As a photographer you get to put yourself in a diverse collection of spaces to do your thing. One day it’s a sawdust-laden construction site, next it’s a cubicle farm. Sometimes it’s a beautiful, minimalist fine dining establishment in the region’s premier modern art museum.

Man, I like those days.

Yesterday I got to spend a few minutes with Asher Miller, Executive Chef at 20.21 Restaurant & Bar, the Wolfgang Puck restaurant in the Walker Art Museum. The concept of the restaurant is an interesting mix: the decor is monochrome with pink accents, the cuisine is Asian, and the service is French. And the kitchen is open to the dining room, as is the view to the expanse of traffic below. Nutty.

Asher is a really cool, down to earth guy. I discovered we have several things in common: we look kind of similar (as remarked upon by my Sample Circuit colleague, Melinda Feucht), we both spent a few years at Carleton College and have a complicated relationship with the place, and we both like Boca Chick’n Patties.

But what really made my day was when he told me I was the easiest photographer he’s worked with. And then he made me lunch, which was delicious: potstickers with a beautiful, mellow chinese dark vinegar and chili oil dipping sauce; a citrus chicken breast salad with candied cashews and crisp fried wonton strips; and a dessert sampler of chili merengue, cinnamon brownie, sesame caramel, and a bite of some Asian lemon/lime fruit tart that I forget the name of. A simple assortment of classic dishes, but the attention to each component made it exceptional.

More work at chrisbohnhoff.com.