Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl

The Path

Training at Stuyvesant High School and Carleton College gave Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl a foundation of rigor and curiosity before her professional work moved into print and broadcast. From there, she built a career across titles and formats, with the same central discipline running through each role: turning lived detail into writing that holds. At City Pages in Minneapolis–St. Paul (1995–2008), she worked as writer for more than a decade, developing the observational stamina and editorial voice that would carry through the rest of her career. That period placed her inside a changing local food and culture scene, where the city itself became part of the reporting. At Minnesota Monthly in Minnesota (2008–2012), she moved into the combined role of senior editor and restaurant reviewer/feature writer, pairing editorial judgment with scene-level reporting. During those same years, she was also editor-in-chief at Real Food (2008–2012), extending her range while staying focused on food, culture, and the people who move through both. The work widened further at Delta Sky Magazine (2012–2020), where she was writer in a national travel context, applying the same attention to place, movement, and hospitality. From 2012, she also became host at WCCO radio in Minneapolis, bringing the work into live conversation and giving her reporting a spoken register. The role added immediacy, but not a new subject: the same habits of noticing and recording remained intact. Since 2012, she has been senior writer of Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, continuing the long documentation of the region she began in the 90s. She is also weekly guest of Chad Hartman Show and occasional guest of Minnesota Public Radio. Across those platforms, the craft stays consistent: to observe carefully, describe plainly, and preserve what might otherwise be lost.

The Work Today

Note-taking is the core technique here. For Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, it is not a side habit or a preliminary step; it is the method that shapes the work. What began in Minneapolis–St. Paul in the 90s became a way to keep a record of restaurants, rhythms, and disappearing habits before they slipped out of view. The work that comes from that method is built for retention. It gives shape to the everyday, then asks it to endure.

In Their Words “So I was just like, well I better put this in a way that someone can put it on the shelf.” “I made a whole life, and eventually I was like, holy moly, this stuff is vanishing.”