Beach Eats Opening and Baked Goods For This Weekend April 17-19

Friday April 17

Hit a Fancy Fish Fry: Sea Salt

The return of Sea Salt and Sandcastle. Sea Salt, with its meandering lines of eager customers, will begin serving old favorites like oysters and Po’ Boys at 11 a.m. along with Peace coffee, Sebastian Joe’s ice cream and a wide variety of local beers. It’s five o’clock somewhere.

And a Chef Named Hot Dog: Sandcastle

Doug Flicker’s Sandcastle at Lake Nokomis gained a huge fan based last summer. This year, the adorable lakeshore spot will boast a full seating area. Their Dog Flicker beef frank is particularly addicting, topped with kimchee, cilantro and a fried egg. The only problem is: do we start with a soft shell crab sandwich at Sea Salt and then top it off with American Indian Fry Bread at Sandcastles, or the other way around?

Photo by Joy Summers

Saturday April 18

Let them eat cake: Patisserie 46

Patisserie 46’s modestly named Chocolate cake recently earned the bronze medal in the Olympics of pastries, the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie in France. That means that you can get a slice of one of the three best cakes in the whole wide world right here on Grand Avenue in Minneapolis. The rectangle slice is a simple but gorgeous layering of a pecan-chocolate crust, chocolate ganache, pecan-chocolate sponge cake, chocolate Chantilly, and an ultra shiny chocolate ganache ribbon to top it off. It’s like easing into a fluffy chocolate cloud, and it goes amazingly well with a cappuccino or two.

Sunday April 19

Carbs for Kids: Knead the Dough

No child should ever go hungry. Knead the Dough is a fundraiser for the Minneapolis Public School Nutrition Center, held at the Woman’s Club of Minneapolis. The $150 ticket gets you a tasting from a gazillion chefs’ stations including Birchwood Café, Chowgirls Catering, Restaurant Alma, Pizzaria Lola, Victory 44, Wise Acre Eatery and many more. There will be entertainment and a live auction for items like dinner with Jason and Alyssa DeRusha and a tour of Mill City Market with the unparalleled Brenda Langton. Tickets can be purchased at Evenbrite.

Bean Fueled Beat Down: Burrito Brawl

When Hot Indian Foods and El Burrito Mercado face off, everybody wins at Midtown Global Market's East Lake Brewery. For $25 you get a burrito from each eater, a commemorative pint glass and two beers to fill it with. Get all the gooey details here.

- by Alex Lodner