The Feed | Last Dance

We are down to the last three Saturdays before Labor Day. Now, at least one of those might be used to eat a lot of fried food, but perhaps the others should be wantonly spent driving with windows down to a new restaurant clearly not in your neighborhood, getting a takeout quesadilla and walking along the river like you’ve always said you would, or sitting with a sausage as you fest with friends before all the hullabaloo that is: fall.

NEWS

\\  It’s not the humidity, it’s actually the heat. 

OPENS

+ Justin Sutherland’s Northern Soul concept is now open on the rooftop deck at Ties Lounge in Mpls. You can get half a smoked chicken or brisket sandwich among other things for dinner, and make it brisket sliders or chicken fried ribs until midnight on the late-night menu. But brunch may be the get, with biscuits and gravy, plus hoe cakes (don’t go getting cheeky about their name.)

+ Very happy to report that Vellee Deli will finally open their long anticipated location in Northeast on Saturday. The food truck to skyway fusion eatery, which brought us Asian- Mexican mashups like the chicken currito and my favorite dragon melt quesadilla, had planned the new site before the pandemic. And, like the rest of us, they’re just catching up. Opens at 1p, and 15% discount all day Saturday!

+ Kitchen and Rail is now open in Eagan. The kitchen has had some help from bbq master Charlie Torgerson, which you can see in some pig wings, cauliflower burnt ends, but also that slow smoked Vietnamese pork belly. This independent is hoping to win the hearts of the south metro eaters with craft cocktails, good service, and bit of panache that they chains seem to lack.  

+ Maybe you knew this, maybe you didn’t, but either way it bears mentioning; Escondido, the little mezcal tasting room hidden in the back of Vivir on Quincy Street, is open for walk-ins on Sat-Sun 6p-10p. If one of your summer goals was to drill down on mezcal, Todd Mulhair is your Jedi.

AGENDA

//  That’s right, Kramarczuk’s Kielbasa Fest is back! Go get that sausage party fun at Utepils Brewery this weekend. It’s free to go today, where there will be a meat raffle and the Ukrainian Village band playing. Pony up $5 for entry on Saturday for a pierogi eating contest, Doctor Kielbasa Polka Rock, and so much sausage and beer. 

// This matches the pace of August. Hopkins is hosting a 4 Block Walk Bar Crawl tonight. You may think that’s slim pickings, but there are a LOT of bars in Hopkins and taking Main Street from 8th to 12th avenue will have you stopping more than you think. 

// This weekend’s Food Truck Fest is in Anoka! Oops, and Canterbury!

// Get toasty on the Backyard Bonfire Bash at Wicked Wort Brewing up in Robbinsdale this Saturday. They are fire-pit ready with original s’mores or specialty s’more platters (+ cookies and Reeses!!), grab some ice cream or make a beer float, because The Sandlot movie will show around 8:30 and you want to be ready for that. 

// I’m so bored with NOT having Germanic opera with my wine, know what I mean? Thank Gott im Himmel for Opera on Tap auf der Wiese this Saturday. Bring your own wine and cheese and the German-American Institute will provide the bevvies and hopefully some horn-helmet wearing ladies belting out some Wagner or JCBach.

// Guys, no one has ever taught me how to play cribbage, so I’m not sure if this will be as fun as I imagine it to be? But on some Saturdays there is a Cribbage Tournament at Broken Clock Brewing and while I really don’t know what that entails, or what a Muggins is, it still feels like y’all are having fun without me. 

// So Myriel has a deal on Sunday during which breakfast will be available from 10a-1p (or until they are eaten out of house and home). You can order ahead of time or walk in. But what we’re really talking about here is grandma’s warm caramel rolls, smashed duck fat potatoes with crmefrche and chives, and a whole breakfast sandwich situation with sausage, egg, cheese on a homemade English muffin with chive mayonnaise that you might get to enjoy at one of those little sidewalk tables and damn if that’s not summer at its most excellence.