Lissa Maki, Author at Perfect Duluth Day

Pita Pit opens Monday in Downtown Duluth

Dec 04, 2016 4 Comments

Monday marks the grand opening of Duluth’s first Pita Pit at 425 W. Superior St. in the new Maurices building. A ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. The restaurant will be giving away samples and coupons during the grand opening from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Pita Pit’s tagline is “Fresh thinking. Healthy eating.” Company spokesperson Monica Hendrickson says the franchise offers a fresh and healthy alternative to fast food. She calls it “faster food” since pitas are made to order, similar to Subway sandwich shops.

Restaurants Pita Pit

Perfect Bakery: Duluth’s Best Bread

Nov 21, 2016 4 Comments

The business with the audacity to call itself Duluth’s Best Bread clearly is living up to its name. Not only does it have the best bread, it’s Duluth’s best general bakery according to Perfect Duluth Day’s poll. It took the title of Perfect Bakery with 38 percent of the vote among the final four.

The relative newcomer celebrated its one-year anniversary in September. Brothers Michael and Robert Lillegard, a trained mathematician and a writer, respectively, founded the nontraditional bakery.

Duluth’s Best Bread has limited storefront hours and a subscription service. It features a small menu of products carefully perfected by Michael, such as sourdough bread, croissants, cinnamon rolls and pretzels.

Polls Bakeries, Duluth's Best Bread, PDD Awards

Poll: Best Bakery in the Duluth Area

Nov 17, 2016 No Comments

With your help, we’ve compiled a list of swoon-worthy bakeries in the Duluth area.

It’s a highly subjective exercise. It may be that a fruit tart warms your heart or a cake donut pleases your gut. Whatever the case, it’s time to make a show of support for your favorite purveyor of sweet and glutenous treats.

The nominations are in. Now it’s time to vote and have a say. What’s the Perfect Duluth-area bakery?

This is a runoff poll, which means options will be whittled down over time. We started with 14 nominees; it’s now down to the Final Four: Duluth’s Best Bread, Johnson’s Bakery, Lake Superior Bakehouse and Zenith Bread Project.

This poll is now closed. The results were:

Duluth’s Best Bread – 38 percent
Zenith Bread Project – 27 percent
Johnson’s Bakery – 20 percent
Lake Superior Bakehouse – 15 percent

Polls Bakeries

What is the best Duluth-area bakery?

Nov 15, 2016 25 Comments

The decline of the corner bakery in modern America could be considered one of the greatest food-related tragedies of our time. An 85 percent decrease in standalone retail bakeries occurred in the United States over the past 40 years, according to Retail Bakers of America.

With this in mind, it seems important to show our local bakeries some love. That’s why our latest poll will decide the perfect Duluth bakery.

Nominate your favorite by commenting on this post. It will be a purely subjective poll, of course. Comparing an old-school institution stocked with traditional sweets like Long Johns and Bismarcks and a newfangled shop specializing in artisan breads and delicate pastries is a bit like comparing apples to oranges, but the idea is to choose an overall favorite.

Feel free to nominate bakeries that double as coffee shops and serve food or the supermarket variety, if you’re so inclined.

After much geographical consideration, we’ve determined any bakery within 16 miles of the Aerial Lift Bridge is eligible for nomination. That means establishments in Superior, Hermantown, Proctor and the many bordering townships qualify for nomination, but more distant places like Two Harbors and Cloquet do not.

Once we have a good pool of nominees, the poll will commence.

Polls, Restaurants Bakeries

Avenue C restaurant in Cloquet could open by year’s end

Nov 08, 2016 No Comments

Doug Smith anticipates Avenue C, his new Cloquet restaurant, will open soon. The build-out was about 70 percent complete when it hit some financing snags that delayed the process. Work has now resumed and he estimates the establishment could be up and running by Christmas.

Restaurants Avenue C, Cloquet

Bagels, coffee and pizza coming to Endion

Oct 29, 2016 No Comments

A co-branded Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Bagels will open in a new luxury apartment complex that’s been quickly taking shape in Duluth’s Endion neighborhood.

News and Current Affairs, Restaurants Coffee Shops, Endion

Farmhouse brewery under construction near Duluth

Oct 20, 2016 2 Comments

A distinctive brewery is under construction a few miles southeast of Duluth in Midway Township. Oakhold Farmhouse Brewery specializes in mixed fermentation, a method of brewing that yields a class of beers commonly referred to as “sours.”

News and Current Affairs Beer and Breweries, Midway Township, Oakhold Farmhouse Brewery

Duluth-area happy hour food and drink deals to last the week

Oct 12, 2016 No Comments

After a busy day, it’s tough to muster up the energy to cook a meal. But going out to eat and drink regularly is expensive. The good news? If you plan it right, you can drink and dine at plenty of local places any day of the week for 10 bucks or less. Here’s a daily planner for sampling of some of the best happy hour specials in Duluth and Superior.

Restaurants Black Water Lounge, Black Woods, Burrito Union, Northern Waters, Pizza Luce, The Spirit Room, Wussow's Concert Cafe

Moose Lake Brewing selling big ol’ cans called ‘crowlers’

Oct 06, 2016 1 Comment

Moose Lake Brewing Company started selling 24 oz. crowlers this week. For those unfamiliar with the term, a crowler is an oversized can, which is filled on site, much like a growler.

News and Current Affairs Beer and Breweries, Moose Lake Brewing Company

Blacklist brewery aims for mid-November opening

Oct 03, 2016 1 Comment

Blacklist co-founder Jon Loss

Blacklist Artisan Ales, homeless since Sept. 1, is transitioning into its new and improved home at 120 E. Superior St. The revamped space is still under construction and is barely recognizable as the former site of the infamous Last Place on Earth head shop. If all goes well, the brewery will begin production in mid-October and the taproom will open in mid-November.

News and Current Affairs Beer and Breweries, Blacklist Brewing Company, HART District, Last Place on Earth

New Duluth-area Restaurants: Fall 2016 Update

Sep 26, 2016 No Comments

The opening date of a new eating or drinking establishment is often a moving target. A majority of enterprises planning to launch in the coming months required significant gutting and reconstruction of old buildings, a common recipe for delays. Here’s the scoop on four soon-to-launch food and beverage joints.

7 West Taphouse

Owner Rick Lampton has pushed back the anticipated opening date for Superior’s 7 West Taphouse to Oct. 3. The burger bar at 1319 N. Tower Ave. is modeled after the original Duluth location. It will feature burgers, tacos and 40 rotating taps of craft beer. Click here to read the full-length story from July.

News and Current Affairs, Restaurants 7 West Taphouse, Blind Pig, Boreal, Duluth Grill Family of Restaurants, Fitger's Brewhouse, OMC Smokehouse

Vikre distillery wins national award

Sep 16, 2016 No Comments

emilyandjoelvikre

Vikre Distillery took first place in a USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice award for best craft specialty spirits, beating out major players like St. George Spirits and Koval Distillery.

Joel and Emily Vikre founded the craft distillery in 2012 and started selling gin and aquavit to the public in 2014. With traditional distilling methods, Lake Superior water and the inventive use of local botanicals foraged in the Northwoods, Vikre is creating unparalleled products.

News and Current Affairs Bars / Drinking Establishments, Canal Park, Distilleries, Vikre Distillery

Duluth’s Best Bread celebrates one year

Sep 15, 2016 2 Comments

Robert and Michael Lillegard

The majority of corner bakeries have been casualties of the modern demands of life, which prioritize convenience over quality. A pair of Duluth entrepreneurs is turning the corner bakery model on its head with a limited menu of artisan products, a mix of wholesale, retail and subscription sales and just the right amount of wit.

News and Current Affairs Bakeries, Duluth's Best Bread, Lincoln Park Neighborhood / The Friendly West End

Perfect Drinking Establishment: Sir Benedict’s Tavern

Aug 29, 2016 No Comments

Area boozers and barflies have reached a general consensus: Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake is the perfect Duluth drinking establishment. The English-themed pub located at 805 E. Superior St. netted 34.5 percent of the vote in Perfect Duluth Day’s poll.

Sir Ben’s is a bit of an institution. It opened as a pub in 1978 (before that the building was a service station) with a focus on sandwiches and beer. The favored watering hole has long attracted a range of fans, from college students to musicians and business people.

Owners Josh and Kaila Stotts took over the tavern in April 2015. Josh was surprised to learn about the PDD poll. When asked what patrons appreciate about the bar, he said. “We try to offer a welcoming ambiance — a place where people can relax and feel really comfortable.”

Josh Stotts

Restaurants Bars / Drinking Establishments, Beer and Breweries, PDD Awards

Is Bottoms Up the beer pouring device of the future?

Aug 28, 2016 No Comments

Mike Mohr in front of one of his Bottoms Up beer dispensers

Gronk’s Bar and Grill in Superior has long been known for serving burgers upside down. In February, the bar was the first in the area to install a remarkable tap-beer delivery system that fills glasses from the bottom up. Since then another Superior drinking establishment, Jack’s Place, has also added a Bottoms Up system in its beer garden.

Gronk’s owner Mike Mohr first saw the Bottoms Up system at the Wisconsin State Fair. He was impressed with its technology and speed. Later, when his daughter was advocating for more craft beer taps at Gronk’s, he thought the novelty might be a good way to draw beer fans in.

Restaurants Bars / Drinking Establishments, Beer and Breweries, Gronk's, Superior

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