozen other great chefs (and about 45 winemakers) did an outstanding job teaching classes, performing demos, hosting book signings, and, of course, executing an amazing tasting dinner on Saturday night. Food events of this size are always more fun than the monster-sized events where guests never get to meet the talent and share time with them. At Kohler, all the chefs spent hours interacting with guests and sharing the experience.

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And am I the last to know about the tiny little Bangkok Thai Deli at 315 University Avenue (651-224-4300), or am I helping fill up the “empty tank” feeling many of us have every time we contemplate the local Thai food scene? I am bored silly with all the pablum spooned out by the local bevy of well trodden, often highly touted Thai venues. They all the serve the same stuff, and much of it is ordinary at best! As with the majority of Japanese restaurants in the TC, local Thai restaurants all seem to have the same menu, season and plate food in the same style, and take very few risks. I was complaining about this sad state of affairs to a lady who offices down the hall from me. She is a Bangkok transplant and she wouldn’t stop talking about BTD in St. Paul. I made a note to check it out, but when I got home the next evening I found that she had sent me a care package from the restaurant that she called “the best, most authentic Thai food in town. Very simple, nothing fancy, but the best.” THANKS PUI!

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'Tis the season as they say. Regardless of what type of event or fundraiser it may be, local chefs and restaurants are usually a committee's first call for contributions. No group rallies around causes as well as the food world does.

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The folks at Parasole know what they are doing, but when I saw the press release for Il Gatto the restaurant going into the old Figlio’s space I flinched at the reference to “of course there’ll be a burger on the menu…”. Is it just me or is that idea yesterdays news?

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So I ate a slow-roasted goat the other night at Brasa, a Boer-Spanish cross. No, the restaurant is not changing its menu, it is simply offering special meals for larger parties at the kitchen-side lazy Susan table. Order a fancy goat or rare species of swine, and Alex and his crew cook it up. I was blown away. The goat was so moist and so perfectly goaty, with just the right gamy notes dancing around a lamby mouthfeel. Add those Brasa sides and I thought I died and went to heaven. Seriously, this is a big deal. Finally a place that can cook on a customers whim in a casual style…it was awesome.

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Both the October issue of Bon Appetit and today’s article by Julia Moskin in The New York Times told you what I have been saying for five years on this website. Portland, Maine, is America’s best small city for food, and Rabelais Books is one of the world’s best culinary bookshops.

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D'Amico Kitchen (see attached menu) opens on the 24th and will have a street-level patio area, a rooftop bar, and a lounge area with a DJ on weekends. There will be live entertainment and lots of stuff to get groovy to and the best news is that Doug Flicker will be working the line during the opening. This guy is a major league talent. John Occchiato has created a great menu and any restaurant where I can order suckling pig is A-OK in my book.

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So I send in my blog last Monday and my editor Adam e-mails me the next day that I am an episode behind in Top Chef. Not only was my pick 86-ed Wednesday, but Art’s pillow had been cold for a week as well. That’s what happens when you don’t know where you are or what day it is. Anyway, it has been a busy week…here are some things to check out. They are much more timely than my last blog:

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Yes, just to set the record straight—since I have gotten a flood of e-mails about it throughout the last few days—my father-in-law, Bill Haas, is indeed the same Bill Haas running for governor of our great state. He announced two weeks ago. There is a bumper sticker on my car now that reads, “left wing Lindsay liberal Jews for Haas.” I believe it’s one-of-a-kind

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Last month I let you know about a taco truck I love in LA and asked the question, why not here? Check out this video from CNN about the taco truck being a Twitter hit. I maintain the position that here in Mpls./St Paul, we are a perfect market for mobile food vendors of all species, especially in this fragile economy. If the local city governments would make it easier for entrepreneurs to open businesses such as these, it would be a huge boon to our downtown areas and extended metro neighborhoods. Check out this link to a NRN article on the mobile food truck craze.

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