PHOTO BY ERIKA LUDWIG, HAIR AND MAKEUP BY MARGO GORDON
Today’s Twin Cities culinary scene is nothing if not colorful, encompassing everything from brioche donuts to vegan meats, from beers enjoyed in $30 million digs to those guzzled while pedaling a grownup group tricycle. Each year, the scene’s pace of change and sparks of ingenuity never cease to amaze me. Since Minnesota Monthly’s most recent restaurant issue, we launched world-class dining destinations and shuttered others. We even drank a few margaritas on a kitschy country club’s Ferris wheel. Here’s a brief recap of foodie-world highs and lows.
Winter
Global superchefs Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller tweet photos from the opening of Minnesota-boy-made-good Gavin Kaysen’s much-anticipated Spoon & Stable. Impossible-to-secure reservations resold on Craigslist for $50 a pop.
- Esquire-lauded Best Bar in America Nye’s Polonaise Room announces it will close later in the year, riling the City Pages trolls. Right: Photo by TJ Turner.
Nationally acclaimed artisan suds maker Surly opens a $30 million destination brewery, signaling the peak of the local craft beer boom and ushering in the rise of the Next Big Thing, artisanal distilling.
Fans of Psycho Suzi’s flock to new sister restaurant, Betty Danger’s, a kitschy country club for the 99 percent, and await the chance to lose their lunch on its full-size Ferris wheel.
A decade after introducing Twin Citians to Spanish tapas, Solera shuts its Gaudí-inspired doors. Fond memories of bachelorette parties and rooftop viewings of Fletch remain.
Spring
After 20 years in business, the Modern announces its closure. Regulars fear they won’t survive subsequent winters without the padding of its singular pot roast.
Taking the wrath of the “I hate the Pedal Pub” Facebook page offline, a group of (unrelated) malcontent cyclists makes the mistake of attacking a mobile bar full of off-duty Burnsville cops with squirt guns and water balloons. Arrests result.
Summer
After 16 years undercover, Star Tribune food critic Rick Nelson sheds his anonymity via a cute little animated GIF.
Nye’s announces it will postpone its closing until 2016 (again unleashing the City Pages trolls).
Parella, the third in a flurry of upscale Italian joints, launches in the old Figlio space, as part of what is perhaps a gross overestimation of the local appetite for crudo. Right: Photo by TJ Turner.
After having his vegan butcher shop concept mocked by Jimmy Fallon, Kale Walch and his sister, Aubry, have their line of homemade mock meats, Herbivorous Butcher, mentioned in the New York Times.
Fall
Bogart’s Doughnuts IDS kiosk joins Angel Food Bakery as one of the few places where downtown Minneapolis office drones can satisfy their Homer Simpson-esque cravings. Right: Photo by TJ Turner.
La Belle Vie announces (to reporters before its staff) its impending closure, resulting in an outpouring of regret on social media. Those who claim the greatest heartbreak were also the least likely to admit the last time they visited. Within a week, Vincent: A Restaurant announces le Grand Fromage is also moving on—quelle dommage! Right: Photo by Josh Thomas.
