Sea Salt Eatery's recipes, history shine in new cookbook

For more than 20 years, legendary Minneapolis fish stand Sea Salt Eatery has been serving up fried fish and po’boys just steps away from Minnehaha Falls.

A new cookbook, “Sea Salt Eatery: Recipes to Enjoy Year-Round,” documents the history behind the restaurant that begins with a propane turkey fryer, an abandoned grill and an aging park pavilion.

It also shares some of the restaurant’s cult favorite recipes, including clams and the “Sexy Ahi Burger.”

The book was a collaboration between Sea Salt co-owner Kait Ziemer-Davis and her mother-in-law, longtime journalist Gail Rosenblum. And while the two get along well, there was pressure working together on a project this big.

“[My wife] said, ‘Don't mess this up. You said yes to my mom. You've got to follow through on this,’” Ziemer-Davis recalled, to boisterous laughter from Rosenblum.

Ziemer-Davis has been co-owner since 2023, but she’s been within the restaurant’s orbit since 2010, and she’s seen that famously long line stretch and warp through the years. It’s always been long, she said. Staff have just gotten better at dealing with it.

These days, you’ll see it stretching outside and around the restaurant, even on weeknights. There’s an understanding from customers, Rosenblum said, that once you order, you’ll get your food quickly.

“You stand in line, you can step out briefly, grab a beer. People generally don't complain about it,” Rosenblum said.

Landlocked Minnesota isn’t known for seafood, but Sea Salt’s longstanding partnership with local supplier Coastal Seafoods helps patrons forget about that, so much so that there’s a cult following around the place.

Rosenblum interviewed the regulars who mark all their special occasions at the restaurant. They have their favorite orders. Even employees tend to come back year after year.

Ziemer-Davis said the restaurant tries to keep things fresh, but the classics make the restaurant what it is.

“[On our menu], I would say 90 percent of what's up there right now was written in permanent chalk in like maybe 2005,” she said.

Cooking fish at home can be another story. The pair hope the recipes inside the cookbook can encourage people to get out of their comfort zones — and maybe serve as some comfort during those winter months when Sea Salt isn’t open.

The book is on sale July 14.

Recipe: Tomato Basil Clams

Ingredients:

• 8 tomatoes, quartered

• 6 garlic cloves, smashed

• olive oil

• salt and pepper, to taste

• 6 strips thick-cut bacon

• 1 tablespoon clarified butter or ghee

• 6 pounds littleneck or countneck clams

• 1/2 cup dry white wine

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

• 1 cup torn basil leaves, crusty bread and lemon wedge for serving

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place tomatoes and garlic cloves on a sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil plus a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, mix the tomatoes and garlic on the pan and return to the oven until the garlic has taken on a golden-brown color and the tomatoes have released most of their liquid and completely softened, about five to seven minutes.

While the tomatoes and garlic are roasting, fry the bacon strips in a large pot with a lid or Dutch oven over medium heat until crispy. When bacon is finished, remove from pot and set aside, then add the clarified butter or ghee and clams to the bacon grease, carefully add the white wine (this will likely cause a small flame reaction), and then place the lid on the pot and increase the heat to high.

After about six minutes of steaming, check to see if the clams are beginning to open and give them a gentle stir. Once the majority of the clams have opened, gently stir in the cream and red pepper flakes and simmer the broth over medium heat until the cream has begun to thicken and all clams have opened. Finally, use a spatula or slotted spoon to mix in the roasted tomato and garlic, leaving much of the liquid behind.

While the clams are simmering, prepare your garnishes by crumbling or chopping the reserved bacon, toasting bread and cutting lemon wedges.

To serve, divide the clams evenly among bowls, ladling any remaining broth over each bowl. Garnish with chopped bacon and torn basil, plus crusty bread and lemon wedges.

Recipe excerpted with permission from “Sea Salt Eatery: Recipes to Enjoy Year-Round” by Gail Rosenblum and Kait Ziemer-Davis. Published by the University of Minnesota Press.

Press play above to listen to Ziemer-Davis and Rosenblum’s conversation with MPR News host Clay Masters.

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