Iggers Digest

Iggers Digest is the blog of Jeremy Iggers, the TC Media Alliance's executive director. Jeremy is also the creator of TCFoodies, a local food networking site.

The Butcher and the Boar: More than just meat

By Jeremy Iggers, Iggers Digest

Photos By:

Ryan Cutler

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 »

Tin Fish: Now guilt-free

By Jeremy Iggers, Iggers Digest

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

By Jeremy Iggers, Iggers Digest

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 »

Shopping the Mill City Farmers Market with Sea Change Chef Jamie Malone

By Jeremy Iggers, Iggers Digest

My favorite time of year has arrived - farmers market season. Pretty soon, Carol and I will start our weekly ritual of Sunday bike rides to the Kingfield Market, and frequent visits to the Uptown Market and Midtown Farmers Market. And this year, our market calendar is going to get a bit more crowded, with the opening of the new Linden Hills Farmers Market on June 3. MORE »

Tadka Indian Bistro in Uptown: something old, something new

By Jeremy Iggers, Iggers Digest

I wasn't sure whether to feel happy or sad when I saw the Grand Opening banner outside the new Tadka Indian Bistro at Emerson and Lake — sad that Delights of India had closed, but happy that my friends BK and Ameeta Arora had finally managed to retire. MORE »

New Minneapolis Eateries: Sparks in Bryn Mawr, Eat Street Local in Whittier

By Jeremy Iggers, Iggers Digest

There was something about Sparks, the new Bryn Mawr eatery, that brought the old neighborhood diners to mind. The old diners started out as railroad dining cars, or were designed to look like them, but their essential ingredients were stools and a counter, an open kitchen - decades before that concept became trendy - and a short-order menu that cooked fast on the grill: burgers, BLTs, eggs, hashbrowns and toast.MORE »

Franco-Brazilian Harriet Brasserie coming to Linden Hills

By Jeremy Iggers, Iggers Digest

I am really looking forward to the opening of the Harriet Brasserie, in the old Cafe 28 space in Linden Hills.

I got to meet the owner, Alain Lenne, and his chef, Fernando Silva, a couple of weeks ago at the first anniversary party at Tilia, Steven Brown's Linden Hills cafe. The talented chef Brown knows how to feed a crowd, with an unending stream of platters loaded with pulled pork sandwiches, jerk chicken, thighs, corn dogs, gravlax, farmstead cheeses and more. As you might expect, the place was packed, and the decibel level as high as ever, so I asked Steven about the best time to beat the noise and the crowds.MORE »

Gastronomic adventures in Vietnam

By Jeremy Iggers, Iggers Digest

Photos By:

Carol Bouska

Anticipating our trip to Vietnam, Carol and I each had a big gastronomic question in mind: MORE »

I wondered how our favorite Twin Cities Vietnamese restaurants - places like Ngon, Jasmine 26, Saigon, Hoa Bien and Hoang Thien Y would stack up against the genuine article.

Bun bo Hue at the Hien Deli — the perfect winter warmer

By Jeremy Iggers, Iggers Digest

We're leaving on Thursday for a couple of weeks in Vietnam - and maybe a side trip to Laos. One of the places on our itinerary is Hue, the ancient capital, so last week I headed for Eat Street (Nicollet Ave.) for a sneak preview of Hue's most famous dish, bun bo Hue. It's a spicy cousin to pho, the signature beef noodle soup, but prepared with a combination of beef, pork, and, in this version what the menu describes as Vietnamese ham - but Vietnamese lunch meat might be closer to the mark.MORE »

Here's to Stanley's Bar Room, a Northeast tavern that appreciates good beer

By Jeremy Iggers, Iggers Digest

The former Stasiu's at 2500 University Ave. N.E. in Northeast Minneapolis underwent a makeover back in 2010 that transformed it into Stanley's Bar Room, but it hasn't lost its neighborhood tavern character. Stanley's bills itself as a craft beer bar, with 32 craft beers on tap, but it is decidedly not one of those yuppified gastropubs.MORE »

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