urbanfoodie

*20-something, filipina american urbanite
(Minneapolis via NYC, SF, & the Chicagoland area)
*creator, consumer, and all-around enthusiast of food
Apr 6
Dago “The Works” style from Dusty’s in Northeast Minneapolis Although I do not condone the fact that this sandwich is named after an ethnic slur, I have to admit that it is one damn tasty sandwich. Think of it as your standard American bar hamburger gone Italian-American. The homemade Italian sausage patty takes the place of beef and has a good chew that only ground pork + fat can accomplish. On top of that is a small mass of melted mozzarella, roasted red peppers, and onions that meld together, oozing out of the sandwich with each bite with a lava-like flow of greasy bliss.    If the bun were toasted and the Italian sausage a little spicier (insert inappropriate joke here), that would make me not even think about the whole bigoted-sandwich/bar name thing. Okay, probably not, but at least it would reduce my cognitive dissonance just a little bit more. Bonus: Caught some awesome live country music at the bar, too!

Dago “The Works” style from Dusty’s in Northeast Minneapolis

Although I do not condone the fact that this sandwich is named after an ethnic slur, I have to admit that it is one damn tasty sandwich. Think of it as your standard American bar hamburger gone Italian-American. The homemade Italian sausage patty takes the place of beef and has a good chew that only ground pork + fat can accomplish. On top of that is a small mass of melted mozzarella, roasted red peppers, and onions that meld together, oozing out of the sandwich with each bite with a lava-like flow of greasy bliss.    If the bun were toasted and the Italian sausage a little spicier (insert inappropriate joke here), that would make me not even think about the whole bigoted-sandwich/bar name thing. Okay, probably not, but at least it would reduce my cognitive dissonance just a little bit more.

Bonus: Caught some awesome live country music at the bar, too!

dusty's | food with racist origins | minneapolis | northeast | cameraphonepics | Comments (View)
Aug 20

healthy-habits asked: Also, I currently live in WI and am moving to Minneapolis soon. What are your favorite places to eat? I'm up for anything, especially "hole in the wall," vegetarian and/or ethnic places! Thank you!

Hi there, welcome to the Twin Cities! There is no shortage of good food in lots of different niches. Here are some of my faves (in no particular order):

  • Dong Yang in Columbia Heights/NE Minneapolis. In my humble opinion, this is the best Korean food in the Twin Cities, cooked in generous home style by three ajummas (older, auntie-type ladies). It is no frills, reasonably priced, and feels kind of random being in the back of a grocery store. This is probably the place I eat out at most in the TC because I am obsessed with Korean food.  (Confession: I was kind of sad when City Pages named it the Best Korean of 2010 cause I liked how it felt like my secret gem).

dong yang

Babani's

  • Evergreen Chinese on Eat Street/Nicollet Ave in Minneapolis is another favorite. My brother liked it so much, we went twice during his visit (little post here). Their offering of vegetarian dishes/fake meat is pretty good. Warning: food coma highly likely.

IMG_8350

  • Want Chinese food that’s not quite so divey but very spicy and delicious? Check out Little Szechuan in St. Paul. I also recently tried and liked Grand Szechuan in Bloomington, where the chef was formerly at Little Szechuan (at least that’s what the ad in City Pages said).

little szechuan

IMG_8778

  • Tanpopo Noodle Shop in Lowertown, St. Paul is also probably one of my top five most frequented restaurants in the TC. Agedashi tofu makes me go to mush. Nabeyaki udon soothes the soul. Be sure to check out the times cause it has somewhat odd hours, and they also recently stopped serving lunch.

Tanpopo Noodle - agedashi tofu

  • Peninsula Malaysian on Eat Street/Nicollett. Another favorite and a frequent place my friends have birthday dinners. Roti canai appetizer and anything with their house-made tofu (silken style in the Queens Tofu dish, ughhhhh) make me drool just thinking about it.
  • Sea Salt Eatery. Summertime in the Cities is never complete without a bike ride down to Minnehaha Falls and a well-earned stop at Sea Salt. Fish tacos in Minnesota! Insanely huge po’ boy sandwiches. An impressive selection of refreshments and local brews and beverages (e.g., Crispin Cider, Summit on Tap) and an even more impressive stock of hot sauces (seriously, it’s ridiculous). The lines get long during the weekend and even during the regular meal time hours during the week. Really great for family-watching.

sea salt

  • Hmongtown Market’s Food Court. Just like any food court, the setting is no-frills and the food is CHEAP (I got a whole fried fish for $6!). But unlike the Mall of America, you can feast on authentic Hmong and Southeast Asian food. Check out the fresh papaya salad prepared in front of you and customizable to your preferred tastes ($5 for a huge serving!). Other highlights: various sausages and balls of meat, white fish steamed in banana leaves. Here’s a video to give you a brief tour (originally from Minnesota Monthly, found on the Marketplace’s About page):

I’m always discovering more new places and new favorites (send me your suggestions!), so consider this list a living document and in no way exhaustive.  You asked this question a while back, so hopefully you can still find it helpful! Hope to read more about your favorite places as you get settled in your new home!


minneapolis | st. paul | twin cities | restaurants | Comments (View)
Jul 29
Who wants donuts?! I do! I do! So I got an email from one of the folks at The Donut Cooperative asking if I could help promote the project’s Kickstarter effort. If you’re not familiar, Kickstarter is a website with a pledging system that works on an all-or-nothing basis. If you meet the pledge goal that you set (The Donut Cooperative set a lofty $10,000 goal), then everyone who pledges has their credit card charged for their pledge amount. If you don’t meet your goal, then you get nada. As I write this, the donut folks are just over $2000 shy of their goal with five days to go. I’m helping to promote the effort not just because I really, really like donuts (good ol’ Dunkin was a childhood friend), but I think I can get behind what they hope to produce and what they stand for. A mission to bring artisan donuts made from good, locally sourced ingredients! Fair, better-than-living wages for employees! Fair trade coffee! Bicycle delivery! How very TC! Plus, I am dying for one of those espresso glazed donuts pictured above (photo from their Facebook page) or another one of their creative varieties like a peanut butter and jelly donut. Oooh, and I see that they specialize in vegan donuts - perfect for my new roomie! Read more about The Donut Cooperative on their Kickstarter page. Good luck! EDIT: p.s. My advisor, Rich, loves donuts even more than I do and organizes a regular donut-bbq-bike ride! In fact, he posted about the Donut Cooperative before I did. The apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Who wants donuts?! I do! I do!

So I got an email from one of the folks at The Donut Cooperative asking if I could help promote the project’s Kickstarter effort. If you’re not familiar, Kickstarter is a website with a pledging system that works on an all-or-nothing basis. If you meet the pledge goal that you set (The Donut Cooperative set a lofty $10,000 goal), then everyone who pledges has their credit card charged for their pledge amount. If you don’t meet your goal, then you get nada. As I write this, the donut folks are just over $2000 shy of their goal with five days to go.

I’m helping to promote the effort not just because I really, really like donuts (good ol’ Dunkin was a childhood friend), but I think I can get behind what they hope to produce and what they stand for. A mission to bring artisan donuts made from good, locally sourced ingredients! Fair, better-than-living wages for employees! Fair trade coffee! Bicycle delivery! How very TC! Plus, I am dying for one of those espresso glazed donuts pictured above (photo from their Facebook page) or another one of their creative varieties like a peanut butter and jelly donut. Oooh, and I see that they specialize in vegan donuts - perfect for my new roomie!

Read more about The Donut Cooperative on their Kickstarter page. Good luck!

EDIT: p.s. My advisor, Rich, loves donuts even more than I do and organizes a regular donut-bbq-bike ride! In fact, he posted about the Donut Cooperative before I did. The apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree.

donuts | minneapolis | vegan | kickstarter | local | Comments (View)
Jul 16

Racism by Any Other Name Smells Just as Rotten

It was my first day of kindergarten. A shy and precociously anxious four-year-old, I looked around at the other kids and wondered whether any of them would want to play with me during recess. It was a day of many firsts, as I didn’t go to pre-school or daycare like other kids. For the first time in my life, I had a space all my own there in my little desk with its cubby  – my name, neatly printed on a sign in the shape of a yellow No. 2 pencil, confirmed that. Stephanie Pituc. (I still feel that same sense of pride when I see my name in print).

I sat down at my desk, along with the other kids, and waited to see what would happen next. Ms. Todaro, a White woman with short curly blond hair, rosy cheeks, and the warm demeanor you expect from a kindergarten teacher, greeted us and said that she would be taking attendance. As she went down the roll and got closer and closer to the “P’s,” my heart beat loudly in my chest as I feared that somehow I would mess up this first test of my competence.

Read More


race | restaurants | Minneapolis | stories | essays | Comments (View)
Jun 22
Grain Belt Beer, Minneapolis, MN, May 2010 Yesterday’s photo was of the Grain Belt Beer sign in downtown Minneapolis (as reflected in the Mississippi River).

Grain Belt Beer, Minneapolis, MN, May 2010

Yesterday’s photo was of the Grain Belt Beer sign in downtown Minneapolis (as reflected in the Mississippi River).

photos | beer | Minneapolis | signs | Comments (View)
Jun 16
“Through hummus, we can achieve so much.”

Majdi Wadi, one of the owners of Holy Land in Minneapolis, as quoted in a NYTimes article on the hummus phenomenon. 

It’s true. Hummus has pulled me through more than one impoverished week as a grad student and saved me during many a potluck. Thank you, Hummus!

hummus | Minneapolis | quotes | Comments (View)
Jun 4
Happy National Doughnut Day! From the Wikipedia entry: National Donut Day is on the first Friday of June each year and follows on the Donut Day event created by the Salvation Army in 1938 to honor the women who served donuts to soldiers during World War I.The holiday celebrates the doughnut (a.k.a “donut”) — an edible, ring-shaped piece of dough which is deep-fried and sweetened. The fluffy, glazed donut pictured is from Sarah Jane’s Bakery on Johnson Street in Northeast Minneapolis, which was named this year’s #1 place for donuts by City Pages. Some folks opined that A Baker’s Wife in South Minneapolis has better donuts, but, hey, sometimes a good donut is a good donut. I like them both. Sarah Jane’s was the first stop on the third annual Donut-BBQ-Bike Ride that my advisor organized (more on the other stop at the Hmongtown Market later). The group bike ride covered more than 25 miles and was a great way to hang out with some great people, eat some good food, and explore the Twin Cities by bike.  [More photos from the ride on flickr] 

Happy National Doughnut Day!

From the Wikipedia entry:

National Donut Day is on the first Friday of June each year and follows on the Donut Day event created by the Salvation Army in 1938 to honor the women who served donuts to soldiers during World War I.The holiday celebrates the doughnut (a.k.a “donut”) — an edible, ring-shaped piece of dough which is deep-fried and sweetened.

The fluffy, glazed donut pictured is from Sarah Jane’s Bakery on Johnson Street in Northeast Minneapolis, which was named this year’s #1 place for donuts by City Pages. Some folks opined that A Baker’s Wife in South Minneapolis has better donuts, but, hey, sometimes a good donut is a good donut. I like them both.

Sarah Jane’s was the first stop on the third annual Donut-BBQ-Bike Ride that my advisor organized (more on the other stop at the Hmongtown Market later). The group bike ride covered more than 25 miles and was a great way to hang out with some great people, eat some good food, and explore the Twin Cities by bike. 

[More photos from the ride on flickr] 

biking | donuts | doughnuts | minneapolis | random holidays | northeast | Comments (View)
Jun 2

Eat for Equity May: Growing Gardens

It was the penultimate weekend in May, the sun shone brightly but gently in the late afternoon, a welcome comfort after a morning of clouds and unexpected rain. The twinkling ripples of the Mississippi River served as an idyllic backdrop for the evening’s agenda: eat, drink, and do good. That’s the simple mission put forth by Eat for Equity (E4E), a non-profit group that organizes monthly dinners hosted and attended by members of the community to benefit the community. Every month, volunteers, led by E4E co-founder and director Emily Torgrimson, prepare a themed meal in someone’s home. Friends, acquaintances, and people in the community then gather at the person’s home to enjoy the meal, meet new and old people, and help out that month’s beneficiary (suggested donation is $10-15). Past events have raised money for causes such as earthquake relief in Haiti, Minnesota Food Share, the American Refugee Committee, the Emily Sandall Foundation, and Oxfam International.

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events | minneapolis | eat for equity | Comments (View)
Apr 15

How Food Trucks Went From Hip to Over in 12 Steps : From Hot to Not : Eater NY

Minneapolis may have just passed the ordinance to allow street food vending, but other parts of the country are all but ready to leave the trucks in the dust. Granted, the conditions for the nascent street food scene in MSP are different from those in other cities. Minneapolis is not NYC. St. Paul is not LA. (And I’m guessing they don’t want to be either). But the Twin Cities may have something to learn from the rise and projected-fall of street food and its culture in other metro areas. Based on Eater’s observations, the danger seems to be in becoming too trendy and the tenuous relationship between traditional Brick-and-Mortar models and this mobile movement. Given the pragmatic, agreeable, and creative folks that we are in Minnesota, I’m hopeful that street food here can take its own shape and foster its own sustainable culture.


street food | trends | Minneapolis | St. Paul | MSP | national | Comments (View)
Mar 29

The MSP Mag-METRO Foodie Kerfuffle and a metafoodwriting rant.

metromag:

Kate Iverson Mar 26 2010 100 am:
Uh-oh! Someone call The Deetz! Oops, nevermind, City Pages isn’t involved. Also, in the spirit of the internet, I ripped you off http://lol-omg-blog.blogspot.com/2010/03/foodie-dramz.html

noodleman Mar 26 2010 659 am:
No, it’s not plagerism. Zimmern does link to metrolog in his post, btw; just not to the “curious foodie,” who is never quoted (as far as I can tell) and whose presence at the meeting was merely noted by Zimmern. When did the defintion of plagerism ever involve that? When Zimmern does quote directly from metrolog (when quoting Cynthia Gerdes), he linked and provided attribution.

justpbob Mar 26 2010 701 am:
Re linking to competitors, I have noted that over at Jason’s Station, The Wire does exactly that.

JustACrueCadillac Mar 26 2010 1126 am:
In the spirit of the Internet I’d like to point out the lack of this post linking to MB, which had this posted and tweeted yesterday. So now I am forced to resort to petty name calling, suckretsofthecity.

Cristina Cordova Mar 26 2010 1138 am:
Noodleman, it’s more than merely noting his presence. His entire post is about the limitations outlines in Terhark’s report.

Jason DeRusha Mar 26 2010 1227 pm:
So I’m confused. The first link in AZ’s piece (which I can’t get to load) is to the TC Daily Planet. Then there’s also a link to CT’s piece in Metro.OK, now I get it. Andrew’s graph where he cites the provisions of the street food ordinance is exactly cut and pasted from Chuck’s Metro article. He should have put that in italics and said “according to”… I guess if I were Chuck, I would have sent Andrew a note about it. Give the guy a chance to fix what I presume was a sloppy oversight.

noodleman Mar 26 2010 1236 pm:
@Cristina: I guess I misunderstood the allegation because when I posted the TC Daily Planet summary earlier, here on SOTC, it covered much the same ground but neither the TCDP nor I provided bullet-points. In fact, Zimmern links to the same article I used. I can see where there would be confusion with what was summarized by Daily Planet, MetroMag (sorry for using metlog earlier), and Zimmern, and I do see a couple of places in Zimmern’s summarization that appear to lifted word-for-word from MetroMag. But, again, where Zimmern did overtly quote from MetroMag, he did link and attribute.

Kate Iverson Mar 26 2010 128 pm:
@JustACrueCadillac I like “Secrets of the Shitty” better.

Tom Bartel Mar 26 2010 156 pm:
Zimmern engendered one of the high points of SOTC right here. Be sure to read the comments. http://archives.secretsofthecity.com/magazine/blogs/yo-ivanhoe/2008/01/i-too-have-bone-pick-andrew-zimmern

mjm Mar 26 2010 455 pm:
@Jason When I read AZ’s blog post yesterday, the link to Chuck’s article was omitted. I’m going to be generous and call it an oversight.

Cristina Cordova Mar 26 2010 510 pm:
Yes, no link yesterday.

JustACrueCadillac Mar 26 2010 733 pm:
@kate Me too, there has to be a brainstorming session on all sophmoric combinations. Stat!

When I read Zimmern’s article, I had the exact same reaction - WTF?! That is some shady journalism. Zimmern directly references and responds to Terhark’s MetroMag report; by all ethical standards of intellectual property that requires a citation. As the discussion referenced above notes, there is a link to TCDaily Planet but that’s not the actual “curious foodie” that Zimmern is referencing. How am I, the naive reader, supposed to figure that out?

Another beef: the designation of Terhark’s report as “a curious foodie” reporting to “another website.”  Who? What? Where? Huh?!? Perhaps Zimmern had no intention of undercutting the professional integrity of the report and was, instead, trying to operate within some kind of policy on referencing the competition (i.e., MSP Mag vs. MetroMag). I’d like to give the benefit of the doubt - and of course I am not trying to pick a fight with anyone here. At the same time, this type of practice undermines the integrity of Web 2.0 journalistic endeavors for everyone involved.

Finally, I cannot help but face the visceral reaction I have to the coded language of the “curious foodie” designation.

Is Mr. Zimmern a curious foodie? (Yes) 

Is Mr. Terhark a curious foodie? (Yes) 

Am I a curious foodie? (Yes) 

Is my mom a curious foodie? (Yes) 

Is YOUR mom a curious foodie? (I don’t know, but I’d love to hear about it).

Do we all have the same expertise and credibility as food writers? That is a point I’ll get to in a minute. But how am I supposed to figure any of that out with such a vague reference?  We could debate for days about the merits of railing on the term “foodie” (you’d think from this blog title that I’ve chosen sides, but I’m quite ambivalent) - that’s not really the sticking point. The point here is that (with or without intention) the term’s use is subtly subersive. I don’t know you, Chuck Terhark, but you get paid for and make a living out of what I do merely to keep my sanity. You, and other professional writers, deserve a little bit more credit.

Which leads me to my final rant/rumination…

I can’t help but place myself in this hypothetical situation. Let’s say that Zimmern referenced one of MY blog posts. Would this situation be any less problematic? In the sense that there would be a missing reference, most certainly. Within the blogging community, there’s an unwritten rule that you give proper credit to other bloggers by referencing them as you would in any piece of writing (i.e., Arnold of Inuyaki.com writes; YumSugar writes…; TangledNoodle writes…). In fact, even in the age of the reblog and the retweet, many feel that their original contributions should be attributed. Case in point: the research on High Fructose Corn Syrup that I posted was originally posted by fishy, but the attribution was left out for whatever reason. 

Are the writings of microblogs, tweets, or long-form posts on the internet any less journalistically legit (and therefore less worthy of credit or respect) than writing out of traditional media outlets like MetroMag, Minnesota Monthly, or the Star Tribune? What about media that is bridging the gap between paper and…silicon (?) like Heavy Table? HT makes a point to differentiate themselves as an online magazine and not a food blog. How do we define these terms in an ever-evolving media landscape? What are the standards with which we judge the writing’s merit? 

Sure, to some people a blog is just a silly blog. Then there are the big time bloggers who do make it a living. There are many of us somewhere in between - the people who put in a fair amount of time and energy into our internet writings, not to mention a whole lot of our personal selves. Should the ethics of professional writing apply to our work? I say *yes. For the simple reason that we contribute valuable, unique content to the public domain. Of course there is a problem with the derivative nature of much of the stuff that’s out there, but that’s another point for another debate.

A final couple of questions lingering: Who is looking out for this middle ground of not-quite-professional writers/bloggers on the internet?  Are there inherent differences in the ethics of blogging vs. traditional writing/journalism? 

EDIT: *I’ve been thinking about this all afternoon, and I’m going to qualify this with a “maybe.” Perhaps it depends on the objective of the writing. Hmm, yeah this is tough.


Minneapolis | ethics | food writing | meta | rants | ruminations | journalism | Comments (View)
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