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

Would I be happier if I lived in the Tanek-designed $1,000,000 Penthouse at Harvester Lofts? Hmm, if home is where you hang your hat and home is where the heart is then my heart will be happy wherever I hang my hat. Right?

I choose Harvester Lofts $1,000,000 penthouse, now For Sale by Edina Realty.

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.

The National Council for Interior Design Qualification defines Interior Design as a multi- faceted profession in which creative and technical solutions are applied within a structure to achieve a built interior environment.

That sounds serious.

Even more serious, perhaps, is the scope of services required of the interior designer: Safety is an essential element.

Safety.

The interior designer’s concepts must be safe, functional, aesthetically appropriate AND must meet all public health, safety and welfare requirements. So basically, these people are left and right brainers. Lucky for us! Imagine a world full of just left brain designers:

Blech.

Now, imagine a world of Jessica-brains:

Jessica Meidinger has passed her NCIDQ exam and is now a card-carrying, certified interior designer. Here is proof:

Because she is a left-brainer, she actually counted her study hours – 240 in 3 months. And because she didn’t think that was torture enough, she also trained for Grandma’s Marathon – 183 miles of running.

She wears that medal every day.