Cooks of Crocus Hill

This is my second Cooks of Crocus Hill experience and both were fantastic! My first visit was the Saint Paul location on Grand Ave, it was a demonstration class for the Scotch and Steak night. AWESOME! If you like amazing meat and sampling multiple top shelf whiskeys with your own personal whiskey connoisseur then this is a great class. It’s one of the more expensive options at $ 75 per person but you get 5 solid courses and more than enough alcohol.
But anyways, that was the other location… My visit to the 50^th and France spot was for the lady friend’s holiday work party. Her company reserved the whole kitchen for a private participation dinner, for 10 – 15 people it is the perfect space. They start the night off with a cocktail hour, wine and beer til your hearts content or at least until you feel like you’re an awesome Chef. Next the Chef gives you the lowdown on what you’re cooking and everyone splits into teams to tackle the challenge. There are 2 – 3 assistants to help answer questions, navigate the kitchen and find utensils plus your own private dish washer to keep things running smooth. Even if you are foreign to a kitchen you will have no problem pitching in.
We made vegetarian egg rolls, fried rice, beef lo mein, veggie stir fry and fortune cookies, all from scratch. It was really good and a ton of fun! There are plenty of photo opportunities, learning how to cook and lots of conversation. Chef Mike was fantastic and helps you out with any issue large or small along the way. If you’re looking for something fun to do with a group or even a couples night out Cooks of Crocus Hill won’t disappoint.

I tend to favor a local name compared to an established national retailer. Let’s just say my instinct was to support local business. However, I guess only if they can serve my needs.
I have been here once or twice before just for browsing while walking around 50^th and France. I noticed the cool set up for cooking classes etc and it looked fun. I read also a lot of people recommended this place as an activity to meet people. Though I probably would never take a cooking class to learn or to meet people, I could see how it could be fun for some.
Today I was actually needing something that I couldn’t easily find at a local grocery store. I thought of this place right away. I shlepped all the way here and now I actually really paid attention on what they had on their store. Not much.
The specialty ingredients for baking were very limited and it felt tentative like they weren’t sure if they wanted to be in that business or not. I looked at some other stuff and they were just overpriced pretentious kitchen stuff. No one also asked me if I needed help. I couldn’t find the meringue powder I needed for my royal icing. I also needed a cookie scooper and they had it for $ 19.95. What?!!
I walked out and headed to Sur La Table down the block. I got greeted right away as I walked in and the guy helped me to find my meringue powder, and I found 3 or 4 more stuff to get while I was there. I also got a nice cookie dough scooper for $ 10. Then, on top of that, I got a free espresso from Nespresso.
Next time, I’d just go straight to Sur La Table. I love that store to begin with but I guess it was for a good reason. Sorry Cooks of Crocus Hill. You’re kinda a waste of my time.

This past weekend my partner and I took his mom and sister on shopping weekend. Both his mom and sister are serious home cooks and bakers. To be sure and cover all bases we included a number of kitchen stores in our weekend of heavy shopping and spending. I was excited to show them the Cooks of Crocus Hill, having been to the St. Paul location in the past I thought this would be a good experience. However, it was one of the worst shopping experiences I’ve ever had.
The two staff working the Edina store never acknowledge our presence. We were the only four people in the store (not counting them). No hello, welcome, no can we help you find anything, nor a thanks for coming in as we exited after a 20 minute (18 more than we should have spent) walk about the store. They were however engrossed in an enthralling conversation about the proper water temperature that tea needs to be steeped at – which I can clearly understand was far more important than attending to customers in the store.
Needless to say, they lost out on sales the their competition (down the street and around town) were thrilled to help us with.

We took a cooking class here for my husband’s birthday. The class was a Dim Sum class where we were supposed to make: Wonton Soup; Black Bean Ribs; Pork Steamed Buns; Sauteed Crispy Tofu «Scallops»; Crunchy Shrimp; Coconut Caramel Custards. It sounded amazing.
First, we did not even touch the black bean ribs or custards. Those were made ahead of time and waiting for us.
When we did get our hands dirty, we found that half the work was done for us and we did not do any actual cooking, just prep work.
Now, I understand that with a crowd of about 12 people, it would be difficult to have them all fully execute a recipe. And since there were 6 recipes, it would have taken hours to do so. BUT, I do wish that maybe they had selected 3 recipes that were able to be completed int he 3 hour time slot for us. I felt like a chef’s assistant, never really cooking.
I did love the instructor and the food was delicious!

This is part of trilogy of reviews I am writing of Kitchen Window, Sur la Table and Cooks. I have shopped and taken many lessons at Cooks over the years and frankly I feel that they have gone down hill. Service used to be great but now is hit or miss. I was recently in to buy a gadget and the staff person did not even take time to ask me what I was looking for. I did not find it. The store is small and selection is limited compared to Kitchen Window. I really learned a lot about cooking from taking lessons at Cooks by people like Eberhardt Werthman and Vincent Francoul. However, I recently find the classes to pretty much the same old same old and have not taken a class there in several years. Although, I like to support locally owned businesses, I have often found prices on the same item to be considerably less at Sur la Table.

expensive, but worth it. great set up, very helpful staff. if you want great cooking equipment or want to learn techniques, this is the place!

eeeehhhhh, i would walk ½ a block further to sur la table for all of your kitche needs.
well, unless you are looking for snotty, unhelpful workers and over priced items.

high end porn for chefs. not as good as Kitchen Window, but definitely better than Sur le table next door

I am prone to visit the St. Paul location because, well, I live in St. Paul.
But they were out of stock on the Vita Mix I have been obsessing over (and gathering xmas gift cards) for about a year.
These things aren’t cheap (unless you have those gift cards, of course!) so we waited until our current blender gave it’s last breath.
This place is so much better than Surly Table on the corner, who shopped at Cooks before they opened and stole most of their product line.
Chumps.
Anyway, so we came in today and got our Vita Mix. Did you know you can make hot soup in this thing from nothing but raw ingredients?
In like 4 minutes? That is NUTS.
You can also make scrambled eggs, but no way will I do that.
So stop by, take a cooking class, buy a cookbook or spatula and do like sarah p says: support your local business.

I actually do like this store. I can find things here that Sur La Table doesnt carry. I love the Cordon Bleu dinnerware. Especially the 2 ½″ high cereal type bowls. Use for cooking storing and of course cereal. Can’t find this brand anywhere else.
Great selection of constantly changing cookbooks. Feel like some of their mainstay stuff such as sauces and the like dont have much depth, meaning they only carry one or two of those items. So may be out or no longer carry them if a few people decide they like them.
I have not taken any classes here. I had a bad experience with my first attempt at taking a class and have never even considered it after that. I was taking a class and the chef teaching the class cancelled and decided not to teach it. I found out when I called the day of to find out the time the class started. The reason I was taking the class was I wanted to find out his tip/​secrets for good cooking. The person at Cooks casually mentioned about his cancelling and couldnt tell me who was teaching or what the recipes would be after the change. They were unwilling to refund my money but did end up getting store credit (so they did somewhat redeem themselves) My feeling was it would have been a good customer service to informthe class participants about the change and give them the option to drop.

Let me start by saying that when given the chance to support small, local businesses, I do. (I’ll even pay a buck or so more to do so.)
I’ve had a long relationship with Cooks, and, for the most part, I’ve always been happy. The one exception was when they were in the tech dark ages and didn’t have a computerized bridal registry. I registered there anyway. It didn’t work out so well, but they were apologetic and gave me a substantial gift certificate in return for my headaches. But everything else has been stellar. Their cooking classes are great, and they even have a crop share. The staff is always knowledgeable and friendly.
When Sur la Table moved in next door on 50^th and France, I was worried. But I think they are going to make it – as long as we make the effort to shop locally.