Gold at the end of this Rainbow

A few of us foodies here at IN are lucky to be involved with a great networking group here in the Twin Cities known as the MN Food Bloggers. As the name implies, the group is comprised of Minnesotans who blog…about food – some professionally, others for hobby, but all are extremely knowledgeable and passionate. Organized by Stephanie Meyer of FreshTart.net and Dara & Co. fame, we meet with new friends and old every month or so to talk shop and learn about what’s hot in food. As a blogger that often writes about food trends, this resource is beyond priceless.

The most recent event was held at the pride of Eat Street, Rainbow Chinese Restaurant & Bar. Chef and owner, Tammy Wong, was on-hand to talk about her approach to fresh and local Chinese cuisine. If that last sentence sounds like an oxymoron, you would typically be correct, but Tammy’s passion for growing her own ingredients and making her famous, from-scratch sauces with in-season produce proves why she has been in business for almost 25 years.

We were fortunate to try a variety of Rainbow’s specialties, including egg rolls, asparagus fried rice, sesame noodles and pork wontons in their famous black bean sauce. My personal favorite was, surprisingly, the egg rolls. I am typically not a fan of these deep-fried, skinny jean defiers, but Rainbow’s are crispy, fresh and melty in all the right places. Tammy showed us how to take flavor quotient off the charts and wrapped them in lettuce with basil, mint and bunches of other fresh leafed herbs grown on-site in Rainbow’s garden. The combination was heaven and worth every calorie.

I heard different variations of “Rainbow makes the best Chinese in town” throughout the evening and you probably couldn’t get a more qualified seal of approval than from a roomful of these people. If you have never been to Rainbow Chinese, do yourself a favor and drop whatever you are doing this second and get there! And if you have been there, than you know what I am talking about and probably did just that before you even started this paragraph.