Our Dinner With Jamie

How our night with Sea Change chef de cuisine Jamie Malone went down

Menu items included freshly shucked moon shoal oysters, sunchoke soup, rack of lamb and artcic char.

Image credit: Photo by Emily J. Davis

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By: Mecca Bos |   December 2011   |  From the print edition

Don’t you hate it when you’re cooking a multi-course, restaurant-quality dinner at home and your guests (and dog) keep distracting you, thereby threatening the overall quality of the meal?

Yeah, me too. Sea Change chef de cuisine Jamie Malone and her husband, Ryan, have solved that old problem by building a sweet, Wisconsin-style bar into their garage, complete with insulation, flat-screen TV and deer-hoof ashtrays. I have no doubt that Ryan is the envy of every dude in the neighborhood.

At the Malone’s recent holiday party in their stylish south Minneapolis home, artwork is everywhere—some of it compliments of friend and artist Frank Thorpe, much of it inked onto the flesh of the partygoers. Ryan, along with partners Josh Edwards, Marx Barry and Kyle Franklin, owns and operates Rose of No Man’s Land tattoo parlor in Woodbury. The soiree featured non-inked guests as well, including the couple’s Italian Greyhound, Porkchop, and a hiding hairless cat named Jack. Speaking of hiding, the talented and beautiful Jamie prefers hanging out in the kitchen to hobnobbing with guests (typical chef), and on this night she spends plenty of time there, preparing a family-style feast for nearly two-dozen guests.

Old pros at this entertaining stuff, the Malones have everything in order for the party in question: drinks (Red Breast Manhattans and plenty of bubbly), killer music (mostly old soul on vinyl) and, of course, amazing food (chicharrones—otherwise known as pork rinds—and freshly shucked oysters to start, and a flavor to suit almost every pleasure as the night wears on). Add a dynamic guest list and you’ve got yourself a night to remember.

To help you re-create the evening -- or inspiration to create one all your own -- we designed recipe cards for each of the dishes on Jamie's menu, and some entertaining tips we gleaned from our hosts. Download the entire lot of them here.