Covering life, work, and play in the Historic Mill District and Downtown Minneapolis Riverfront neighborhoods. Have an opinion, local news or events to share? Contact us.
Creative runners turned out in full force for the September 10 Mill City Suds Run (formerly known as the Blubber Run).
Here's a slide show with a more expansive group of pictures:
While meandering around this past Friday night we noticed the dessert menu posted outside the Aster Cafe. The brownie ala mode (with ganache AND caramel, of course) and lemon pie drew us in.
The place was hoppin', but General Manager Rick Oknick was kind enough to secure a table for us on the patio. Our desserts did not disappoint. The lemon pie was very similar to a key lime (my fave). And the brownie? Well, the brownie was perfect all by itself, but adding the other three components kicked it up to perfect+.
Check out Aster Cafe on their website and Facebook. In addition to good food, they have live music, open mic nights, host the Books & Barsseries and more. Look for an Oktoberfest celebration next weekend.
The Crooked Pint Ale House, 501 Washington Avenue South, opened at 7am Saturday, September 10. We dropped in for breakfast before heading off to the Mill City Farmers Market.
I opted for the caramel apple walnut french toast (above), which had a nice apple/sauce/walnut ratio.
They did a beautiful job renovating the former 501 Club space. Removing the wall between the two levels really opened it up, and the new stage area is a huge improvement - both in size and location.
We spoke with Manager Matt Saffert, who filled us in on some of the upcoming and ongoing events and activities. Check out the schedule online.
Welcome to the neighborhood, Crooked Pint Ale House, and thank you for bringing us early morning weekend breakfast option!
Only five more Saturdays to take advantage of all the wonderful food, education, arts and entertainment the Mill City Farmers Market has to offer.
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From the September 9 Secrets of the City e-news:
Grumpy's Partners with MPLS Courier for Downtown Delivery
You can now get a Grumpy Burger and a beer brought to your house, if you live in downtown anyway. Grumpy’s Bar & Grillin downtown Minneapolis tells us last night was the first night the resto started offering a new (and FREE) bike delivery service through MPLS Courier. From 5 to 10 p.m., the folks at MPLS Courier will deliver from the full menu at Grumpy’s to 7 corners, Loring Park, and beyond and will even make a stop at Sorella Wines & Spirits to round out your evening noshing. Eventually Grumpy’s may expand to offering delivery during lunch, but for now they’re just gauging interest in this new service.
From the September 9 Secrets of the City e-news:
Mpls Museum Day Set for September 24th
Has there been a “museum crawl” around Minneapolis or St. Paul yet? If not, September 24th would be a great day to start one. The Smithsonian will be bring their 7th Annual Museum Day to Minneapolis; the event will be “a day of knowledge and tradition” that follows the format of Smithsonian Magazine‘s nationwide Museum Day, a full, and free, “celebration of education and culture.” Participating Minneapolis museums include the Hennepin History Museum and the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and you can get free entry to the museums with a downloadable Museum Day Ticket from Smithsonian Magazine‘s website. For more information, visit Smithsonian Magazine‘s Museum Day website.
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Per a September 7 notification from Secrets of the City, the U of M released a new open source site that shares information about bike routes around the Twin Cities called Cyclopath. The site uses info from MnDOT, The Met Council, and the United States Geological Survey for its data source. According to the notice, the creators also hope to use the site’s interactivity to build a community to share their bike route tips and tricks.
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Central Library, along with several other Hennepin County Libraries, is recruiting Homework Hub volunteers to work with youth after school on literacy and homework related projects - reading, math, history, language arts and more.
Volunteers must have some experience with school age children and commit to working once a week, for as little as 3 hours, at a Homework Hub location for a semester. This is a great opportunity to make a huge difference in a child's life.
Training is provided. A criminal background check is required. You can apply online at the Library website. Additional volunteer opportunities can be viewed on the Library's volunteer page.
The second Homegrown Experience, organized by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board(MPRB), took place August 21 on Nicollet Island. This slide show is condensed down from the 1,000+ pictures we captured that afternoon. Beautiful day, great food and drink!
Happy Labor Day weekend - already?? Summer is coming to end, and if you haven't visited the Mill City Farmers Market yet, you only have six more opportunities this season.
Below, a peach tomato from Prairie Hollow Farm. Although you can't really tell from the picture, the skin has a faint fuzz on it.
Seems like every week we run into someone we haven't seen for a while. This morning it was Paulette Salo, who you may recognize as a vendor from last year's Market. Paulette painted some gorgeous vegetable and fruit pictures for our kitchen and dining areas last summer.
I can't count the number of times we walked by 247 10th Avenue South, always confounded as to what the building could possibly be. It wasn't until this summer that we learned it was a private residence, and by chance we recently met the owner, Jeff Arundel, who mentioned his home was recently featured in Twin Cities Metro Magazine. How cool is that? Just another example of the gems that fill our neighborhood.
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The Mill City Museum added a Minneapolis History Pub Crawl to the tour offerings this year. Unfortunately, the State shut down forced them to cancel two of the three scheduled tours. We were fortunate enough to join the only tour available on Tuesday, August 30.
The trolley departed from the Museum and took us over the Stone Arch Bridge and along Washington Avenue, with a few stops and jogs along the way. Our guides, Rod and Dave, presented a wealth of history and provided each of us with a Washington Avenue Photo Guide inclusive of pictures ranging from 1860 to the mid 1960's, along with a list of references and links for further research at our leisure.
We stopped for a drink at the Milwaukee Road Depot and The Loop, allowing enough time for attendees to get to know each other and discuss the sites and info in more detail.
Hopefully they'll bring this tour back next summer - it was both fun and informative. The Mill City Museum has a very talented and engaging staff, and we highly recommend all of the tours and special events they offer.
Normally closed on Sundays, Sanctuary welcomed friends and neighbors on August 28 to celebrate 4 years at the 903 Washington location.
Chef Patrick Atanalian served up a fantastic feast, and along with Naomi, Roger, Michael and staff, made sure everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. DJ Shannon Blowtorch outdid herself with the music.
OMG, I think we broke the Fun-O-Meter, check out the video:
Best viewed in full screen mode
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Click here for an update on the Light Rail progress on the Minneapolis side.
About the Central Corridor Project
The Central Corridor Light Rail Transit Project will link downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis along Washington and University avenues via the state Capitol and the University of Minnesota.
Construction began in late summer 2010 on the planned 11-mile Central Corridor line. Service will begin in 2014. The line will connect with the Hiawatha LRT line at the Metrodome station in Minneapolis and the Northstar commuter rail line at the Target Field Station.
The Metropolitan Council is the grantee of federal funds. The regional government agency is charged with building the line in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The Central Corridor Management Committee, which includes commissioners from Ramsey and Hennepin counties, the mayors of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota, provides advice and oversight.
Funding is provided by the Federal Transit Administration, Counties Transit Improvement Board, state of Minnesota, Ramsey and Hennepin counties' regional railroad authorities, city of St. Paul, Metropolitan Council and the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative.
Click here for more information.
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The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) is joining WCCO Friday at the Minnesota State Fair to sell 12x12 inch Metrodome roof squares at the WCCO Radio booth, located on Carnes Avenue between Nelson and Underwood Street. Roof squares will be sold during the John Williams Show from 9:00am to Noon.
Proceeds will go toward providing equipment, such as uniforms and gloves, for MPRB youth baseball teams of North Minneapolis parks impacted by the May 22 tornado.
Click here to the news release.
Nistler Farms was back this week with sweet corn. Elderberries and sand plums were new at Prairie Hollow Farm. We picked up another seedless watermelon from Svihel Farms - super sweet!
This morning on TwinCities.com, Pioneer Press restaurant critic Kathie Jenkins noted the upcoming opening of Crooked Pint Ale House at 501 Washington Avenue South (formerly occupied by 501 Club).
The Crooked Pint Ale House website content isn't published yet, but you can follow them on Facebookin the meantime. According to the Info page, "The menu features classic pub faire with nearly 50 choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as kids’ menu selections. Dishes include Washington Avenue Pot Roast, Pork Porterhouse with Cherry Glaze, Kansas City Bone-In Strip, Chorizo Corn Dogs, Ale House Deviled Eggs, Ale-Braised Pull Pork Sandwich and a Crooked Caprese Salad". YUM!
The Torchlight 5k festivities have been rescheduled for 8:00pm tonight, August 25. You may recall the July 20 event was cancelled due to excessive heat.
The rescheduled Torchlight has a one year, exclusive course change. The race starts and finishes at St. Anthony Main, and the course will be a loop running along scenic Mississippi River and Crossing the Stone Arch Bridge. Click here for the new course map.
There will be an amped up post race party on Nicollet Island.
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Real Ghost Tours, 125 Main Street SE, recently announced the addition of two overnight investigations, September 10 and 24, 1:00am-5:00am. These two events are limited to 10 people each - call 952-888-9200 for reservations.
Real Ghost Tours is not a gory haunted house experience - it's a history-packed tour during which you'll learn about (and maybe encounter the spirits of) people who shaped this area. Visit the website and Facebook for more information.
During the tour you'll explore areas of the building that are otherwise off limits, using an EMF meter (a scientific instrument for measuring electromagnetic fields, and the prime sensory instrument of any ghost investigation).
Since launching Mill City Times last summer, we’ve met a number of local business owners for the Mill District Spotlight series. We connected with Naomi Williamson of Sanctuary the restaurant through her social networking efforts. Our initial intent was to do a Spotlight on Naomi as a neighborhood champion, but during our conversations some interesting history emerged. It became apparent that her “giving back” philosophy didn’t start at Sanctuary – it’s just part of her DNA.
Recent transplants to the area may have a hard time imaging our beautiful neighborhood was once part of the notorious Skid Row of Minneapolis. But that’s exactly where Naomi, a preachers daughter and youngest of eight, spent the early years of her childhood. It’s been quite a journey from her father’s Mission to being a partner in Sanctuary.
Naomi’s father, Rev. Stanley L. Williamson, was an ordained minister with the Shiloh Temple Pentecostal church, back before the church was segregated. While her older siblings sang in the streets for vagrants, the younger kids worked in the soup kitchen and food shelf at the Mission, located at 807 4th Avenue South. Naomi related, “I remember being there and hearing the singing. My 5 sisters and 2 brothers sang the traditional old hymns such as The Old Rugged Cross, In the Garden, and What a Friend We Have in Jesus, in harmony - both in the Mission and on a Skid Row, then near some RR tracks on Washington between Hennepin and Nicollet”.
Below is a photo in front of the Mission (Naomi is the baby). The building no longer stands.
Our conversations with Naomi evolved into a retrospective of her life’s journey. She stated, “Certainly my parents' commitment to helping the poor and destitute - and being exposed to lots of needy people - gave me a strong sympathy for those in need, and an appreciation for those who share their own good fortune. We ourselves also were poor. Dad not only redistributed surplus food to the poor - in later years after the Mission was closed, he was called "the vegetable man" by those who became used to him driving his route to drop off the food - our family also ate that surplus food ourselves. Surplus food is basically food past its 'expiration' date. To this day, I have a very difficult time watching food being wasted. I am pleased that Sanctuary's Chef puts together balanced plates where everything on the plate is intended to be eaten as a part of his carefully balanced design. Most portions are the size that people can eat without throwing away excess. I also gained an appreciation for fresh, wonderful food!”
The library was a means of escaping the reality of poverty, and reading lead to college. After working her way through law school, Naomi went on to a successful career as a corporate attorney with Honeywell in Arizona. While at Honeywell, Naomi ran the community service volunteer group assisting Hmong refugees. Starting a family was the motivating factor in moving back to Minnesota, and oddly enough she and her husband, Roger Kubicki, bought a home within a few blocks of the house she lived in as a baby.
Fast forward to the present, and Sanctuary is now Naomi’s vehicle for helping others. Using the talents of Chef Patrick, Sanctuary holds special events - like their creative Tasting Menu - to benefit causes such as March of Dimes, Dining Out for Life and Youth Farms. Additionally, you’ll always find a local artist promoted at the restaurant, and if you follow Twitter and Facebook you’ll find Naomi tirelessly creating a buzz to help promote neighborhood businesses. For these reasons, we named Naomi our choice for Neighborhood Champion in our June 21 article recapping the first year covering the Mill District through Mill City Times.
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Sanctuary is celebrating its 4th Birthday this Sunday, August 28, with food, drink and music. As for the name, the intent was to suggest a haven/escape. As Naomi puts it, “We don't preach in this Sanctuary, but we do provide an escape from your daily troubles and food to salve your soul!”
In addition to following Sanctuary on Facebook and Twitter, check their website frequently for upcoming promotions and events.
Mill City Times | 35W Bridge Memorial | Mill District Block Party | Mill City Media
Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at 4:00AM