St. Louis Park - General Topics

[mamundsen]

^if I remember correctly Cooper and Crave were originals. Heck, Rojo might be too. Rojo expanded into a space that was emptied by a Punch Pizza type place. Oh yeah and Jimmy Johns and Subway are both original.

The only one that has had drastic changes is the current Loop. Used to be Figlio 2.0, and was 1-2 other things. The others, little sezchuan, Bonefish Grill and Yard House opened into empty spaces.

Am I forgetting any?

[go4guy]

Nope, I think you nailed it. All of that sounds correct.

[Ubermoose]

Four Firkins is abruptly going out of business on Saturday: http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/m ... op-is.html

For many of us beer geeks, this was more than just a beer store. It was a social club of sorts. No one else in town had the employees with the knowledge and expertise as the crew at the Firkins. The weekly email was brilliantly written and clued you in to the newest trends, latest beer releases, and the numerous breweries that would be sampling their beers that week. Friday and Saturday evenings would be a tasting event topped off with nibbly bits and crowds of regulars sharing the latest find and things to look for.
Alvey and the crew had found their niche and had introduced and scores of people to craft beer. He also has been a great asset to numerous businesses and community services. He was a great champion of feminist issues in craft beer, the Surly beer law, and Sunday sales.
I never walked in without feeling like I was walking into a friends rec room. They will truly be missed and there will be a huge hole left in the Twin Cities craft beer community. There was and probably will never be another place like it.
There are people who will continue to complain about gift cards or the indigogo campaign, but you don't know the details of why they had to close or the sacrifices that had to be made to keep it open as long as they did. You chose to focus on something petty and ignore that a local independent business that had a served a community very loyally for 8 years had to close due to a number of factors, not least of which is a state with antiquated liquor laws which favor big business. Alvey knew this and set out to try to make a change.
I applaud Alvey and the crew. They will certainly be missed. It's a dark day for many of us.

[LakeCharles]

I'm sorry you are bummed, and its too bad for the owners that they can't do it anymore. But I'm not particularly sad. Ale Jail has better service and just as much interesting beer, and is easier to get to. I also think South Lyndale, Elevated and Zipps are similar quality. And all are local independent businesses.

[nordeast homer]

Between the specialty beer and wine industry to the brewers and distillers I have to imagine it's a quick burnout for a lot of people. The brewers I know work 14-18 hour days 6 days a week, that's got to get old even with something you're passionate about.

[Ubermoose]

I'm sorry you are bummed, and its too bad for the owners that they can't do it anymore. But I'm not particularly sad. Ale Jail has better service and just as much interesting beer, and is easier to get to. I also think South Lyndale, Elevated and Zipps are similar quality. And all are local independent businesses.

I would like to check out Ale Jail sometime. I have heard good things about them, but it is not exactly close to SLP. South Lyndale has a good selection, but the service is lacking.

[illman00]

^if I remember correctly Cooper and Crave were originals. Heck, Rojo might be too. Rojo expanded into a space that was emptied by a Punch Pizza type place. Oh yeah and Jimmy Johns and Subway are both original.

The only one that has had drastic changes is the current Loop. Used to be Figlio 2.0, and was 1-2 other things. The others, little sezchuan, Bonefish Grill and Yard House opened into empty spaces.

Am I forgetting any?

Before figlio it was Soprano's which I believe was owned by the figlio people.

As far as Toby Keith's it was mediocre food as people have mentioned but I think they were more focused on a bar anyway. However, with live music every night you could hardly talk in there so you'd have to be there for the music. Yet the music was mostly no name cover bands.

[go4guy]

Toby Keith's was basically just for music. Food was never very good. I haven't been there in awhile, but it was always a fun place to go after already consuming plenty of booze. Going there sober was a nightmare. And the cover bands didnt rotate very often. JD Green from K102 had his band playing there all the time, and JD Green is a terrible musician and has a huge ego. Not someone worth going to watch on stage. I assume the crowds started to die down and the cover charges werent covering the the band costs. Was always packed all weekend during the first few years. Seemed like a gold mine.

[mattaudio]

Speaking of SLP food-that's-never-very-good, Streets.MN bike tour to SLP Olive Garden is TONIGHT!

[twincitizen]

I am quite excited about this. I somehow missed Nick's initial tweet, but luckily am free tonight. I'll see y'all at 15th & Willow at 5:30pm. Looks like a pretty easy ride at just over 4 miles, with very few, if any, dangerous crossings aside from the bottleneck itself.

https://twitter.com/nickmagrino/status/ ... 5936688128

[Nick]

Matt we discussed this in detail IRL

[MNdible]

Remember: if you don't live-tweet it, it didn't really happen.

[FISHMANPET]

https://imgur.com/37wAI0X

Soup and salad course

Sent from my phone

[PhilmerPhil]

I'm having and finishing all four soup varieties.

[grant1simons2]

Matts face is the best thing about this picture

[Nick]

Omg Matt's face

[min-chi-cbus]

https://imgur.com/37wAI0X

Soup and salad course

Sent from my phone

Is that you guys?

[Silophant]

Yep.

[twincitizen]

https://imgur.com/37wAI0X

Soup and salad course

Oh Mylanta, I don't believe I've ever made that facial expression in my life. That's what 3 servings of OG salad will do to ya.

I wasn't done: https://twitter.com/brsomogyi/status/616047367645720577

[mister.shoes]

I'm going to need some context to understand the do-rag and the eye black.