About 18 months ago, I dined at El Meson (on Lyndale and 35th, or thereabouts) for the first time. It was impressive: here was a place a stone’s throw from home where I could get a variety of really tasty tapas for a relatively fair price. And I mean Spanish-style tapas, not the Ragu-tainted oddly Italian offerings that dominate La Bodega. Naturally, there are La Bodega partisans out there, and you’re entitled to your opinion. But unless the menu’s changed radically in the last year, I can tell you that what you’re eating is a cross-eyed cousin to actual Spanish-style food.

At any rate, that said: in subsequent visits, El Meson went downhill in hurry. Consistency went out the window — plating and even cooking styles changed from visit-to-visit, often for the worse. Seafood clocked in half-heartedly, which is not something you ever want seafood to do. But now that Cafe Ena has opened, it seemed like a good time to revisit El Meson, and the news is good.
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If you live in Midtown or South Minneapolis neighborhoods, tonight’s Wireless Minneapolis meeting is for you.

The meeting is from 5:30pm to 7pm at Midtown Global Market (Midtown Commons, Suite 107). Agenda topics include the construction schedule and the process for developing regional portal pages.

The next round of meetings are in July in August for Southwest Minneapolis neighborhoods. You can, of course, attend any of the scheduled meetings regardless of where you live.

I was wondering what happened to SotanLife.com.

Only vaguely, mind you. In passing.

(Sotan? Really?)

As doodledee reports, SotanLife is gone and mnpulse.com waits to take it’s place.

Meh.

Our annual Brews Cruise departs at 5:30pm promptly on Saturday, August 4th from Harriet Island across the Wabasha Bridge from downtown St Paul. It will be 3 hours of fun, food, and beer enjoyed with friends. Both the ones you come with and the ones you meet there.

We are limiting ticket sales to 180 on a first come basis.

Price: $65.00 per person if you buy before the Fourth of July. 75.00 per person on tickets sold July 5th on.

Tickets cover your cruise, Pint Glass, and Dinner. All passengers must have a ticket to board. If you wish beverages other then our free beers & root beer, the Paddleford Company operates a cash bar on board.

Order your tickets at Vine Park’s website.

(via Laura’s Blog)

Loring Park’s Leash-Free Dog Park opens today.

I am (temporarily) without canine companion, but this is super-excting to me, as a) I’ll have a dog again someday and b) I think the offleash parks are one of the better ideas the Minneapolis parks have done. I loved taking my bassett hound to the leash-free park near lake of the isles.

However… get a license if you take your dog. The fine for not having one is steep (I had a friend who got busted a few years back.

I also know there’s an offleash park near Columbia golf course… anyone else have an offleash favorite?

The 3rd Annual B-Girl Be Summit will be held this weekend, June 28 – July 1, at Intermedia Arts and other venues around Minneapolis.

Building on the last two years’ wildly successful festival, Intermedia Arts is proud to present the third annual B-Girl Be: A Celebration of Women in Hip-Hop, a multimedia festival encompassing the four elements of hip-hop: MCing, DJing, breakdancing, graffiti–and more. The mission of B-Girl Be is to influence and inspire leadership to change the perceptions and roles of women in hip-hop for current and future generations. This annual event is a place to make connections, build confidence, sharpen skills and gain access to the tools to create music, film, poetry, rap, aerosol art and dance.

All the details are at Intermedia Arts’ website. The summit is this weekend, but the exhibition The Art of T&A: Truth and Activism is ongoing at Intermedia Arts through September 9.

The full schedule of summit events is available online. $30 gets you an all-access pass. Other participating venues include Bryant Lake Bowl, the Capri Theater, Fifth Element, Foundation Nightclub, Hennepin Center for the Arts, Jawahiir Studios, and Nomad World Pub.

If i had to pick one event of the summit to attend, it would be the spoken word show on Friday at 10:30pm at Nomad. Because Desdamona is the shit. And one of the founders of B-Girl Be.

(via The Dish)

Originally uploaded by The Tube.

I haven’t made it down to Gold Medal Park yet. I’ve heard good (albeit vague) things. Adrienne at Cafeapolis offers up her views on the look, feel, and function. The synopsis: “admirable but boring.” Thumbs up for more green space downtown. Thumbs down for usability.

She breaks it down pretty well. I’d be interested to hear what other urban planning wonks have to say about it (I’m looking at you, Stephen Gross).

This is the greatest way to preview what this year’s Minnesota Fringe Festival has to offer. The deets:

Monday June 25 and Tuesday June 26 – 7:30pm, doors open at 7:00pm.

The Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413.

Up to 30 Fringe shows will present 3 minutes of their show. Different shows will perform each night.

Cost of admission is the purchase of the 2007 Fringe button, $3. Last year this event sold out, please call the Fringe office to make a reservation, 612-872-1212. Any reserved tickets not picked up 10 minutes prior to the show starting will be released to people waiting in line at the door the night of the show.

Here is the list of shows (PDF) performing during Fringe-For-All.

I just made my reservation.

Fringe is one of my favoritest events of the year. Besides all the great theater, the excitement is in planning your schedule and trucking from venue to venue. The Fringe For All preview ought to help me narrow down my choices so I can more efficiently Fringe.

(Is “Fringe” a verb? I just made it a verb.)

Another great thing about Fringe is the chance to visit a bunch of venues that you may not be familiar with. I’ve never seen the Ritz Theater so that should be cool.

Call now!

My Pride weekend plans consist of the following:

1. Lynx game tonight. Though the team started off 0-7, they’re 3-3 in their last 6 games, including a 25-point drubbing of the Western Conference leader last weekend. Their chances are good against Seattle tonight. Hopefully we’ll get to see the victory dance!
2. The TC Gay Men’s Chorus concert on Saturday night. One of my co-workers is performing. He’s been talking this up for months.
3. The parade down Hennepin and the festival in Loring Park on Sunday. Saw the tents going up yesterday. Hopefully it won’t be too terribly hot.

Of course there are plenty of other events, both formal and informal, going on throughout the weekend. A friend of mine had a piece showing in the GLBT Twin Cities Pride Art Show which opened at The Soap Factory last weekend and runs through July 22.

Your best resources are:

• TC Pride’s website. Find a copy of their pocket-sized folding Pride Guide.
• I’m a huge fan of The Dish. The Dish is where you want to go for lesbians in the know.
• Andy Birkey has some pointers posted at vita.mn. Andy is the most popular gay boy on the Twin Cities internet, so trust him. I wish he Twittered, because I would totally Pride-stalk him.
• The gay people you know. Tag along!

Some other events are listed below. These are somewhat lady-centric, because, you know, I am. If you’ve got something else you’re looking forward to, leave a comment.
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Celebrating 31 seasons of sitting outside to watch local music and classic 1950’s Hollywood melodrama, Summer Music & Movies in Loring Park returns this year with a fantastic lineup.

Film highlights include The Tarnished Angels (with Rock Hudson and Robert Stack) and Imitation of Life (with Lana Turner).

And as always, the bands do not disappoint, with locals The Plastic Constellations, Black Blondie, Robert Skoro and The Knotwells; and international acts including London’s Justin Mount, aka Metronomy, and Belizean Punta group Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective.

So get your friends and family to Loring Park on Mondays, July 16-Aug. 20. Music begins at 7 p.m. Films begin at dusk (8:45ish p.m.) Cancelled if raining.

Here’s the schedule online and in a handy, printable pdf document.

Did I mention FREE?