The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Okay, as a restaurant news item, this is a bit of a stretch, but I hear they have great tacos at the 331 Club, 331 13th Ave. N.E., Minneapolis.

The French figured out a long time ago that it isn’t just what you eat, it’s how you eat it: Slowly. In small courses. One course at a time. That might sound smart, but in the Minnesota marketplace, it can be a tough sell. The logic of the local restaurant economy is that if you’ve got to raise prices—as restaurants often do—the best way to make diners feel like they’re getting value for money is to dish out big portions. Enormous portions. The result? Diners eat too much, pay too much, and still take half of their meals home in a doggy bag.

The New York Times had a fascinating story last week, Food 2.0: Chefs as Chemists. Cutting edge chefs like Wylie Dufresne of WD-50 in Manhattan, and Grant Achatz of Alinea in Chicago are experimenting with