Restaurants Posts

Seasonal restaurants reopening in and around Duluth for 2016

Apr 14, 2016 No Comments

IMG_8288Nothing signifies the emergence of spring quite like the reappearance of malts on the Duluth Lakewalk and the wafting scent of fried fare from seasonal burger joints. For those ready to indulge, here’s a rundown on seasonal restaurant re-openings.

Gordy’s Hi-Hat in Cloquet reopened on March 20, the first day of spring. The classic hamburger stand is a favorite among locals and a popular stop for Twin Cities travelers headed to cabins up north. The restaurant, now in it’s 56th season, is known for its hand-pattied burgers and onion rings, and was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. A&Dubs

A & Dubs, another nostalgic burger joint in Duluth’s West End, will reopen on Mother’s Day, May 8. The seasonal, family-run business at 3131 W. Third St. was founded in 1948 as Duluth’s first drive-in restaurant. A & Dubs holds a special place in the hearts of residents of western Duluth. It’s a remarkable relic; nowhere else in Duluth has ice-cold root beer and burger baskets delivered by carhops for in-vehicle consumption.

Ice cream aficionados will be pleased to know the Denfeld Dairy Queen and the PortLand Malt Shoppe are already serving up decadent desserts.

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News and Current Affairs, Restaurants ,

Canal Park Timber Lodge Steakhouse won’t reopen

Apr 13, 2016 4 Comments

Canal Park Timber Lodge Steakhouse Timberlodge Steakhouse

After 20 years in business, the Timber Lodge Steakhouse in Canal Park is calling it quits. Bruce Taher, CEO of Timber Lodge’s parent company, Taher Inc., says he regrets having to make the decision. He hoped to close the restaurant for the winter and reopen it this spring, but a number of challenges precipitated the restaurant’s demise.

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News and Current Affairs, R.I.P., Restaurants

Perfect Duluth Easter Brunch?

Mar 24, 2016 2 Comments

So, being of a mindset that doesn’t lean particularly religious, the wife and I tend to sleep in on Easter Sunday. I had always been under the impression that Easter brunch was sort of a big thing, so a few years back we ventured out seeking a leisurely breakfast/lunch combo with bloodies and mimosas, only to discover all the usual downtown brunch suspects were closed!

We probably gave up a bit too early in our search since we ended up at the bar at Tycoons, but there were surprisingly few open places. To save me from that situation again, what does PDD suggest as the best place in the area to get a proper Easter brunch?


Recommendations, Restaurants

Not your typical cookbook review

Mar 22, 2016 No Comments

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Once upon a time we stopped caring about where our food came from, and had no knowledge of the people who grew it. We stopped cooking, ate out of boxes, and tore cellophane wrappers off microwaved “TV dinners.” We even ate fast food meals in our cars without stepping foot outside. Sounds crazy, but it’s actually true! Americans across the socioeconomic spectrum came to rely solely upon international corporations to feed us, even though they’ve proven time and again that their only care is for profits.

Slowly, surely, relentlessly, we are waking up. There is another way. The Duluth Grill Cook Book II is the latest contribution toward our community’s drive to create a sustainable local food system. I lingered over a scratch-made pie and perused the book for a couple hours while taking in the atmosphere. Read my thoughts on Ed’s Big Adventure.


Recommendations, Restaurants ,

The Vintage Kitchen serves up cheap eats and antiques

Feb 17, 2016 3 Comments
Vintage Kitchen, photo by Lissa Maki

Ron Garatz and Wally Berg, owners of the Vintage Kitchen

A charming little diner in Duluth’s Endion neighborhood is serving up homestyle food on colorful, classic Formica tables. But what truly makes the Vintage Kitchen distinctive is that antique furnishings and décor are also on the menu.

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Northern Waters restaurant open on Woodland Avenue

Feb 10, 2016 5 Comments

Northern Waters

Fans of all things cured and smoked will rejoice in knowing Northern Waters Smokehaus has opened its much-anticipated Woodland Avenue location in the Chester Park – UMD neighborhood. While the new restaurant offers some familiar lunch items from the Smokehaus, the menu is more expansive and includes alcoholic beverages.

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News and Current Affairs, Restaurants

Mon Historie d’Amour avec Mon Estomac (My Romance with My Stomach)

Jan 30, 2016 2 Comments

AndyBennet-SEI’m a Minnesotan in Paris. And I’m alone.

It’s not romantic. Paris with the one you love is romantic. Paris while you navigate the rain, the metro transit system, and a creative-writing residency class-load and its homework, is challenging and more than a little lonely. I’m one of the new kids here, and while I’ve made friends, it’s hard to step up to a circle and demand to know what we’re all doing tonight. I’m not built that way. I’m built for books and Netflix. I’m built for empty movie theaters and empty seats next to me on planes. I’m built for my wife. She is my co-conspirator and without her every experience feels drenched in a demi-glace of melancholy that mingles with the January mist and chills my bones.

JESUS. Chill out, Bennett. Someone’s been spending too much time talking imagery and not enough time eating.

And, since I’m in Paris, eating is a must. So I’m taking my stomach on a date. Instead of flowers, I will buy my stomach flour. We will take a long walk in the rain to a restaurant void of tourists, and the wine will flow. And, after a date like this, my stomach will totally put out.

Okay, I may have extended that metaphor too far. But, you know, that’s why I’m in school. To learn how to not make it sound like I expect my stomach to have sex with me.

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Art, Restaurants

Sunshine Café reopening after owner’s recovery from injury

Jan 27, 2016 2 Comments

Young-a and Steven Clement

Sunshine Café, a 30-year-old West Duluth restaurant known for its affordable, tasty breakfasts and cheery atmosphere, will reopen Thursday after a five-month hiatus.

Owners Young-a and Steven Clement closed their café at 5719 Grand Avenue in August when Steven fell two stories from a ladder while cleaning the gutters on his home. He was in intensive care for a month and has been recovering ever since. He fractured ribs and vertebrae, damaged the orbital bone in his eye and sustained a nasty head wound.

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News and Current Affairs, Restaurants ,

Best/Hottest Wings in Duluth and Superior

Jan 20, 2016 6 Comments

My friends and I are having a bit of a competition/pissing match. We’re having two side-by-side debates. Here are the questions: What are the best wings in the Twin Ports (and why)? Also, what are the hottest wings in the Twin Ports? This debate will culminate in a wing-off with the four of us, based on your suggestions, agreeing on the establishment and seeing who can make it through the hottest order of wings in the Twin Ports with the most grace and bravado. Thank you in advance for your suggestions.


Recommendations, Restaurants

Duluth ups its caffeination with opening of Grand World Coffee

Jan 14, 2016 No Comments

Grand World Coffee exterior

West Duluth welcomed another neighborhood coffee shop on Jan. 4. Grand World Coffee opened in the former Subway sandwich shop space at 4918 Grand Ave., next to Vision-Pro Optical.

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Cider in Duluth?

Jan 12, 2016 3 Comments

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Although off the beaten path, I enjoy Endion Station‘s cider selection.  Is there anywhere else in town with a comparable cider menu?


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OMC Smokehouse anticipates November opening

Jan 06, 2016 2 Comments
Duluth Grill owner Tom Hanson stands in the gutted 1886 structure that will house his next restaurant venture.

Duluth Grill owner Tom Hanson stands in the gutted 1886 structure that will house his next restaurant venture.

If all goes as planned, the nascent commercial stretch of the Lincoln Park neighborhood — home to Bent Paddle Brewing, Damage Boardshop and Frost River Trading — will gain a distinctive new restaurant before the end of 2016.

OMC Smokehouse is Duluth Grill owner Tom Hanson’s latest project. OMC stands for oink, moo, cluck. The aptly named eatery will cater to carnivores with its smoked meats and cured sausages, but Hanson promises there will be menu items aimed at vegetarians, too.

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The story of Duluth’s Best Bread: Sourdough in lieu of a PhD

Jan 05, 2016 No Comments

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I recently spent a day trying out the role of assistant baker for Duluth’s Best Bread. The amount of time and effort that goes into their scrumptious goodness defies belief. Furthermore, the simple ingredients that go into a traditional sourdough are completely unimpressive. The real feat is accomplished by the wild yeast and lactobacilli that run wild in a symbiotic relationship through Michael Lillegard’s time-tested method of cold fermentation.

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New owner takes over Superior’s Cedar Lounge

Jan 04, 2016 4 Comments
The Cedar Lounge is located just off Tower Avenue at Third Street in Superior's north end.

The Cedar Lounge is located just off Tower Avenue at Third Street in Superior’s North End. The new owner has not announced plans for the property.

The wife of former Fitger’s Brewhouse co-owner Tim Nelson has her name on the recently transferred liquor license of a decades-old Superior tavern.

The Superior City Council granted Cedar Forest LLC a Class B liquor and beer license for the Cedar Lounge, 1715 N. Third St., at its Dec. 15 meeting. The license application lists the sole member of Cedar Forest as Naomi C. Nelson, wife of Duluth micro-brew trailblazer Tim Nelson.

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Toasty’s Downtown Duluth location open

Dec 14, 2015 1 Comment

TOASTYSThe Duluth News Tribune reports Tom and Rachael Hagen opened their second Toasty’s Grilled Cheese Shop on Dec. 11. The new location at 220 W. Superior St. is best known as the former home of Mr. Nick’s Famous Charburger and the short-term location of seven different failed restaurants since 2002. The Downtown Toasty’s will be open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 5 pm., offering a similar menu to the Hillside location — sandwiches, soups and salads.

Story link: Toasty’s opens new downtown Duluth location


News and Current Affairs, Restaurants