Two promising new Kickstarter projects: an effort to create a locally-made cane sugar soda distributed in returnable glass bottles (the name is Whistler) and an admittedly non-food focused effort to document how Minnesotans view (and survive) winter. We took to the airwaves this week: on MPR to talk tiki (here’s our visit to the Torpedo Room, pictured above) and on the Current to talk Dakota Junction and the sweet potato soba at Verdant Tea. A new burger place called Jake’s Wayback opening in Woodbury will give you the chance to eat a nine-patty burger, in case that sounds like a good idea to you. The Well Fed Guide to Life visits Nelson’s Cheese and Deli in St. Paul. And the Zen Box Izakaya ramen festival is a success … at least for the earliest guests to arrive and/or those who toughed out the up-to-four-hour lines.