After a brisk walk to the light rail in the chilly air of autumn in the midwest, I found myself ready for lunch at Owamni, which is situated directly next to the river. There is an outdoor space with a fireplace and, a the time that I visited, a food truck with a limited menu selling tacos from Owamni.
With recent naming of this restaurant in the New York Times "The Restaurant List" 2021, the waiting list was extensive. However, I was fortunate enough to find myself there for dinner on one day and lunch on the next. There are some differences between offerings at the two dining times, so I tasted items only offered at dinner when I was there for that meal.
Dinner:
Preserved duck with purple sweet potato, balsam fir, rosehip and corn flatbread
I found the flatbread to be very firm, at it was thicker than most chips, but with a similar dry texture. It was a neutral format to deliver the duck from bowl to mouth. The duck was mildly tart due to the preserved nature of the dish. There was minimal spotting of sweet potato chunks with the shredded duck meat the primary item in the vessel, making it dense. I anticipated greater depth of flavor, but it was mildly tart as the dominate experience.
Game sausage. which is buried under the root vegetables, mustard green pesto, and aronia berries.
The complexity of the flavor in this dish is challenging to adequately explain. The meat was spicy (the server explained that the meat changes daily based on availability) with the texture of a ground meat in casing rather than the high density of some hotdog or sausages. The warm, rather than intense, spiciness of the meat contrasted beautifully with the bitter mustard green and addictively traditional oil/acid balance of a pesto. There was a sprinkling of aronia berries, which are highly tart, more tart than a cranberry. Finally, the root vegetables with earthy and with a slightly fresh and crunchy the textural contrast against the smooth creaminess of the pesto. Beautifully executed dish that I would have continued to eat had there been more.
NE seafood stew with Quahogs, mussels, smoked scallops, squash broth, nixtamal
This was a dish of mixed seafood on which the server poured a thick broth, comparable to the viscosity of a stew, but made with squash. The squash provided a mild sense of richness, but remained light. The seafood had a lovely distinct smoked flavor and the spoonfuls were satisfying. Although the dish appeared to be large, it was overall light enough that I felt satisfied by the flavor but not overfilled by the volume. Tomatoes added texture, but minimal flavor contrast, also true to for the herbs sprinkled on top.
Squash puree tart with parsnips within a rice crust atop berry syrup
This squash was beautifully sweetened and was a creamy spreadable consistency. The berries, herbs, and dried parsnips all provided mild flavor contrasts, but the berry syrup was the primary contributor of flavor to enliven the taste buds. A little sweet and a little tart. The base of the tart was a hard and dry rice crust, the taste of which I enjoyed, but when fresh, I found it to make the dessert challenging to eat. The thickness of the crust with the firm texture, similar to a cracker, was difficult to break apart. However, I had some as a leftover the next day and enjoyed it immensely as the moisture from the squash puree softened the crust without making it soggy. On the second day, I was able to appreciate the different varieties of rice adding flavor and texture, nuances that I did not notice when it was fresh and particularly firm.
Lunch:
Bison tartare with duck egg sumac aioli, turnip crisps, aronia berries, wasna, and popcorn. It was served with a savory teosinte cracker.
Anxious to taste as much variety from the menu as possible, I ordered a tartare style meat. The bison was the texture of a traditional tartare and with mild flavor from the meat. However, it was livened by the aioli and wasna, which lent a pleasantly fine dry texture to contrast the smoothness of the tartare. The popcorn was also a texture component, but with few and small kernels, it was less noticeable than the highly tart aronia berries and turnip crisps. Most enjoyable to me were the crackers that provided a slightly oily rich flavor and earthy heaviness that was reminiscent of rye. It, too, was thick and dense, similar to the corn flatbread that was served with the preserved duck. However, the teosinte was noticeably more flavorful than the corn.
Antelope taco with prickly pear, pickled onion, and fried sage. The tortilla is made by Indigenous Food Lab heirloom corn.
The tortilla was slightly thicker than tortillas I have had before, even when compared to freshly handmade tortillas. The flavor was mild, but earthy. The pickled onion contrasted with the sweet pickle pear were the primary taste experiences with the fried sage too little or too mild by contrast to play a major role in the profile of the dish. The meat reminded me of a nondescript shredded meat without holding a strong nuance of it's own to make it feel definitely different to other meats I have had and I did not find it to be gamey in nature.
Turkey open face corn sandwich with duck egg chili aioli and sprouts as well as root vegetables.
This dish was delivered on a thick corn bread similar in size and texture to an extra dense English muffin. It was crumby and heavy, but mild in flavor. This was slathered in a chili aioli with an addicting level of spice with earthy nuances from the root vegetables, and the sprouts contributing in texture more than flavor. The turkey was mild and shredded and slightly dry, but the aioli provided adequate moisture to negate any concern to prevent the plate from leaving an impression of being overly dry.
Blue Corn Mush with maple and hazelnuts as well as blackberries.
This is made with Ute Mountain Blue Corn and was comparable to a soupy oatmeal consistency, but very sweet due to the generous pour of maple syrup to make this a desert level of sweetness. The berries were a nice but gently flavor contrast with the hazelnuts lending a depth and richness to each bite, as well as a lovely crunchy texture.
For both of my visits to the restaurant, I sat at the bar, affording me a view of the open kitchen as well as access to the bartenders to provide extra information and answer any questions that popped into my head as I enjoyed these meals.
During the two stops that I made at the restaurant, I was able to observe chef Sean Sherman actively contributing to cooking, plating, and delivering dishes to tables, I felt fortunate to be able to talk with him several times and found him to be open, kind, and humble. It was a pleasure to hear him speak about the experience that he has created, not only at the restaurant, but also in the native communities near and far from Minneapolis via the Indigenous Food Lab. He has also been recognized via the 2015 First People Fund Fellowship, 2016 Bush Foundation Fellowship, National Center's 2018 First American Entrepreneurship Aware, 2018 James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook, and 2019 James Beard Leadership Award. And yet, he took a moment to snap a picture with me. This was an unforgettably unique experience.
Sean and I after my second visit to the restaurant.
