Angry Trout Cafe Notebook: Friends, Recipes, and The Culture of Sustainability

by George Wilkes

Angry Trout Cafe is located on the North Shore of Lake Superior. This 185 page notebook not only provides recipes and cooking instructions, but also explains how the cafe practices sustainability in the context of a thriving small business. Minnesota Book Award nominee.

Genres: Cookbooks

185 pages, Spiral-bound

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those of you who haven’t made your way up to the North Shore of Lake Superior and found yourself in Cook County and furthermore found yourself in the harbor town of Grand Marais, gateway to the Gunflint Trail, which is, in turn, one of the gateways to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and furthermore found yourself at the door of Angry Trout Cafe, you will, of course, have no idea what’s going on here. If you have been to Grand Marais but haven’t been to the Angry Trout, turn around and head back right now. If you have no plans to go to the North Shore, the Angry Trout might not be quite enough on its own to get you to change your mind, but you really should rethink your thoughts on the matter. And if you do plan to go to the North Shore, don’t make the fatal mistake of not making it to the Angry Trout. The best part? They’re now open year-round, so no missing out just because you chose to head north after October and before May.

So what’s a vegan doing recommending a restaurant whose primary menu item is fish? Well, despite coming up on my thirty-third year as a vegan, here in America at least, there still aren’t too many all-vegan places, let alone too many vegan-friendly, all-vegetarian, vegetarian-friendly, or even vegan-or-vegetarian-accommodating places in 2024. What makes Angry Trout Cafe compelling is its commitment to all things local, sustainable, and equitable. What makes the Cafe extraordinary is its commitment to those values in a small town at the far edge of the upper Midwest years and years before most anyone was concerned about such things.

Written by former co-owner George Wilkes (after 35 years, Wilkes and partner Barb LaVigne sold to two long-time employees in 2023 who intend to keep things business-as-usual) and published in 2004 when the Angry Trout was in its sixteenth year, Angry Trout Cafe Notebook is a tribute to the town that birthed it, the long tradition of commercial fishing on the North Shore, the local makers, bakers, fishers, farmers, artisans, and craftspeople that provide for it, the customers that sustain it, and the values that drive it. And, yes, there are recipes.

The real genius of Angry Trout Cafe is its ability to weave its values into everything it does. The story is all here, in highly researched detail no less (although in some ways a bit of a time warp twenty years later to see how much—and how little—has changed), for anyone to read, but the doing creates the story, not the other way around. For example, they have curiously small reusable napkins. You might never know why, but if you ask, you’ll understand how that connects to supporting local makers while also reducing environmental impact. But nothing they do matters if the food sucks. Clearly, after nearly four decades, the food and the service and the story have proven themselves, and despite the fish-forward menu, I had a helluva meal there—sitting on the deck, taking in the breeze and the views of the harbor, and wishing there were more places like this, places that put people and neighbors and the environment ahead of, or at least equal to, profits.

[John Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice little book/cook book. Cleverly put together with good writing on the broad topic of sustainability and all that that encompasses, particularly from the perspective of someone in the restaurant business, and particularly from the perspective of someone living on the north shore of Lake Superior. (And if you’ve never eaten The Angry Trout I highly recommend it.)

[Arizonagirl]

The Angry Trout Cafe is the only place I know that can make zucchini enjoyable without drowning it in cheese and marinara sauce. It's all about the marinade. I also love their leaping lemon fettuccine. They locally source all of their food and participate in a take-out container loan program.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cookbook is awesome -- only thing better is having a meal overlooking Lake Superior at the Angry Trout!