St. Paul Restaurant News

[jw138]

It's a shame about the Bin Wine Bar. It had great atmosphere, really good food, and a fun staff.

The "Handsome Hog" is going into the old Bin space:

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... -bring-pig

Pig-centric contemporary Southern food. The chef is Justin Sutherland who formerly worked at Brasserie Zentral and Meritage. The kitchen will be in the basement so the dining space on ground level will be significantly larger than when Bin was there.

It'll also be bourbon-centric, serving 100 different kinds.

[ProspectPete]

I checked out the new Dark Horse in Lowertown yesterday. It was very nicely decorated and they are working on the patio which will have pre plumbed beer taps for an outdoor bar, as well as fire pits.
Inside there were 3 large interior windows with a view of the interior of the building next door. Apparently there will be a distillery going in there. It looks as if the demolition is done and the construction is underway.
It's amazing that these 3 building, which have been empty of was long as I can recall, were never demolished and turned into surface parking ramps.

That adds to an impressive count of new bars and restaurants opening during the last year or so.
By my count:
1) Public
2) Ox Cart
3) St Dinette
4) Big River Pizza
5) Dark Horse
----------------- (in the works)

6) The aforementioned distillery above
7) World of Beer
8) The handsome Hog

Maybe one could include the Rival House or SW Craft bar, but I think they fall outside of the boundaries of "Lowertown" proper.

[gcm]

Earlier post on World of Beer:

They plan to open in October, according to the person in their booth at the Blues Festival yesterday. She said they'd have 52 taps and 500 bottles.

I'm curious, has World of Beer opened as planned? If not, has there been any construction activity?

[ProspectPete]

I have seen no construction activity at World of Bee yet.

[nate]

Here is a plug for Saint Dinette. Great menu and nice atmosphere. The Rayette Building is such a tremendous upgrade for the neighborhood.

[jw138]

The American Burger Bar re-opened last week. It's now directly connected to the skyway but you do have to walk into the parking garage, take a right, and then the door is 25' in front of you. The stairs lead down into the open restaurant floor. The interior doesn't hold a flame to the old swanky dimly lit space but it at least doesn't have the bland sports bar feel of the downtown Minneapolis location. The large rectangular bar in the center totally dominates the space and looks like a fun place to have a drink. They had a good number of beers on tap. I didn't see a drink list but "Whiskey" was painted (or maybe it was signage) on the facade outside so maybe they have a large selection whiskey. A quick look at the menu seemed to indicate that it was fairly similar to the old one. There was also a fairly sizable private dining area in the corner.

[gcm]

This sucks:

"The Glockenspiel bar and restaurant on West Seventh Street announced on its Facebook page Sunday night that their lease will not be renewed and they are closing immediately.

Sunday was their last full day of business, but they open one last time from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday."

[seanrichardryan]

http://www.revenue.state.mn.us/collecti ... g_list.pdf
They haven't been able to purchase liquor since October.

[ProspectPete]

While no one every likes to see a place close, there is some positive news to offset the closure of Glockenspiel. Here is a story in the P.Press about the recently closed Trattoria de Vinci space in Lowertown.

http://www.twincities.com/restaurants/c ... a-da-vinci

[seanrichardryan]

From a facebook feed, it seems the they need to renovate-

[gcm]

I'd be interested in reading the other comments in that stream. I searched for it, but failed. Could post a link the Facebook page?

[seanrichardryan]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/west7th/

[Vagueperson]

Mexitalian Pizzeria at 1193 Payne Ave (old location of Otra Cocina).

https://www.facebook.com/Mexitalian-Piz ... 6/?fref=ts

Someone I know said they had a great Cubano sandwich, but I haven't been in yet.

[Vagueperson]

New burger place in the Plaza del Sol building at 990 Payne Ave. Across the street from Tongue in Cheek and in the same building as Sidhe Brewing.

Reviews are good (one here and one word of mouth): http://www.yelp.com/biz/hamburguesas-el ... saint-paul

[RT-Bone]

World of Beer:

Fall has come and gone. No movement on this place, other than a sign that eliminated the "Coming this Fall" verbiage.

Any insight?

[mulad]

A roundup of rooftop dining plans for St. Paul (Salt Cellar, Red Cow, The Lexington, and Ox Cart Ale House), plus notes of an expected Masu Sushi opening on Dale Street sometime in the summer, and Augustine's Bar and Bakery opening at 1668 Selby in May.

http://www.twincities.com/life/ci_29384 ... dining-and

[seanrichardryan]

Salt Cellar, at 173 Western Ave., is discussing a rooftop patio as the unobstructed view of the Cathedral of St. Paul and state Capitol would be like no other in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood.

That might be a stretch. It's a one-story building. It's neighbors are 2-6 stories.

[LakeCharles]

Re: Salt Cellar
But in the direction of the Cathedral and Capitol there is only a 2 story building, and that is across Dale Street. I think the sight lines would be just fine.

Awesome news about Augustine (from the Happy Gnome people). Wish we woulda had that back in my Mac days.

[seanrichardryan]

Also, Heirloom at Cretin & Marshall has opened. It's delicious and accessible. Check it out!

[Scole]

World of Beer:

I noticed a few days ago they had new "coming soon" signs up. And just today I noticed a roll off dumpster out front and some plans laid out on a table. So hopefully things are moving forward now.