Lenny Russo is a pal of mine, a good man and a great chef. He has established a first offender program for no-shows. No-shows are lethal to a business, especially one like Heartland’s, which relies on reservations to gauge purchases and staff its lean operation. During busy periods, it turns people away so it can honor reservations. Lenny is being nice about this. If it were me, I would cut someone's ear off for no-showing. That’s my kid's college plan you are messing with, pal!

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A couple of quick points I need to make:

Although the taco truck at the Mill City Farmers Market is superb, it's not enough for me, I’m greedy. The economic model for success in this economy is “smaller is better,” and mobile is best of all. I hope to see many local entrepreneurs take to the streets with mobile food offerings. Think of it: outside the Metrodome, outside the Target Center, downtown after bar closing, in the Theater Zone at the dinner hour, Loring Park, Grand Avenue . . . a food van allows you to drive to the customers instead of waiting for them to come to you.

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I was in LA last week taping a segment for The Soup. K. P. Anderson, brother of KFAN’s Bumper to Bumper with Dan Barreiro's Joe Anderson, is one of the show’s producers. He and host Joel McHale both say "hi" to everyone here, especially all the folks they saw earlier this winter in Minneapolis. A few months ago, they played the State Theater and are sure to return later this year. I will keep you posted.

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Mike wrote me a note . . .

“I have a question about the local oriental markets. I live in Uptown and recently stopped by the Shuang Hur market this weekend. Are the lobster’s and other seafood in the live tank good year-round? Is there any way to tell by looking at them if they are good or not? Or, would you just not recommend getting seafood or meat from these markets?”

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I spent all of the last week on the road, so this week's post is all about life away from home. . . .

I am on planes a lot and always devour all the airline mags. The problem is that I am always tearing pages out of them and have never found a back-of-pocket air-zine worth taking off the plane or subscribing to—until now. I am sure you will all accuse me of drinking the company Kool-Aid because MSP Communications publishes it, but the new Delta Sky magazine is AMAZING. It is loaded with the kind of info that everyone who travels, eats, reads, or shops needs to know. Congrats to everyone, especially Jayne Haugen Olson who runs the show at the new monthly. Look for it next time you are airborne.

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