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.
Why did we invite a hip-hop artist to be the keynote speaker at the Twin Cities Media Alliance’s ninth annual fall media forum?Easy. The theme of this year’s forum is “Getting the Word Out: New Media Strategies for Engaging Diverse Communities.” And hip-hop performer Guante has a lot to say about how activists, artists and non-profits can use media more effectively.Aside from being a critically-acclaimed hip hop artist and two-time National Poetry Slam champion, Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre is a longtime media justice advocate– from founding an alternative publication in college, to being a founding member of the Opine Season op-ed co-op, to blogging regularly, to running social media trainings for artists and activists, and more. His writing and/or multimedia work has been featured at The Progressive, Racialicious, Feministing, the Asian-American Literary Review, Rain Taxi, MSNBC and elsewhere. We’d love to have you join us. Click here to pre-register.Space is limited and pre-registration is requested. Same-day registration begins at 9 a.m; program begins at 9:30. Continue Reading
Dear Friends of the Twin Cities Daily Planet,We need your support on Thursday, November 14, Give to the Max Day. To donate, just click here.This video will tell you why I think our work is so important. But there is more that I want you to know. First the good news. The Twin Cities Media Alliance and the Twin Cities Daily Planet are having a breakthrough year. The number of public media classes and workshops we offer has more than tripled this year to over 100, thanks to a partnership with the Metro Library Service Agency. (MELSA). And that doesn’t even include the specialized media classes and training we are providing to more than two dozen community non-profits, supported by the Bush Foundation.And this year, we expanded our outreach to under-served communities by offering Media Skills Fellowships, a 10-week program that provides basic journalism and media skills training to 20 participants, diverse in race, gender, age, ethnicity and life experience, who want to learn and share skills to use on behalf of their community. Readership of the Twin Cities Daily Planet, which brings the voices and concerns of under-served communities to a larger audience, has more than doubled in the past 12 months, and now stands at an all-time high: over 200,000 unique visitors in the past month, and nearly 450,000 page views. As we work to create a more just, more inclusive and more vibrant Twin Cities, by empowering all Twin Citizens with the media tools and resources they need to participate fully in the life of our community, we’re having more community impact than ever before.Amazingly, we have managed to do all this work on a shoestring budget – approximately $330,000 – to cover salaries, rent, payments to instructors and writers, modest stipends for our media skills fellows, plus web development, hosting and support. Now the not-so-good news. Most of our funding has come from local foundations, and a big portion of that funding has not been renewed for 2014. That makes your support this year especially important.If you want to increase the impact of your gift, here’s what you can do: after you make your donation, tell the world about it. The GiveMN website makes it easy to tell the world about your gift, and why you support us, via Facebook, Twitter and email. Continue Reading
You know that saying about pizza? “Pizza is like sex. When it’s good it’s really good. And when it’s bad it’s still pretty good.”Well, that’s the way I feel about dim sum.I had a chance to try the dim sum at Umami by Travail last night, and I the dim sum at Wanderer’s Garden in Minnetonka last weekend. I have never had authentic dim sum at a tea house in Guangzhou, which is why I envy my friend Pearl Bergad, who is organizing a culinary tour of Guangzhou next summer, led by Vincent Mar, a native of the area. Continue Reading
I have to admit I was pretty skeptical about the new Nico’s Taco & Tequila Bar, which recently took over the space previously occupied by Birdhouse (and before that, Duplex) at 2516 Hennepin.Mexican restaurants can be roughly divided up into two categories — those that attract a Latino clientele, and those that don’t. For a certain kind of foodie, it just goes without saying that the places where the people of the ethnicity in question eat are more authentic, and therefore better, than the chain restaurants, or the ones that have been in some way adulterated to please the less adventuresome Midwestern palate.So, it stands to reason that you are going to find the best Mexican cuisine at the little taquerias along Lake Street or Central Ave. in Minneapolis, or Concord St. in St. Paul.Right?Not so fast.I’ve only been to Nico’s twice, so far it doesn’t seem to be attracting a Latino clientele. Continue Reading
The Birchwood Cafe, a popular Seward neighborhood natural-local-sustainable eatery, is celebrating its 18th birthday this Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m. with a combined birthday party and Kickstarter Kickoff – they are trying to raise money to expand the cafe “with more seating, enhanced guest service, greater kitchen capacity, an additional bathroom, a community room, and the ability to increase catering.” Five local breweries are among the sponsors, so there should be a good selection of brews on hand. Check their website for details.Kickstarter seems to be a popular way to raise money for restaurant projects — Travail recently did a Kickstarter fundraiser with a goal of raising $75,000 – and raised a total of $255,669. Premiums for Travail’s fundraiser ranged from getting your name on the restaurant’s family wall for a $10 pledge, to getting your own private party for up to 40 people plus some other goodies for a $10,000 pledge. (That one got three takers.) The Star Tribune’s Lee Svitak Dean reports that Heidi’s restaurant has closed, and that Steward and Heidi Woodman are divorcing. The restaurant was previously scheduled to close at the end of the year. A press release announces the imminent opening of Kyatchi Sushi at 3758 Nicollet, a Japanese restaurant offering sustainable sushi, plus some “new items not usually found on Americanized menus (including) grilled meat & vegetable skewers, traditional donburi rice & vegetable bowls, an assortment of small plates, and a Japanese spin on hot dogs.” Continue Reading
Maybe it’s a case of gastronomic ADD. Maybe it’s because I have adopted a mostly plant-based diet. But whatever the reason, I seem to have lost interest in the main course. Entrees bore me. I run out of appetite before I run out of meat, potatoes and veg, and I wind up taking half of it home in a box. Or maybe it’s simply because small plates offer more room for creativity, and are where local chefs are doing their most interesting work. A small plate doesn’t have to be a big piece of protein, accompanied by starch and veg — it can be just about anything. This insight came to me over the past week or so, as I sampled small plates at Gather, Fika and King’s Wine Bar. (And previously, chef Hector Ruiz’s tapas at Rincon 38.)When we arrived for the Thursday night happy hour at Gather, (5-7 p.m.) the restaurant and bar inside the Walker Art Center, every seat in the place was taken. Continue Reading
Consider this an interim report. My quest for the Twin Cities’ best veggie burgers could go on forever, and it probably will. We’ve compiled more than 50 recommendations from readers into an interactive Google Map, and if I discover more favorites, I’ll just keep adding to the list. So can you. Thanks to all of you who wrote in. Continue Reading
Vo’s Vietnamese Cuisine had its grand opening on Sunday at 35th and Lyndale Ave. S. If the name sounds familiar, that’s because Vo’s was for many years a Northeast Minneapolis landmark, until Francois Vo closed the restaurant a decade ago and moved to San Diego.The decor at the former El Meson has been transformed from tropical Latin to tropical southeast Asian with a few well-placed palm trees and lots of bamboo thatch. As for the cuisine, it’s a familiar combination of Vietnamese and Chinese-American dishes, ranging from egg rolls and spring rolls to sweet and sour chicken, pork or shrimp; chicken almond ding and a lot of stir-fries—your choice of beef, chicken, pork, or shrimp with broccoli, peapods, mixed vegetables, black bean sauce, or curry sauce. Also some barbecued beef and chicken entrees, and a few meal-sized soups, including pho and mi hoanh thanh (egg noodles, won tons and barbecued pork). There are also plenty of vegetarian choices, made with tofu or mock duck and any of the above sauces and veggies.My favorite of the dishes I have sampled so far was the special bun cha hanoi, a rice noodle salad with pork patties and sliced green papaya ($11), and I also enjoyed the curry tofu in coconut milk sauce ($9.95). The rice noodle salad with vegetarian egg rolls ($7.95) is not recommended. You can find more variety and more adventuresome offerings on Eat Street, but if you are in the neighborhood, Vo’s offers friendly service, familar fare, and very reasonable prices. Continue Reading
My quest for the Twin Cities’ best veggie burgers is turning out to be a bigger project than I had expected. My requests on Facebook have drawn over 50 suggestions so far, and some of the Twin Cities’ top foodies have chimed in. Dara Moskowitz recommended Icehouse, as did Lee Zukor, who also recommended Bewiched, Birchwood, and French Meadow. Niki Stavrou recommended the black bean burger at Victor’s 1959 Cafe—but she might be biased, since she owns the joint. Same goes for Luke Shimp, who recommended the veggie burger at his Red Cow—as did a couple of other readers. I’ll give you a full report in a week or two, but in the meantime, keep those recommendations coming in.Best veggie burger I have sampled so far is probably a three-way toss-up between the Thai tempeh burger at the Modern Times Cafe, the Bryant Burger at The Lynn on Bryant (50th and Bryant), and the veggie burger at Icehouse. Continue Reading
Got any suggestions for healthy, low-fat, low-carb dining?I’m changing the way I eat. Really.I have always wanted to lose weight – say, about 20 pounds – but I have never been successful at it.This time is going to be different.I’m not following a diet, really, but I have started eating less fat, fewer refined carbohydrates, and a lot less meat and cheese. But I am not being fanatical about it – there’s still room for an occasional splurge. I’m also biking instead of driving, whenever that’s a practical option.I am only a week into this new way of eating, but it feels like it is starting to make a difference. The arguments for changing my diet have accumulated over the years, along with my various middle-aged aches and pains. Recently, an orthopedist told me that my joints would be happier if I lost 20 pounds or so.Watching the movie, “Forks over Knives” was another influence – it makes a pretty convincing case that people who eat a mostly vegetarian diet live longer, healthier lives. (Available on Netflix.) And then there are all the ethical and environmental arguments in favor of a plant-centered diet.But the tipping point for me came a couple of weeks ago, when I saw my friend Jerry for the first time in months. Continue Reading
