scott pampuch C o r n e r Ta b l e R e s t a u r a n t, M N Scott is a serious wisenheimer, as my mom would say. Cooks are generally funny and vulgar but Corner Table’s kitchen is like a Benny Hill episode on fast-forward. The corner table is actually in the kitchen, and for $125, you will be fed until you beg for mercy, and sign the chalkboard, pictured here, with your impressions. I can only imagine this would be a very silly night. The ribaldry isn’t the only thing at a fever pitch. Scott is working on creating his own food system, with all the intensity, playfulness and vision of a kid building a fort. There are farm dinners, voracious sourcing, and classes. Some of his customers have even formed relationships with his farmers for their home cooking. Raise the flag high! I don’t feel like we’re a chef-driven restaurant anymore. We’re a farm-driven restaurant. I write menus based upon what the farmers give me. There are probably seventy farms we’ve used over the last five years. I grew up where a lot of these farms are, southern Minnesota. It was a given that I was going to buy from them. I know people that claim to be a local restaurant, and they don’t buy their eggs locally, because they think it’s too expensive. Well, then you’re not really a local restaurant; you’re just another restaurant who uses that as a marketing concept. I didn’t start cooking until I was twenty-seven. I sold hotel and convention space. The banquet stuff at the hotel was pretty cool and they let me play in the kitchen. At a certain point, I was spending more time in the kitchen than anyplace else. I got fired. At Minneapolis Community and Technical School I ended up getting a really good cooking instructor and I was like, I’m starting the game late. Can you give me any more than the textbook? He turned me into his sous chef for the program. I came out of school and worked for Modern Café, here in town. I heard that the chef hated culinary students. I got a little ballsy in the interview and dared him into giving me a start. If you like me, you don’t have to interview anymore.
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