Appetites: Eating your way down the Green Line
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
James Norton is eating his way down the Green Line.
As editor of The Heavy Table, a daily journal of food and drink in the Upper Midwest, he's undertaking a project that has him reviewing 75 restaurants along the light rail line.
The idea for Norton's "Green Line Checklist" came from a similar project in which Norton, a photographer, an illustrator and a color-commentary writer ate at 55 independent resaturants along Minneapolis' Central Avenue. The response was great, Norton said, and the group got unerwriting support from the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative for its Green Line review project.
Instead of just hitting the highlights, Norton wanted to visit every spot in the corridor. Norton says the project's value is two-fold: It documents diverse neighborhoods that are in a state of transition due to development, and it forces him to get out of the traditional food writer mold of just covering the few hot restaurants at a time.
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
They're a bit past halfway done on the Green Line project, and Norton shared a few of his highlights.
One is Flamingo, an East African restaurant owned by community activists from Ethiopia and Eritrea. Homi, which serves Mexican food, had some of the best enchiladas verdes and flan Norton had ever had.
And at Johnny Baby's, Chef Claudia prepared some excellent fried catfish, Norton said.
He joined All Things Considered host Tom Crann to discuss his "Green Line Checklist" project.
Use the audio player above to hear their entire chat.