I can’t say that I am over the demise of 20.21 and Wolfgang Puck Catering yet. 20.21 was one of my favorite restaurants and I loved working with Wolfgang Puck Catering ever since I did the very first wedding reception in the Walker Art Center’s Skyline Room.

To add salt to the wound, to visit one of my favorite chefs, I have to go to the Mall of America. Taking a trip there voluntarily only shows how much I miss seeing Chef Asher Miller and eating his cooking.

A couple of weekends ago, I stopped into the Italian restaurant, Tucci Benucch. After spending a couple of hours in the kitchen with Chef Miller, I have to say that Tucci Benucch may be one of the most misunderstood restaurants in the Twin Cities. My perception before cooking with him was the restaurant was just part of a big chain and using pre-formulated manufactured recipes. In fact, I didn’t understand why Chef Miller took a job there in the first place.

Needless to say, my perception has changed.

The restaurant, which is part of the hospitality behemoth known as Lettuce Entertain You, does scratch cooking and tries to use local food sources as much as possible. And while it is drastically different than the Asian influenced Wolfgang Puck cuisine, I see Chef Miller’s hand in the dishes.  He likes to visit the farms of his suppliers and spends a lot of time at his employer’s corporate location in Chicago. 

The Lettuce Entertain You group are a curious bunch who like to teach, as well as like to learn.  Unusual for such a large entity, but it does explain their success.  And its great for a chef is always working to improve his craft.

I loved making pizza, perhaps because Chef said that I shouldn’t feel bad as he just knew I was going to screw up my first pizza dough.  He told me that nobody gets the dough right the first time using the pizza dough roller.  Ha!  Got it on the first try (but don’t ask me to do it again as I’m pretty sure it was beginner’s luck).

I did learn a few tricks of the trade when making spaghetti that I can use when making spaghetti at home.  It is amazing how good spaghetti is when made from scratch versus out of a jar…not to mention a few secret tips to enhance the natural flavor of the tomatoes in the sauce.

So was it worth the trip?  Absolutely.  I still wish that Tucci Benucch was closer to downtown Minneapolis, but with the great things Chef Asher Miller is doing in the restaurant, it is definitely worth giving  a try!  And he is fun to follow on Twitter, too, www.twitter.com/AsherBMiller

(excuse the photography as the day after I cooked with Chef Miller, my friends Dan and Gilles gave me a new Nikon.  I promise photos will be better in the future!)