Author: Ann Bauer

  • Old Arizona. . . It's Probably New To You

    I mentioned to Jeremy last week that I’d driven by a strange little place called Old Arizona, right at the southern end of Eat Street where Nicollet dead-ends. There was a cluster of brightly-painted, Southwestern buildings with a stone courtyard and a cloth sign strung from the posts that said Cafe and Wine Bar. "Yeah,…

  • Chuck 2006: Admirably Mediocre

    Have I mentioned how much I hate Trader Joe’s? A little over a year ago, when the California-based grocer moved into Minnesota, and located their inaugural store about a mile from my house in St. Louis Park, the POLICE had to be called in to direct traffic. It was like Lourdes: people streaming in from…

  • Protector of Pandas, Friend to Farmers

    We’re sitting at a table in Rice Paper, the little Asian-fusion restaurant in Linden Hills. When I asked Jim Harkness, president of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, if he would talk to me over dinner he said sure, I should pick the place. His house is in this neighborhood, I reasoned, and he…

  • Before the Apocalypse

    Were someone to tell me the world were ending tomorrow, I would pick up the phone immediately and make a reservation at Restaurant Alma. No doubt. Given a scenario where there wasn’t enough time to jet off to New York City or Paris, Alma would be my choice for a last meal. Actually, maybe even…

  • Gone Baby Gone: A Tragedy in 3 Acts

    It seems Dennis Lehane is our era’s Raymond Chandler, creating dark, brooding, atmospheric crime dramas. Only instead of the damp glitz of southern California, his working-class Boston — namely Dorchester — is like the Dublin of James Joyce and Jonathan Swift: a maelstrom of the poor and the poorer, people scrabbling for power, for dignity,…

  • Nau: Commerce Meets Conservation

    The website for Nau, a new-fangled “green” clothing company, is winning all sorts of awards. And some of their practices — such as small-footprint stores and discounts on orders shipped directly from their warehouse — seem right. But can ecologically-aware rhetoric explain the $40 sailor’s cap?