Photo by Libby Dawe
Tucked into a downtown Grand Marais gravel patch lined with wild yellow tansy, between Lady Superior NA Bottle Shop and a fly-fishing outfitter, is a little red food trailer with white trim, the latest incarnation of Sun Street. After running their brick-and-mortar South Minneapolis Sun Street Breads location for fifteen years, wife-and-husband owners Solveig Tofte and Martin Ouimet baked their last baguette and moved their business north. With their mortgage paid off and their kid put through college, they were ready for a major lifestyle change.
“Could you just be happy all the time?” Tofte asked herself a few years ago, during a family vacation in Ely. On hiking sojourns near Finland, Minnesota, Tofte started to plan the food trailer transition to get away from the stress of running a big city business. She and Ouimet bought a piece of land to live on 10 minutes outside of Grand Marais with two 11×11 huts, electricity, and an outhouse.
As a micro business, Sun Street is too small to order from wholesalers. Tofte buys most ingredients from the Cook County Co-op and ferments her own vegetables. The Betsy Bowen art studio, up the hill across Highway 61, has a commercial bakery in the back of the building, where Tofte spends about eight hours a week baking bread. “If this is how I spend the next five, 10 years, and shut down my food service career like this, I am really fortunate,” Tofte says.
MEA weekend was the last of the season to enjoy Sun Street’s new breakfast and lunch menu. On the last morning of Sun Street service, my family stood in line behind a handful of other customers dressed in an outerwear rainbow: a red Wintergreen parka, yellow puffer jacket, green down vest, and blue windbreaker. A bright autumn sun warmed patches of the Sun Street plot while easterly gusts sent Lake Superior white caps crashing onto the beach two blocks away. Tofte and Ouimet, in matching red down jackets, took our orders for a bagel, grilled cheese, and polenta.
Photo by Libby Dawe
The sandwich arrived in wax paper and foil. Unwrapped, melted cheese oozed out the sides of the perfectly toasted golden brown oatmeal bread slices. A chewy open-faced bagel was topped with smoked salmon and dill cream cheese and precise Roma tomato circles. The polenta—a brilliant and satisfying gluten-free option—included a creamy cornmeal rectangle spread with hearty and slightly spicy refried black bean chili, and a tangy cabbage slaw dotted with cilantro and nutty sunflower seeds. Other menu options included breakfast sandwiches: oatmeal bread with scrambled egg, gochujang butter, bacon, cheddar, and a maple mayo slaw garnish. The Sun Street sandwich philosophy focuses on a few high-quality ingredients, like brisket or turkey club on focaccia.
Over the winter, Ouimet and Tofte will split their time between Grand Marais and Minneapolis. Up north, they’ll run monthly dinner pop-ups with meals featuring a harissa pot roast, a lasagna Bolognese, and a Shanghai-inspired braised beef with tofu, pot stickers, and smashed cucumbers. Dishes that travel and reheat well for dark and cold North Shore winter nights. Tofte will also sell Christmas cookies, fruitcakes, bread, and crackers ahead of the holidays.
Next summer, Sun Street may maintain a monthly dinner, in addition to their weekend breakfast and lunch service. Tofte imagines the downtown spot decorated with lights, sourcing local produce, and inviting Minneapolis chef friends up to help. Until then, folks can follow the eatery’s evolution on Instagram and through their email list.
Photo by Libby Dawe
