summit beer

In early December 2010, Native Minnesotans -- and brothers -- Andrew and Adam Sieve opened Hazel's Northeast (named for their grandmother) on the corner of 29th Avenue and Johnson Street in NE Minneapolis, just two doors up from Amici Pizza and Bistro. As luck would have it, the restaurant's opening weekend was the same weekend as one of the largest Minnesota blizzards on record, with more than 17 inches of snow. Amazingly, people came. Remembering the opening, Andrew shook his head and smiled. "We had cross-country skis and sleds out front. We hoped people would embrace Hazel's, but never expected a response like that!"

Try to guess what suburban restaurant serves locally-raised, grass-fed, beef short ribs with caramelized-onion potato puree, and horseradish gremolata;  baked, free-range, Larry Schultz chicken with herb filling, wilted spinach, and caramelized-shallot, marsala, pan sauce; pastured pork, braised in apple cider and served with red cabbage, local apples, and ginger yams -- plus three kinds of burgers: bison, yellow-fin tuna, and walnut wild-rice.

Local beer is easy to find these days, especially if you have a tendency to drink microbrews, as I do, and live in a decent sized city (like Minneapolis or St. Paul, as the case may be).

Minneapolis' Birchwood Cafe, one of the Twin Cities' community supporting, local, sustainable food treasures (whose praises I've sung in the past), is hosting what is sure to be a fantastic Earth Day Beer Dinner. The 7-course meal includes pairings with Minnesota's finest artisanal microbrews, and will be accompanied by live jazz music. Here are the details: