It’s all about the bridge. When the new St. Croix Crossing finally opened last August, just south of Stillwater, it transformed the town.
You used to stand on Main Street and watch truck after truck clog the downtown streets, after crossing the famously slow lift bridge that has connected Minnesota to Wisconsin since 1931. Now that the new bridge has diverted those trucks a mile south, downtown Stillwater once again belongs to the people who actually want to be there—not frazzled commuters waiting to get home. Main Street feels more like Main Street. (The historic lift bridge, by the way, will reopen in 2019 as a bike and pedestrian bridge—very on trend!)
Stills was already a culinary destination. I tasted my first bite of seared foie gras on a visit to the original Stillwater version of La Belle Vie. Maybe we don’t need to mention the rumor that the Lowell Inn was ground zero for the grape salad debacle in The New York Times (it’s still not our “state Thanksgiving dish”).
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Photos by Caitlin Abrams
Oysters from Pearl and the Thief
Oysters from Pearl and the Thief.
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Exterior of Pearl and the Thief
Pearl and the Thief has completely rehabbed the old Pub 112 space. Using both levels to create multiple event spaces, the owners kept the bones and brick that define the old building.
But we should mention that across the street from the Lowell, a newish basement speakeasy called The Velveteen crafts fine cocktails. Brick & Bourbon, on Main, has created a sensation by smoking ice and smoking drinks. LoLo’s American Kitchen & Craft Bar remains the best modern tavern in town, and the two-level Pearl and the Thief opened hot, with its beachy vibe and seafood menu.
Add to that two new hotels. The first, Hotel Lora, opened in June after a $13.5 million renovation on the old Joseph Wolf Brewing Company and surrounding buildings. Its 40 modern rooms showcase deep water tones and restored limestone walls, and parts of the hotel stretch into the old brewing caves. (The old Vittorio’s restaurant, in the same space, always seemed . . . damp). The hotel brings a new chef-driven restaurant called Feller, and a cocktail bar known as The Long Goodbye.
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Bison burger and fries from Feller at Hotel Lora
The bison burger at Feller looks too good for room service. The idea at Hotel Lora is to serve visitors and locals alike.
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Feller interior and Long Goodbye cocktail bar at Hotel Lora
Hotel Lora’s eatery Feller is attached to its cocktail bar known as The Long Goodbye (an established social ritual in Minnesota).
The second boutique hotel, opening in September, will be called Crosby Hotel. This property, developed by The After Midnight Group that owns the local party-bar chain Cowboy Jack’s, will have 55 rooms and include another restaurant and even a rooftop pool. Investors seem to have wakened to the commercial possibilities in these historic buildings. Still on deck: a distillery called Forge & Foundry; a distillery/restaurant from LoLo and 45th Parallel; and a TBD restaurant that will take over one of the town’s oldest watering holes, Brine’s.
North Loop? No, Stillwater.
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