Your Last Meal | J. Ryan Stradal dreams of Minnesotan shakshuka
The bestselling author features supper clubs, dessert bars and other Midwest culinary classics in his novels, all set in the North Star State.
The New York Times bestselling novelist J. Ryan Stradel tells host Rachel Belle it was “totally weird to be a teenage foodie in the 1990s.”
He couldn’t wait to get his driver’s license so he could drive into the Twin Cities and eat at restaurants serving mysterious, flavorful, global food — a complete contrast to the bland dishes his parents cooked at home.
Food plays a supporting role in Stradal’s novels, all set in his home state of Minnesota: Kitchens of the Great Midwest, The Lager Queen of Minnesota and Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club — supper clubs being a uniquely Midwestern throwback institution. Rachel chats with the owners of two multigenerational supper clubs, Lehman’s and Ettlin’s Ranchero, about what sets them apart from other restaurants.
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