Good morning everyone! Welcome to the inaugural @MNMOmag Twitterview with Chef Steven Brown of @TiliaMpls. Lets begin!

Q – #1    To start off with Steven, please share a little bit about yourself. Where did you grow up and attend High School?

Steven:    I’m a native of Worland, Wyoming, but I grew up and attended school in Custer, SD

Q – #2    I see. So when did you start learning how to cook, and how did you end up coming to the Twin Cities?

Steven:    I have been a fan of Betty Crocker since the age of 4 & I wanted 2 make dishes like Baked Alaska & Seafood Newberg

By the time I was 12, I was working in a restaurant in the Black Hills. I made $1/hr!

Q – #3    Wow, $1/hr! Lets fast forward closer to today. Was it always a dream of yours to have your own place?

Steven:    Absolutely- Every cook of any worth that I have ever know always wanted to own their own place

That said, this is all a dream come true. I know it’s #Thanksgiving, but golly I feel fortunate.

Q – #4    What kind of work goes into coming up with a menu for a new restaurant?  Were some things in your head already?

Steven:    Inspiration is all around us. Many of the dishes were things that I had been thinking about for a while

Ex) the spicy shrimp scampi (my fav) I made for my wife when she was saying there was nothing to eat in the house

Q – #5    Fun! For those possibly new to you and to @tiliampls, what are a few of your most popular dishes and appetizers?

Steven:    Most popular would be Fish Taco Torta or our newest dish: scallops with parsnips, browned butter and lemon.

Our friend @andrewzimmern loves the BLT dogs with pickled cauliflower, bacon and tomato & spicy mustard.

We also have a great brunch! The lobster Benedict with bacon hollandaise sauce is a crowd favorite.

Q – #6    It all sounds fabulous! More local restaurants are using local ingredients in their dishes. Where does yours come from?

Steven:    We get a lot locally- Riverbend Farms, Footjoy Farms and Wild Acres, just to name a few.

Starting next yr, we’re excited to be working w/ @McKinleyComm, an urban community farm, to grow produce for us

Q – #7    Super! In the evening, you’re always packed. If a person has some flexibility in their day, what’s a good time to come?

Steven:    Great question. To avoid a long wait for dinner, anytime before 6pm or after 9pm is a good bet

Q – #8    Would you mind sharing what your hours of operation are so that followers know when the doors are open?

Steven:    We’re open 11am-1am M-F & 9am-3pm and 4pm-1am on Sat & Sun. The 1 hr break on the wknds is to give the cooks a rest!

Q – #9    With @tiliampls’ success, they’ve earned it! How does the success and the “Best New Restaurant” honor from @MNMOmag feel to you?

Steven:    I feel extremely humbled and honored. I never thought in a million years that this would happen to us.

We were just hoping to have a little neighborhood place where we could live up to our motto: good food tastes good

A big thanks to all of our customers and staff- without you, we’re truly nothing

Joel:     You’re doing a great job Steven! Thank you so much for your time and comments today on #MNMOtv. Enjoy the fruitage of your work!

Steven:    Thx, Joel. Happy Thanksgiving. Hope 2 see u soon 2 try our new seasonal ales, like Saison Avec les Bons Voeux (shameless plug)

Ribbon cutting

A few years ago, I remember watching TV and seeing Ads for a place called Sonic. I had never heard of them, so I wondered what they were and why they were advertising here in Minnesota. Now that they’ve arrived, I now know more about them and are familiar with their brand. Moving forward to a couple of months ago when I was driving near 76th Street and France Avenue, I noticed that the McDonald’s was gone and there was a new sign up that said Jason’s Deli.  My first thought was, “What’s that?”,  and thought it was a stand alone location for a new restaurant concept. Boy was I wrong!

Jason’s Deli first came to Minnesota around 2009 to a location in Eden Prairie. Hadn’t seen that one,so I wasn’t aware of them being here. Their 2nd location just opened recently in Edina, and they have plans for 8 more locations in the Twin Cities. Nationally, they have around 150 locations, so they are no small operation.

At a recent event that they held to show off their catering options, I got to speak to the Director of Catering Sales for the country, Lennon Patton, and the Marketing Director for their Minnesota locations, Danielle Wold. Quality is not something that they take lightly at Jason’s Deli, their prep people are taught that if they look at an ingredient and feel that they wouldn’t personally eat it, they throw the food away.  Their ingredients are not outsourced, but are all company controlled. In fact, none of their locations are franchises, they are all corporate owned.  Their meats and cheeses are sliced daily and they use family recipes. Additionally, their food has 0% artificial trans fat, 0% of their food has processed MSG,  no artificial colors or dyes are used and there is no high fructose corn syrup in their food, with the exception of being in some of their carbonated drinks. For people needing or wanting a Gluten-Free menu, they have one available, and I was told that they change their gloves before making your sandwich so as to not create cross-contamination.

Edina's interior

The food is made when you order it, so it’s not fast-food, but made fast for you, with a wait time of about 5-6 minutes for your meal.  In addition to being able to eat-in,  they also have catering options where you can order food by the tray or have box lunches made for your party or business needs.  You may also notice at the Edina location that there are large photographs of various places or activities that go on in Edina.  That’s another feature that Jason’s Deli enjoys doing, making their locations not feel like just a chain, but creating a connection to the local community.  The photographs were done by Chip Jones of Chip Jones Photography.

I haven’t had everything on their menu, it would take awhile to do that, but what I have tried so far I’ve been very pleased with. So give them a try and welcome them to Minnesota. You might even get some free ice-cream when you visit them.

Learn a little bit more about them by checking out the video at the end of this post.

Happy Friday everyone! Today’s Food-Friday Twitterview is with Mr. @thymeinrkitchen. So lets get to Tweeting with Matt Weber.

Matt:    woohoo! Glad to be here with you Joel

Q – #1    To start, please share with us where you grew up, went to school, and what your interests were growing up.

Matt:    I’m originally from Seattle but since being married have lived all over the place. Rexburg, ID, New Orleans, LA

Now I live with my wife and three kids in Farmington, MN. I did my undergrad at BYU-Idaho and MBA at St Cloud State.

Growing up, I loved the outdoors. Hiking, Mtn Biking and Snow Skiing. Always loved to cook as well.

Q – #2    I see. So after you finished your schooling, what kind of work have you done?

Matt:    My first job was as a Sales Manager for Schwan Food. Did some marketing for them, which is what brought us to MN

I then did some Project Mgmt Consulting for a few years for UHG, Thrivent and Wells Fargo

Now I’m back at Thrivent Financial as a Business Risk Manager and loving it!

Working for Schwan’s is what moved us all around the country. Moved us to New Orelans the day before Hurricane Katrina!

Q – #3     A numbers AND food guy. So where did the interest in food and blogging about come from?

Matt:    Grew up cooking alongside my Mom. She was amazing and taught her 6 boys to be very comfortable in the kitchen.

Blogging came later as I was looking for a way to keep track of everything that I was making and wanted to share

Was originally supposed to be a blog with my mom contributing as well but that never really took off

Q – #4    What elements of food and cooking do you incorporate into your blog?

Matt:    I typically try to make more challenging, “gourmet” food but it really just comes down to what I feel like eating!

I like challenging myself to try something new, whether it be a new ingredient or technique that would be fun to learn

We also do a lot of entertaining, so finding new things to share with friends

Q – #5    Can you share a few examples of some new things that you’ve tried lately?

Matt:    I made marshmallows for the first time last night! http://thymeinourkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/12/hot-cocoa-and-homemade-marshmallows.html

Also working on perfecting my donut recipe. We throw a donut party each month at our house for friends

I make about 200 donuts at a time and we have about 70-80 people over. Crazy night but fun to experiment on them

Q – #6    A donut party? Sounds like the next #MNFoodBloggers event. (hint, hint). Do you like baking or cooking more?

Matt:    You’re not the first to suggest that! I’d say I like baking better. I make all my own bread too. Best.smell.ever

You’re not the first to suggest that! I’d say I like baking better. I make all my own bread too. Best.smell.ever

Q – #7    Now for your FAVORTIE(S): Restaurant, comfort food, vegetable, local chef and national chef. Kitchen tool.

Matt:    That’s quite the list… Restaurant would have to be Cafe Levain with @AdamVickerman. Love his food

Comfort Food would be Lasagna – good one with lots of cheese and meat. Veggie would be Asparagus. Grilled to perfection

Local chef I think I mentioned already, National Chef: hmmm. I really enjoy watching @bflay or @altonbrown cook.

I just got a sweet potato ricer from @WilliamsSonoma that I love. I couldn’t live without my KitchenAid though

Q – #8    I have to ask. What did you go though in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit the day after you moved there?

Matt:    It was pretty crazy. We had no idea what do to. Just got in the car and drove north. Took 10hrs to get about 2hrs away

Got my family out of there and then I turned around and went back for my 1st day of work! I had no idea..

Slept in my car a few days and then 2 months in a hotel before we found somewhere to live.

I have to say though, after all that we still loved it there. People were amazing and we’d go back in a second

Thanks Joel. It was great talking with you!

@JoelECarlson:    That’s some story. Maybe blog some of your experience sometime. Thanks Matt for sharing today. Have a good weekend!

Matt:    Thanks Joel. It was great talking with you!