The Golden Fig bills itself as a “fantastic little shop,” featuring U.S.-produced artisan food and complementary goods. However, the Grand Avenue fixture since 2006 is more than a foodie’s mecca for all things truly scrumptious and savory. It’s a place where stories are told—about the origins of the products, in staff’s conversations with customers and even through the gentle, comforting sighs of its 100-year-old wood floors.
Products include sweets such as candies, cookies and handmade marshmallows (“The flavors are ridiculous,” owner Laurie McCann Crowell says); spice, sugar and vinegar blends; fresh meat and cheese varieties; a plethora of other artisan foods; cookbooks; gift items; and homewares, including a rack of Ohio’s Mosser Glass wares in delicious shades of black raspberry, buttercream, jadeite and milk glass. Golden Fig’s specialty items are blended and bottled weekly, ensuring freshness and return trips for more.
Spice and sugar blends run from apple pie spice down to Yukon cocoa. Top sellers include sel de cuisine, a ground seasoned salt, black pepper and maple, and Dynamite Herbs. Crowell also recommends Thousand Hills’ beef tenderloins. “One is plenty for two people,” she says. The store’s fresh drink mixes are a go-to item for many customers and are used with water (sparkling or otherwise) or spirits. Lavender lemonade is a popular blend, with seasonal mixes adding to the party. The spiced pomegranate drink mix enjoys fraternizing with distilled partners. “That, with some vodka, will change your winter,” Crowell says. Other recommendations include truffle boxes, which are filled with sweet treats from various chocolatiers, allowing fortunate recipients an opportunity to sample several chocolate profiles.
When possible, Crowell visits her inventory sources, enabling her to see and hear firsthand about each product’s backstory. “It’s so important to know where your food comes from,” she says. “We’ve done all that homework for you.” Crowell’s passion for the products doesn’t ebb once they hit the store’s shelves. She has a penchant for bringing product descriptions to life for browsing customers, regaling them with an item’s history or a related anecdote.
While shoppers share a commitment to locally and nationally produced, quality items, not all are cut from the same cloth. Some shoppers who eschew stocking their freezers with a month’s worth of food arrive daily for fresh meal items. Tourists, who can include out-of-state travelers or visitors venturing across the metropolitan area from suburban parts, enjoy picking out something new to take home. Corporate clients are finding the store’s gift sets perfect for showcasing the state’s cultural flavors. Yet, another savvy shopper hailed from Washington, D.C.—President Barack Obama visited the store in 2014. “He really gets it,” Crowell says, noting the president spoke at length with her about the importance of identifying food sources and educating children about food sourcing and nutrition.
Crowell has been part of the artisan food world long before she opened Golden Fig a decade ago. She apprenticed under some of the nation’s top cooks and worked with Ina Garten, cookbook author and host of the Food Network’s Barefoot Contessa. “Ina was really ahead of her time,” she says, noting that local, fresh-sourced food was something Garten was really passionate about in the early 1990s. After moving to the Twin Cities, Crowell continued to explore her passion for cooking. She was a regular contributor to winter and farmers markets, as well as pop-up shops.
Once her children began preschool, Crowell pondered opening up her own store. Happenstance awakened her dream during a walk down Grand Avenue, where she happened upon a “For Rent” sign. “I saw a sign in the window and I thought, ‘Ooh, that’s the spot,’ ” she says. “I literally signed the lease that week.” While Crowell’s initial plan didn’t include a formal business blueprint, she felt she had something better to bank on. “I knew I had something I was passionate about,” she says.
