Tapes ’N Tastes

With people like Anthony Bourdain granting chefs the kind of cool status typically reserved for rockers, some musicians might feel threatened. Josh Grier, singer-guitarist of Minneapolis' indie-rock act Tapes 'N Tapes, isn’t one of those musicians, nor is he a stranger to the kitchen. Grier—who, by the way, loves his Bourdain cookbook—often uses Tapes’ blogs to share recipes and talk food, which he did with Decider before the group's show Friday, Feb. 6 at First Avenue in support of its recent album, Walk It Off.

Decider: Do you have the celebrity-chef equivalent of a rock-star daydream?
Josh Grier: [Laughs.] Yeah. I always think, “Someday, I’ll be able to go to culinary school.” One day, maybe, when I have some more time and need something else to do. I watch cooking shows, I go to good restaurants, and I’m always curious, how do people do this? Good food is what I love. If I’m going to spend money on something, it’ll be on good food.
D: Are you a food snob, then?
JG: No. I’ll eat the dirtiest food that’s out there, if I think it’s really good. For a while, I pretty much lived solely off frozen pizza and ramen. I don’t judge anything by the ingredients that are in it, but by how good it tastes. You know, tater-tot casserole is delicious.
D: You did report eating a lot of frozen pizza and drinking a bunch of beer while recording the 2004 Tapes ’N Tapes EP in a frozen Wisconsin cabin. What was gastronomically different about recording Walk It Off in upstate New York?
JG: This time, there was less frozen pizza. Since we were in a house with fully running electricity and water and all that, there was more cooking. Pretty much, somebody was on dinner duty every night. We had some burritos, and some sloppy Joes, and some soup, and some chili. [We were recording] in the fall of [2007], it was kind of cool and crisp outside, so a lot of warm, hearty meals. Erik [Appelwick, bassist] and Matt [Kretzmann, multi-instrumentalist] would pretty much make dinner every night.
D: Is there some kind of edible nostalgia that brings you back to that time?
JG: Matt’s mom has a really good sloppy Joe recipe, and Matt made sloppy Joes. I’ve made them a couple of times since, and every time I’ve made them, I do think of eating sloppy Joes while we were recording. They’re delicious.
D: Is asking you to draw similarities between how you cook and how you make music too convoluted?
JG: I wish I could feel as creative when I cook as when I play music, but right now I’m pretty much [cooking] by the book. Music is a nice outlet for messing around and trying stuff out—I’m a little bit scared to go wild and put something in my body.
D: You must get to sample from a large tasting menu while touring different cities and countries.
JG: We really try. Actually, on our Facebook page, I started a discussion for each city we’re in, asking people where there’s good food in town. Hopefully we can get some suggestions and [avoid] searching blindly for good food when we get to town.
D: Have those blind searches ever resulted in taste tragedies?
JG: I’ve been pretty lucky. I try to blank out anything that goes really bad. I go into things with an open mind, and if the food’s really bad, you can always get a couple of beers.
D: Are there particular songs or bands you prefer as background music to a dinner party, or while cooking?
JG: Usually, if we want to listen to records while cooking, we’ll put on some—I don’t know—Thelonious Monk. You know, something that’s a little bit more jazzy. Or, Al Green, or James Brown. It’s usually not indie music or rock, it’s usually something a little more soulful.

Josh Grier’s No. 1 Fun Tasty Chicken And Bean Burritos

1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/2 tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 15-ounce can black beans (drained)
2/3 cup taco sauce
Chipotle hot sauce or chipotle peppers in adobe sauce (to taste)

Serve with rice, cheddar cheese, and flour tortillas.

Slice chicken breast into 1/2-inch strips. Heat vegetable oil in frying pan over med high heat. Add chicken to frying pan and cook thoroughly (3-5 minutes). Sprinkle chili powder and cumin on chicken while cooking. Once chicken is cooked, break it up into smaller pieces in the frying pan. Add taco sauce and black beans to the frying pan. Add chipotle sauce or chipotle peppers in adobe sauce to taste (depends on how spicy you want your burritos). I normally add about a 1/2 tsp. of sauce and 1 pepper, which makes things pretty spicy. Heat and stir until the sauce starts to bubble. Reduce to medium heat and simmer for 5 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken. Serve on flour tortilla over rice. I also usually add some grated cheddar cheese and guacamole on top. If you’re looking for some extra flavor, try adding lime juice and chopped cilantro to your rice.