Circa 1979 Bridgeman’s in Richfield, Minn had the typical children’s menus/place mats/coloring page but I knew of no other restaurant (I was seven years old) that had the light-up order number panel over the swinging kitchen door.

I always chose Chicken Dinner #7. It was merely a beautiful coincidence that it was the same number on the children’s menu/place mat/coloring page as my age. When that number lit up, you knew the waitress was about to bust through the door with your plate.

I will delete that memory from my cache as soon as that tired old hole is gutted.

Pizza Lucé is signing the closing papers this week (yay!!) and hope to have their newest restaurant open mid-Summer (YAY!!).

I love Richfield (thank you Academy of the Holy Angels for allowing me to graduate despite the multiple “infractions”) but, let’s keep it real: Richfield needs some serious help, it looks a little bit like a hangover.

Can Tanek + Pizza Lucé bring Richfield back to the post WWII optimism that it was built on? (Waving a flag, saluting) Y-E-S! A thousand times, yes. I can’t wait. And neither can all of those Holy Angels students with off-campus privileges. (Is that still a thing??)

I’ve watched those DQ workers operating the soft-serve machine. I’ve sensed how superior they feel. I’ve always longed for that power. But no more… thanks to (yo)gurt[lab] I can soft serve myself. MYSELF. MUHWAHAHAA!!

Let’s see… I pull a lever, frozen yogurt magically oozes forth into my bowl, I spoon fresh toppings on it and I don’t have to hand it over to someone else and take their grubby money? AND all of this is in a room that is so clean I could (if I had to) perform surgery? How does Tanek make everything better??

What are you waiting for?? GO!! 3100 Excelsior Blvd, Minneapolis

I was thumbing through a recent edition of Finance & Commerce (shut up, it’s totally true) and something caught my eye: An article (more of a list, really) about the restaurant-rush of 2011—a quote from Andrea Christenson, vice president with the local office of St. Louis-based Cassidy Turley sums it up perfectly, “I’ve never seen this much restaurant activity. It’s just crazy.”

That’s right. Crazy.

And just who laps up the sweet nectar of this fortuitous/delicious upswing? Well, we do. The economy may be shaky but a girls gotta eat and sometimes the crock pot is too tired to plug itself in.

Two of Tanek’s projects are on the list: the always-packed Lowry and the soon to be always-packed, Bar Louie.

Rick shared something private with his readers: A nerdy hobby that involves trolling vintage Minnesota Historical Society archives. Nerdy? Maybe. Voyeuristic? Undoubtedly. But who am I to judge? I am in a serious relationship with 10,000 pounds of letterpress equipment.

Rick’s nerdy hobby led him to the Grand Hotel. Specifically, the lobby. (the Six15 Room) More specifically, the lobby (re)designed by Tanek. Rick is a food savant – complex dishes are like poetry to his palate – but his other senses gobble up the surroundings:

He says of the new lounge, “The results are more than a guest amenity; it’s the kind of big-city hangout that I imagine locals will be happy to frequent.”

Tom Horgen’s Crooked Pint review begins with a confession, “I didn’t think I was going to like the Crooked Pint Ale House.”

Um, scary!

But read on!

He swallows his words like a chorizo corn dog (a Crooked Pint delight). What follows is a list of six things that surprised him – number one on the list: The New Look. Yes, the layout has Tanek written all over it.

…Is it just me or has Tanek had their hands all over the hippest new restaurants in town??