Hello everyone! Welcome to a “sweet” Twitterview with the owner of @MojoDonuts, Lisa Clark. Lets get to tweeting!

So Lisa, lets get to know a little bit about you. Where did you grow up and go to school? @MojoDonuts

Lisa:    I grew up in both New Orleans and Minneapolis. I lived in N’awlins for 11 years….

That’s why Beignets are in my blood! I went to high school in New Orleans. Some college but I kept changing majors.

I see. So when you were a child and in your teen years, what did you think you wanted to be when you grew up?

Lisa:    When I was really young I wanted to be a lawyer. I believe donuts were a much better decision.

A battle of loopholes vs donut holes? :) So when did your interest in baking start for you?

Lisa:    I can remember as young as kindergarten having an interest….

The first thing I learned was how to fry an egg when I was 6 years old. From there it was onward and upwards.

Lets then move forward to today. When and how did the idea of a donut shop come to you Lisa?

Lisa:    Well, it is a culmination of things. First, my oldest daughter doesn’t like cake…

Every year on her birthday we would have donuts to celebrate instead of cake…

I never found great donuts in the Twin Cities and always thought great donuts need to be more accessible…

On my trips to Seattle I really felt inspired by their great donut culture….

That inspiration combined with my experience at Breadsmith made me think I could make this happen here in the cities.

Interesting. So how did you come to be at the location that you’re at in St.Paul? First choice?

Lisa:    I’ve always loved St. Paul. I actually had been looking for about a year and was very excited when this spot opened up…

I have a wonderful ad agency that actually did the research on the space for me…

I had a list of things that were important to me and they gave the thumbs up that this space met the criteria.

Wonderful!  What the story behind the name of your donut shop?  How did you come up with it?

Lisa:    My two youngest children actually named the shop..

It comes from their love of monkeys and a villain named Mojo JoJo from the cartoon series the Powerpuff Girls.

Great story! :) You offer a number of unique flavors of donuts. What made you go beyond the norm of choc/glazed?

Lisa:    That’s how we like to eat at home and I hoped that customers would like it too. So far, so good! :)

What are your 3 most popular donuts, and what kind of flour do you use in baking?

Lisa:    Raised ring with chocolate ganache, mango glaze and coconut ring and any of the fritters (apple or banana pecan)…

Bakers Patent, Pastry and Whole Wheat Flour…

And we have plans to start using locally sourced flour and dairy in the near future.

Awesome! Do you do curlers, eclairs, jelly filled or cream filled donuts? Do you think you’ll ever do breads?

Lisa:    Yes and yes! We do all the above except éclairs. We do have a cream filled Bismarck similar to an éclair though…

Customers can special requests. We have filled quite a few already…

We don’t ever want to say never, but breads aren’t on our current horizon

Lots of people like coffee with their donut. What brands and flavors do you offer?

Lisa:    We offer an entire organic fair trade coffee bar with all sorts of upgrades and sweet additions…

The beans are roasted locally by B&W coffee roasters.

Lots of donut talk gets me hungry! :) What are your hours of operation for when people can come for your tasty treats?

Lisa:    Tuesday-Friday 5:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday-Sunday 6:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Thank you for your time today Lisa! Read more about her and other MN donut shops on @MNMOmag here – Article

Lisa:    My pleasure Joel! Stop by sometime and give us a try!

Some may be disappointed by the recent news of Dunkin Donuts having no plans for moving into the Twin Cities market. While it would be great to have them as another option for donuts, there is a new donut shop in St. Paul that is bound to hit the spot for many when it comes to great tasting donuts.  At the beginning, I will say that I’m more of a fan of raised donuts as opposed to cake donuts, but I do like trying new things, and especially sweets, so here goes my donut journey!

I had heard a lot of “buzz” about this new donut shop in St. Paul called Mojo Monkey Donuts, and I even had conducted a Twitterview (Interview done on Twitter) with the owner, Lisa Clark, which made me even MORE tempted to try out this new place in St.Paul. So one day in January on my way back from a Social Media Breakfast that was held at the Twin Cities Public Television studios, I stopped in at the  Mojo Monkey Donuts shop to try it out for myself.

On entering the shop, it has a feel of a bakery that has been there in that location for years. The color scheme and style of the shop gives it a real aged-St.Paul feel. Just perfect for that neighborhood.  I wanted to try a few different things, so I ordered a few of the Pumpkin Egg Nog donut holes, a banana cream bismark and an apple donut. The donut holes were nice and light and sweet tasting. Eating the bismark was like jumping into a vat of sweetness and not wanting to get out of it. The banana flavor was strong but not overpowering and the donut itself was soft and fluffy. Perfect! A wonderful sweet experience! The apple donut with cinnamon was good too.

Overall, I would visit again when I was in their neighborhood. How could I make an excuse not to go? They offer a variety of donuts for you to choose from, and you’ll have more to choose from the earlier you arrive. They go fast from what I hear, and I can tell why by how well they tasted. Make plans to visit there yourself so that you can take in the “hole experience” of Mojo Monkey Donuts. A sweet retreat in St.Paul!

Good Thursday morning to everyone. Welcome to today’s #jectv Twitterivew with Jeremy Iggers. We’ll talk about food, himself & the TC’s.

Joel:    To begin with. Where did you grow up and go to school? What was your focus growing up?

Jeremy:    Didn’t really get into food until my college years, traveling around the world.

I grew up all over – Arkansas, Louisiana, Chicago, Buffalo, and a couple of years overseas in France and Germany

A traveling man! :)  So how did you get started in writing about food?

Jeremy:    I came to MN to go to grad school in philosophy, and thought it would be fun to review restaurants as a hobby.

I found a room in an apartment in Dinkytown, and one of my roommates turned out to be the first editor of TC Reader!

I showed him – DR Martin – some sample reviews, and he hired me – but I had no idea what I was doing.

But there weren’t a lot of pro restaurant critics in 1976. Three years later, the Minneapolis Star hired me freelance.

Back in those days, the local restaurant scene was pretty bad – hardly any ethnic restaurants, just meat and potatoes.

So you got to “pioneer” an industry that was changing locally. When would you say the “shift” happened locally?

Jeremy:    The shift really hit in the 80s, I went to work for the Detroit Free Press, but got hired back in 84 by the Star

Lots of new restaurants opened in that era, both haute cuisine, and ethnic – big explosion of Vietnamese places.

There was a lot of national food media, too – Julia Child, Craig Claiborne, Pierre Franey, that drove local interest

I see. So you were with the @StarTribune up until when, and when did you start your food website?

Jeremy:    I was with the Strib until 2007, mostly reviewing restaurants. I left in 2007, and started http://TCFoodies.com in 2009

The restaurant scene changed dramatically over those years – first Vietnamese, then everything else Szechuan

Northern Italian, Ethiopian, Korean, Thai, plus a lot of new more authentic Mexican restaurants

And of course a lot of interesting haute and nouvelle cuisine places – Quatre Amis, Aquavit, etc., etc.

The food options have been really expanding in the Twin Cities. What happened with www.tcfoodies.com yesterday?

Jeremy:    We moved TCFoodies to a new home as part of the Twin Cities Daily Planet, now @tcdailyplanet.net/tcfoodies.

It’s a great fit – TCDailyPlanet – which I started w. friends in 2005 – has lots of food content & great interactivity

Our motto is Fresh Food News Daily, and we’ll be dishing up food stories that you can’t find anywhere else.

What kind of sharing will people find on the website? (i.e Reviews? Cooking tips? Trends?)

Jeremy:    Like Lu Lippold, a terrific blogger – every Tuesday. Check out her recent story about Candyland : http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/column/lu-lippold/saint-pauls-tiny-candyland-stands-corporate-snack-giants

Anybody can have their own blog on the Daily Planet – and we want new blogging partners. Contact me.

We’ll also feature lots of food and restaurant stories from our ethnic, neighborhood and community media partners…

Sounds like a good site for people to bookmark on their web browser! Will you be a contributor as well?

Jeremy:    Yup! My column will appear every Wednesday – here’s the one I posted yesterday:  http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/blog/jeremy-iggers/what-i-learned-north-coast-nosh

I almost forgot to mention – we have a new weekly TCFoodies newsletter – go to http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/subscribe to sign up.

To close, what’s your “Big Picture” for your foodies website?

Jeremy:    I’m excited about it. It’s going to be a place for foodies to share info about everything food policy & healthy eating

to fine dining and gastronomic adventures. And we’re hoping to add special foodie events as well…

Joel:    Super! It’s going to be exciting to watch, especially for all of the Twin Cities “foodies” out there. Have a great day!

Jeremy:    Thanks! The tcfoodies link hasn’t completely transferred yet, so go to http://tcdailyplanet.net/foodies instead. Happy Eating!

When you think of eating downtown in the Twin Cities, do you think of Minneapolis first? Come on, be honest? Maybe you think of St. Paul, but I wonder how many do. You really need to if you don’t.  St. Paul has a lot to offer beyond the Excel Energy Center, the St. Paul Science Museum and the Ordway Theater. It has a good number of places to eat as well. One of which is The Liffey, just kitty corner from the Excel Energy Center.

Frickles

The Liffey is one of 4 pubs operated by Cara Irish Pubs. The others are Cooper in St. Louis Park, The Local & Kieran’s in downtown Minneapolis. It’s got a nice and comfortable feel inside when you arrive. Even though it’s attached to the Holiday Inn in St. Paul, you don’t necessarily notice or “feel” that. Back in July of 2011, it was given fresh look inside and out, and so you have a number of seating options available to you to choose from. If  you’re looking for something private or secluded, there’s the “Nook” space which provides you with a more intimate space to eat and talk in for a small group. Then there’s the booths along the windows that you can eat at, similar looking and feel as if you were riding on a train.  There are also some high-stools and counters near the piano area for another kind of eating and social engagement with other fellow customers.

A 1/2 order of Fish

As an Irish Pub, they have a good deal of brews and drinks for you to try, as well as a good number of menu options sure to fill your appetite, whether your looking for a little or a lot to eat.  On my lunchtime visit, I tried a 1/2 order of their fried fish with an order of their “frickles”, deep fried sweet-pickle chips.  What a treat!  The fish is good with a nice coating on i,t so that the fish had good flavor and was great for dipping into the tartar sauce that’s provided. The lightly oiled salad that came along with it was also very tasty and fresh. Next were the “frickles”. I would HIGHLY recommend them for your first or next visit to The Liffey. They’re sweet, juicy and delicious. Especially with the dipping sauce that comes with the oder. They’re sliced a little bit on the thick side for me, I’d actually prefer them to be a little thinner, but the taste was great!

The look, feel and the food at The Liffey shouldn’t be missed. So the next time you’re in or near downtown St. Paul, give The Liffey a try. Your stomach with thank you!

A few weeks ago I went out for dinner to get some good, high quality food for take-out. No “golden arches” or making a “run across the border” for me. I was willing to wait for my food to be prepared by hand and not have my order be ready in 2 minutes or less.  Instead, I was willing to wait for a good meal to take home with me.

For me, looking at a menu and deciding what I want to eat can at times be a real chore, especially if my literal and emotional “gut” are not telling me something specific that they’re craving. So I looked at Yum’s menu and decided on the ground chuck burger, without onions, and of course I had to get it with an order of their highly rated french fries. I just LOVE the sauces that they provide you to dip them in!  So after making my order, I waited for it and then brought it home to become my dinner. (Eating a few fries on the ride home. Couldn’t resist!)

In no way am I a burger expert of a burger aficionado,  but when I took my first bite of my medium-well ground chuck burger, it was really good! It had good flavor and was placed on a very good bun. A restaurant or cafe can have the best meat, but the bun really can help with the flavor and eating experience, or crush the experience all together. In this case, it was a good complimentary bun for the burger. The meat itself had good flavor and wasn’t too greasy either. I’d recommend it to those looking for a good burger experience.

So while Yum Kitchen and Bakery may be more known for their baked goods and french fries, be sure to try their burgers, you won’t be disappointed!