On Fridays during the lunch hour (noon for sure) a jazz gypsy accordionist/guitarist plays at the Russian Tea House for tips. We also go to the Coffee Grounds coffee shop in Falcon Heights for nighttime events, including a P.J. storyhour ... but their food is atrocious. Honestly, they would do a better business if their food weren't ..ick. But business I guess is okay there.

GInkgo coffeeshop on Snelling in St. Paul has a live kids show at 10 am one Saturday a month. I had another venue in mind but just blanked on it. Will repost when I remember.

Thank you for posting. I will be there as well this week or....next...have to wait for the spam methinks. Also a third for the Japanese grocery suggestion.

Save that idea for their next customer recommendation submission. Sadly, that won't be for two more years. Interestingly, my husband's submission for this year was Cap'nCrunch, but we didn't see how it could be done.

Haha, you have confirmed my suspicions about your nine-month or so absence on the home cooking cookbook thread. I didn't take my own one chance to pass beyond the pink curtain four years ago.... was the music really loud back there? I thought it would be.

Can anyone point me to the wine slushy? I think it's at that wine place by Dino's. I found it awesome my first year and way gross and disappointing my second..literally almost freezing of cheap wine, as I could do at home. But I'm gonna try it again.

The fire dog is merely a very hot pickle dog from that stand outside the beer place right in front of the Midway and down a bit from the DNR building. It sits out on the street and also sells Kool-Aid (weirdly good Kool-AId, made with full sugar, as my mother never allowed and impossible not to drink without leaving a 'stache) and pickles on a stick. The fire dog is a hot pickle (I think soaked in jalepeno water or something) on a stick with cream cheese and pastrami wrapped around. Yum.

I'm with Lincster. Geesh, enough about the food trucks. Fair food is where it's at, specifically the fire dog, chicken-fried bacon and...sweet corn ice cream covered with bacon caramel sauce. Sweet Maria!!
And those fried green tomatoes. And wine ice cream (it was awesome last year). My vote goes to Mouth Trap. I'm getting very excited.

Story about this (short story) in last week's Taste in the Pioneer Press. Gah, Joan's in the Park (stupid name, IMHO) and I don't like the generic decor. I will miss Grandpa Tony's.

This just in from the baker next door on University Ave., who's a Facebook friend. Buon Giorno posted a closing sign and is indeed, closing. Like a death in the family, he said.

First visit loved, loved, loved tofu curry and also the jook. First was beautifully seasoned and crammed with perfectly steamed vegetables (curry was of the coconut milk sort) and second was rich-tasting and comforting. Service was awful. Aw. Ful. No one acknowledged us forever and had one waitress for the entire restaurant. My friend received the wrong order (I can't remember what it was now) and we didn't bother even trying to flag down the waitress and then waiting again.

Second visit same meal: curried tofu felt dashed off and veggies not well done at all; jook, juk congee was reeeeaaaaaaly starchy and thick and dry. Must have been sitting all day. Kind of sick making like a big bowl of unflavored starch or playdough. Service again was middling. I'd actually give them another chance.

Mannings on Como ... also has a ton of greasy pub food.

These items (masa, chilis and husks) are also available at the Rainbow and the Cub in Midway, on University and Snelling.

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Snelling Cafe
638 Snelling Ave N, Saint Paul, MN 55104

Dragonstar Natural Foods on Dale and Minnehaha in St. Paul has an assortment. Yum.

I'm almost certain this place is buffet only. It's on University a little west of Dale, north side of street, huge signage.

Dragon Star Foods on Dale and Minnehaha also carries Kim Chee, fresh, but I bet it's Yon's. It's in a big jar with a white label with red writing. I liked it okay.

See my Limu Coffee post (New Brighton) they roast their own.

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Limu Coffee
500 5th Ave NW Ste 109, Saint Paul, MN 55112

Anyone been to this place in New Brighton? They perform the Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony there. I have not been, but have had freshly roasted coffee for purchase. The husband purchased, we ground and consumed. One week later I am still completely fantasizing about that coffee.

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Limu Coffee
500 5th Ave NW Ste 109, Saint Paul, MN 55112

They have bitter melon there? On the menu? Yum. I'm having a craving badly right now. Yes, it is related to the old Peking Garden that got torn down. It moved to this new location. Sadly, they no longer offer dim sum. The buffet is yucky (or typical kind of comforting in its way) and I always mean to try the regular menu. I live nearby.

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Peking Garden
1488 University Ave W, Saint Paul, MN 55104

I guess I should be glad the Sichuan scene in the Twin Cities has grown so much and so wonderfully some can diss certain restaurants out of hand without trying them because a few of the dishes seem "Americanized" from their appearance on the menu. But the whole argument is beyond me.

I am still not sure why a few dishes on the menu to appeal to all patrons, especially in a white suburban location, should elicit scorn?

My feeling is that these restaurants (and even Spicy and Tasty for the lunch thingee) throw a few Americanized easy-to-make or defrost (egg rolls) things on their menus. I don't care. We went to Fasika the other day and one of our party ordered chicken nuggets. They were blatantly thrown in the fish-frying oil to deep fry and tasted of fish and were nasty. But that's what you get!!! It's on there for the picky eaters or the ones who expect American fare.

Wow, I have to hop on here quick to deflect that blanket statement made without any kind of verification or authority. I lived in NYC for years and ate at all the sichuan restaurants there weekly, including Grand Sichuan ones. Still do, often. A: a chef from one of those restaurants moved here to open one of our own Sichuan restaurants. Not sure which one, but read about it in the Pi Press. I don't understand the whole 50 percent americanized thing cuz the NYC restaurants also offer an American portion to their menu and the $4 lunches sure are nothing but the buffet food you'd find anywhere.

Sorry this is an issue close to my heart. I gotta defend the recent MN cropping of Sichuan restaurants as being awesome. We are very, very lucky to have them. All of them use peppercorns except during that ban a few years ago. Then not even the NYC restaurants could get peppercorns.

Here's a weird rec. Groundswell Coffee, a coffeeshop near the corner of Hamline and Thomas in St. Paul (Midway neighborhood) has Zander soups, as done by the guy who owned Zander Cafe (sorely missed). Also his tamales which are freakin' amazing. The big, big, caveat is that the coffee shop recently changed hands and is now owned by very early 20somethings who rely on a host of their volunteer friends. These kids can't even reheat the frozen soup. It's weird. You have to ask them three times to heat it more.

But that was a few weeks ago; maybe they've caught on.

Town of Nelson at the Nelson Cheese House on Como in St. Paul. Not the best. But it satisfies a need.

Come to think of it, I did see the creme fraiche ice cream offered at Izzy's when I was there about two or three weeks ago.

That makes me so sad, though I never dined there...I too hope he can be up and running quickly.

So the side door, the "back room" (literally in the back) is the family room? If I go there as a single woman, I should sit there, correct? Because I seem to remember the front room begin segregated with a wall, like a waist high wall over which you could look. But I could be wrong about that.

Downtown St. Paul at night. Without a car. Yowsa. That's got to be hard. You do have Bulldog and Brasa and Meritage. But if you're walking at night....truthfully there is not a lot. Do go to Candyland (in the day). for the cheese corn.

Not sure if they'd have the off-beat stuff you seek, but they have nostalgic (and I'm all about the candy rocks and candy lego pieces) but Candy Land, two in downtown Mpls and one in downtown St. Paul might meet your needs. Like an old-fashioned candy shop, with great popcorn.

An update: The dan dan noodles weren't that good as leftovers. They had a kind of stroganoff-y taste almost. (And yeah, the scallion pancakes were those the-same-the-world-over mediocre ones. But the four-year-old liked 'em.