Shutterstock
Coffee Mug Silhouette Sunrise
Cuppa.
Not just in the daylight-hours-per-day scenario, but in all of this (gestures wildly about the room). Winter can feel dark, and a pandemic winter in a third rotation can feel downright inky. And while this month is usually set aside for big renewal, sometimes it's the burning small dreams that help get us through: there can be a CSA in your future, maybe you need a career change that puts you near pine paneling in a lake town, or maybe it's just the promise of new drinks and better days ahead. Keep going.
NEWS
\\ So. This week the two city mayors created some mandates that basically mean, as of Jan. 19, you have to be vaxed or PCR tested to eat in Minneapolis or St. Paul restaurants. Mayor Carter said kids under 5 (who are not yet eligible for the vax) are exempt from the rule. Mayor Frey, who's initial rule said those kids would need to be tested, said today that they will change it to match St. Paul's exemption. AND THEN, yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down Prez Biden's vaccine mandate for workers, which forced the mayors to do some more mandate editing. So now, the diners must be vaxed or negative to eat, but the workers who are still under the full-time mask mandates from last week, don't have to be. It's not NOT confusing.
Bottom line: the restaurants and workers could use your patronage to get through this bummer slump, whether that's through takeout or vax card in hand. They're just trying to do their best to survive, like the rest of us.
\\ OBVI, this is a perfect time to jump in to owning a whole restaurant. Let's just make it a whole supper club, in a bucolic lake town! The Indianhead Supper Club in charming Balsalm Lake, WI is for sale. Just $550K and a knowledge of filberts required.
OPENS
+ 3LECHE (or say it: tres leche) has formally launched at The Food Building. The libations lab being run by the former Colita/Martina bar team of Marco Zappia, Dustin Nguyen, and Adam Witherspoon is up and running with some mad science that has, wait for it: no booze. Check out their Proxy Bar pop-ups on Fridays this month to see how good not drinking can be (and get ready for a nice long conversation with these lads in the February issue coming out soonish!) Tickets are $25 for snacks and sips of innovative dry cocktails and beverages from more than a dozen local producers, from 5-8pm each Friday in January, proof of vax required.
+ Pa Tea & Poke is now open in the former PinkU space in Northeast. The woman-owned small business, specializes in Taiwanese bubble tea and poke bowls, and is offering a BOGO 50% off on the whole menu this weekend to say HI.
+ Have we said that Salad Slayer is now open at Potluck in Rosedale? The totally metal salad counter is the cold take of Josh Hedquist, of Joey Meatballs. The menu offers a build your own option, along with signature creations like the Sota Sweety (with spinach, cranberries, and sweet potato) or the Crispy Chicken Caesar with shaved Brussels in the mix.
+ Good to know, Ann Ahmed's Khaluna is now open for takeout ordering! Just in time to warm your gut on a snowy day.
CLOSES
- Huge bummer, Mucci's Trattoria in Uptown is calling it quits. The St. Paul location remains open and will honor gift cards. The last brunch service in Uptown will be this weekend, and the final service will be Jan. 29. Owner Tim Niver, and real warrior during this pandemic, stated it best: Goonies never say die.
COMING SOON
>> West Indies Soul Food, your State Fair sweet potato pie favorite, is hoping to set up shop in St. Paul. Sharon Richards-Noel, the gifted and soulful woman behind the pie, is looking for a little help to secure a spot in the Brownstones building, which will also help her implement her Elevate Youth program. Check out her funding page and let's get this woman some walls.
>> Billy Sushi is bringing it up to the next level, or down, really. Billy After Dark will be the basement level cocktail bar launching in May, underneath the popular North Loop sushi spot. With an entrance from the alley, the lower level bar will seat around 50 and feature light bites and desserts as well as drinks. A-Rod is for sure going to be there.
>> Bear Cave Brewing is a classy new brewery coming to the Main Street of downtown Hopkins. Right next to the Stages Theater, the brewery is being built out of an old tire shop. It's a slick project with three floors, a rooftop deck, basement bar with drinks on tap, and a full kitchen centered on a pizza oven. They hope to open this spring, but are looking for a chef.
AGENDA
// The Good Acre CSA is now available for signups! How's THAT for a little bump of forward thinking happiness! Just imagine, there will be a day in mid-June when you get your first box of farm share goodies, and you won't even be able to recall the winter for all the sunshine in your face. They've got some flexible payment options available for the 18 week program that runs into October, and this year there's a pay-what-you-can program too. Besides some 70 varieties of local produce, you get a newsletter with tips and recipes, and there are optional add-ons like weekly eggs, or a mushroom share. Remember, shares sell out, so act fast if you think this is your year, or check out other CSA options from different farms.
// Clowns are from the circus, barking comes from dogs, eggs come from a chicken, and log cabins come from logs, but where, where do they make balloons? At the Balloon Emporium, darling, of course. Tickets are now on sale for the experimental cocktail parties, run out of Mr. Paul's Po'Boys & Jams shop, during which Nick Kosevich gets to perform magic and mayhem with fizzy lifting drinks and food. The whole space only seats 10 people, so expect them to sell out quickly, as this weekend's event has. Your $180 (includes tax and tip) gets you a seven course cocktail circus with food pairings that should be anything but dull. Shout out to the Johns for the first line.
// If your secret trick to get through the winter involves an extra daily hot cuppa to slip into, maybe you want to join up for a Cupping with CJ at The Get Down Coffee Co. During this small group session, you get to learn from Director of Coffee, CJ, as you talk through different coffees, ranges of flavors across different origins, and the full professional process. Just $25, it lands on the third Wednesday of every month, and vax proof is required.
// It's beer-pokin' szn. Get over to the newly refurbished and relaunched Northbound Smokehouse on Saturday for the Eisbock Poking Party in which you get your beer stabbed with a hot poker and it makes it better. Actually, there are a lot of things you might feel like stabbing with a hot poker to make it all better, but let's just stick to beer. They'll release a few more beers that day, Wampa and Helles Frozen Over along with the Eisbock. The poking starts at noon and lasts until sundown.
// The CDC is now recommending you laugh your keester off. Buy a $22 ticket for Sunday's Canned Laughter Stand-up Comedy event at Bau Haus, and get a few knee-slaps in between sipping your pint.
// Earn a punch in your MN Card this Sunday by biking through the Coldest Day of the Year Ride 2022. Saddle up to support the good efforts of Dabbler & Friends (who do good works to support communities in need) while riding bike between four different breweries who are happy to see you and defrost those whiskers. The $5 Rider Manifest gets you $2 off taps and crowlers at participating local breweries, and it's a go with your flow afternoon.
// Grab some tickets for the Jan 25th Lift Bridge + Manger beer dinner which is basically seven courses of Minnesota tapas. Hotdish is a course. A Juicy Sven stuffed Swedish meatball is a course. All are paired with a LB beer and a lesson on how to zipper merge.
