August cheers & goodbyes with cool coctails, free slices, signs of the times and...a bridge explosion?
KUDOS, TOASTS & CHEERS…to the many creative chefs and restaurateurs for innovative invites and summer promotions that keep customers coming back for more—even during a recession. We all knew the restaurant scene would take a hit as the recession kept rolling in, but I’m still amazed and delighted at the many unique and tempting offers that keep coming my way via e-mail or snail mail or onsite for return restaurant visits. I guess it’s true, as old Joe Kennedy once said, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” And so ’tis the season and the reason for me to give my summer “PAT on the BACK” Awards to the some of the following great foodie finds I have discovered below.
CHEERS TO THE SAMPLE ROOM…in Northeast Minneapolis for starters. The place that turned the old Polish Palace into a dining hot spot didn’t miss a beat and jumped on the bandwagon with their June 20 e-mail blast for a Sunday promotion on Father’s Day morning—the 21st. No, they didn’t say come for brunch. Their tempting headline blared out a modest lowercase bold black header simply stating “last minute notice” highlighted in yellow. It was followed by a few short, casual “Nordeast”-style sentences (lower case theirs): “The city is blowing up the lowery bridge at about 9 a.m. Sunday, june 21st. you can see the bridge from our rockway docks! we’ll be there bright and early at 8 a.m. serving beverages.” Yes, they were, and so was I, along with hundreds of other people too, standing along the sandy Mississippi rivers edge toasting the stunning explosion with morning coffee or an eye-opening $5 mimosa—Cheers! And if you couldn’t stay for brunch on such last minute notice, they included an inviting 2-for-1 lunch coupon in the e-mail, good for the next few weeks. A memorable, once-in-a-lifetime toast for sure. Cheers!
BRAVOS TO A COUPLE of A-LISTERS…I’ll also give an A+ to Azia in Minneapolis and Alaska Eatery in St. Louis Park, since both have been tempting folks with special prices on colorful, cool cocktails paired with interesting small plates this summer. Thom Pham, owner and executive chef at Azia has been pairing mini-courses and small plate samplings for some fun on his sidewalk patio. I tried his June promo with Bacardi dubbed, “The Best of the Patio.” They had the cocktail team mixing up great tastes like mai tais with calamari, caipirinhas with orange beef satay and watermelon mojitos with cranberry puffs—four cocktail courses and eight small plates of appetizers about $11 per course, a great value. Keep ’em coming!
Meanwhile over at the cozy Alaska Eatery & Glacier Bar, a cool, woodsy aura awaits you. Avoid the Highway 394 afternoon traffic by turning off the highway any weekday between 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. and you’ll find a quiet oasis of happy hour choices. Located on the south service road (at the Louisiana exit), this log-style lodge offers a getaway in St. Louis Park. You may recall this site was built as the original Shelley’s Woodroast, complete with two fireplaces. The new Taher team who took over the site as a grilled steak and seafood haven just a little more than one year now, feature lunch and dinner and a super weekday, afternoon escape for the world whizzing by outside.
Afternoon getaways here are like a mini-vacation, with happy hour small plates and appetizers created by Executive Chef Matt Quist, from the likes of panko breaded calamari with a lemon-lime aioli, to fresh walleye fingers and fries to brisket on mini-buns—and even mini-mussels—all priced at $5 or $6.
Bar manager and chief mixologist Will Runkle has added his spirits too (so to speak) with a great summer cocktail menu with six new concoctions for $6 each. They have super names and flavors from a Glacier Bay martini with rum, crème de banana and midori; to an Alaska Palmer with a bite—Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea Vodka and lemonade. My favorite? A bubbly mix of St. Germain Liqueur mixed with Gruet’s sparkling wine—I love it. You can choose your own setting, too, from the intimate little patio nestled alongside the log walls outside with small trees and chirping birds, or wander inside into the long, wood-beamed bar and count the number of Scotches you see on the wall—I hear more than 50. Can’t swing an early happy hour? Never fear, Will says they have added a tempting specialty bar menu after 6:30 p.m. Enjoy.
MANNY’S MAKES MARTINIS TEMPTING…as in “seductive,” with some word play and a super $5 price from 5 to 7 p.m. every day at their Living Room bar in the lobby level of the new W Hotel in the Foshay. Cheers to another Phil Roberts winner—who I always say has a wicked sense of humor and an eye for timing and a tempting price, too. He loves sexy innuendo to lure you to his lair and for summer happy hour in a tough economy at the Living Room (which adjoins Manny’s). He flashed a sexy e-mail invite that wowed you with a colorful martini, a big “W” and the $5 price all topped by the headline: “Achieve a two-hour climax” at the W. A perfect lead-in to his Web site copy that also invites you to enjoy the Living Room and reads, “When you’re done with the foreplay, Manny’s awaits you behind the green door, just off the bar.” Enough said!
GREEN MILL CRUISER ROLLS OUT…Free Slices of Summer. The winning word here is “free!” I can’t think of a better, or more generous deal in town this summer. Kudos to Chris Bangs, owner of the Green Mill since 1974. He was just a college kid who loved the pizza where he worked so much that he bought the business. Now 35 years later, with the economy in such a slump and Green Mill growth to 14 metro stores, (more than 30 throughout the Midwest) he felt a birthday thank-you to the Twin Cities community for all their years of support was in order. Hence his new Free Slices of Summer campaign, with their Pizza Party on Wheels. Seems they have this beautiful, 50-foot-long pizza cruiser painted with such huge colorful pizzas that it would make Andy Warhol’s tomato soup can green with envy. Outfitted with ovens, coolers and such, it’s been used for weekend fairs and festivals when they take their show on the road. And, at the end of each summer, it winds up at the Minnesota State Fair.
Meanwhile, it sits empty on weekdays and Chris and his team thought, why not take it out a few days each week to serve some free slices—with hopes of serving more than 20,000 slices before the summer is over. Seems he never heard the saying, “There is no such thing as a free lunch,” eh? They’ve been at Movies in the Park and at a various TCF Bank parking lots around town at noon, with plans for an August visit to the Water Park of America in Bloomington and over to Mears Park in St.Paul for another movie evening pizza party as well. You can catch their free fun stops, too, just by checking Twitter and Facebook and their listings on their Web site at www.greenmill.com/slicesofsummer. Bravo. Thanks for the Happy Birthday present, Chris.
SIGNS of the TIMES—NEON SIGNS THAT IS…And last but not least, a quick nod with a hello and a sad goodbye to some—all reflected in their neon signage. Yup, these signs lit up the night in July and say it all. See if you don’t agree. It was easy to see more history being made on the horizon out in St. Louis Park last month as the half-century old Wagner’s Drive In on Highway 7 in St. Louis Park changed hands and looks. Now the new kid on the block with the sparkly, bright new neon sign tempting us to stop by for burger is renamed and remodeled as the retro Galaxy Drive-In thanks to neighboring theme restaurateur and burger fan Steve Schussler. His new Web site will explain all their plans for fun and the new menu, which will be featured at www.galaxy-drivein.com.
Meanwhile take a look at the two fading, flickering Al’s Liquor neon signs (missing the A) on the bar, which is ready to close after over 80 years on the corner of France Avenue at Excelsior Boulevard. It was named for the owners Al Lovaas and Mary Vlavianous, who had lived upstairs. For the past 37 years owner David Payne (now 62 years old) was at the helm and often behind the bar. We stopped by for a good-bye toast and $3 beer—just packed as I expected. Cheers, David, on your early retirement. Hope you enjoy your new free time.
