DeRUSHA: CLEARING THE SMOKE: New Restaurants, My First Trip to Lobby Congress, Who Has The Best Fries?

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What an experience visiting Republicans and Democrats from Minnesota in Congress, advocating for the AM in every vehicle act! The Minnesota Broadcasters Association was part of a National Association of Broadcasters effort to visit elected officials and urge them to vote on legislation. Obviously I love AM Radio, I want to keep my job, I want my industry to stay vibrant. AND I know that so many people in America count on AM for vital public safety information - if you’re in your car fleeing wildfires, can you rely on streaming? Does FM cover the territory? Every Republican and Democratic elected official in Minnesota supports this bill. (see more pics via IG https://fluence-media.co/454cjCe)

I talked about it on FOX 5 in Washington, D.C. - video link: fox5dc.com at 11:30pm ET Monday night.

But just because there are more than 300 cosponsors in the House and 61 in the Senate doesn’t mean that it’ll be up for a vote. It’s passed through committee, it’s part of a giant surface transportation bill, but we were urging them to pull it out of the bill and vote on it alone. We’ll see what happens.

Normally I don’t love the idea of telling businesses what they have to do, but cars are among the most regulated businesses around. We tell them to put in airbags and ABS and seat belts, and telling them to keep AM for public safety and consumer choice is in line in context of that. If you know Steve Scalise and could get this scheduled for a vote, that would be awesome!

In the meantime, it was quite an honor to go advocate for you and for my business in DC. 10/10 would recommend.

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• Read to the bottom to see our Mexico City Plans for Next week

• New pizza/martini bar coming to NE Minneapolis

• Chef Takes Over Former Salt & Flour in North Loop

• Asia Village Opens in Blaine

• Parlour North Loop Launches First Happy Hour Ever

• Yacht Club Festival, Aquatennial Next Week, Lots to Do If the Smoke Clears

AMAZING WINE DINNER AT MARA / FOUR SEASONS HOTEL MINNEAPOLIS

I love Hilt… this is an amazing opportunity to learn from acclaimed winemaker Matt Dess at Mara in Four Seasons Hotel Minneapolis! THURSDAY AUGUST 6: The Hilt & Jonata: A Tale of Two Vines is going to be a really special wine dinner. Hilt & Jonata are part of the same prestigious wine family as Screaming Eagle. Soil-first, just like Mary Kennedy’s terroir-driven wine program.

Three seatings: 6p, 6:15p, and 6:30p - book at Open Table or just click this link: https://fluence-media.co/4pdSnX0

I just drank DRC at Mara last week - if you’re a wine lover, there’s no better spot to explore approachable wines and go deep on the legends.

Thanks to Four Seasons Hotel Minneapolis for being a DeRUSHA partner!

NEED A LAUGH?: We react to England losing in the World Cup and have some suggestions as you plan on watching the World Cup Final: Spotify podcast:

RIP Jerry Untiedt, one of the real legends in farm-to-table. His farm grows the corn for the State Fair, his family’s farm stands are at the Minneapolis Farmers Markets and kiosks all over the metro. IG @untiedtsvegetablefarm

RIP to Jim Thomas, second-gen owner of Thomas Liquors in Saint Paul. His son Mike and grandson Nick run the store today. OBIT via IG: “Jim converted his father’s pharmacy into a liquor store and fostered the evolution of the business into the neighborhood wine shop that it is today. He cared about this place until his dying day.” READ: instagram.com/thomasliquors

MILLY’S WINE BAR TO OPEN MARTINI / PIZZA BAR in NE: 200 Lowry Ave NE, near where the old Market Bar-B-Que was, the team behind Milly’s will open a new spot. MSPBJ: “They initially considered duplicating Milly’s, but the new space will have a larger menu and more of a martini focus than the Mill District wine bar.” READ: bizjournals.com/twincities

PACE YOURSELF: The wildfire smoke rolled into downtown Minneapolis around 3pm yesterday, it rained like crazy in Saint Paul and then smoke-fest. I’m in STP on Insta: https://fluence-media.co/4yqIFVq and Minneapolis on TIKTOK: https://fluence-media.co/4gCDHOX

SALT AND FLOUR TO BE TURNED OVER TO CHEF: I love this so much. Brian Ingram was struggling to land the plane over at Salt & Flour, the Italian restaurant across from Target Field in the North Loop. Tried cutting prices. Just wasn’t catching on. He decided to give the place to his chef, Gary Sherwood, [I wrote about his stint as sous chef at Boomin’ Barbeque in 2021 in MinnesotaMonthly.com]. Gary is an incredible talent, and is creating a new spot SOUL & Flour. They took down all the AI-generated art in the place [IG @ saltandflourkitchen] Brian wrote: “Soul & Flour isn’t a concept we handed him. It’s his story, his food and his vision. Gary is curating the food, the playlist and the entire feeling of this takeover. He will be the heart and soul of it from beginning to end. My job is to give him the room to do it his way.” Opening August 5. READ: https://fluence-media.co/4pqFPf1

ICYMI: Nearly 40 new Minnesota State Fair foods and Vendors - RANKED! MinnesotaMonthly.com

I’M MAD ABOUT 6 NEW FOODS (92k views): https://fluence-media.co/4vxbLQo

MY TOP 10 NEW FAIR FOODS (77k views): https://fluence-media.co/4fjedE4

GRAZE FOOD HALL BY TRAVAIL BECOMES A LITTLE MORE TRAVAILY: Almost all of the vendors inside this food hall are operated by Travail now. Fabled Rooster is gone, replaced by a dinner-only red sauce joint DeCoco’s. Travail operates ie Italian Eatery, so this is an easy add for them. Only Wrecktangle Pizza and Two Mixed Up are non-Travail spots in the North Loop now. GrazeNorthLoop.com

INSIDE BLAINE’S NEW ASIA VILLAGE: Food hall & market in Blaine… this is the best re-purposing of old indoor shopping centers anchor stores that I’ve seen. Different from Asia Mall in EP, although similar. MNMO: “Asia Village offers mostly restaurants, set up around a common food dining area,” Michael Bui says, while Asia Mall features mall-style storefronts with separate seating areas for each establishment. MinnesotaMonthly.com

PODCAST ALERT: Just did a deep dive with John Kraus of Patisserie 46 on his 16 years running his south Minneapolis bakery. Apple Podcast link: https://fluence-media.co/4b2vgJh

PANNEKOEKEN HUIS X LATUFF’S PIZZA: Cool or crazy? Wong Nystrom bought Latuff’s last year, renovated the dining room, bought the rights to Pannekoeken Huis’ recipes, hired former Pannekoeken owner Derek Moberg to run breakfast, and they had their grand opening last week. READ: StarTribune.com

HAPPY HOUR at PARLOUR NORTH LOOP

They’ve never done this before: I have details on my Instagram! But the Parlour Burger slider is awesome, they have $10 for two beers, $10 cocktails, DAILY 4-6pm.

Jester Concepts is a DeRUSHA Partner. Thank you!!

HARAZ COFFEE HOUSE: Lyndale at Lyn/Lake Uptown. IG @Harazcoffeehouse

GIORDANO’S at MOA: 346 South Avenue, Level 3, South. Giordano’s is once again up to two Minnesota locations now. Giordanos.com

JADE: Closed in Duluth, announced they’re opening in Superior. Cue the “MN is dead - everyone’s headed to WI” comments…. I love this cocktail bar. IG @JadeHospitalityLLC

TILTED TIKI: The Stillwater mainstay closed after the founder, Chris Goetzke, died in late May. On IG they announced they’re permanently closed. OBIT: ohalloranmurphy.com/obituary/Chris-Goetzke IG: https://fluence-media.co/4h6jYau

SUNSETS HAVE BEEN AMAZING: https://fluence-media.co/3TB3Nbo

OUR AIRPORT IS SO GOOD: I got there at 5:45a for a 7:10a flight, just enjoyed hanging out and asking people where they thought I was going: facebook.com/TheJasonDeRusha/

NIGHT AT THE TWINS GAME: Next time the Twins are home is next weekend, Friday, July 24. They’ve been fun to watch - go grab some tickets! Sign up for a free MyTwins membership: twins.com/mytwins

BEST FRENCH FRIES: McDonald’s, right? SPOTIFY Podacast & YouTube videos below:

FLOCK CAMERAS WRONGLY TRACKED MN-BASED CAR REVIEWER: Crazy story about Joel Feder - LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4pjWKjb

NEW STATE FAIR VENDOR: Saturday Dumpling Co- LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4fCXw7K

BIGGER ISSUE: Fraud or Immigration: LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4f59bvR

TOO MUCH PAID LEAVE? OR HUGE SUCCESS? LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/3QZyNBg

MINNESOTA YACHT CLUB FESTIVAL: Friday tickets [Lumineers/Black Keys] are resale only, as of publication there were Saturday [Matchbox Twenty] and Sunday [The Strokes] 1-day tickets ($160) at MinnesotaYachtClubFestival.com

AQUATENNIAL: SAT 3-10pm, Floating Lantern & Asian Street Food Night Markets on Bde Maka Ska North Beach: minnesotamonthly.com

TC BEACH BLAST: Sunday, part of Aquatennial, Milk Carton boat races start at 10am. tcbeachblast.com/

TORCHLIGHT PARADE: WED 7:30pm, Dave Ryan is grand marshal, mplsaquatennial.com/parade

GOING TO MEXICO CITY! Alyssa and I will be gone for 8 days. We’re going to Teotihuacan, Frida Kahlo museum, Xochimilco Floating Gardens for sure. We have reservations at: Limosneros, Handshake Speakeasy, Pujol, Ticuchi, Rosetta, and Galea. Our list is huge - but please add your suggestions: email jason@jasonderusha.com or click reply!