The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

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jP American Bistro didn't open for dinner tonight. A sign on the door says "jP American Bistro will be closed the evening of September 30, 2008."

That's all I know for sure. If you know more than I do, please write me at iggers@rakemag.com, or post a comment.

Meanwhile, in other news, I have a couple of books to recommend:

After I wrote (unfavorably) about a book called Where the Locals Eat: Minneapolis St. Paul, written long-distance from Nashville, Tennessee, Rake publisher Tom Bartel sent me a note suggesting that I might want to mention The Rake's own city guide, Secrets of the City: 2008-2009 Guide to Minneapolis St. Paul (Loquamur LLC, 12.95).

I hadn't actually seen the guide at that point, but Tom sent me a copy, and I am pleased to report that I like it a lot. (What a relief!) The restaurant listings are smarter, better written, and include a lot of good restaurants that were left out of the Tennessee guide - like 20.21 and Café Levain and Café Maude and Peninsula Malaysian. And there's a lot more to Secrets than that: tips on shopping, arts and entertainment, architecture, theater and even day trips. And the introductory essays by Neal Karlen, Brad Zellar and Nick Coleman are worth the price of admission all by themselves. It's available at Barnes & Noble and independent book stores, or directly from the publishers here.

In a more literary vein, I can't remember a culinary memoir that I've enjoyed more than Steve Lerach's Fried: Surviving Two Centuries in Restaurants (Borealis Books, $22.95). Like I wrote in the blurb on the back of the book, "Fried is a feast for foodies, a fast and funny ride through Twin Cities restaurant kitchens in the heyday of meat and potatoes. Steve Lerach confesses that he 'wasn't much of a chef,' but he's one hell of a storyteller."

Lerach will be reading from his book at Magers & Quinn bookstore, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis, 7:30 p.m. on Monday, October 6.