Cooper-Lake Diary

A lot of food writers wouldn't bother with buffet restaurants. They want to titillate thrill seekers. I have a different approach. I like to go to places under the food journalism radar. I like to check out places that yuppies hardly consider worth their time. These are the alternatives to the fast food industry, that provide meals ordinary people can afford, people with families. Families like the one I grew up in. My parents never thought of seeking the hottest new chef because, after all, my large family had serious bills in the offing. That had to take precedence.

I was reading comments online in response to my post that I was looking for Mediterranean food in St Paul. I guess most people were as ignorant as I was since they were ticking off well-known names everwhere but St. Paul. I had to observe that I'm well aware that the Twin Cities is very rich with nice places that serve Mediterranean food. I'm especially focused on St. Paul where the surface appearance is that this food doesn't do well there. My search might reinforce that conclusion, but it would be premature to say so.

I visited another welcome entry in the register of Longfellow's home restaurants. It is called Queens Grill, and it occupies the space formerly used by Manny's Tortas.

Call this chapter 2 of the Central Corridor Light Rail Tour. I'm taking the opportunity to hit many spots along University Avenue in St Paul where the CCLR project has the street all torn up. Sort of "support your local small business during the chaos". It isn't totally altruistic, of course. I fully expect to have some very nice meals out of all this.