Debra Keefer Ramage
Debra Keefer Ramage began writing freelance for Southside Pride in 2012, shortly after returning from a 13-year sojourn in England. She covers progressive politics, education, co-ops and neighborhoods. In 2017 she started doing Southside Pride’s restaurant review column, The Dish.
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Openings and closings We usually start with these, as they have been numerous in the upheaval since 2020 (and were even pretty frequent before then, due to economic chaos). But things seem to be leveling off, so I may drop this practice. The only notable closing…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Winter and holiday things, both new and traditional Here is your winter 2023-24 guide to holiday and winter-related events and things to do. Just like last year, this is a streamlined list, with the same limits. To wit: for online ticket sales, we provide the name…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Breaking it down This edition of “Gracefully” will focus on what elders, especially those living solo, need in order to thrive, and ways to satisfy those needs with resources available in south Minneapolis. We’re breaking down the needs into five categories; they’re not the usual categories,…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Openings, closings, and other local news Venture Bikes and Coffee, open on the Midtown Greenway at 10th Avenue where the Midtown Freewheel was before the 2020 upheaval, is a new coffee shop and bike shop combo. This is from the team behind Venture North; essentially…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE There are lots of fun things to do, see, eat, drink and buy in the area around 28th Avenue South and East 42nd Street. Some are new, while others have been around forever, and we are just now getting around to highlighting them. One fairly new…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE What does the internet say? I don’t watch TV anymore, so I never see TV news; I never did listen to the radio much and I can’t afford the Strib. How do I stay so well-informed, you ask? I have learned to maximize the internet. It’s…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Here’s your yearly update on how things are going at Midtown Global Market and its nearby environs. I visited the Market in mid-September, and I hate to start out on a sad note, but it was partly to say goodbye to two businesses I heard were…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Identity housing scandal This fall, as students flock to Dinkytown to inhabit the new high rises, low rises and co-ops that have been built in the last few years, a scandal is unfolding. (I’m the only one calling it that, so I had to drop the…
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By Debra Keefer Ramage Content warning A while back I reviewed a place that was not only a chain (small and local, but still a chain) but it was in Rochester, Minnesota. Nobody complained, so this month I am going to push the envelope even more with a mini-review of…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Whither George Floyd Square? In May, the Minneapolis Spokesman-Recorder wrote about George Floyd Square, the headline stating that it “remains a work in progress.” That is certainly true. The opening sentence of the piece is a bit more controversial: “In the three years since the murder…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE I found myself visiting Kowalski’s, the one on Chicago Avenue they call the Parkview store, after a long absence. In those occasional rankings of local grocery stories, Kowalski’s comes out as a paradox. When considering prices, it is the most expensive chain of grocery stores in…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Cafes and coffee shops I visited a couple of places on Selby Avenue but barely scraped the surface of the classic or quirky coffee shops, patisseries and breakfast cafes that dot the length of Selby. In a single day, a friend and I had lunch at…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Openings, closings and pivots There are two Minneapolis closings to announce: Psycho Suzi’s tiki lounge cocktail club in Northeast Minneapolis, and the vegan restaurant Seed Cafe, attached to Modo Yoga on West Lake Street. Also, The Good Earth, a trailblazer in healthy dining when it opened…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE I’ve known Sam for almost three years now. Even though electoral organizing is not my favorite thing or my highest priority, I thought his (and others) idea to start a Democratic Socialist Caucus (DSC) within the DFL was a good one, and I’ve been involved with…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Art, movies, games and Korean fried chicken Grand Avenue in St. Paul is known for trendy bars, popular restaurants and upscale retail, as well as dignified old apartment buildings mixed in with the single-family homes and duplexes that predominate. But there are other, less-apparent gems, some…
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