Cooks of Crocus Hill is opening its first Minneapolis outlet, in the city's North Loop neighborhood.
That is to say that co-owners (and spouses) Karl Benson and Marie Dwyer are taking a to-be-determined form of their patented blend of cooking school and retail shop to the city's hottest restaurant neighborhood.
"A sort of best-of-all-possible-worlds is how we're looking at it," said Benson. "It won't literally be Cooks of Crocus Hill, but it will have pieces of it, it'll be a Cooks riff. We're trying to figure out how to take the best of Cooks, massage it a bit and make it work for that space, and work for the neighborhood. We're just not exactly sure what that is at this junction."
Cooks currently operates three retail/cooking school locations — on St. Paul's Grand Avenue, at 50th and France in Edina and on Stillwater's Main Street (pictured, above, in a Star Tribune file photo). Benson and Dwyer operate a pair of small Cooks retail outlets inside the Kowalski's Markets stores in White Bear Lake and Woodbury.
Whatever form it takes, their North Loop outpost is going into 208 N. 1st St., in the space long occupied by Local D'Lish, and next door to Askov Finlayson and the Bachelor Farmer and across the street from Spoon and Stable.
Opening date? "We're shooting for May or June," said Benson.
As for Local D'Lish, the farm-to-table-focused store has closed after nearly eight years of showcasing locally produced foods. Owner Ann Yin is hosting a final sales event on Thursday (Feb. 11) from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
"I hope you will be able to join me and my family to say good-bye while enjoying some great discounts on inventory, equipment and general merchandise," she said in a statement. "Stop in to shop, share stories and give me a big hug. Thank you for sharing this journey with me. I genuinely treasure this experience."
