You know, St. Patrick’s Day was declared a Feast Day way back in the 17th century. Historically, the Lenten tradition of abstaining from alcohol was lifted for the day, which somehow got us, a few hundred years later, to green beer. And you know the “snakes” Paddy was supposedly driving out? Those were just pagans, cheers! Whether you’re drinking green, snacking down corned beef sandwiches, or just taking in the cultural homage that is a Shamrock Shake, good times are afoot.
OPENS
+ Char Bar is now open at Butcher & The Boar. Adjacent to the main room, this side bar has a more clearly defined whiskey focus (check out the various flights in different taste categories) and a menu all its own. Snack on smoked onion rings, a Butcher Burger with oozey cheese, or a fried chicken sandwich with spicy whiskey honey. Opens at 4p!
+ Jakeeno’s Pizza & Pasta, on 36th & Chicago, has reopened their dining room which has been shuttered since the pandemic. Since 1975 they’ve been a SouthMinny standard for family recipe baked rigatoni, beef ravioli, thin crust pizza, and a rightly saucy meatball hot hoagie.
+ There’s a new meat party in Bloomington. Fogao Gaucho is the new churrascaria opened in the restaurant space adjacent to the Best Western across from MOA. They are serving both lunch and dinner, and you can choose just the salad bar or do the whole unlimited meats thing. Feeling really good about that endless salad bar for $18 at lunch tbh.
+ Broken Clock Brewing is opening their new space up this weekend. It’s a public soft opening, so be good partiers while snacking on Northeast Pretzels and Irish themed cocktails as you dream of that patio opening soon.
+ Guess what: Gordy’s Hi-Hat opens for seasonal business on March 22!! WE ARE GOING TO MAKE IT!!
CLOSES
– Grand Ole Creamery shut down their Grand Pizzeria side of the business this week. Fear not, the long-standing ice cream shop is still open, they’re just doing a little work and promise a new concept will soon be unveiled in the adjacent space.
COMING SOON
>> The next installment in Yia Vang’s Hilltribe Kitchen will be Mee-Ka, which is the Hmong word for “American”. Look for foods that represent the collision of Hmong food and American eating, not fusion, but a third, newer level that’s often called Third-Culture Cooking. Read this great piece by Chinese-Australian cook/writer Hetty McKinnon that dives deeper into it.
FRIDAY FISH FRY
Here’s a nice round up of FFF options across the metro, but each week we’ll call out a few more here.
><> Today is a good time to hit some of the eight spots competing in the 2023 Fish Fry Faceoff! Voting starts next week, March 21st! Watch all the videos!
><> Yikes this buttered (battered?) cod hoagie with tartar sauce at Earl Giles looks güd. Go get!
><> Revival has a fish n chips deal running on Fridays in SLP and STP (and we know, that they know, how to fry).
AGENDA
For SNAKES and SAINTS:
// Just saying, if you’re heading to Merlin’s Rest with some veggie loving humans who don’t want corned beef, tell them to order a shroomy krautcake.
// Can Can Wonderland has a stellar family-friendly way to go green (on the golfing green). They’ve got all-ages food and drink fun from 11am to 9pm, plus face painting, glitter hair, and kid jamming live music. Post 9pm, it’s 21+ funtime!
// Feel free to get your Mac and Don’s Shamrock Shake, I feel your nostalgic need. But level up by scooting to Brother Justus for a far superior Shamrock Shimmy, available tonight. It’s made with American single malt whiskey, house-made Andes chocolate mint syrup, and fresh mint leaves. You’ll need two.
// Finnegan’s has you allll weekend long, lassies. The woman-owned brewery that does the fundraising and donating through great beer has bands cooking on Fri, Sat, and Sun so you can get your fill of cloggers, pipe bands, and really good beer.
// Can imagine that it’s going to be a glorious jam of people at O’Shaughnessy Distilling today. They open at 1pm with live music, photo booths, corned beef sliders and a signature Keeper’s Mule along with other amazing whiskey drinks to be downed. Just lightyears better than a green tinted bud light.
// Get boiled at Alma tonight! Chef Marge Whelan’s is willing to share her family’s yearly tradition of eating Boiled Dinner on St. Patrick’s day with you this year (she normally just does it at “family meal” for staff to enjoy on the holiday every year.) Tonight they’ll offer the highest quality corned beef, local and organic vegetables, and a cheese platter you can usually only find in America’s oldest pub–McSorley’s Old Ale House in New York City. Her mom, Moira’s recipe for soda bread is untouchable.
// Looking for something post-parade in STP? St. Paul Brewing Co. has free parking! Plus a 4-piece Irish folk band, Pooka Irish Cream Porter, and a hearty food special: Irish Pasties 2 ea. (corned beef or mushroom) Colcannon Potatoes and a wedge of soda bread for $22. Soakers, those.
// Needing a gluten-free green sipper? Sociable Cider Werks pulling out all the stops this St. Patrick’s Day with a green matcha cider, live music, and a meat raffle. It all starts around 6 p.m. and runs all night long with music from Jeff Larson, Emmy Woods & the Red Pine Ramblers, and Tyler Haag.
// Let’s call it a $16 Reuben threeway. The Salsa Collaborative kids are at Barrel Theory starting at 10:30am with a traditional corned beef Reuben, a riffed Reuben taco situation, and most thrillingly: Reuben fried rice? Don’t think, just put it in your face, tag me, report back.
// Also can’t stop thinking about this Reuben burger from Saint Dinette: Swiss-American cheese made with Smithwicks Irish Red Ale, house made shredded corned beef, sauerkraut, 1000 Island dressing on top of a single patty burger. It’s a short run that starts at 5pm!
// Level Up: Green beer ice cream at Wild Minds Ale.
And then …
// Saturday marks a DECADE of Smack Shack! They are partying big like in North Loop with music, an ice bar, tons of oysters, wine shots, and OG menu items.
// Listen fellow cheese nerds, Andy Hatch is coming to town. The Uplands Cheese wizard of milk will be at the France 44 Meet the Cheesemaker event on March 30th, and you should plan your lunch hour around this. Nosh on house-made sausages and Uplands cheese while you hear about life on the dairy, and then help the shop select their special batch of Pleasant Ridge Reserve (a very special cheese).
// No fooling, Baldamar is here to flip your weekend brunch. Starting April 1st, the Roseville restaurant will begin offering a new Saturday brunch tradition: The Champagner. The $90 experience is an unlimited all-you-can-eat-and-drink brunch that includes cocktails, bubbles, mimosas and dishes such as pancetta carbonara, biscuits and gravy, French dip sliders, creme brulee French toast, and so much more. Can you eat it all? There is a catch, you only have two hours and you have to finish one course before ordering the next one. Good luck eaters, I believe in you!
// Chef Don Saunders, formerly of The Kenwood (and remember Fugaize???), has lunched a private chef service, but he’s hosting a new dinner series as well. Pearl will take place on Apr. 21-22 at Doc’s Hall in SLP, and the tasting menu has lots of ways in. You can do the multi course menu only for $150, you can BYOB it for $190, you could add in 2 glasses of wine for $210, or go whole shebang with wines and course pairings for $225. There are only a few seats left so don’t dally!