West Acres food court homes family recipes for nearly 25 years

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — For nearly 25 years, the West Acres Food Court has been a place to mingle, eat, and relax. But it’s also home to a special gem, family recipes.

“There’s roughly five hundred recipes, and they cover the gamut of different types of foods. There’s even some that are fun. Such as somebody who said ‘Dad’s Night to Cook’ and it was a call for pizza. So, that’s how the recipe was,” said Brad Schlossman, CEO of West Acres Development.

Prior to opening the food court, West Acres employees discussed what would be the best form of tiles to decorate the walls. It was when one employee decided it would be a great idea to have recipes.

“Somebody said, ‘ Why don’t we put recipes on there. Well, where do we get the recipe? Well, we can ask the public to submit recipes. How about we turn it into a fundraiser because they had to pay at least $25 to the Great Plains Food Bank in order to get their recipe up here,” said Schlossman.

Many of the recipes came from across North Dakota. But it also came from places like Chicago to Canada. With so many recipes, West Acres put together a cookbook organized from snacks, breads, soups, and more.

“My wife submitted one that is soul food to us, and we really enjoy that. My brother submitted one that was a dessert that my mother made that is legendary in the family. And so when we have get-togethers, somebody will often make that again,” said Schlossman.

While Schlossman has only tried a portion of the recipes in the book, he said being able to have these recipes feels like home.

“What I feel when I look at those recipes is the warmth that went into the creation of the recipes, the handing down through generations, and in so many cases. It’s just one of those things that just feels good to see that we have recipes from the region that people wanted to share,” said Schlossman.

Discussions have been brought up about bringing more recipes into the mall. While there have been no definitive actions on this, they hope people continue to stop into the mall.