Meetings: Minnesota's Hospitality Journal: Film

IN THIS EDITION: Downtown's restaurant ruckus, Gettin' fresh at the Fresh Taste Festival, and Julie and Julia and ... my mom

Ok, Ok it's not really a ruckus here in the center of Minneapolis, I just really like that word and it made a nice alliteration with "restaurant." But with July's closing of Bellanotte and Morton's, plus the earlier news of D'Amico moving into the Chambers Kitchen space and the Oceanaire filing for Chaper 11, downtown dining has taken some pretty big blows in the last month. A lot of the trouble is concentrated along Hennepin Avenue and around Block E, an area already full of boarded windows and "for lease" signs. Bill Ward at the Star Tribune has a great article on the whole situation and talks to some folks right in the thick of it, including Craig Ritacco, manager of Mission American Kitchen and Solera owner Josh Thoma. It would be easy for Ward to write an article portending the doom of downtown dining, but he reminds us that we're in the middle of a recession, construction has the whole neighborhood looking like a war zone, and yet, new places are still opening up. (The Guthrie's Sea Change and Randy Norman's soon-to-open OM in the old Nate's Clothing spot are just two examples.) So there are just a whole lot of shake-ups going on. And although it's sad to see places closing, there are just as many (if not more) new places opening. Check out the City Pages Hot Dish blog, where Rachel Hutton does a monthly roundup of openings and closings.

You know what else you should do? Come to the Fresh Taste Festival at the Nicollet Island Pavilion this Sunday, August 9! I'll be there! If you need a reason beyond that (although I can't imagine why) here are a few:

Cooking demos by: The Strip Club's JD Fratzke, The Salty Tart's Michelle Gayer and Raghavan Iyer, co-founder of the Asian Culinary Arts Institute and menu designer for OM.
Sample tasty victuals and libations from exhibitors on the leading edge of the local, sustainable and organic food movement.
Proceeds go to Minnesota Public Radio
Fresh Taste partners with Eureka Recycling to create a "zero waste" event--last year's event produced ONE bag of trash. That's it.

And finally, you probably don't need anyone to tell you how delightful Julie & Julia is--but just let me tell you. It's delightful. I went to an advance screening with my mom on Wednesday and today it's open everywhere. I might go see it again.
Mom and I have loved Julia for a long time. I can trace this love back to a particular holiday episode of Martha Stewart's show on which the legendary cook made a guest appearance to bake croquembouche. This seemed an insanely elaborate undertaking for a home cook, involving stacking profiteroles into a pyramid and covering them with caramel threads. My mom and I couldn't stop laughing because Martha's wasn't turning out so well and she was clearly miffed at being upstaged by the shrill old lady. Rick Nelson has a funny post about his own personal story around the movie, involving the only time he ever met Julie Powell at the James Beard Awards.
How about you? Are you going to see the movie? Have either of these women influenced the way you think about food or cooking?