Ah, the Windy City! The sparkling lake, the stunning architecture, and the food, oh, the food. It’s a shame we don’t have more eateries influenced by our great Midwest neighbor. But we do have Joey D’s. Tucked in a quiet patch of South Minneapolis (and more accessible than ever with the advent of light rail), … Read more
If you’ve never had bahn mi, this is the place to get acquainted with (or addicted to) the seductive, sweet-hot flavor combination of this classic Asian sandwich. This Eat Street deli drapes a juicy heap of peppery pork with onions on top of crispy carrots, cool cilantro, and kick-in-the-pants jalapenos, cut into long strips and … Read more
Taking that second bite at A Rebours is a “Where have you been all my life?” moment. This assumes, of course, that you have a destiny with outstanding French bistro food–and we all do, really. With its white tiled floor and long-aproned servers, A Rebours’ rough but elegant atmosphere makes you feel comfortable and out-of-town … Read more
Jilted right before the wedding: It’s every sweetheart’s nightmare. So what else is there to do but have the wedding anyway? Without the bride, it seems, much of the pressure is off, and weddings become fun again. And afterward, why waste a perfectly good honeymoon? That’s what Franz Wisner thought when it happened to him. … Read more
If Charles Simic’s poem “Breasts” wasn’t sexy enough for you, consider trying the wink-nudge collection of Valentines collected in his newest volume. Here, Simic’s poetry is characteristically airy, image-evoking, and funny as he tells of making love in a grass field, catching a glimpse of an unclothed Venus through her bedroom window, picking a flea … Read more
Stuck in a sterile and impersonal marriage, Liselle strikes out for Mexico with her archeologist husband and his dig team. We wouldn’t complain about a trip to Mexico, but that’s just us. Anyway, while hubby searches for human remains, Liselle looks for human touch. She finds it, and how, with Charlie, a fiercely intelligent Mexican … Read more
How is it that pretty young girls with mental problems are deemed “hot,” but grown women whose troubles continue are just creepy and sad? Just look at Elizabeth Wurtzel: She had a hit with Prozac Nation, but her subsequent attempts to milk her misery in print have been rather, well, depressing. What she needs is … Read more
Last month’s klatsch between Robert Bly and Donald Hall was such fun, we’re eager to sit in on the next tete-a-tete in Garrison Keillor’s “Literary Friendships” series. This time, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) and public defender-turned-novelist Ayelet Waldman take to the stage with Keillor. In 1999, The … Read more
And she got a movie deal, too! Kate DiCamillo is the Cinderella of Twin Cities writers, having gone from toiling in the Bookman warehouse to offering people pennies for paperbacks at Half-Price Books to winning a prestigious Newbery Medal and National Book Award honors. Now her first book, Because of Winn-Dixie, has been fashioned into … Read more
Brainwashed victim or extremist sympathizer? Does it matter, now that she’s become part of John Waters’ ensemble? Well, there’s still plenty of the drama swirling around Patty Hearst’s two-year stint with the Symbionese Liberation Army. Guerilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst examines the plight of the media mogul’s granddaughter following her kidnapping, apparent brainwashing, and … Read more