Author: Ann Bauer

  • The road to hell

    Turns out it’s paved with delays. Hell’s Kitchen 2, the Duluth location, was originally slated to open in June. Then construction and equipment problems pushed the date to July 16. But new partner and GM Mark “Pappy” Anderson says everything has been surprisingly pacific since. “We opened for business nearly two weeks ago and it’s…

  • Some like it hot

    I don’t. In fact, between summer allergies and the recent heat wave, I’ve been driven indoors. But luckily, there are equatorial creatures who actually thrive in this weather. One of them is John Schneider, my friend, colleague, and loyal reader — a man whose palate I trust like my own. He celebrates the season by…

  • Wine: virtue, vice, or both?

    You may have noticed (at least I HOPE you’ve noticed) that I haven’t posted much lately. This is because I’ve been suffering from a monstrous head cold that’s made me pretty useless as a wine taster. It’s odd: feeling as if your one high-level skill — that ability to smell a whiff of nutmeg in…

  • Do critics get better tables?

    Uh, yes. Better tables, better service, better food. This is the ugly truth of our business. Now that that’s out of the way, here’s why I bring it up: a reader responded to a recent post on my wine blog in which I praised a local restaurant. He’d visited the same place during the same…

  • Sweet Spot

    I’m not a sweets eater — not unless it’s something magnificent. I love a really flaky scone with my morning coffee. I’ll indulge in pecan pie with heavy cream at Thanksgiving. And my husband is addicted to a combination of dark chocolate and halvah that I must admit is a mighty aphrodisiac. But ordinarily, I…

  • A little slice of Campania

    Say what you will about St. Paul and its quaint Norman Rockwell roll-up-the-streets at dusk culture — its dearth of “urbane” fine dining and plethora of ultra-conservative politicos. No place has neighborhoods like St. Paul. Mac-Groveland, Frogtown, Highland Park. And my favorite: Selby-Dale. Maybe it’s because when I was 15 and living in an apartment…