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

Dwight Wilmerding, the protagonist of Benjamin Kunkel's 2005 novel Indecision, is acutely aware that other people have trod in his existential shoes. An ambivalent part-time tech support worker, he feels "like a scrap of sociology blown into its designated corner of the world. But knowing the clichés are clichés doesn't help you to escape them. You still have to go on experiencing your experience as if no one else has ever done it."

If I ever make it back to Adelita's Mexican Restaurant, 2405 N.E. Central Ave., Minneapolis, - and I might - it'll probably be to check out the karaoke and dj Marcelo el Guero. There's a big banner in the dining room advertising karaoke every Friday and Saturday night, featuring Marcelo el Guero.

Back when we were dating, in early 2006, my husband and I used to drop $85 on dinner without giving it a thought. Thirty dollars for a bottle of wine to take home. Another 10 or 15 for sweets to eat in front of the fire. What the hell...

Well, those days are gone.

Sorry I haven't been posting very often lately - I've been tied up with my day job as executive director of the Twin Cities Media Alliance. (The non-profit that publishes the Twin Cities Daily Planet.)

The tough economy has diners looking for ways to cut costs, and restaurateurs looking for ways to keep customer coming, especially on slower nights of the week.

Today only, the Dakota is offering its own version of a Black Friday special: if you buy a $100 gift certificate, instead of giving you one $20 bonus card, you'll get two. Check their website for details, or call 612-332-JAZZ.

I have a friend named Ann Bauer.

That's not, actually, as coincidental as it sounds. We met because I used to write things for Salon that made people angry and as my phone number is unlisted (because I write things that make people angry) and hers is not, people would call and shout at her. My old college friends would ring her up looking for me, wondering why I was writing about things like motorcycle racing and lesbian affairs. . . .

So one day this other Ann Bauer tracked me down to say, "We should meet." And we did.

Okay, before I tell you about the new Tiger Sushi in Lyn-Lake (the original is in the Mall of America)   I'll admit that I have a Bad Attitude about sushi in general.

When my friend Rich insisted that I had to go try his friend Leo's restaurant, Shish, on Grand Ave. in Saint Paul, I said sure, why not, but I should have known what would happen next.

A long time ago I was fired from the Byerly's business (and later restated) for taking a picture of a model holding a Turducken. I depicted this Scandinavian babe in a Bergmanesque pose tortured by existential angst over what to do with the strange aviary object.

There's nothing new about the link between great food and sultry sex. It's been around since the era of the ancient Romans, then flagged during repressive periods such as the Dark Ages and the 1950's, but went through a glorious renaissance right around the time I was born.