La Belle Vie is hosting its first Bring Your Own Bottle dinner next Monday night, June 25, and it’s almost completely sold out: just one table for two is still available. Chef Tim McKee is creating a special $95 five-course menu for the event, and the restaurant will waive its usual $30 corkage fee. To … Read more
The latest from AA, another marketing coup: drunk celeb caught passed out and possibly slobbering all over our hoodies! Yes, I will cease to fixate on AA shortly …
With all the attention on various executive fiascos and staff reductions at the Star Tribune, the situation at the Pioneer Press has received relatively little coverage lately. My apologies there. But last night saw a brief (one-hour) and reasonably cordial opening round of contract negotiations between the Newspaper Guild and new owner, MediaNews, headed by … Read more
Hellloooo, did anyone hear the name of Brian’s winning dish on Top Chef last night? Not a coincidence, it was clearly a nod to Chino Latino of Uptown. When I was out there in March, while Brian was secretly “on leave” for “family reasons”, I snapped the above picture of one of the coolers in … Read more
It’s going to be a weekend of festivals, and many of them are starting tonight, to warm up the crowds and peak your interest. There’s a lot to do, so pace yourself, but be sure to get out of the house. This is no time to be sitting in front of your computer. FILM by … Read more
I remember, several years back, hearing that potbellies were in. And I heard it on an early incarnation of reality TV. I can’t remember the exact title, but I think it was on MTV and certainly featured a London flat filled with models. Anyhoo, this episode (the only one I ever caught) featured a model’s … Read more
In a memorable quote to City Pages’ Paul Demko, Star Tribune editor Nancy Barnes tried to explain the rationale behind mobilizing troops toward the suburbs, Bloomington in particular. Demko wrote: “Editor Barnes concedes that ‘it’s been a difficult week,’ but says her mission remains the same: more online, more in-depth coverage like the paper’s 3M … Read more
Maybe you love him. Maybe you hate him. Maybe you love to hate him, you cheeky poppet. As I’ve said before, I rather like Gordon Ramsay, more for his Brit shows (Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and The F Word) and Michelin stars (eight) than for Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen. Clearly staffed with inept kitchen squid, the show … Read more
Here’s hoping the Thursday evening Mill City Farmers Market picks up steam over the summer. It’s a great concept — limiting entrants to local growers and regional businesses — and I hear the Saturday sessions are packed. But last Thursday at 5 there were only a handful of stands operating, most of them selling pricey … Read more
Source materials for the project at hand, whatever it is, and whatever it might yet be: Grimm’s Fairy Tales; Hans Christian Andersen; William Graham Sumner’s Folkways; Frazer’s The Golden Bough; Mythology (Graves, Bulfinch, Hamilton, etc.); the Icelandic Sagas and Norse myths; The Odyssey and The Iliad; The Aeneid; Ovid’s Metamorphoses; The Divine Comedy; James Brown; … Read more