Food and restaurants
From food policy and healthy eating to fine dining and gastronomic adventures. (Click here to subscribe in advance.)
Ice House Plaza opening marks a new era on Eat Street
Ice House Plaza, a new privately owned public green space at 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue in Whittier, officially opened on Friday, May 18 with a dedication that included food and beverages from the surrounding businesses (with proceeds benefitting the Whittier Alliance) and music by The New Standards. The celebration came at the heels of news the return of Azia to the corner (the restaurant will reopen as Azia Market Bar & Restaurant at 2550 Nicollet in mid-June) as well as the opening of Icehouse Restaurant. That restuarant, opening on June 7, will feature live music (a cross between the Dakota and the Turf Club, according to co-owner Brian Liebeck) and small plates dining with meats made in-house.MORE »
Feeding the poor: But is it healthy food?
For people in crisis, salad on the table likely isn’t first on their list of necessities. So it’s good to hear there are people seriously concerned about the menus at homeless shelters and meal programs feeding the poor.MORE »
The Butcher and the Boar: More than just meat
There is something blunt, almost brutal, about the name of Jack Riebel's new restaurant The Butcher and the Boar. While most meat emporiums take names that distance themselves a bit from the living animal (The Capitol Grille; Morton's Steak House), the Butcher and the Boar conjures a confrontation that is going to end badly for one of the parties. There will be blood. And sausage. And wild boar ham and head cheese.MORE »
The Rogue Epicurian: The pleasures of pinot
Pinot noir is a fickle mistress, when it’s great it’s a haunting miracle of poetry in a glass, when it’s something short of great it’s a frustrating lesson in expensive disappointment. The standard bearer for great pinot noir is of course France’s Burgundy region, where thousands of years of wine making history has carefully selected the ideal locations and methods for coaxing the best out of the delicate grape. Despite my love of a good Burgundy, I really don’t drink it very often, for a number of reasons. One is that it’s just really expensive (with entry level wines coming in around $30 and the better wines easily topping $100 or much higher). They’re also difficult to find, and when they don’t live up to their pedigree they frustrate me to no end. Are they worth it? Maybe, but ultimately they’re too rarefied and variable for me to really enjoy the experience. So, I’m always on the lookout for new regions where this difficult grape can excel that can offer more realistic value.MORE »
Tin Fish: Now guilt-free
I have long been a big fan of Tin Fish, the concession on Lake Calhoun, and was delighted to see them work out their lease issues with the Minneapolis Park Board and reopen for another season. But I always felt a twinge of guilt about all the garbage I was adding to the landfill every time I ordered a Tin Fish combo—especially since Carol joined the CARAG neighborhood Green Team, dedicated to reducing landfill waste in our neighborhood. So on my latest visit, I was delighted to discover that Tin Fish has gone green: all their packaging, napkins, plastic knives and forks, etc. are now compostable and can tossed in designated containers. Good move, Tin Fish!MORE »
Left Handed Cook at Midtown Global Market: Midwestern comfort food with an Asian twist
Lots of people go to press previews of restaurant openings just for the free booze and food. But I also go to see old friends, and catch up on old restaurant news. Like at the preview party for the Left Handed Cook, which opens May 21 at the Midtown Global Market. Owners Thomas Kim and Kat Melgaard offered a great sampling of the foods they will be featuring at their stand, in the space that formerly housed La Sirena Gorda.MORE »
NEIGHBORHOOD NOTES | Prospect Park's Cupcake advances to Food Network's Cupcake Wars Championship series
Kevin VanDeraa, owner of beloved bake shop Cupcake, has more to be excited about than the impending conclusion of Central Corridor construction on University Avenue in front of his shop: having won the Yo-Gabba-Gabba-themed episode of the Food Network's show Cupcake Wars on April 15, VanDeraa is now set to compete in the show's "Cupcake Champions" series.MORE »
Second-chance gardener: Red Wing woman, Christine Aquino, uses gardening to inspire incarcerated men
"Be the change that you want to see in the world" is inscribed on a pendant that Christine Aquino wears around her neck. She has taken the words' meaning to heart.
Born in St. Paul, Aquino was a self-described bored, young housewife in California, she said, when she began to take classes in horticulture.MORE »
Minneapolis Garden Gleaning Project puts healthy food into the hands of those who need it most
Last year, the Garden Gleaning Project delivered 7,334 pounds of "gleaned” produce to two local food shelves: Little Kitchen Food Shelf in Northeast Minneapolis and Waite House in South Minneapolis. The cost for the fresh and healthy produce from community gardens: only their volunteered time.MORE »
It's Loco Motion: Pedal Pub debuts in Uptown and considers a "Foodie Tour"
(When, in the course of human history . . . it becomes necessary for ordinary citizens . . . to have the courage . . . to rise up . . . in the name of civic duty . . . and absolve themselves of personal luxury . . . and make corporeal sacrifices . . . to cover a story in the line of duty . . . those citizens . . . must take a Pedal Pub tour . . . and write about it)MORE »
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