Restaurants
Trinity of Spring: 2010 Edition
PortLand Malt Shoppe has been open about two weeks.
Gordy’s Hi-Hat has been open about three weeks.
A & Dubs is still boarded up.
As you all know, it is not officially spring until the full trinity of seasonal favorites is open. Anyone with an inside track on when A & Dubs will open, please report. The number listed in the phone book “has been disconnected or is no longer in service.” Don’t worry, I think it is normal for A & Dubs’ phone to be disconnected out of season. It usually opens in mid-May.
Of related interest:
* Hacienda del Sol will open its outdoor courtyard on April 14.
* West Duluth Diary Queen is open.
The Duluth Photography Institute Public Event
There will be a public promotional event for the DPI at Valentini’s Restaurant on Monday, March 29th at 6:00pm. FREE with appetizers, a cash bar, and entertainment by singer/guitarist Emma Rustan. Please RSVP to the Facebook event, calling the DPI 218.393.2468, or by emailing [email protected]. Go to www.duluthphotographyinstitute.com for more info on the DPI.
Hope to see you all there!
Earth Hour 2010
Designed: Chelsey L
Earth Hour will be coming back to the Duluth area this March! From 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on March 27 the World Wildlife Fund asks individuals and businesses to turn off their lights for the hour. Nearly one billion people from 87 countries participated in Earth Hour last year! (more…)
Mexico Lindo sign is up at Fitger’s
I noticed last week that the sign is up outside the Fitger’s Brewery Complex for the Mexico Lindo restaurant. Any word on an opening date? Anyone?
In other Mexico Lindo related news, don’t go to the Cloquet location on Friday. I’m predicting the place will be packed like never before. Denfeld plays Hermantown for the Section 5A hockey championship at the Cloquet Area Recreation Center at 7 p.m. I’m sure I’m not the only one planning a pregame meal.
Great Food. Bad Punctuation.
For as swanky as Black Water is you’d think management would check the signage better.
Duluth-area restaurants serving phở
Phở is a Vietnamese soup and there are trendy phở places all over in the Twin Cities. What about Duluth and Superior?
Taste of Saigon?
Thai Krathong?
Vietnamese Lotus Inn?
McKenzie’s good, alive yet?
I was wondering if anyone could comment on McKenzie’s north of Miller Hill Mall. Good, bad, even open yet? Obviously, I don’t hit the hill that much.
Two Buck Chuck and the Real Price of Cheap
So, I tried several times to comment in the “restaurants” discussion thread in response to people talking about Trader Joe’s, cheap wine and such, and my comment didn’t go through for some reason. Guess it was the “anti-threadjack” filter PDD has now! (Wouldn’t that be nice!)
My thoughts were these:
A 17-year old woman died from heat exhaustion about a year ago while working in a vineyard that supplies grapes for 2-buck-chuck. Trader Joe’s dodged the responsibility by saying it was a “contractors” problem. That seems slippery ethics to me.
Here’s Food First’s Action Alert on this.
The United Farm Workers is suing the state of California (partially prompted by this case), to get the state to protect workers from hazardous field conditions.
The reality seems to be that if you get to buy it cheap, someone (workers) or something (the environment) is getting exploited.
So, my question, do we and/or should we think about these kinds of things when we’re looking for a buzz to accompany our dinner?
Duluth’s New Restaurants in 2009
What is going on with all the new food joints in Duluth? (more…)
R.I.P. Lakeview Castle Duluth
Word on the street is the Lakeview Castle will be closing it doors.
Duluth Thanksgiving Dinner Restaurant Rocommendations
What’s a good place to eat dinner on Thanksgiving day in Duluth?
(Looking for a restaurant recommendation, not the suggestion to go to your grandmother’s house!)
California Camry Cuisine
Jason Wussow and Dan Dresser, the guys who made the movie Cooking on the Car, are taking their mobile kitchen on the road again soon. They’re hoping to challenge Jay Leno to a cook off – putting their Toyota Camry up against one of Leno’s fancy schmancy cars. Or maybe Conan is still driving his Taurus.
Cooking on the Car will also be showing this Saturday at that Zinema.
Wine! Food! Beer! Cool Stuff! Good cause!
2nd Annual Chester Bowl Wine & Beer Tasting and Silent Auction
Saturday, October 17th, 6:30pm-9:30pm
Baja Billy’s Restaurant – Fitger’s – 600 E. Superior St.
$25 Per Person in Advance
$35 Per Person at the Door
This is the major fundraiser of the year for the ski program and other kids activities at Chester Bowl.
See more info and buy tickets online at chesterbowl.org
New Japanese Restaurant
Does anyone know about the new Japanese Restaurant opening on 1st Ave West? I guess it’s called Hanabi Japanese Cuisine and it is located at 110 N. 1st Ave West. Not sure when they open or what their menu is going to be like. I did hear someone mention Zen House opening a Downtown location, is this it? Or is this a totally different thing?
Extreme Home Makeover – Huber Edition
It has ben confirmed that Sunday September 27 will be the season premier of Extreme Makeover – Home Edition and that the first show if the season will feature none other than our South Shore friends the Huber family. Ace’s on 29th in Superior will be hosting a party during the show – offering FREE appetizers and snacks during the show. The back room will feature EM – HE on all the TVs and we will celebrate Superior’s amazing role in the life changing event. Producers of the show say that the residents and businesses in the Twin Ports turned out in droves, maybe the most local support they have seen in the history of the show. So come on down to Ace’s on 29th in Superior on 9/27 and celebrate the Huber’s joy and watch your fellow Northlanders on TV.
Nokomis in Wall Street Journal
Nokomis, the restaurant on the North Shore between the French and Knife rivers, gets play in the Wall Street Journal:
Dinner Deep in Walleye Territory
The premise of the piece? “There’s good eats in places other than New York and L.A.” What do we learn from it? “Walleye is a very big deal hereabouts.” In any case, congrats to Nokomis for the (IMO, deserved) recognition.
DNT & Mexico Lindo
Headline on DNT.com today:
Twins owner Pohlad dead at 93
Carl Pohlad, a billionaire banker whose Minnesota Twins won two World Series titles during nearly his nearly quarter-century as owner, died today, a baseball official said. He was 93.
Sweet…I missed this the first time he died back in January while I was on vacation.
In other news, has anyone been to Mexico Lindo and noticed that they got rid of the burrito filled with french fries and veggies, and covered in oaxaca cheese? I believe this was one of the main reasons people went there (although their other food is good, too). What gives? Would McDonalds ax the Big Mac and think people wouldn’t care?
A & Dubs
I am new to Duluth and live over here in West End…My son and I are concerned about A&Dubs. Does anyone know when it usually opens? Will it survive the new jr high school renovations? I tried to call the number and it is disconnected. I though maybe it opens like Memorial Day or something and folks who are more in the loop would just already know that.
Takk for Maten & Kippis update
Takk for Maten, the Scandinavian cafe, is tentatively set to reopen May 15 in the former DAC deli space in the Tech Village, on Superior Street next to Pizza Luce. The cafe used to be on Lake Avenue just above Superior Street, until an unfortunate steam pipe incident in January.
Takk for Maten (Norwegian for “thanks for the food”) will occupy the space during the day. At night, tentatively starting in June, it will be home to Kippis (Finnish for “cheers”), a full-service tapas bar.
The Score Bar Olympics
Come play bags toss, beer pong, wii bowling, & darts to compete for the title of the ultimate drinking team! Teams consist of 4-8 people & the entry fee is $5 per person. Includes First Beer Pitcher Free!
Sign up at Score or call 218.623.6706 for details
Dining Al Fresco …
That ever expanding city within a city, or as I like to call it, SMDC-opolis played host to a shockingly pleasant dining experience today …
After the first dr visit of her 10th month of pregnancy my partner and I were both famished and agreed to visit that behemoth’s hearthstone grill (I refuse to put the extra “e” on grill cause that just grates on me, they are trying way too hard to be something they are not).
Anyway, the food was really good. Nice variety, well prepared, and yeah, it’s cafeteria style, but the service was still really good and quick, and it’s nice to pick out your own serving sizes sometimes, especially when you’re rushed or have a big appetite.
And as my impromptu photo will attest, the view and ambiance were very very pleasant. Although, if you are a neat freak keep your food on the tray as the outdoor tables had a thin, barely noticeable layer of grime on them.
The cost for this very gastronomically and aesthetically pleasing lunch for two cost (that’s one giant and one very pregnant lady so we are talking appetites here folks.) Well, it came in well under $20.
So I’m wondering to myself, am I crazy, or did I just stumble upon a fantastic new lunch place? And even more shocking to me … did I just find the new best place to dine outdoors in the Twin Ports?
Our 1st outdoor lunch of 2009 at the new(ish) SMDC clinic building
Your thoughtful thoughts?
Bangkok Royal?
I know it’s a sometimes losing proposition to ask PDDers for their opinions on restaurants (half usually judge food based solely on price, while the other half have such oh-so-sensitive palates that anything served between the two coasts is intolerable and repulsive*) but nonetheless, here I go.
Has anyone eaten at the Bangkok Royal located in the Village Square Mall? What was your experience like?
*Please realize that I’m exaggerating here. And forgive me for coming across like a royal bangkok.
Earth Hour March 28th
Earth Hour is something that is going on March 28th. They just ask you to turn off the lights to your house from 8:30-9:30 p.m. as a way to ‘Vote Earth.’
I think this is a really cool initiative because last year about 50 million households/businesses participated in Earth Hour by shutting off their lights, and this year they hope to have 1 billion people participate!
I hope you all will join me for Earth Hour on 3/28/2009.
Do you all have any ideas on how to bring Earth Hour to Duluth. Sarah’s table is already serving candlelit dinners for the hour, so if you would like a romantic dinner. 😉 But if you all have any other ideas let me know!
