Secrets of the City

After yesterday’s late flurry of tobacco-related news, interviews and rants, I’m ready to focus on ethanol instead. Hopefully, at Nyes, if my day doesn’t get crazy again.

Catholics only smelly funny during the Holidays. Geez.

You know who smell funny? Jews! And the Irish.

Signed — an Irish-American Jew.

GR Anderson’s coverstory this week is really, really interesting:

Much of this has to do with the changing demographics of the Twin Cities. Practically any owner or manager from these venues will tell you that their clientele is drawn almost exclusively from nearby suburbs and growing townseven in Wisconsinand that there’s an expansive audience waiting to be tapped. And most of them will acknowledge a truism about the businesses they runnamely that they are integrated, and the crowds are more racially mixed than anything you’d see in the Warehouse District on a weekend night.

[cut]

“Of course those bars are racially mixed,” says the Quest’s James Ryan, who is black, “and you know why? There’s not a racial component to them. Downtown places look down their noses at blacks or Asians or Latinos. So they’re gonna get shook down and feel unwanted. That racial profiling doesn’t go on elsewhere. You go out downtown and take a couple brothers with you and see how hard it is to get in.

taylor, what article are you referring to?

If it’s GR Anderson, then it gots to be City Pages!

By the way, do nobody notice my blurb for The Libarry today?

The libarry!

Graci, Max.

Well, I got to go look at some esploded corpses at the Science Museum. See y’all at Nye’s!

Does the Fogo concept seem to be very similar to Mojito?

Did Mojito fail because of its location or because people don’t want to eat skewer after skewer of grilled meat?

I’m interested to see if Fogo de Chao floats in Minneapolis, as we’re a bit late to the table. But then, aren’t we always.
1) It’s spelled Fogo de Chao, not Fogo de Ch-o, and it’s all about charred meat on a spit and the show.
2) Mojito was a watered down Minnesota-friendly watered down version of a churrascaria.
3) Repeat after me, watered down, and frankly I can’t explain how Bobino, same ownership, is still open. We want value and/or culinary excellence coupled with accommodating service, not attitude and overpriced overcooked food.
4) Fogo won a “best new concept award” from Nation’s Restaurant News…in 2003, a full 4 years before it will finally open here. At least it’s closer to it’s concept expiration date than the Hard Rock Cafe.
5) Speaking of expired trends, Fogo is all about high protien, and that trend is as dead as Dr. Atkins himself.

Having eaten at both Mojito and Fogo (in Dallas and Chicago), they don’t compare.

Fogo has better meat, better drinks, an amazing salad bar (for those of you who do not enjoy stuffing yourselves with protein), better abience, and will have a better location.

If you drink, I recommend the caipiroska (the vodka-based cousin to the “it” drink from two years ago the caipirinha. It beats Babalu’s anyday.

Last I checked, Bobino isn’t still open.

In return for coming to Nobu with me, I took a friend to Churrascaria Plataforma in NYC. It was amazing. Mojito was a pale shadow of that experience.

And normally, I think meat is pretty nasty.

Bobino’s is closed indeed. And the problem with Mojito was that they didn’t even make a good mojito. Screw caipiriñas. Mojitos are great when made well. So far, I have yet to find a place here that makes them well.

Ooh…I really hope we get Fogo.

I haven’t eaten at Fogo yet but Mojito wasn’t really authentic. Fogo looks a bit more brasileiro – the COO’s last name for a start (Oliveira) and the fact that actually founded the restaurant in Brazil is very promising.

As a former catarinense, I can’t wait to taste real gaucho churrasco again!!

Cristina,

At the risk of sounding biased, Cosmos makes an excellent mojito…although I do get more enjoyment from the ones I make on my back porch…it’s so hard to drink @ work these days.

Oh, damn, cristina – for sure. Somehow the mojitos I whipped together in my apartment in Argentina taste better than any I’ve had here…

…and damn, cristina, it’s only 2:15 and now I want a frickin’ mojito so bad.

I often wonder if I could pull off the bottom drawer bourbon bottle ala Lou Grant.

Indie, why don’t you just invite us over for some mojitos, then? I’m on my way.

Now that’s a call to arms – just imagine me running out of my office, ripping the shirt and tie open to reveal blue spandex and a giant red “M” across my chest…

And me watching and worrying, “Are they bringing back the scarlett ‘M’ for known masterbators again?”

Just the thought of you in spandex…..

As if the hair on my palms isn’t enought to deal with already…

I have a small bit of inside info on Mojito. I know that early on they struggled with the city (county? state? someone…) to even be permitted to carry meat around on skewers. Public health, whatever. Anyway — they did have to rethink their original churrascaria intentions and it never ended up really working the way they say they originally intended — hence the “watered down” approach mentioned above. Perhaps similar regulations have held up Fogo from entering the market.

Anyway — I’ll be happy when/if they get here. Luv me some meat.

We can ask taulpaul and johnny to adapt this, put a scarlett “m” on the chest, and you’re good to go. (notice the hairy palms will be well-hidden.)

I’m so writing in to the PiPress’ “Savvy Shopper:’ “I want to know where in the NorthEast Metro can I find a salon specializing in palm-waxing?”

I just got my eyes checked and my vision is crap!

So. Awesome.

But wouldn’t that costume then require an arch-nemesis?

Just finishing up the website.

Love it, taulpaul.. the vid is great fun.

Indie — any suggestions? I’d be happy to don the spandex or pleather, but my breasts are not bigger than my head, so that might be a problem.

We could Lindsay play the archnemesis. That would make Rex happy.

I’m just wondering what the arch-nemesis to the Masturbator would be characterized as…hmm? The Puritan, maybe?

ooo… much better.

You’ll have to be the Masturbator’s mentor – like the Sorceress in He-Man.

Perfect. (sadly, i don’t know much about he-man. but i can learn.)

He-Man!

She was super hot. That’s all you need to know for now.