One of the better burgers I’ve had in a while 👍
What the hell, Luna?
Birthday dinner in South Minneapolis at the new spot from the people that run the taco stand in the Eagan gas station by our old house. Really, really good!
Also learned our clown is open until midnight for all those late Free Fries Fridays
So fun to see Spikesides with MK and all her little trolls this morning at Crunchy Day
SK’s first game of the season @ Xcel. Wild lost 3-1, but had half of their salary out injured
New Year’s Day show (first of the January residency) with SK & MK. Opener Becky Kapell seemed to have a great time and I got to create another setlist from scratch…
After Jon Cheng gave them three stars in the Star Tribune and SK’s crew went for a visit, Colleen and I decided to make chef Soleil Ramirez’s Crasqui our latest night out. We had an opening 5:00pm reservation tonight and were a little nervous when the lovely dining room was mostly empty. That changed by the time we left, but please get the word out that this is the real deal. We need to support the local chefs doing good work in our communities so we can continue to have nice things here in our little corner of the world.
Don’t have too much to add to the Cheng review – Colleen loved the sea bass pictured in his story and I very much enjoyed the pork chop with mora sauce and fondant potatoes (that sauce was a perfect pairing to the meat). I had the calentaito cocktail (4 roses whiskey, diplomatico mantuano, banana liqueur, velvet falernum, bitters) and had both the tequeños cheese sticks and the beef empanaditas for appetizers. In the sides section, I had the rice with Venezuelan sofrito, while Colleen had the seasonal veggies (broccolini). With all the holiday sweets still at home, we skipped the dessert section this time.
Housed in a former Catrinas Grill location next to the Starbucks in the West Side Flats apartment complex, Crasqui is easy to get to from downtown Saint Paul and has a large free parking lot accessible from Wabasha. We loved the aquamarine floor and our server was friendly and knowledgable. Named for an island off the coast of Venezuela, this is a nice addition to the dining scene in Saint Paul.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Update: Jess Fleming from the Pioneer Press also had Crasqui in her 2023 favorites story
It’s the time of year when people start looking back at best of lists and pondering resolutions for the coming year. I thought maybe I’d go at this a little differently today: what are the most important days of my life (so far)? A few of these are no brainers, but narrowing it down to seven was tougher than I thought. So out of the 20,064 days up to this point, here are the top seven I picked:
- 01/19/1969 – a Sunday in Lawton, Oklahoma (high: 46F, low: 35F). Baby DK born in the Fort Sill army hospital.
- 12/14/1991 – a Saturday in Saint Paul, Minnesota (high: 21F, low: 10F). Married Colleen at City Hall.
- 10/08/1995 – a Sunday in Saint Paul, Minnesota (high: 59F, low: 35F). Finished Twin Cities Marathon in 4:42:52 – my first of 27 marathons.
- [Date Redacted] – a Tuesday in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Kid one was born.
- [Date Redacted] – a Friday in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Kid two was born.
- 02/04/2018 – a Sunday in Minneapolis, Minnesota (high: 1F, low: -2F). Career highlight – successfully hosted Super Bowl LII at U.S. Bank Stadium.
- 10/8/2018 – a Monday in Minneapolis, Minnesota (high: 54F, low: 47F). Survived an aneurysm on the stadium train platform.
Seize the day! Wishing everyone a safe and prosperous 2024…
