Lending a hand
Namaste Cafe (2512 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls., www.namastechai.com) is leading an effort to raise $30,000 for earthquake-ravaged Nepal. Donate at tinyurl.com/q9a285z.
Here are two more ways to provide support: From May 1 to May 8, co-owners Rashmi Bhattachan and Sarala Kattel of Gorkha Palace (23 4th St. NE., Mpls., www.gorkhapalace.com) are donating 20 percent of their gross sales to earthquake victims, through the nonprofit Association of Nepalis in Minnesota. And from May 5 to May 7, Himalayan Restaurant (2910 E. Lake St., Mpls., www.himalayanmomo.com) co-owners Naveen Shrestha and Pravin Shrestha will donate 100 percent of the restaurant's proceeds to earthquake relief efforts.
Thursday is the annual Dining Out for Life event, which supports the work of the Aliveness Project, a Minneapolis nonprofit that provides meals, a food shelf and other services for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Here's how it works: Roughly 225 participating Minnesota restaurants (find the list at www.diningoutforlife.com/minneapolis/restaurants) will generously donate a portion of their April 30 breakfast, lunch and/or dinner sales to the event.
Goodbye, doughnut muffins
Sad to report that Bars Bakery (612 Selby Av., St. Paul, and 55 E. 5th St., St. Paul, www.barsbakery.com) is calling it quits, after five butter-soaked years. The Cathedral Hill location is closing May 1, and the downtown skyway location will go dark at the end of May.
Co-owner Sandi Younkin is retiring, and co-owner Kara Younkin Viswanathan noted that her first new endeavor will be "making her children dinner most nights, a feat that feels impossible when you spend all day in a kitchen," she said in a statement.
