Uptown Diner opening a cafe
A former North Face is about to get a face-lift.
The New Uptown Café is opening March 17 at the Lake-and-Hennepin spot (3008 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls., thenewuptowncafe.com), which had been home to the outdoors apparel store for a decade before it closed in 2019.
The cafe is from the team behind the Uptown Diner, the longtime late-night eatery just a few blocks north (2548 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls.).
Open 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, the New Uptown Café will serve many favorites from its sister diner, including caramel rolls, hash browns and fair-trade coffee. Some new items on the menu include a Mediterranean salad and rotating soups.
Tommy Skubal, a 20-year veteran of the Uptown Diner, is managing the cafe. Before that, he was the manager of the former Embers nearby.
"I have been in Uptown for 25 years," Skubal said in a statement. "After everything that has happened in the last two years, what our community needs right now is a local spot where people can come for a coffee, or a pancake, and connect with their neighbors again. I think the Uptown Café will help revitalize what was once one of the most bustling blocks in Minneapolis."
Animales Barbeque Co. will kick off its 2022 season on March 25 with a surprise switch-up.
The massive trailer is taking a trip over to nearby Bauhaus Brew Labs (1315 NE. Tyler St., Mpls.) to set up shop for the season. Meanwhile, the Animales Burger Co. trailer, an immediate hit last summer, will roll over to Able Seedhouse + Brewery (1121 NE. Quincy St., Mpls.) for the season.
"We just wanted to try something a little different this year," said chef and owner Jon Wipfli. Animales Barbeque Co. has steadily grown since its inception from the onetime fine dining chef and cookbook author. He's been obsessing about barbecue for years, but fully jumped into the land of smoke after the crushing success of his pop-up (during the 2018 Super Bowl he even caught the attention of Food & Wine).
Animales officially launched in 2018 in a trailer outside the brewery and quickly became a popular spot for pastrami sandwiches, dry rubbed ribs, pork tacos and a variety of sides that showed off Wipfli's fine-dining training while still being eat-with-your-fingers appropriate. In 2021, Animales added a second trailer at Bauhaus Brew Labs' expansive patio serving burgers.
For a preview of what's coming, check out two pop-ups, one at each location. On March 11 from 4 to 8 p.m. at Bauhaus, the smoker will be serving up half chickens with a couple of new sauces, a new Puerto Rican black bean pottage recipe and smoked pork shoulder fried rice.
On March 13 they'll be at Able Seedhouse + Brewery from noon to 4 p.m. with beef birra, filled with warm spice from cinnamon, cumin and dried chiles, plus pastrami sandwiches and Caesar salads.
The trucks will be open Wednesday through Saturday to start; hours will expand as the season warms up.
Momento sliding into Pazzaluna space in St. Paul
Momento (360 St. Peter St., St. Paul, momento-stp.com) is coming to the former Pazzaluna space in downtown St. Paul. Morrissey Hospitality still owns the address and is betting on a smaller, less formal eatery for the locale. The kitchen will make use of the wood-fired ovens to build a menu that will lean into the seasons with a fresh, rotating selection of dishes.
The interior has been given a refresh from popular restaurant design firm Shea, including a large mural from local artist Adam Turman. Construction is underway and an early spring opening is anticipated.
Pazzaluna was the company's Italian eatery that closed in May 2020 after more than 20 years in downtown St. Paul.
Roseville now has dim sum
Pagoda, the longtime Dinkytown favorite for dim sum, has relocated to Roseville (2401 N. Fairview Av., Suite 133, pagodaroseville.com). The Cantonese and Szechuan menu remains long and varied with favorites like congee to kung pao chicken. (There are a few menu items that haven't made it to the new spot yet, including the smoothies and the hot pot.) Plus, the restaurant serves dim sum six days a week until 3 p.m. with an all-you-can-eat option ($35.99) showing up on weekends along with an optional bottomless mimosa pairing ($15). The dim sum menu is filled with large portions of all the classics, from a duck egg congee and sui mai to sesame balls. Order judiciously, though; there is a fee for ordering too much and wasting food.
