Hey friends! Sheena's sister Shannon here with a recipe that is too good to be true and a restaurant review that I am totally excited to share with you!!!! So a couple months ago, my husband and I decided to take an impromptu overnight trip to downtown Minneapolis. We are so incredibly lucky to have such an amazing city just a short car drive away - so much culture, so much to see and do... and SO many amazing restaurants! One of the restaurants we visited was Hell's Kitchen. I have to confess, the night before we visited we had decided weren't even going try it because we aren't really into chain restaurants or celebrity chef inspired restaurants, but when we woke up in the morning I was peeking at a city guide in our hotel room and was drawn to a picture of some amazing looking breakfast, and right then we decided we without a doubt had to go to Hell's Kitchen for breakfast! SOOO glad we did... boy would we have totally missed out on something incredible! First I'll share a Hell's Kitchen inspired recipe, and then I'll share my review of the restaurant.... so grab a cup of coffee, sit down and enjoy this post!
We tried several things on the menu because everything looked so amazing. One of my favorite things was "Minnesota Icon: Mahnomin Porridge". The server shared with us a background story about this hearty, savory and slightly sweet concoction. Apparently Chef Mitch got the idea for this recipe when he was reviewing 19th century fur trader journals. The fur traders described a porridge meal eaten by the Cree Indians and Chef Mitch was inspired to mimic it. If I remember correctly, the original recipe did not have the cream component that Chef Mitch added, but I cannot imagine this without it. It gives it such a smooth, rich flavor. After a friend told me she makes this porridge, I knew I had to try making it. And it's so yummy! (Side note: I do not like blueberries, so I used all Craisins, and a friend of mine uses part wild rice and part regular rolled oats, and sometimes almonds instead of hazelnuts.)
From the Hell's Kitchen menu: "Minnesota Icon: Mahnomin Porridge - Native-harvested, hand-parched wild rice from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe simmered with heavy cream, roasted hazelnuts, dried blueberries, sweetened cranberries and pure maple syrup."
Hell's Kitchen Inspired Mahnomin Porridge (click here to print)
Now, onto the restaurant review. Like I said earlier, we ate breakfast there, but their entire menu looked absolutely amazing.... including their beverage menu!
Hell's Kitchen is actually in the basement, which I didn't expect. But I suppose it makes sense.... Hell is portrayed as being below us. I expected to walk in the above doors and immediately be in the restaurant. It was kinda of neat because there were other things (a bakery, for one) in this building, and this building has a connector to the IDS Tower, which has a mall and all kinds of things!
Both breakfast entrees were absolutely amazing. And of course, after having a Bloody Mary and mimosa, I had to visit the bathroom.... even that was fun!!! They had those hologram-type pictures on the wall that look nice one minute, and evil the next.
And the sign in the stall of the bathroom was the icing on the cake!!! Oh yes I did have my camera with me and you know I had to take a picture of it!!!! :)
And their message thanking you for your business....
We tried several things on the menu because everything looked so amazing. One of my favorite things was "Minnesota Icon: Mahnomin Porridge". The server shared with us a background story about this hearty, savory and slightly sweet concoction. Apparently Chef Mitch got the idea for this recipe when he was reviewing 19th century fur trader journals. The fur traders described a porridge meal eaten by the Cree Indians and Chef Mitch was inspired to mimic it. If I remember correctly, the original recipe did not have the cream component that Chef Mitch added, but I cannot imagine this without it. It gives it such a smooth, rich flavor. After a friend told me she makes this porridge, I knew I had to try making it. And it's so yummy! (Side note: I do not like blueberries, so I used all Craisins, and a friend of mine uses part wild rice and part regular rolled oats, and sometimes almonds instead of hazelnuts.)
From the Hell's Kitchen menu: "Minnesota Icon: Mahnomin Porridge - Native-harvested, hand-parched wild rice from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe simmered with heavy cream, roasted hazelnuts, dried blueberries, sweetened cranberries and pure maple syrup."
What you need:
- 4 cups wild rice, cooked
- 1 cups halved roasted hazelnuts
- 5 ounce package of dried cranberries (Craisins)
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
Directions:
- Cook wild rice according to package directions.
- Combine cooked wild rice, roasted hazelnuts, dried cranberries and maple syrup in saucepan over medium heat.
- Add heavy whipping cream and stir until heated through. Enjoy!
And here is a picture of the porridge I ate at Hell's Kitchen... mine is a bit more brown in color (I am thinking I may have used more maple syrup), but pretty similar!! And definitely tastes just as amazing!
Now, onto the restaurant review. Like I said earlier, we ate breakfast there, but their entire menu looked absolutely amazing.... including their beverage menu!
Now, onto the restaurant review. Like I said earlier, we ate breakfast there, but their entire menu looked absolutely amazing.... including their beverage menu!
Hell's Kitchen is actually in the basement, which I didn't expect. But I suppose it makes sense.... Hell is portrayed as being below us. I expected to walk in the above doors and immediately be in the restaurant. It was kinda of neat because there were other things (a bakery, for one) in this building, and this building has a connector to the IDS Tower, which has a mall and all kinds of things!
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| "The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions." |
While the whole restaurant was super cool, one of my favorite things was the knife chandelier above the stairs leading down into the restaurant.
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| Peek a boo.... :) My husband and I. :) He is such a sport while I stop to take photos. |
Going downstairs into Hell....
We love to sit at the bar when we go out, unless we are going out for a super special dinner... and the bar area of Hell's Kitchen was super fun with a Americana/Alternative Country band called Bernie King and the Guilty Pleasures! They were pretty amazing!
My husband had the Corned Beef Hash and Eggs.
"Hand-pulled corned beef brisket with sautéed fingerling potatoes, sweet onions, and crisp celery."
And I had the Shrimp & Crab Cake with Poached Egg.
"We only use the finest lump crab meat and chunks of cold-water shrimp to create our crab cake, then we top it with a poached egg and roasted red pepper hollandaise sauce."
Both breakfast entrees were absolutely amazing. And of course, after having a Bloody Mary and mimosa, I had to visit the bathroom.... even that was fun!!! They had those hologram-type pictures on the wall that look nice one minute, and evil the next.
And the sign in the stall of the bathroom was the icing on the cake!!! Oh yes I did have my camera with me and you know I had to take a picture of it!!!! :)
And their message thanking you for your business....
I hope you enjoyed this post. If you ever get to Minneapolis, be sure to stop by Hell's Kitchen... you will be glad you did!!!!
This recipe is shared at: The Gunny Sack, Memories by the Mile,
I've got to tell you, I probably wouldn't have ordered this. BUT by looking at the ingredients it does sound pretty fabulous!
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of this dish, but after reading what's in it, it sounds delicious. What a super cool restaurant. I'll have to put it on the bucket list.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like quite an experience! I would love to go there. This dish looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteHa! What a neat experience! I sure hope that knife chandelier wasn't over a dining table, lol. ;) And this porridge sounds so interesting. I had never heard of it before!
ReplyDeleteHow cool. Sounds like a lot of fun. I would love to visit Hell's Kitchen one of these days. The breakfast is making my hungry for sure.
ReplyDeleteTotally intrigued by this recipe. I would never thought to eat wild rice for breakfast, but this sounds great!
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone else, I wasn't quite sure what it was when i first saw it. But after reading this I'm willing to try it! It sounds interesting....
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a very cool restaurant!
ReplyDelete