Photo by Pamela Kaminski

An excerpt posted by Paul Austin . Read the entire story Star Tribune

Jon Pieper is owner of the Old Village Hall Restaurant in Lanesboro, Minnesota and a fourth generation Southeast Minnesotan.  “Nobody in my family had ever picked morels. I was surprised to find out that morel mushrooms have such a cult following.”  From this regional obsession emerged his restaurant’s annual Morel Festival, when he prepares menus of succulent morel dishes and attracts fans from all over the state and beyond.

Jon is now an avid morel hunter himself, and he says that it’s “a great Minnesota outdoor activity that anyone can do. The great thing about morel mushrooms is that nothing else looks like them and they are relatively easy to find. In Southeastern Minnesota, they tend to come up under dead elm trees. It’s a great family pastime. I took my five year old son out in the backyard, and we picked about five pounds in an half hour.”    

As for eating the morels, Jon hosts his Morel Festival every year in March, well before the hunting season.  “I dried about thirty pounds of morels last spring. The March festival features dried mushrooms.  The mushrooms are more intense when dried. They also can be rehydrated and used similarly to fresh mushrooms. Dried mushrooms can be put in a blender with flour and seasoning make a great coating for meat. They even can be used for making ice cream.”  

Old Village Hall Restaurant & Pub in Lanesboro, Minnesota

Jon invites us all down.  “People have to visit Lanesboro in May to witness the morel mania!”

Here you’ll find a Morel Tenderloin Flatbread with a Caper Aioli Recipe from Jon’s Morel Festival.

Old Village Hall Restaurant & Pub

111 Coffee St E
Lanesboro, MN 55949
Phone: 507-467-2962