Duluth/Ely shopping recs

[Smithy]

My friend Big Lou is an Ojibway band member, and although he doesn't live on the Reservation he is entitled to hunting, fishing and ricing rights.  I get my rice from him.

SB (I ply him with free coffee and donuts all year in exchange) 

PS: Some of the wild rice commercially processed here in MN and Canada, is not too bad.  Just avoid the real small, black stuff.

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Thanks for that extra information. I know the stuff you're talking about: they market it as broken wild rice. I bought some once in a fit of misplaced thrift. I don't remember what I finally ended up doing with it; it wouldn't even soften up in soup.

How nice to have connections like yours! I raid people's trees whenever I go back to California. Same idea.

[kiliki]

Thanks for all the help-we had a great trip. Unfortunately, there was a big marathon in Duluth the morning we went through, and so many roads were closed we gave up trying to get to Northern Waters Smokehouse and Cub Foods after driving around and stopping at gas stations for help after 45 minutes (half our car used to live in Duluth but they were confused, too). We did stop at Russ Kendall's and buy jerkys, cheese curds and hand parched wild rice (which I would not have known was the kind to get except for the recommendations here). I would have bought smoked fish but no one else wanted to try it. We saw a lot of signs for the hand parched rice on Hwy 1, so if you're heading up that way there are lots of places to get it. The Rustic Inn was a good lunch stop though the pie was just okay.

Anyway, since we hadn't stocked up in the Cities or Duluth, we did have to rely on the sad (some very visibly bad), shrink wrapped produce found in Ely's two stores. If you are heading up there, definitely bring a cooler full of produce bought elsewhere. Ely does have a small specialty foods store one block off the main street, with good breads, cheeses, olive oils, etc, as well as panini and salads, so that was nice. Not a big selection but certainly a godsend if you need bread, cheese, olives, etc.

The Chocolate Moose (an Ely restaurant that was recommended here) had great breakfasts. The sourdough cornmeal waffle and the hash browns were particularly good.

The fishing was very good and we caught and ate a lot of Walleye, though my boyfriend's brother's recipe for cornmeal-fried walleye was so good I never wanted to horn in and make something different.

There weren't any farmstands on the way up but we did see a guy selling buckets of fresh strawberries out of the back of his truck in Two Harbors on the way back. I definitely would have stopped he been there a week earlier!

I also really enjoyed some of the sights-Split Rock Lighthouse and the Wolf Center, for example-that you guys recommended. I went on a couple of nice hikes and even saw a moose while driving. So thanks again for the help and I'm sure we'll end up back in the Ely area in a couple years for more fishing.

[snowangel]

Thanks for the report. I'm sort of surprised that the produce scene in Ely is so awful, since it is a fairly funky town. Had I connected the dots and realized you were going to be heading up there on the weekend of Grandma's Marathon, I'd have suggested a very short detour the Cloquet to an absolutely wonderful (hanging head is serious shame for mentioning this) Super Walmart, with a produce section like I haven't seen north of the Cities. I hate Walmart, but I'd forgotton limes and paintbrushines on our last trip up north, so that was where we stopped, and the produce section was just stunning.

[Smithy]

I, too, wish I'd thought to warn you about Grandma's. I'm not sure what you could have done to avoid it, though. I think Duluth splits pretty neatly on that weekend into the people who participate (as runners, volunteers or entertainers) or the people who do anything to avoid the critical area. There are parts of Duluth that aren't overrun (like the Cub Foods area), but it would have been well-nigh impossible to get to Canal Park and the Smokehaus.

I'm sorry to hear you thought the pie was just okay at the Rustic Inn. I'd bought a raspberry rhubarb pie from them the night before to share at a work party, and we loved it.

Thanks for the report! Glad you had fun!

[kiliki]

Well I didn't have the raspberry rhubard! We went for the non-fruit flavors since I didn't think any fresh fruit was in season but of course rhubarb would have been. Next time.