Latest news with #JonCheng
Axios
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Axios
Restaurant roundup: Top food critic departs, "dirty soda" comes to St. Louis Park
Minnesota Star Tribune food critic Jon Cheng is stepping down after nearly four years in the role. Cheng, who succeeded longtime critic Rick Nelson in 2021, wrote in his farewell column that he "miss[es] being anonymous" and dining out "without the pressure to overly dissect." Yes, but: While he's leaving the role, he said he'll still be a regular at Twin Cities restaurants. 🥕 Uptown is getting a new plant-based restaurant with a prime rooftop patio. Former Fig + Farro owner Michelle Courtright will open Matriarch in the spot formerly occupied by Amore Uptown and Pinoli in early July, per a release. Also planned for the space: House of Jane, a retail shop with low-dose cannabis offerings from its own line and other products from women-owned companies. ❌ Owamni chef Sean Sherman 's nonprofit NATIFS will shut down Indigenous Food Lab, its quick-service cafe and retail space inside Midtown Global Market, on June 7. The restaurant will reopen inside NATIFS new headquarters in Seward, according to a release. No word yet on an expected date. 🍕 After rumors of its closure following "damages to the space," Wrecktangle Pizza's Wrestaurant at the Palace is officially no more. The spot adjacent to St. Paul's Palace Theatre now has signs for a restaurant called Palace Pub, per the Pioneer Press.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'I miss being anonymous': Star Tribune restaurant critic steps down
'I miss being anonymous': Star Tribune restaurant critic steps down originally appeared on Bring Me The News. Star Tribune restaurant critic Jon Cheng has stepped down following a recent leave of absence. Cheng, who joined the newspaper in 2021 after working as a columnist and restaurant critic in New York, London and Singapore, announced his decision in a Star Tribune column published Tuesday. He reflected on his recent sabbatical, during which he traveled and avoided documenting his dining experiences as a means to "willfully disengage, hoping to restore some of the joy that led to the profession in the first place." "The truth is, I miss being anonymous and without the pressure to overly dissect — I was letting a job define who I was," Cheng wrote. "This time away should give me the chance to embrace the Twin Cities as a food-obsessed ex-critic who will visit restaurants no less frequently, but give them their due in a way that works for me." In his farewell, Cheng admits he's changed his mind about cheese curds – which he once likened to "mozzarella sticks on a tail end of mutation." "The hot and squeaky ones from Mouth Trap, at the State Fair, are excellent. I still don't like walleye, though. Sorry," he concluded. His complete farewell column can be found . Cheng joined the newspaper following an internal move for longtime critic Rick Nelson, who shifted to the architecture department before retiring in 2022. This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Jun 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
