Jeremy Iggers I was pleasantly surprised by my lunchtime visit to Cat-Man-Do, the new Nepali-Tibetan-Indian café at 1659 Grand (just west of Snelling Ave.) in Saint Paul. The menu is pretty limited, compared to most of the local Indian restaurants, with their endless variations on the theme of tandoori, masala, vindaloo and jalfrazee, but Cat-Man-Do does offer … Read more
When Carl Wong sold the Seafood Palace on Nicollet Ave. three years ago, he signed a non-compete agreement that barred him from operating a food business within seven miles of Eat Street. The agreement expired last summer, and the veteran restaurateur is getting back in the business. Wong opened a small seafood market and sushi … Read more
A contribution from two of our faithful readers: The Adventures of the Roving Fish Fry Reporters, a.k.a. Lenten Lunatic Anthony Kaczor and his non-Catholic/just-hungry wife Sid Korpi. Our quest this year: to get to a different fish fry every Friday during Lent, using the events calendar in “The Catholic Spirit” to determine our destinations. This … Read more
About a dozen Rake readers and friends showed up last Wednesday – at my invitation – for dinner and a show at T’s Place. You can find better Malaysian dishes elsewhere, (like at Peninsula Malaysian Cuisine) but the Ethiopian dishes were hearty and flavorful, prices extremely reasonable, and the contemporary jazz by Ethiopian-born bass … Read more
"So, who are Porter and Frye?", I asked the hostess last night. "Do they really exist?" She smiled, then said that various legends about Porter and Frye certainly did exist, and then got straight to the point: no, they were not real. The name was invented by a restaurant consultant. She said it’s supposed to … Read more
In case you haven’t already noticed – we have started a new group blog here at the Rake called Chef’s Table. It isn’t just for chefs, though – it’s for restaurateurs, servers, gourmets, gourmands, wine sellers, cheese mongers, etc. – anybody who is an active participant in the Twin Cities’ lively food scene. It’s a … Read more
About the last thing I expected to see when I walked into Pi Bar & Restaurant on a Monday night was a table and a half of middle-aged guys playing 500. That’s the old-timey card game we play with Carol’s folks down on the farm in Iowa. Pi , which opened last year in the … Read more
We seem to be in the midst of sushi mania. Two new restaurants—Seven and Musashi—opened recently, barely a block apart on Hennepin Avenue, which means that downtown Minneapolis now boasts at least a dozen sushi outlets. (The others; Koyi, Nami, Origami, Martini Blu, Wasabi, Ichiban, a sushi counter at Macy’s Marketplace, Zen Box, and two … Read more
Please join us for dinner and jazz on Wednesday, February 27 at T’s Place, 2713 E. Lake St. Minneapolis. We stopped in the other night at T’s Place, the Ethiopian-Malaysian fusion restaurant a couple of doors down from the Town Talk Diner, to check out Yohannes Tona and his band. I’d read a piece in … Read more
I got a press release the other day from Temple, Thom Pham’s Asian Fusion restaurant, announcing that on March 8, the restaurant will hold a Nyotaimori / Nantaimori event. "Nyotaimori and Nantaimori," the press release helpful explains, "are accepted traditions in Japan of serving sashimi and sushi off of the body of a woman or … Read more