Thursday, May 3, 2007

Best food writer

The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies has announced the finalists for this year's AltWeekly Awards, and City Pages' Dara Moskowitz has been nominated for Best Food Writing/Criticism.

Congratulations to Dara and good luck!

Twin Cities gaining reputation

AS architectural buffs will tell you, downtown Minneapolis is the coolest place to build on the prairie. There's the gleaming blue Guthrie Theater designed by Jean Nouvel along the Mississippi River, the sharp-edged Herzog and de Meuron addition to the Walker Art Center, and Cesar Pelli's luminous public library, to name the newest.

But now foodies are talking about Minneapolis, too. In another sign of a cultural awakening, dining out in this city of sensible industry is no longer confined to steakhouses (though, this being the Midwest, the steaks are pretty good). Recently, a crop of innovative restaurants have expanded the city's culinary landscape with their cosmopolitan mix of celebrity chefs and appreciation of organic and regional ingredients.

-- Sunshine Flint, New York Times


While Asian restaurants have long provided some of the most affordable fine dining options, I noticed that Dara Moskowitz reviews some of the cheaper non-Asian fine dining options this week.

Since moving here nearly twenty years ago, I too have seen much improvement in the Twin Cities restaurant scene, and look forward to someday seeing True Thai Restaurant mentioned in the New York Times!