Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/author/jeremy-iggers/page/19/)
Jeremy Iggers recently retired as executive director of the Twin Cities Media Alliance. His newest project is a website called www. GlobalTwinCities.com. He lives in south Minneapolis with his wife Carol and two cats.
This week, the concession stand dining scene – the Sea Salt Eatery in Minnehaha Park, Bread & Pickle at the Lake Harriet bandshell, and a return visit to an old favorite, Tin Fish at the Lake Calhoun Pavilion.
I was starting to feel a bit grumpy about the bill at Pizzeria Lola: nearly $80 for two, including tax and tip — with only one glass of wine between the two of us. If we had had a couple of drinks apiece, we could have pushed the bill all the way into triple digits, which seems rather outrageous for a neighborhood pizza joint with bare tables and a poured concrete floor. Continue Reading
Stopped by last Sunday at the Uptown Market and found a couple of new food vendors: She Royal and Hola Arepas. She Royal’s menu includes a chicken curry and a delicious Ethiopian veggie combo – red and yellow lentils, chopped spiced greens and rice, with pita on the side ($6). Owner Samson Benti also operates a cafe in the basement of City Hall, where they feature Ethiopian specialties on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Hola Arepa’s specialty is its namesake – corn cakes cooked on a griddle that are popular in Venezuela and Colombia. Continue Reading
With all the discouraging news coming out of north Minneapolis – the foreclosure crisis, the tornado – the opening of three new restaurants on the north side – Louisiana Famous Fried Chicken, the Lowry Cafe, and the Avenue Eatery – is something to cheer.
At the Louisiana Famous Fried Chicken store at 904 West Broadway, it isn’t just about the food. The restaurant’s motto is “Bringing change to the neighborhood,” and at least one Facebook fan has picked up on the message: “I am so proud to have a nice, clean soul food restaurant in the hood with great service and delicious food. And they don’t allow the hustla’s off the block to come in, hiding for the police, making people uncomfortable while they eat. If you haven’t been there u missing out. :).” Continue Reading
You already know about the thriving ethnic restaurant scene along Central Avenue in Northeast Minneapolis, where the dining options range from Afghan, Colombian and Indian to Mexican, Middle Eastern, Moroccan and Thai. And every serious foodie has spent time at the hip new (and hip old) eateries around the University Ave. and Marshall Ave. N.E. – the Modern Cafe, Erte, Northeast Social, the Sample Room, Anchor Fish and Chips and the relocated Psycho Suzie’s, just to name a few.
But a couple of interesting new restaurants have opened up in a less discovered corner of Northeast Minneapolis – the intersection of Johnson and 29th St. N. E. Continue Reading
The stretch of Nicollet Ave. known as Eat Street used to end at 29th Street. But with the openings of Wise Acre Eatery, the Sun Street Bakery and Cafe, and Blackbird Cafe, things south of the Lake Street border are starting to get a lot more interesting.
Wise Acre Eatery
In a way, very little has changed since Dan Engelmann and Dan Endres, owners of Tangletown Gardens across the street, took over the former frozen Liberty Custard at 5401 Nicollet Ave. S. and transformed it into the Wise Acre Eatery. You can still walk up to the window and get soft-serve frozen custard, and the lunch menu still features deli sandwiches, soups and salads. Continue Reading
For serious foodies, a visit to El Bulli in Catalonia is the ultimate gastronomic pilgrimage, and for most of us, Gereon Wetzler’s documentary El Bulli: Cooking in Progress is as close as we will ever get to experiencing the legendary restaurant.
El Bulli receives millions of reservation requests each year, but serves only 8,000 customers during the six months it is open. If you don’t have a reservation booked already for this year, your chances of ever dining at El Bulli are zero: on July 31, the restaurant will close its doors forever.
Why all the fuss? Food writers return from their visits to the restaurant on the Catalan coast with rapturous reports of a cuisine that transcends the boundaries of the imagination. In the culinary press, Chef-owner Ferran Adria has been elevated to the pantheon of culinary demigods. The price of a meal—an average of $350—is no deterrent to the globe-trotting clientele. Continue Reading
A message from the publisher(Jeremy Iggers is the executive director of the Twin Cities Media Alliance, a non-profit organization that publishes the Twin Cities Daily Planet)Dear Friends,Many thanks to all of you who responded to my recent message asking you to support the Twin Cities Daily Planet by making a membership contribution. We really need the support, and many of you responded generously. But I received one response that really caught my attention: “Would totally make a donation once you start paying your writers.”I replied immediately: “Actually, we have been paying our writers for years. We don’t pay for blogs and commentary pieces, but we do pay for assigned news stories and most reviews. You can find the details here: https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/contribute.”And then I added this reminder: “If you feel like making a donation, you can visit our secure online donation page, or send a check (in any amount) to TCMA, 2600 E. Franklin #2, Minneapolis MN 55406.”The reader was not impressed: “Guess I just don’t want to support a business model that relies primarily on unpaid/underpaid bloggers, whether it’s HuffPo or Patch or eHow.com or Daily Planet.”Here’s the gist of my reply: “Actually, our business model is quite different…”Those other publications give priority to stories that generate the most search engine traffic. Our editorial priorities are covering under-reported stories, and giving voice to under-served communities. “”Many of Huffington Post’s unpaid bloggers felt cheated when Ariana Huffington and her investors cashed out and got $315 million dollars. We can’t cash out because we don’t own the Daily Planet. The Twin Cities Media Alliance is a non-profit, and the Daily Planet belongs to the community. We get 95 percent of our revenue from foundation grants, memberships and individual gifts, and only 5 percent from advertising.” “We operate on a shoestring budget, and all that money goes back into the community – to pay our writers, our editors, our support staff and our rent. Continue Reading
My mother-in-law Elmarie loves jazz. Elmarie is 88 years old, and still lives on the family farm near Decorah, Iowa, but she is willing to travel a long ways to hear good jazz. A few years ago, Elmarie went all the way to Iowa City to hear the Glenn Miller Orchestra. So when Elmarie came to the Twin Cities over the Memorial Day weekend, we searched for a place where she could hear jazz on a Sunday night. Thanks to Pam Espeland’s excellent jazz calendar, Bebopified, we found some excellent options.
Moore by Four’s show at the Dakota was already sold out, so we opted instead for the Riverview Wine Bar, which features the Zacc Harris Trio on Sunday nights, (Zacc Harris on guitar, Matt Peterson on bass, Pete Hennig on drums) with no cover. Harris also plays with the Atlantis Quartet, which City Pages named the Best Jazz Artist of 2011. The music – mostly jazz standards – was great, though the place was packed and the ambient noise level was a little high for Elmarie. Continue Reading
The crepe stand is gone from the Midtown Farmers Market, 2225 E. Lake St., Minneapolis but there’s a new arrival to take its place – Kabomelette, operated by chef Greg Miller and his wife Chelsea, featuring – what else? – omelettes and chicken kabobs (both $3). Continue Reading