July 2009
July 27, 2009Junior Gourmet Club Coming to Heartland: Still Some Seats Left!
My three-and-a-half-year-old continues to not eat—though we have had some luck with buttered noodles lately and the story is in the running to be included in the next Best Food Writing anthology, which is a silver lining. Plus, his little sister continues to eat everything, from cherries to blue cheese to spicy flank steak, so my ego feels a little better. (Okay yes, she also eats chalk, stickers, and, on occasion, large rocks, but such is the omnivore dilemma of the average American fifteen-month-old.) If your own little ones are at a more manageable age, there are still a few seats left at the Junior Gourmet Club’s next dinner. It's an event... Read more » Posted on Monday, July 27, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (1) |
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July 16, 2009Crackeroons Coming to the State Fair!
I’m busy planning a long weekend in New York, and one of my many destinations is going to be Momofuku bakery, home of the infamous “crack pie.” What’s crack pie? Foodies say it’s the best thing to happen to food since food. I’ll let you know. However, thinking about crack pie put me in mind of Minneapolis’ own homegrown pastry crack, the crackeroon. Never had one? Then run—don’t walk!—to the Salty Tart. The Salty Tart is the bakery of Michelle Gayer, the famous pastry chef who worked with Charlie Trotter and co-wrote the Charlie Trotter dessert cookbook before coming to our fair burg and... Read more » Posted on Thursday, July 16, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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July 13, 2009Are Local Restaurants Too Informal, Too Inexpensive?
DW of St. Paul wrote about a unique problem: He finds our local restaurants too informal, and far too inexpensive. I wrote back to him with my advice. A few days later he sent the same message to my editor, still seeking an answer; I assume my original reply got stuck in his spam filter. He also claims to have sent this letter to many others, including the General Managers of Seven, Cosmos, and more. This letter-writing frenzy happened a few weeks ago, but over time DW’s thoughts have stuck with me, namely because they seem to highlight the difficulty that General Managers have when balancing the dictum that a customer is always right with the rest of life. So, I thought this might be a fun exercise. I’ll reprint DW’s letter, and the response I sent. If you... Read more » Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (30) |
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July 1, 2009The Return of Schumacher’s?
I periodically dial the long-neglected phone of Schumacher’s, the Czech-German restaurant and hotel in New Prague, just to see what will happen. Schumacher’s had a 30-something year run as the best German-Czech restaurant in the state, and probably the nation. It was located in a precious, stage-coach hotel with a bar that I consider one of the most charming of all Minnesota landmarks. It was tiny, a postage stamp of a bar, but every nook and cranny was carved, embellished, polished—as fancy as a nineteenth century woodworker could make it. It’s a jaw-dropping place to get a beer. But the place closed a few years ago, and the news back then was that it would reopen in May 2008, but, ah, here we are. So I dial. I leave messages. Nothing ever... Read more » Posted on Wednesday, July 1, 2009 in Dear Dara | Permalink | Comments (2) |
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