David McCrindle

A glorious pasty from an underground lair at Potter's Pasties brick and mortar store

It was a particularly overcast day in the middle of a week of consecutive overcast days when we decided to stop by Potter's Pasties new brick-and-mortar location on Como Avenue. for a taste of their traditional tasty hand pies, the official food of depressing weather. The store is the latest in a welcome and growing trend of popular food trucks (Foxy Falafel, Smack Shack, and World Street Kitchen) that have expanded their business by adding year-round, all-hours, sit-down versions of their mobile restaurants. But it was clear from the moment we parked and started poking around that Potter's is aiming to do things a little differently.
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Wikimedia Commons

Italian wines (and a few beers too) start flowing at Terzo this Wednesday

We lamented the closing of Pierre's Bistro last fall, but as soon as we found out who the new tenant would be, our disappointment quickly turned to excitement. The Broder family, as in Broders' Pasta Bar and Broders' Cucina Italiana, revealed that they were planning a new wine bar for the space called Terzo, Italian for third. Because it's their third restaurant, you see.More »

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Joy Summers

Dazzling downtown denizens, Sarah Botcher and Black Walnut Bakery

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Courtesy Mason's Facebook page, photo by Tamara Obscura

What's old is new again at Mason's, now open in the Cowles Center

In the old Masonic Building at Sixth and Hennepin, now part of the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts, a new restaurant serving sophisticated American bar food and takeaway deli sandwiches (from their M To-Go area) quietly opened earlier this month. They're doing everything from morning coffee and breakfast sandwiches to box lunches to happy hour (including excellent-sounding booze-n-beer/cider cocktails like one made with rum, Strongbow, maple syrup, and cherry bitters) and hearty dinner specials like Osso Buco and breadcrumb-topped mac 'n' cheese. 
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There are a few things you'll want to know before heading out to Pig Ate My Pizza, the new restaurant in the former Travail space (also owned by the same guys). First, parking is easy on main street, but the entrance is actually in the back, past the dumpsters and through a short, pig art-adorned hallway. More »

David McCrindle

Succulent slabs: Smoke in the Pit delivers bold, true barbecue in Powderhorn

After a months-long hiatus to make the move from its former East Lake Street location, Dwight Alexander's fabulous Smoke in the Pit is now open in Powderhorn near the intersection of 38th & Chicago Avenue. The modest space contains a kitchen, single restroom for customers, and a small waiting area filled with the intoxicating, hunger pang-inducing scent of smoked meat. More »

The new spot with the funky name on East Lake Street is now fully up and running. The taps are flowing with a tasty beer selection, the ovens are cranking and the fryers are roiling. We stopped in for a first taste and found a couple of unexpected flavors and a little room for improvement.More »

David McCrindle

Gigi's Cupcakes: Tall, proud, and sugary.

A few weeks back the Wall Street Journal published a story about the rapidly crashing cupcake market, using the Crumbs Bake Shop chain (whose shares, once worth upward of $13 apiece, have dropped to about $1.36) as an example of a business that is struggling in the crowded gourmet cupcake marketplace. Right around the same time, Nashville-based bakery franchise Gigi's Cupcakes opened its first Minnesota location in the Golden Valley Commons.

After Cake Eater closed (taking the sorely missed cupcakes from Miel y Leche with them) and amid rumors that Sweets Bakeshop's extended vacation may be a permanent leave, we had to wonder whether Gigi's cupcakes would be worthy of bucking a national trend or just the next in a long line of single-product shops that find they need to diversify to stay afloat. We figured if the answers were anywhere, they would probably be somewhere toward the middle of one of Gigi's toweringly tall cupcakes.

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The new restaurant with the funny name opens today from 4 to 10 p.m.

The oddly named Zeke's Unchained Animal has been on deck to open since New Year's, but it looks as if today it is finally ready to invite guests to come in and get off the chain. Located off East Lake Street in the Best Neighborhood in Minneapolis, the modest space will serve mostly pizza and burger-type fare. The menu also lists such bar food favorites as mozzarella sticks and wings, but then it goes off in an interesting direction.

See also:
Zeke's Unchained Animal will be bringing pizzas and burgers to Longfellow

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