Don’t ask how I managed to get into The Anchor Fish & Chips over the weekend. (Lawyers in the house: Bloggers can’t be charged with breaking and entering, right?! I feel certain I saw that in the state constitution.) Anyhoo, I was blown away. The place is beautiful: Museum-quality ornate tin ceiling, a big, polished, weighty and comforting-looking wooden bar, plus capacious, solid booths—a lot like the Local or Buster’s on 28th, but in a room about half the size of the Modern. (Speaking of the Modern, that’s where this place is, a block and a half down 13th Avenue NE from the Modern, but toward the Mississippi, closer to Shuga Records.)
The big question I had before I was inside the joint was whether it was going to be a take-away or a real restaurant. It looks like a real restaurant. Hooray! Fish and chips consumed in the car has its appealing side, but for me fish and chips next to a cold beer in a beautiful room is better. From the looks of it, they’ll have a couple different beers on tap (my sources inside the building, whomever they were, told me the restaurant isn’t zoned for liquor because they’re too close to a school), alongside the fish and chips.
I also got a copy of the menu. It has options like fish and chips for $8.50, burgers from $8.50, and pasties, as well as veggie pasties, from $5.50. My sources inside the building also told me that the place might open as early as this week—though when I was looking around the fryer I noticed the tap lines didn’t seem to be in, so I’m guessing next week is more realistic. Oh, and yes, I tried getting news the more conventional way, but the Anchor’s voice mailbox has been full for a month. And I am not the kind of critic to be so easily stopped!
The Anchor Fish & Chips
302 13th Ave. NE, Mpls.
612-676-1300
www.theanchorfishandchips.com
