Ask Me Anything

(VIDEO) How Do I Pair Beer With a Meal?

A west metro beer expert gives Patch some tips on eating with beer!

For many people, beer is best served alongside a brat or a burger. Or maybe with a freshly grilled steak or recently caught fish.  But Bryan Buser, manager of The Four Firkins, a specialty beer store in St. Louis Park, thinks beer offers as many gourmet opportunities as fine wine.  Looking for a beer to complement your cheese? Maybe you want to wow your friends with a grown-up version of a root beer float? Perhaps you want to pair a pasta dish with something heartier than wine? Bryan was happy to share with us just a few of the options that can enhance both food and drink.

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Fresh Mozzarella Made to Order

This west metro chef shows us how he makes fresh mozzarella.

Vittorio Renda is very excited about the food at Mozza Mia, but he is especially proud of his Mozzarella Caprese. This simple looking dish—made of fresh mozzarella, basil and tomatoes—is pretty common fare at many Italian restaurants. But according to Vittorio, nowhere else in the metro area serves mozzarella 15 minutes after it has been made on premises.

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(VIDEO): When Pig Met Scallop

Spasso's bacon-wrapped scallops are a gourmet appetizer.

Chuck Laster, Sous Chef at Spasso Italian Restuarant, took some time to show us one of their delicious specialty appetizers. Bacon-wrapped scallops are quick to prepare, simple to cook, and offer big, complex, flavor in a small package.

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Ask Me Anything

(VIDEO) How Do I Fix a Flat Bike Tire?

Rich Sherman, bike expert, shows us how in our weekly Ask Me Anything.

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Superstar Next Door

(VIDEO) Slicing Her Way To The Top

Johanna Thill placed sixth at February's U.S. National Juniors Fencing Championships.

Seven years ago, Johanna Thill was playing pirates with her brother’s friends and couldn’t understand why they were so much better than her. When the boys explained that they took fencing classes at Minnesota Sword Club, Thill decided to check out the sport for herself. The Chanhassen student’s swordsmanship has come a long way since then. This February, she placed sixth in the under-20 division at the U.S. National Juniors Championships. Thill, now 17, said she enjoys the speed and intensity of saber competition, her chosen form of fencing. She also likes that smaller athletes can use superior skill to beat larger opponents . “If I’m fencing boys, I try to hit on the wrist a lot because it’s a closer target and I’m shorter than most of …

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Fish Out of Water

(VIDEO) From a TV Lover to a TV Installer

Minnetonka Patch editor Katelynn Metz tries her hand at new occupations in the west metro.

I love television. All kinds. News. Cop dramas. Reality. Game shows. Soaps. I know the well-worn buttons of my TV remote by heart and can switch between shows like a master channel flipper. It’s actually one of my most admired talents (so I'm told). So it seemed natural that I do something television related for this segment. I’m almost as comfortable around TV cables as I am TV remotes. In fact, I was the kid who used to take apart the Betamax as a kid, just for fun. (I can’t believe I just admitted that). But as it happens, cable installation is much more than just fiddling with cables. It’s actually quite physical, dirty and complicated.  In the course of the hour-long Comcast installation, we shoveled dirt, dug in the mud, threaded …

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Superstar Next Door

Rugby Players Compete For Love of the Game

Each week, James Warden profiles a different amateur sports team in the west metro.

By the time most American athletes are in high school, they have years of experience with their sport. Not so for rugby. Hopkins Rugby is filled with players whose experience with the sport ranges from moderate to none at all. Team Captain Marty Broberg has played just four years. Yet their relative newness to the sport is just one more piece of evidence that these athletes are truly playing for the love of the game. The Hopkins girls rugby team launched in 1999, while the boys team began in 2001. The teams remain club sports, not part of the high school. To Americans, whose contact sport of choice uses a slightly more elongated ball, rugby is filled with a dictionary full of strange terms: Scrum, lineout, ruck, backline, gate. But the …

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Fish Out of Water

(VIDEO) Local Journalist turned Hairdresser

Every week our Minnetonka Patch editor takes on a new job in the west metro.

Times are tough, the economy is struggling and many west metro locals are looking for ways to cut back—myself included.  As I shelled out almost $30 for a simple kid’s trim at one of those sports-themed children’s hair boutiques recently, it occurred to me: trimming my budget could be as simple as trimming my own family’s hair. (And by family I mean everyone except me.) I quickly calculated that this snipping scheme could save the Metz clan more than $500 every year!  So off to the Internet I went, in search of the answers to my do-it-yourself hairdo questions. Unfortunately the World Wide Web was unable to unlock the secrets to kid's hair cutting—although I did learn that the FLOWBEE Vacuum Haircut System now costs more than $100. Plan B…

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I'll Take the Roast Beef Sandwich

Neighbors Eatery & Saloon in Albertville serves up a meal of a sandwich.

"You have vegetables, bread and potatoes and gravy," explains Head Chef Donnie Handeland. "It stands on its own." He's talking about Neighbors Eatery & Saloon's famous Roast Beef Sandwich, a staple of the restaurant's menu. It's an open-faced combination of roast beef, mashed potatoes, mushrooms, onions, provolone cheese and sourdough bread, all slathered with homemade gravy. "It's a full meal right there," Handeland said. Owners Joe Holtz and Joe Stafsholt decided to enter the restaurant business on somewhat of a whim. Holtz was driving a truck in the 2010 Albertville Friendy City Days Parade when he saw the location for sale. The rest is history. Since opening its doors in November, Neighbors has been an Albertville hotspot, getting rave…

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Jon Collins

7:45 am on Friday, April 22, 2011

Jack, We do some of these videos as collaborations between West Metro Patches because they might be of regional interest. That means SW Mpls won't always be the weekly feature. If you have suggestions about SW Mpls locations to feature, let us know.   more ›

Ask Me Anything

(VIDEO) How to Do a Spin Wheel Kick in Karate?

Jeff Sidner of the South Minneapolis National Karate School tells us how he got into karate and gives us a couple tips on form.

Did you grow up idolizing one of the many versions of The Karate Kid? In this week's Ask Me Anything, Jeff Sidner, senior director of South Minneapolis National Karate school, shows us how to do a spin wheel kick. Sidner got into karate in 1989. Karate boosted his confidence and taught him how to avoid dangerous situations. In 2000, he ranked fifth in the black belt heavyweight division of the North American Sport Karate Association. He's currently the top-ranked regional competitor in fighting and forms in the over-30 division. 'Ask Me Anything' runs every Wednesday. If you know of experts in your community that we should talk to, please don't hesitate to let us know.

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