Last night I was at a charity function that featured a sampling of chefs. It was the usual gig with scattered stations of chefs offering tasty food on small plastic plates. While some of the plates were perfectly balanced, a few were laden with a giant chunk of meat that would prove to be more than a bite. Lord knows I don't always strive for ladylike ideals when snacking, but wrestling to bite into a chewy hunk of seared protein as sauce drips down my dress is not fabulous on any night. Cut it, you say? With my cute little plastic fork as I stand bustling with silent auction bidders? No, I'll just half-bend over and hope my hair shields my Neanderthal technique of grabbing the burning bite from my mouth with my fingers. This Fresh Forkin' Friday I'm scrubbing my dress.
 

BALi, the Indonesian joint on Eat Street that Peter looooooved, has closed.

Premier Cheese Market will be doing its last day of business on December 6th. There are burning hopes that someone will throw them a bucket of money so they can rise again!

Chase Brook Natural Farms is calling it quits. They'll be at the MGM until its stock of natural meat runs out.

Manhattan's has closed for dinner until further notice while staff works on a new menu.

 

Cocina Latina has opened in the former Taco Blass spot on Nicollet. Look for Steven Brown's assessment of the mostly Ecuadorian menu next month. I'm quite curious about the figs and cheese dessert.

Trader Joes continues its world domination with an opening in Minnetonka.

The Olive Grove is a new olive oil boutique in Mendota Heights. Its 100% extra virgin oils are fused with flavors during the crush, which gives them a richer depth than those silly oils with rosemary branches soaking in them. All are available to sample, and recipe cards are sprinkled throughout the store. The Grand Opening runs through Saturday and any purchase enters you in a drawing for a $100 gift card. 

The owners of Patina (who receive entirely too large a percentage of my Christmas budget) have opened Shoppe Local celebrating our home-grown talent. For the foodist, the shop offers local products from Golden Fig, Ames Honey, Nordic Ware, Funky Chunky, Thomasina's Cashew Brittle and more. 

The Sweets Bakeshop is celebrating their grand opening this Saturday with raffles, samples, free t-shirts, and some of the best cupcakes this side of sugar. There are crumbs from the breakfast/bacon cupcake on my keyboard as I type.

China Jen in Roseville has changed ownership and entered the hot trend toward Szechuan and getting right to the point by renaming itself Szechuan.

Alaska Eatery, the seafood house run by the Taher group, quietly took down its sign and morphed into a Timber Lodge Steakhouse.

 

Vescios put up a Coming Soon sign on the old Cafe DiNapoli skyway spot in the 6 Quebec building (next to Zen Box, down from My Burger). Sooooo, we're replacing old Minneapolis Italian with ... old Minneapolis Italian.