Downtown Minneapolis Restaurant News

Downtown - North Loop - Mill District - Elliot Park - Loring Park
twincitizen
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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby twincitizen » August 6th, 2013, 5:44 pm

Obviously, SF is on another level than Minneapolis...
Yes, and I believe it is the street level. As in, not the skyway level.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Skyways themselves are not the problem. They are an adaptation and a nice way to get around in our harsh climate. The problem is all of the retail and restaurants getting sucked up to the 2nd floor. I'd love to see a bunch of skyway-level space go vacant, while simultaneously filling in street-level spaces and even carving out new street-level spaces out of lobbies and blank-wall facades.

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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby alleycat » August 6th, 2013, 6:07 pm

Obviously, SF is on another level than Minneapolis...
Yes, and I believe it is the street level. As in, not the skyway level.
Downtown San Francisco proper isn't all that interesting. Yes, it's got tall buildings and many of the same uses as downtown Minneapolis and no it doesn't have skyways. It's the fact that Chinatown, North Beach, South Park, SoMa etc flow naturally out of the core. That has a lot more to do with density than anything else. Then you get to neighborhoods like Mission and even out to the places like Sunset and the houses are still butted next to one another. Really the same can be said for the north, near south and near west side of Chicago. There's a continuous density of people rich environments and therefore a strong retail scene.

I would agree that we shouldn't expand the skyway system all the way to the new Vikings stadium, but downtown's surrounding neighborhoods will have plenty of restaurant (and retail) activity once they are built out.
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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby John » August 6th, 2013, 7:34 pm

^^^Yes, its the density in SF that makes for the strong street level retail scene. Remember , its the second most densely populated city (per square mile) after New York in the US. Minneapolis will never be like that in many parts of town. The key here is to improve and expand the first floor retail frontage in places where it's already well established such as Uptown, Dinkytown, downtown etc.
BTW, the Soo Line restaurant will have a nice streel level presence as part of this great apartment project. This place should be just as fantastic as the Meritage is in St Paul.

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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby min-chi-cbus » August 6th, 2013, 10:24 pm

*cough restaurant news *cough
My bad. I used the words "restaurant" in my diatribe but then neglected to maintain that specific theme throughout.

JMS9

Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby JMS9 » August 7th, 2013, 8:22 pm

I was just in San Francisco over the weekend and walked at least 6-7 miles around downtown and there were restaurants and retail EVERYWHERE! Obviously, SF is on another level than Minneapolis, but why it's on such a different level I don't quite understand. Yes, SF is a bigger, more important city than Minneapolis. Yes, it has FAR more tourists. But still, it seemed like at least half of the streets in SF were lined with retail in one form or another: whether it was Chinatown, Little Italy, high-end retail like Coach or Prada, or Ma and Pa stores and boutiques -- retail was EVERYWHERE! Maybe it's the near-zero threat of inclement weather in SF that makes it such a walker's (and urban) paradise? Maybe SF has no mega-malls like the Mall of America? It's sad to think that Minneapolis once had one of THE better downtown retail scenes, only to be diminished to its current state, in large part due to MOA's success and a STRONG anti-city sentiment in the Twin Cities (whereas SF is THE place to be in that metro area).

I don't have any one-size-fits-all solutions for downtown Minneapolis, but I agree that infrastructure (particularly aesthetics and a feeling of place and comfort) is very important. However, in SF just about every single sidewalk seemed to be at least 20 years old, with huge cracks, terrible ramps to the street, etc. Minneapolis should make it as easy as possible for businesses to locate within the city, especially downtown. Along with Nicollet; Washington, Hennepin, and at least one more E-W street should be encouraging retail (perhaps 5th or 6th, since they'll eventually line the new park "The Yard" and be near the LRT).
Felt the exact same thing when I was in Boston and Seattle. Everything in Minneapolis is confined between Nicollet and 1st Ave, and 8th Street and Washington. A rectangular corridor that renders the rest of downtown useless after 5pm and on weekends.

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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby John » August 7th, 2013, 9:38 pm

Speaking of restaurants, our city's urban culinary scene has truly become sophisticated with national acclaim that goes beyond either Seattle or Boston as far as creativity. I think this burgeoning restaurant scene will just expand along with the rapid population growth of downtown. Same goes for other retail. The dynamics of downtown is rapidly changing. It will be a much more lively place in a few years, especially on the evenings and weekends.

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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby seanrichardryan » August 7th, 2013, 10:45 pm


Felt the exact same thing when I was in Boston and Seattle. Everything in Minneapolis is confined between Nicollet and 1st Ave, and 8th Street and Washington. A rectangular corridor that renders the rest of downtown useless after 5pm and on weekends.

I'll tell the folks at the Guthrie and Bar La Grassa to just pack it up then. Of course there is a density of services centered on the CBD, but you should probably get out of that rectangle more. There's an awful lot going on outside of it.
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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby mullen » August 8th, 2013, 6:45 am

north loop is really coming on. still so much land and potential i guess some people don't get over to that part of town and think of downtown within some arbitrary traditional confines.

and once nicollet ave is re-opened at lake that street will just blossom further south. south of lake has seen a lot of restaurant/bar activity recently. once the street is connected back to where it was once was it will be a seamless "restaurant row" of sorts.

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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby Silophant » August 8th, 2013, 6:59 am


Felt the exact same thing when I was in Boston and Seattle. Everything in Minneapolis is confined between Nicollet and 1st Ave, and 8th Street and Washington. A rectangular corridor that renders the rest of downtown useless after 5pm and on weekends.

I'll tell the folks at the Guthrie and Bar La Grassa to just pack it up then. Of course there is a density of services centered on the CBD, but you should probably get out of that rectangle more. There's an awful lot going on outside of it.
And the Orpheum, and the State, and the Local, and Orchestra Hall, (not this year, admittedly) and Brit's and... 8th was a strange southern boundary for that rectangle.
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twincitizen
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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby twincitizen » August 8th, 2013, 10:18 am

This might've been posted earlier, but all of this going into the first 2 floors of Soo Line sounds amazing: http://www.vita.mn/crawl/218513091.html

Downtowner
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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby Downtowner » August 14th, 2013, 5:17 pm

Saw this pop up on the Heavy Table site yesterday... Coming soon to the former home of Spill the Wine on Washington and 11th:

http://www.dayblockbrewing.com/

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Nathan
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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby Nathan » August 15th, 2013, 3:59 pm

Another Great Get for DTE!

twincitizen
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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby twincitizen » August 20th, 2013, 7:28 pm

A new coffee shop in Loring Park: G.G.'s Java House https://plus.google.com/110390607054523 ... l=us&hl=en

It must be brand new, because there's little internet evidence that it exists. I heard it from Nicollet Diner's Facebook page. The strange thing about that was that it was their first status update in like 6 months and still are not open yet. Nicollet Diner was supposed to open in late spring, then like June...not sure what's going on.

UPDATE:
We are experiencing encountered a pretty big hurdle with our contractor. We certainly hope to be open by the end of the year!

JMS9

Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby JMS9 » August 20th, 2013, 11:19 pm

Oh good. Another coffee shop. We need more of those! - said no one ever.

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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby Aville_37 » August 21st, 2013, 5:58 am

Not to be mean - but doesn't look very promising. Hands out to independent businesses but I wish something a bit higher quality would fill those spaces along that part of Nicollet. Market BBQ is an institution and I have hopes for the Nicollet Diner.

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Nathan
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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby Nathan » August 21st, 2013, 1:04 pm

Oh good. Another coffee shop. We need more of those! - said no one ever.

Really? A lot of people say that, and according to a google map search for coffee, it's a great place to do it... (no comment on the quality of the shop, who knows)

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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby seanrichardryan » August 21st, 2013, 9:19 pm

It appears that 9sonthemall still has a tenant- http://www.journalmpls.com/news-feed/cu ... n-nicollet

(edit* Old news. Think they'll be open by thanksgiving as originally planned?)
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twincitizen
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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby twincitizen » October 10th, 2013, 10:10 am

Belmore Diner in the Warehouse District gets a favorable review from the Strib: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/ta ... 03531.html

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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby Tyler » October 10th, 2013, 10:58 am

Heh. Doug Anderson's back at it? Looks worth checking out -- for brunch, at least.
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Re: Downtown Restaurant News

Postby John21 » October 10th, 2013, 5:53 pm

That place has been open for quite a while. Definitely tough to spot, no signs. Went there with a friend before a game, 6ish, can't remember what day it was and we were the only ones in there the whole time. Had a pizza which was a $4 happy hour special and it was fabulous.


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