Oy vay!

From Bob Von Sternberg at the Star Tribune:

Here we go again.

Another summer weekend, another bunch of traffic-snarling freeway closures.

The most aggravating -- again -- will be the shutdown of the westbound lanes in St. Paul of Interstate 94 between Interstate 35E and Hwy. 280, just like last weekend.

The good news: This is the last closure of the road construction season on that stretch.

Fortunately True Thai's customers are clever and resourceful people who still manage to find their way to East Franklin no matter how much weekend construction there is.

Given the wonderful weather these past few days, I suspect the patio will be full this weekend, no matter how much construction there is.

Construction season continues

Starting tonight at 10 p.m., a big section of I-94 in St. Paul will be closed. The Pioneer Press has maps:


If you live in St. Paul, this is your chance to come to True Thai the way I do every night. Just take University Avenue almost all the way to 280 but then turn left onto Franklin just a block east of 280.

Follow Franklin across the river and you'll arrive at True Thai in just a few minutes.

We'll be there, waiting for you.

Weekend highway closings

If you're coming to True Thai this weekend via I-94 or I-35, please read Bob Collins' News Cut blog to find out which highways will be closed when.

There are only two seasons in Minnesota: winter, and highway construction season.

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch

I have written before about how con artists have tried to take advantage of True Thai. That telephone scam was not typical of the usual stings that criminals use to take advantage of busy restaurants, however. What happened the other night is much more common.

We were very busy. This is an important detail. Con artists rarely come in when business is slow because they don't want you to have any time to figure out what is going on. What was going on the other night was a that a couple came in and immediately told me how often they'd been been in and wasn't it time for us to give them a free meal?

A free meal? As a restaurant owner who has not raised her already cheap prices in over five years, I could not believe their chutzpah. But, as I mentioned, it was very busy, and because they were very loud and blocking the cash register I sighed and told the host to tell their server to give them a free meatless entree.

A cheap way of dealing with a problem, right? Wrong. After they left the server told me they only ordered the one "free" dish between the two of them, and then insisted on extra rice for free. The menu states that extra rice is $1.50 but these two "customers" didn't even want to pay for extra rice! The server gave them extra rice rather than waste her time running to ask me what to do.

OK, so True Thai was out a cheap entree and some extra rice. Did this couple really eat for free? No, not if you count their tip. If you count their tip, they ate at True Thai for 16¢!

I am not insensitive to the economy. I understand that some people really have no money. That's why so much food from True Thai ends up on the tables of poor families in St. Paul, where I work for the Ramsey County Dept. of Public Health. True Thai Restaurant also made donations to several dozen local charities last year. I cannot think of a single charity we turned down.

But I guarantee I will be turning down the next couple who come in asking for a free meal. My friends who heard this story told me that there is a famous American acronym: TANSTAAFL. It stands for There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.

True Thai's new motto is TANSTAASFL: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Second Free Lunch.

We're still working on the concept.

Life in the Seward neighborhood

I'm sure many of our patrons do not realize that when they visit True Thai Restaurant, they are dining in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis. I live St. Paul but since we opened True Thai in 2002, I have come to feel like I am a resident of Seward.

I mention this because the Seward neighborhood is doing something quite different tonight. If you go to the 900 block of Franklin Terrace at 6:30 you can help say goodbye to the oldest tree in Minneapolis. Jeremy Iggers' Twin Cities Daily Planet has the details, but the oak tree in question is believed to be at least 300 years old!

Saying goodbye to their oldest tree is a Seward thing. I like spending time in this neighborhood.

I-94 alert!

Road crews will be shutting down portions of I-94 this weekend. Customers in St. Paul will not be impacted, but those of you who use eastbound I-94 from the western suburbs and Minneapolis will have to find another route. You should be OK going home unless you live west of Minneapolis.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Closed Sunday for the 4th

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True Thai Restaurant will be closed on Sunday, July 4th.

Please accept our wishes for a happy holiday weekend.

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Avenue of the Annas

Wow. This is sooo strange I cannot believe it.

My name is Anna Fieser. I think you already knew that. I live in a small house in Como Park in St. Paul. For years I had a Latina neighbor to the south of me. Her name was also Anna F. Just today I learned that the older couple who lives just north of me has the last initial of F, and her name is also Anna.

Pretty strange, huh? I have new neighbors on my south side and today I was in the yard and I heard one of the children yell for "Anna!" I turned and said, "I'm Anna." He looked at me and said, "I want Anna my mom."

I was pretty weirded out and asked him what their last name was. Yes, it started with an F.

There used to be TV ads about the United Colors of Benetton. I think our block has just established the United Colors of Anna.Anna F. to my north is white. I am Thai and my neighbor to the south (who lives in the house the Latina Anna F. used to live in) is an African American.

I think we should call ourselves the Axis of Annas!

True Thai's growing family

The longer True Thai Restaurant has been open, the deeper our ties to our customers have grown but I do not think that really explains this.

All spring long customers have been bringing us plants. Basil mostly, chili pepper plants and some flowers. I think many of you really enjoy knowing that some of our basil and chili peppers are grown in "Anna's garden" behind the restaurant.

Each time the staff tells me a customer has left a new plant, I am touched. You give us your love and your money — that is enough! But we will grow these plants and who knows? The next time you get basil stir fry from True Thai, there may be some basil in it that was grown only a few yards away.
That's eating locally!

Minnesotans like to eat out!

A fascinating new study says that Twin Cities residents eat out more than almost any other people in the U.S. Average households in Minneapolis spend $3,372 a year dining out, or $9.24 a day.

That's enough to buy any appetizer on True Thai's menu, four of our six different kinds of soup, four of our seven kinds of salads, the vegetarian options for seven of our ten kinds of curry, any of our wok-fried entrees that have a vegetarian option, or the veggie option for any of our rice or noodle dishes.

With drinks, and if you order meat or seafood, you'll probably spend more like $11-12 plus tip, but I think many of you already have a very good understanding of how True Thai helps you to stretch your budget dollars.

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A quick update to let you know that all five free copies of the Crave Minneapolis book have been spoken for and will be mailed out tomorrow.

Not to rub it in, but the last copy went unasked for all weekend and then we got a request from Gigi just this afternoon.

Congratulations to Gigi, Marvin, Megan, Valerie and Kara — you are Anna's True Thai News blog's first ever contest winners!

Closed Memorial Day

True Thai Restaurant will be closed Monday, May 31,
in observance of Memorial Day.


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Save $20 by reading this post!

This is True Thai's page in the Crave Company's new book, Crave Minneapolis St. Paul. It is subtitled The Urban Girl's Manifesto but having looked through the book I do not think any of us still qualify as "girls."

But if you are from Minnesota and if you are interested in women entrepreneurs . . . maybe you would enjoy reading the entire book and not just my page. I have set aside five copies for readers so the first five of you to e-mail me with your mailing address will receive a free copy in the mail (or if you prefer we'll hold it for you at the cash register at the restaurant).

If you click on the above image you can read my page for free, and if you are quick to email me you can read the other pages, including the layouts on Tracy Singleton of the Birchwood Café, Linda Haug of Café Twenty Eight, Angelina Rodriquez Corbett of La Cocinita Restaurante, and the amazing Kim Bartmann of the Red Stag Supper Club, Bryant Lake Bowl and Barbette, as well as a lot of other women who are not lucky enough to own a restaurant.