The whirlwind of Art-A-Whirl
Is it a drunken art crawl or an artsy pub crawl? Is it a craft show, a music festival or a tasting tour?
Is Art-A-Whirl the single best way to immerse yourself in Minneapolis culture in one weekend?
The answer to all these questions is simple: Hell yeah.
The Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association outdid itself this year with perhaps the biggest Art-A-Whirl celebration in history, despite the threat of rain and the warmest day of the year so far coinciding on the weekend of May 15-17.
FermentablesMN hit up three of the biggest parties in Nordeast on Saturday, sampling the food, the beer, the music, and yes, even a little bit of art along the way.
BEST BEER: N.E. Beer Garden at Dangerous Man
Fair State Brewing, Sociable Ciderworks and Northgate Brewing took over the taps on the corner of 13th and Second Avenues alongside Dangerous Man, much to the joy of the thousands of craft beer fans who streamed in throughout the day.
In the sticky heat of the early afternoon, Fair State's Art-A-Whirl exclusive brew Artsy-Fartsy Pale Ale was welcome and refreshing. Cloudy, but with a rich golden color, Artsy Fartsy has a very gulpable 5 percent ABV.
On the grand scheme of pale ales, Artsy Fartsy was pretty average, but the floral aroma hops of Cascade paired great with fish tacos from Tiki Tim's.
With people guzzling beer all around, there was high demand for some damn good food at the N.E. Beer Garden. By 5:30 p.m., Lulu's Food Truck, Cranky's Ice Cream and Tiki Tim's were completely sold out. I was able to get my hands on one of the last orders of Tiki Tim's fish tacos, and, boy, was I lucky.
These fish tacos should be the Twin Cities gold standard of fish tacos. The colorful tomatoes, cilantro and purple cabbage slaw are as appetizing as they are vibrant. Even with that zesty garlic aioli, the battered tilapia maintains a satisfying crunch. And the portions are in no way wimpy. These tacos gave me the necessary boost to power through the rest of the day.
The cool and rainy evening required a much different beer: Dangerous Man's Chocolate Milk Stout. By far the best beer served at the N.E. Beer Garden, this stout delivers a robust roast accompanied by a touch of chocolatey sweetness from the lactose. It's smooth, it's rich and can stand on its own.
BEST FOOD TRUCK VARIETY: 612 Brewing
I hate to say it, but 612 needed all the food trucks to make up for their mediocre beers. The food truck line-up at 612 included the pantheon of NateDogs, Midnord Empanadas, Sandy’s Grill, Hibachi Daruma and The Moral Omnivore.
Much has been written about Moral Omnivore's lauded curried mushroom fries. That's because they are deep-fried flavor bombs of genius. What i suspect is cornmeal in the breading adds a contrast to the chewy goodness of the mushroom, while the curry seasoning, the mounds of garlic and the aioli add complex layers of umami to each bite.
The mushroom fries dominated my palate when I had 612's Art-A-Whirl special the Grapefruit Radler, which is like a German version of a shandy with an even lower ABV. To stand out from the crowd, 612 has been known to add weird and wacky ingredients to their beers from Lemonheads to blueberries. Their beer needs it. The radler was OK, mostly because grapefruit juice is so pleasantly tart and bitter. The beer that backed up the juice was a strong "meh."
BEST MUSIC: Bauhaus Brewlabs
Bauhaus' massive courtyard-style parking lot is perfectly suited for a summer bash. Special shout-outs go to the bands that partied hardest Black Market Brass and Black Diet. Black Market Brass features a deftly talented horn section with complex solo lines and a driving beat. Theirs was the kind of music that got people to actually dance rather than just bob their heads. Keeping the party going was Black Diet, whose enigmatic frontman helped amp up the crowd. Funky and charming, Black Diet's catchy tunes stick with you for days.
All that dancing builds up an appetite. Although the lines to both the beer and the food trucks criss-crossed the courtyard, the goods were worth the wait.
Gourmet grilled cheeses are the guiltiest of guilty pleasures. And O'Cheeze food truck serves up a variety of the most sinful sandwiches you can imagine. I treated myself to the BACHN, with bacon, apples, honey, walnuts and fontina cheese. Every layer had a different kind of crunch. The toasted perfection of the bread, the meaty crumble from the walnuts, the greasy crisp of the bacon all melded together into a sweet and salty symphony.
Also highly recommended is O'Cheeze's Big Stink, with two kinds of bleu cheese, honey, pears and jam for dipping. If anyone ever declines to eat such a sandwich, you know they're a cyborg. No human could turn down such an irresistable flavor combination.
Washing it all down was Bauhaus' Wonderstuff Bavarian Pilsner. This darker-than-average pilsener takes advantage of that same Maillard caramelization that makes a grilled cheese sandwich so wonderful.
HONORABLE MENTION: ArtiCulture at Loaves and Fishes
What with this blog being about the decadent experience of eating well, I think it's important to mention arts nonprofit Articulture's student-led photo portrait project called "The Quiet Faces of Hunger." Participants picked random scenarios on scraps of paper from a fishbowl, designating whether or not he/she was to play a "hungry" person. After pinning the scenario to a map of the metro, participants had their picture taken with an empty plate, posing in a way that depicted the scenario from their slip of paper.
How hunger manifests in an urban population is as diverse as the people who live there, from an eating disorder, to homelessness to free/reduced school lunch to many more situations. The project is a stark reminder of the simplicity of hunger, even if it seems like a complex problem to fix. Learn more about how you can help here.
And of course, what's Art-A-Whirl without some art? I picked up this beauty at Gumball boutique near the evening's end.
Like I said, what better way to represent Minneapolis than Art-A-Whirl?
