Minneapolis-St. Paul According to Zagat

the churn

Skimming the cream of local food news

• Valentine’s Day at Ngon Bistro and February 8 Tweet Rodeo

  The latest from Twitter: @BlueOxCoffeeCompany plugs their peppermint mocha garnished with a Thin Mint from the Girl Scouts (it’s that time of year!), @ngonbistro announces their Valentine’s Day tasting menu, @RogueChocolate marvels that every one of their bars is hand-inspected by the founder himself, and @france44 is serving a decadent-sounding fig salami with blue cheese.

• Chicken Wild Rice Soup with Bacon and Recipe Roundup

  Cranberry pecan boule, pavlovas, chicken with wild rice soup and bacon, homemade yogurt, curried wild rice with lentils, sweet basil cheesecake with honey, and cut out sugar cookies.

• Tanpopo’s Bento Taro and Morning Roundup

  The always excellent Tanpopo is offering a lunchtime bento option called Bento Taro (eight box minimum order; on twitter as @bentotaroMN), an “Evening at the World Championship Cheese Contest” event in Madison [PDF with details], thoughts on the Crispin purchase by Miller, there’s a cool-looking local food-based webcomic called Cocotte coming up, a blah review for Lucky Bucket Snowsuit beer, a Wisconsin cheeseboard, the Suburban World theater is up for sale (here’s our review of their breakfast with cartoons), a look at El Amin’s Fish House in North Minneapolis, details on Indeed Brewing and its taproom, some cool photos from North Coast Nosh III, a grand V-Day event and meals roundup from Stephanie March, and the Well Fed Guide to Life brunches at Nick and Eddie’s.

• “Harira for Haters” and Recipe Roundup

  “Harira for Haters,” smoked mozzarella flatbread pizza, beet, fennel, and apple salad with honey-mustard dressing, and sun-dried skillet pizza.

• Miller Buys Crispin and Morning Roundup [1]

  A recap of the Minnesota Food Bloggers meetup / Brother Ali video shoot, the Northstar Bartenders’ Guild creates buzz for their upcoming “Imbibes of March” event, Zimmern swings by :D-Spot and wants to be impressed by your Mexican restaurant recommendation, and MillerCoors acquires Minneapolis-based Crispin Cider and its affiliate, Fox Barrel Cider, in an effort to benefit from the fast-growing cider sector of the beverage industry.

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