Fine Dining Meets Food Cart at This Upcoming Wood-Fired Spot

An intriguing new food cart is on its way to the Cartlandia pod on SE 82nd — Wild North is its name, and has an experienced chef at the helm who’s planning to serve up meaty yet sustainable dishes, using animals from nose to tail.

It comes from the duo of Amelia and Brandon Hughes — both recently arrived from Minnesota, and chef Brandon comes with experience in two of Minneapolis’ top restaurants — he spent five years at beloved bistro Tilia. Then, he moved into more experimental territory at the out-there Travail Kitchen and Amusements, known partially for offering a 25 (!) course meal.

At WIld North, the pair are aiming to use a wood-fired oven to showcase local fare (they’re aiming to source everything from within 100 miles), and while Hughes will use somewhat of a fine dining approach when it comes to plating, the food cart setting is obviously much more casual.

Much of the menu is going to center around “whole proteins” — in short, when Wild North does meat, it’s going to entail the whole animal, meaning both prime cuts and offal could make appearances — Amelia says she’s hoping the cart can open up diners’ tastebuds by taking on less-common proteins in an accessible way.

“It’s to show people also that you don’t just have to eat a prime steak, you can do a lot of really fun, cool, interesting and tasty things with a lot of different parts of the animal that you’re not used to eating just because you don’t know how to prepare it.”

On top of that, the food cart setting makes unusual cuts and offal much more approachable than the usual finer dining setting where they might be encountered.

“It’s not necessarily accessible for people who aren’t versed in fine dining, it brings that cuisine into a more casual setting,” Amelia adds.

Amelia and Brandon Hughes

The initial menu will use lamb and trout as the primary meats; accompanying vegetables will vary from season to season — the exact menu is still to be set, but Amelia says the aim is to choose and cook food in an environmentally responsible way — while shaking up the idea of what makes up a food cart.

“I think it’s challenging, it’s also a really sustainable way of living. which is what we want to do in our business life and our personal life.”

Expect Wild North to open in the Cartlandia pod sometime in early March.

• Wild North [Official]