School House Cafe Takes First Culinary Contest

MCGREGOR, Minn. — A name rooted in McGregor’s history helped lead Sue Ashwood to victory in the first-ever Wild Rice Days Culinary Contest.

Ashwood’s Portage Trail Omelet captured first place, edging out Mark’s Bar and its Wild Rice Burger in a close finish. The winning dish was one of 11 entries served by local restaurants and culinary businesses during this year’s Wild Rice Days celebration.

The public judged the competition, rating their favorite dishes on a five-point scale. More than 300 votes were submitted, giving the inaugural event an enthusiastic response from residents and visitors.

The name Portage Trail carries special meaning in the McGregor area. It also appeared as one of the clues in this year’s Medallion Hunt, connecting the culinary contest to the community’s history. The original portage trail connected the Mississippi River to Big Sandy Lake and the Northwest Fur Trade Post. Over time, the route became known as the Wold Road, later Bear Country Road, and is now Grouse Street.

For Ashwood, the winning omelet also has a connection to her own cooking history.

Ashwood has been cooking at the School House Cafe for 15 years. Before that, she spent about seven years cooking at Kelly’s Kitchen in Palisade, where she developed an earlier version of the dish called the Grand Portage Omelet.

The original omelet featured celery, onion and green peppers. For the Wild Rice Days competition, Ashwood changed it up by replacing the celery with mushrooms while keeping the onions and green peppers.

The Portage Trail Omelet was then topped with hollandaise sauce, creating a combination that proved popular with contest diners.

The response was strong enough that customers began asking whether the omelet would become a permanent menu item.

Ashwood confirmed that it will. “I thank all the people that came in and ate and enjoyed my food,” Ashwood said. “I thought it was great. The contest was wonderful.”

The inaugural competition featured restaurants and culinary businesses offering special dishes built around wild rice, corn or both.

Other entries included Bann’s Bar and Restaurant’s Chicken & Beef Wild Rice Egg Roll and Sweet Corn Butter Pasta; Round Lake Resort & Bar’s Wild Rice Round Lake Chicken Wrap; McGregor Baking Company’s Chicken Wild Rice Salad Sandwich; Log Home Wood Fired Pizza’s Wild Rice Dough Artisan Pizza; Buckhorn Bar’s Wild Rice Stuffed Mushrooms, Cocktails, Crafts & Eats’ Italian Corn Chowder with Shrimp; Last Chance Pub n Grub’s Wild Rice Meatballs; Fireside’s Northwoods Pinwheels; and North Fork Tavern’s Famous Cranberry Wild Rice Salad.

Mark’s Bar finished a close second with its Wild Rice Burger, demonstrating just how competitive the inaugural event became.

The success of the first contest has organizers and participating restaurants already looking ahead to next year. Ashwood said she has not yet decided what she might create if she returns as a competitor.

“I have to figure out something,” she said with a laugh.

For now, Ashwood can celebrate the first-ever Wild Rice Days Culinary Contest championship — and the Portage Trail Omelet appears destined to become a School House Cafe favorite.