Como Avenue Post Office won’t close

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Efforts to protest the closing of the Como Avenue post office in Saint Paul’s St. Anthony Park neighborhood fizzled out late last week when the U.S. Postal Service said that only one office on its list of 24 Minnesota stations and branches was still on the chopping block: the South International Falls Finance Station.When the Postal Service announced in July that it lost $2.4 billion between April and June and was looking at possibly closing 3,200 branches throughout the country, including the Como Avenue station and Seeger Square station on Saint Paul’s east side, the St. Anthony Park neighborhood online forum started to buzz.The branch at 2286 Como Ave. is in the heart of a neighborhood business district that includes a small grocery store, a community bank, a couple of gift shops, a bookstore, two restaurants, dental offices, and more. Lively discussion on the St. Anthony Park on-line forum included these comments (republished with permission):Anne Holzman: I don’t think I need the post office to be run as a business, personally. Continue Reading

Being green gets easier

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If you’ve been thinking about starting a compost bin or switching to LED lights in your home, or if you’re just yearning to live a greener life but don’t know where to begin, the answers might be right in your own backyard — or your neighbor’s. This summer, St. Anthony Park residents will gather in backyards throughout the neighborhood to learn about how to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle through the District 12 Community Council’s Backyard Talks. The talks are part of the council’s Green Neighborhood Project, a three-pronged program that includes Backyard Talks, Windsource Promotion and Environmental Movie Night. Backyard Talks kicked off May 20 with the Kasota Pond Walk, where Karlyn Eckman of the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center (and St. Continue Reading

In search of a smaller kitchen

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After more than two years of working as sous chef in the fast-paced kitchen of Figlio in uptown Minneapolis, Jason Schellin says he’s looking forward to cooking in the smaller, “made to order” environment at Muffuletta, 2260 Como Ave. Schellin crossed the river in January to replace chef J.D. Fratzke, who left to start a new restaurant on St. Paul’s East Side. When Fratzke’s name comes up, Schellin simply says, “big shoes.” He’s confident, however, that he can fill them. “I’m young, ambitious and full of energy,” he says. Continue Reading

Playing with favorites in the kitchen

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There can never be too many cooks in Jay Randolph’s kitchen at holiday time. The owner of Jay’s Café on Raymond Avenue says his idea of a great holiday is “to get together with my family and hang out in the kitchen. There’s something really wonderful about a big event where you need everyone to help you and they’re all in the kitchen.”
We took Randolph’s cue and invited four local chefs into our paper kitchen to create a holiday meal that retires the turkey, plays with traditional favorites and relies heavily on ingredients grown and produced locally. The menu they’ve created can be treated as a casual buffet or a more formal holiday meal. We’ve included recipes for each dish. Continue Reading