Soft shell crabs for dinner tonight!

Spring is possibly the greatest season for eating. It seems every where you turn there amazing ingredients abound. Some of my favorite spring-time staples are morel mushrooms, wild ramps, fiddlehead ferns, Copper River Salmon (due into the restaurants sometime next week) and these little beauties–soft shell crabs–fried with a little red hot butter sauce. It doesn't get any better.

The Sugar Shack

After years of evaporating our maple sap for the infamous Hinterland Maple Bock out in the cold, rain and snow, a good friend of mine decided we needed a proper sugar shack. And like all things Hinterland, the sugar shack all natural and wood-fired. There's no gas or electrical power out here, just kerosene lanterns and cold beer. It's a killer place work a way a winter's day.

More From Danny's Kitchen

Recent plates from Danny's Kitchen(Hinterland Milwaukee)

It's been a long time…

since I've actually sat down and thought about Hinterland in a conceptual kind of way, or maybe thought about where how it all started and what lies ahead. The early days are a bit of a foggy blur. But it's great to remember. Lately, with all three restaurants in three different cities, the brewery and the inn, I've felt a tug at my sleeve, maybe a nudge from a few friends, to put it all down and to share the journey from this point in the road with the rest of the world. Not that many people really care to read my ramblings. But maybe there are a few beer, wine and food crazed nuts out there like myself and our staff who might enjoy hearing about or seeing where we've been, what we're creating in some of our kitchens, what we're drinking etc... For all of you who fall into that category, this blogs for you!