All About Food

​The Battle of Moorhead’s Bar Burgers

August 17th, 2022

By Rick Gion 

rickgion@gmail.com

It’s Mick’s Office vs. Vic’s Lounge for best beef over in spud town. How will these fierce competitors stack up, and which will come out on top?

Because it’s legendary, let’s start with Mick’s. On weekends, this college bar is home to many Concordia and Minnesota State University Moorhead students. I’d guess that the amount of burgers…

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​Cravings for Extra F-M Eats

July 20th, 2022

By Rick Gion

rickgion@gmail.com

While the Fargo-Moorhead area offers many great things to dine on these days, there are some hopeful establishments that would make for big improvements to the local food scene here.

The first restaurant on my wish list is a full-on Korean restaurant. You may have heard of some of the Korean barbeque places around town, and that’s all fine and dandy. I do love good bulgogi and kalbi. It’s delicious.

What I’m talking about is a restaurant where meals are…

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Local Pizza Legends Collide: Duane’s vs. Sammy’s

June 16th, 2022

By Rick Gion

rickgion@gmail.com

Photos by Rick Gion

Some people say that a pizza tastes better if you cut it in squares. And, the main event in this food battle features Fargo-Moorhead’s favorite thin-crust squared circles.

Judging a competition between Duane’s House of Pizza and Sammy’s Pizza and Restaurant is not easy. It’s a high-level affair. Did you know that both places are favorites of former U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan?

The good senator likes his thin-crust pies well done with…

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​HoDo Lifted the Landscape of Downtown Fargo and Local Food Scene

May 18th, 2022

By Rick Gion

rickgion@gmail.com

Photo by Rick Gion

As you may have read, the Hotel Donaldson and the Hodo Lounge are transitioning to the ownership group that runs the Blarney Stone Irish Pubs in North Dakota. Although feelings seem to be mixed about this move, it’ll be good to see the iconic Downtown Fargo building alive again.

I’m not going to share any overly strong opinions in this column regarding the sale. I’m just going to write about some history, reflect on personal…

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Midwestern Breakfast Favorite Featured at Two Local Restaurants

April 21st, 2022

By Rick Gion

rickgion@gmail.com

Egg bake is about as North Dakota as knoephla soup. You betcha! Two local breakfast bests serve different versions of this dish. Let’s taste which restaurant’s bake is the most eggcellent.

Bernbaum’s

On the menu, it’s labeled as the “daily egg bake” here, and to regulars, it’s called “egg of the day.”

Bernbaum’s egg bake is similar to a crustless quiche. It has a custardy texture that’s achieved by adding cream to the eggs and cooked at…

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​Eating La Vida Local

March 16th, 2022

By Olivia Slyter

oslyter@cord.edu

A movement is currently circulating around North Dakota to provide locally-raised beef in ND school lunches.

The movement was initiated by the Independent Beef Association of North Dakota (I-BAND) wondering how to go about donating and/or selling local beef to ND public schools. The main purpose of the movement is to create a sense of community pride. Deborah Egeland, Assistant Director of the Child Nutrition Programs in the North Dakota Department of…

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​Skillet Showdown at Fargo’s Classic Breakfast Spots

March 16th, 2022

By Rick Gion

rickgion@gmail.com

They’re slinging skillets at just about every diner around here these days. Let’s take a mosey around town and taste how a few of the local breakfast big guns match up.

First, visit Fargo's Main Avenue Fryn’ Pan. Their new location is very close to the old location. However, the new space doesn’t quite have the feel of the old space. If you’re looking for the classic Fryn’ Pan ambience, you’ll want to head to the Moorhead location off of…

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​Whose Local Breakfast Reigns Supreme?

February 23rd, 2022

By Rick Gion

rickgion@gmail.com

It’s the Packers vs. Spartans breakfast battle of two locally established heavyweights. You guessed it: I’m talking about West Fargo’s Deaner’s Diner and North Fargo’s The Shack on Broadway. This is a serious competition so let’s get ready to rumble.

In this debut column, I’ll be comparing just breakfast items: meaty omelets, hashbrowns and pancakes. In a different bout, I’ll maybe do a review of hot beef sandwiches at the two…

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From the Church Basement: Scandinavian Baking Traditions Fit for a Saint

December 30th, 2021

By Sarah Wassberg Johnson 

sarah@thefoodhistorian.com

It was 1998. I was in the basement of Elim Lutheran Church in Fargo, putting on a white robe and a tinsel crown. The Swedish Cultural Heritage Society of the Red River Valley (which we all just called the Swedish Society) was celebrating another Sankta Lucia Dag. At age 13, I was still one of the attendants to Lucia. There were usually a lot of us girls,…

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​Tootsie Rolls, The Candy That Saved the Marines

December 15th, 2021

By Loey Schaefer

loeyanns@outlook.com

Beginning in WWII, Tootsie Rolls were added to field rations because the Candy would hold up in a variety of weather conditions. Thus, this story begins…

In November 1950, during the Korean War, the First Marine Division (10,000 Marines) with elements of two Regimental Combat Teams of the U.S. Army, a Detachment of British Commandos, and some South Korean policemen – for a total of about 15,000 men – faced the Chinese Communist Army’s ten…

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