Buzz

Food magazine Bon Appétit recently released its "Top 50 New Restaurants" list, and two Minneapolis eateries made the cut: World Street Kitchen and Borough.
 
Singled out for its cheese-grater light fixtures and mismatched flatware, Borough in the North Loop neighborhood got a nod for bringing together chefs from Travail for an eclectic menu. The magazine advised readers to opt for the cauliflower with pickled chilies and tempura-style oysters.
 
World Street Kitchen, near Uptown, was highlighted for its industrial look and casual style, matched with "straight-up fantastic international street food." Diners should go for the knockout rice bowls, burritos, and affordable prices.
 
Although neither restaurant made the magazine's subsequent Top 10 list, there were still plenty of raves for each eatery's signature dishes.
 

Business magazine Forbes notes that the U.S. economy is showing anemic wage growth and slow recovery from the recession, but the good news is that there are places with strong business climates that are fueled by low costs and educated labor forces.
 
With that in mind, Forbes singled out top locations in its annual list of the Best Places for Business and Careers.
 
Coming in at no. 23 is the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, including Bloomington. The article noted that the Twin Cities are rich with quaint neighborhoods, arts and culture, and natural resources. The median household income, the magazine notes, is about $63,000.
 
Duluth also got a nod, at no. 115 on the list, with a median household income of about $43,000.
 
Topping the list was Des Moines, Iowa, which was highlighted thanks to expansion there by major companies like Wells Fargo, Facebook, and Microsoft.

As a testimony to local food trends, a database from the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal has grown to include 103 food trucks and trailers. 

The database, which can be sorted by various attributes, including “most popular menu item,” also has information about food trucks’ presence on the street and on social media, a story from the Journal states. 

Food truck reporter Urmila Ramakrishnan put it together. “Besides profiling dozens of food trucks, Urmila broke food truck news and found innovators, interesting people and companies that support the industry as the mobile eateries fight turf wars with established brick-and-mortar restaurants and struggle with their own popularity,” the story states.
 

Recently, a CNN news crew spent quite a bit of time visiting local schools and talking with area educators and advocates about the racial achievement gap, according to Minnpost. 

It was for a CNN special, “Great Expectations,” which is part of the ongoing documentary series, “Black in America.” The program airs on Aug. 30. 

The project, led by Soledad O'Brien, looks specifically at the education of black boys, Minnpost reports.

O’Brien raises tough questions about whether charter schools re-segregate children.   

Chris Stewart, executive director of the African American Leadership Forum and a former MPS board member, who was interviewed for the show, sees the show as a way to connect people. “It’s like [O'Brien is] building this network of African-Americans nationwide who are seeing each other do good work,” he says in the piece. 

Travel website and guidebook company Fodor's recently showcased the Twin Cities in its feature, "5 Reasons to Go to Minneapolis Now."
 
The author, Deb Hopewell, noted that the city is an ideal vacation spot thanks to its many parks, bicycling options, restaurant scene, proximity to St. Paul, and arts options.
 
She added that this is probably the best time of year to visit, when the summer heat starts to soften and fall is not far off (she wisely avoids mentioning winter at all).
 
Restaurants highlighted include The Bachelor Farmer, Piccolo, and Aster, and Hopewell points to the revitalized North Loop as a central hub for the robust local food scene. 

In its annual Best Places to Live feature, Money Magazine focused on 50 small U.S. towns that are thriving economically and benefit from strong communities, ample green space, and good schools.
 
Coming in at fourth on the list is Chanhassen, with a population of just over 23,000 and located about 20 miles southwest of Minneapolis.
 
"Chanhassen was affected by Minnesota's woes during the downturn, but the town is bouncing back and taking fresh steps to improve," the article noted, pointing out that the area school district recently rolled out Wi-Fi on school buses and increased classroom tech projects. The town also beefed up commuter options, the article added.
 
One perk of living so close to the Twin Cities, Money stated, is that residents of Chanhassen have access to 34 parks, 90 miles of trails, and proximity to the popular Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Even in the winter, residents know how to make the most of the area, Money added: "When below-zero wind chills set in, there's February Festival with ice-fishing contests, sledding, and cookouts."

Community-supported art, a takeoff on community-supported agriculture, provides locally made art to its members. 

Since its start with the St. Paul-based nonprofit organization Springboard for the Arts, in collaboration with the local artists behind mnartists.org, four years ago, the concept has caught on in a number of cities across the country, the New York Times reports.

It has also taken on new forms as it has sprung up in different places, the story reads.  

“The goal, borrowed from the world of small farms, is a deeper-than-commerce connection between people who make things and people who buy them,” the story reads. 

It helps that many people were already familiar with the CSA model, the story points out.  

For the second year in a row, Haberman, a Minneapolis-based full-service marketing agency, landed on Outside Magazine’s list of the top 100 workplaces nationwide, according to a prepared statement from the publication. 

Haberman, which came in 36^th in the list, stands out for innovative and healthy work-life balance, the statement reads. 

Outside Magazine arrived at its results by looking at company benefits, compensation and policies, job satisfaction, environmental initiatives, and community outreach programs, the statement reads. 

The magazine celebrates companies that “enable employees to pursue active lifestyles while also supporting their social and environmental contributions.”

The potential for a child born in the bottom one-fifth of households by income to rise into the upper one-fifth was the subject of a major Harvard University study, called The Equality of Opportunity Project.
 
Researchers looked at whether tax expenditures from policies such as the Earned Income Tax Credit were effective in reaching the goal of enabling children to rise out of poverty.
 
The results around the nation were very mixed, the researchers noted: "We find substantial variation in mobility across areas." Looking at other additional factors such as K-12 school quality, economic and racial segregation, income inequality, and intergenerational mobility, the researchers were able to create a map of the U.S. highlighting economic mobility by state and major metropolitan areas.
 
In some areas, such as much of the South, upward mobility is extremely unlikely, but Minnesota fared well, according to the map. Of the 100 largest U.S. cities, Minneapolis came in at no. 18 for upward mobility. Salt Lake City was in the top spot, while Memphis was last on the list.

Food and restaurant site Eater.com recently ran a story about The 18 Essential Minneapolis Restaurants, calling the eateries a "highly elite group" that covers the entire city, spans myriad cuisines, and satisfies all of a diner's restaurant needs.
 
The list is continually evolving, the site notes. For example, Sen Yai Sen Lek, Pizzeria Lola, and Fika were rotated off the list "simply because their time has come," according to Eater.com. New to the list this go-round are St. Paul's Meritage, the North Loop's Borough, and Sea Salt in Minnehaha Park.
 
The top three on the list are all south of downtown: Broders' Pasta Bar, Piccolo, and Tilia. There are plenty of Northeast favorites as well, like Brasa Premium Rotisserie and Masu Sushi & Robata.
 
Not surprisingly, the comments section already contains some lively opinions about what other restaurants should be included — and which ones deserved to be kicked off the list.

“The Ultimate Long Weekend in Minneapolis” is the headline of a recent Wall Street Journal story that highlights the city’s attractions. 

The scenic city “may bring to mind parkas before parks, and Vikings before biking, but Minneapolis is as sweet in summer as it is frigid in winter,” with everything from outdoor activities to cultural offerings to take in, it reads. 

The story lays out a step-by-step itinerary for visitors who visit the city for a weekend. Local restaurants like Burch, Icehouse (also an entertainment venue) and Matt’s Bar get a shout-out. The American Swedish Institute, Forage Modern Workshop, and the Walker Art Center also get props, as do a number of theaters, shops, and parks.  

ActiveTimes.com recently ranked the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis as the nation’s top bike path, CBS Minnesota reports. USA Today picked up the story.   

The over-five-mile-long trail sees up to 5,000 people daily. “It runs right through the center of Minneapolis with little interruption from street traffic or pedestrians,” the story reads. 

On the path, ActiveTimes says, riders get views of the Mississippi River, the Chain of Lakes, and the Martin Sabo suspension bridge. And the site takes note of the fact that many people take the bike path to work. 

To come up with its results, ActiveTimes evaluated “whether the path allows you to skip traffic while at the same time giving you a view of nature.”

Minnesota's manufacturing scene is rife with innovation and productivity, according to a recent study.
 
The 2013 Manufacturing and Logistics Report Card, prepared by an economics professor at Ball State University, ranked Minnesota high on a state-by-state analysis of manufacturing climates.
 
The state excels when it comes to obtaining manufacturing patents and spending on research and development. Also, Minnesota's high-quality labor force put the state ahead of others in the country, giving us a competitive advantage and making Minnesota attractive for relocation.
 
About 10 percent of Minnesota's economy depends on manufacturing, and the abundance of local talent garnered through access to university laboratories and nonprofit research activities plays a part in the state's manufacturing strength, the study noted.

U.S. News & World Report recently released it annual Best Hospitals list, and five Minnesota hospitals were ranked high in terms of performance.
 
Coming in at no. 3 in the ranking, Rochester-based Mayo Clinic was highlighted in numerous categories, nabbing the "best" designation for specialties like endocrinology, gastroenterology, gynecology, and diabetes care.
 
The other four hospitals that made the list are Allina Abbott Northwestern Hospital, the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Allina Mercy Hospital, and St. John's Hospital.
 
The magazine sorted data for nearly 5,000 U.S. hospitals, looking at factors like patient safety, hospital reputation, and death rates. Only 147 hospitals were nationally ranked.

Minneapolis is a highly inventive city on an international level, according to a recent Forbes study. 

Forbes used a metric called “patent intensity” to come up with a list of the 15 most inventive cities across the globe. 

Minneapolis came in ninth place, as it produced 5.06 patent applications for every 10,000 residents, according to the magazine. 

Eindhoven, in the Netherlands, topped the list, while Raleigh, North Carolina, rounded it out.