J. Ryan Stradal: Shakshuka at Barbary Fig

Your Last Meal with Rachel Belle

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 role in all three of 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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