J. Ryan Stradal Archives - Inkwells & Images

Southern Wisconsin is blessed to have a number of great local bookstores. Arcadia Books is located in Spring Green, about an hour west of Madison proper, and in the same town as The American Player’s Theatre and near Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesen and The House on the Rock.

It’s a lovely book store that also boasts a café with a full menu select nights of the week. Chef Jackie Singleton sources her ingredients from the surrounding area, featuring local favorites like Hook’s Cheese, Potter’s Crackers, and Just Coffee. You can also order wine by the glass and a few local brews by the bottle.

Grab a glass of wine and wander around a bookstore? Don’t mind if I do.

For a small establishment, the selection is top-notch. I asked bookseller James Bohnen which of Jhumpa Lahiri’s works he would recommend as a starting point and he walked me immediately to the right shelf and said “Namesake, but really you can’t go wrong.”

There are books lining every section of shelf possible, well-organized and well-displayed. Scott found this gem and promptly added it to our stack to bring home with us.

We happened to come to Arcadia Books for a special occasion this time around: a three-course dinner inspired by author J. Ryan Stradal’s debut novel “Kitchens of the Great Midwest,” as well as to see Stradal himself speak about his book.

I reviewed “Kitchens of the Great Midwest” earlier this summer on the blog and told all of you to go read it. If you haven’t yet, you really need to soon. It’s a stunningly good story, and Stradal himself was an engaging speaker. You could tell that it was he who wrote this book. His talk was full of the same poignant lines that populate the novel, laced with a large amount of self-aware humor and a dash of sarcasm: the perfect combination to go with a specially prepared dinner inspired by the final dinner in the book.

Our first course was a superb salad, and I do not say that lightly: I kind of dislike salad. The greens were fresh and tender and the steak was top-notch. I didn’t snap a photo of the second course as I was too busy tucking in, but the rainbow trout was perfectly done and in a flavorful mushroom sauce.

And dessert: Pat Prager’s private recipe dessert bars served with affogato. Why had I never thought to pour espresso over my ice cream before?

The perfect ending.

Have you ever attended a themed dinner based on a book? If so, what did you think? If not, what book would you like to see turned into a dinner?

Story in Review: Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal | Inkwells & Images

I’d not heard a whit about this book before a friend gave me an extra ARC she had laying around. Since then, I’ve seen it pop up everywhere around the internet! I finally got a chance to read it and can see what the fuss is about.

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal is a book for the current foodie culture. I’ve never read a novel or a blog that so embodies the very way modern culture looks at and enjoys food.

The story loosely follows a young woman named Eva as she grows up and becomes an exquisite chef, but Stradal tells the story through the eyes of the people around her. Someone new narrates each chapter, almost as if the characters are passing a baton from one to the next. The first chapter is her father, followed by a single chapter narrated from Eva’s point of view, and then followed by one of her cousin’s and so-on. It was fascinating to trace this young woman’s life from afar until the novel comes full circle, and each new chapter is a chance to get to know someone new – and not all of the narrators are likable.

Favorite Quotes:

“Theirs was mixed-race marriage – between a Norwegian and a Dane – and thus all things culturally important to one but not the other were given a free pass and critiqued only in unmixed company.” – p. 2

“‘Your ancestors ate this to survive long winters.’

‘And how did they survive lutefisk?’ Lars asked once.” – p. 3

“She was beautiful, and not like a state or a perfume advertisement, but in a realistic way, like how a truck or a pizza is beautiful at the moment you want it most.” – p. 4

“When Lars first held [his daughter], his heart melted over her like butter on warm bread, and he would never get it back.” – p. 7

“… how someone could give that up in the amount of time it takes to seal an envelope, with the same saliva once used to seal a marriage.” – p. 30

“In those moment, her body felt the like world’s smallest prison.” – p. 38

“That’s a life in the dirt, a life touching dirt, a life touching things that touch dirt.” – p. 60

“Braque was, by careful design, nothing like her mom.” – p. 66

“… her smile scattered every other thought in his mind.” – p. 106

“…she was a one-woman plague of sincerity.” – p. 149

“…she hadn’t grown into being a woman, she had become a woman with an exclamation mark.” – p. 173

“In the Fellowship Hall, a skinny woman in an impertinent white summer dress – no sleeves, low neck, and cut above the knee – there an ivory cotton tablecloth over a folding table.” – p. 213

“Maybe in Florida they sang hymns in their bikinis, but that wouldn’t fly up here.” – p. 214

“Pat assumed they weren’t very trusting people.” – p. 242

“She had decades of luxury travel… it didn’t matter how expensive or opulent the room was, checkout was still always at eleven, and when she walked out the hotel doors, she was still herself…” – p. 285

What made this a good story?

I had never read a book like this where the narration rotates from one person to another in a progressive fashion. That was a fascinating dynamic. I also liked how the novel traced the foodie movement from the tradition of Minnesota lutefisk to the new wave of gluten-free, sugar-free, lactose-free concoctions that people try to pass off as dessert. I’m with character Pat Prager on this – “everyone likes bars” – even if only in secret.

What could have made it a better story?

The ending was a little ambiguous. Call me traditional, but I kind of like my happy-ever-afters and my clear-cut finales. I was also disappointed that after her own narration chapter at age 11, we never get to hear from Eva again – and I wanted to. Her’s was a story that I would always read more about, always want to know more. Some books allow you to close the last page and move on, but Eva’s book captivated me. I would read a sequel or a companion novel about her in a heartbeat.

What about you? Have you ever read Kitchens of the Great Midwest? What did you think?