Globally inspired food at Gray Duck Tavern in St. Paul

A soon-to-open downtown St. Paul restaurant has a name most Minnesotans will recognize and maybe chuckle at: Gray Duck Tavern (grayduckstpaul.com).

Yes, that's an homage to the childhood game Duck, Duck, Gray Duck (which, of course, in every other state of the union is called Duck, Duck, Goose).

From there, though, the playfulness veers in a decidedly un-Minnesotan direction.

Chef Don Gonzalez, a California native who has traveled the world, has a vision of globally inspired comfort food.

Gonzalez, who took a break from the restaurant scene to work in development at Taher Inc. after seven years at the helm of Forepaugh's in St. Paul, will run the kitchen.

"I had kids and I was at the point where I wanted to see what having nights and weekends off would be like," said Gonzalez of the restaurant break. "But I just missed cooking. It's a beautiful thing. I missed that team environment."

At Gray Duck, in the historic Lowry Building at 345 Wabasha St., expect dinners of carved meats such as prime rib, a Singapore broil and Cuban-style suckling pig with bitter orange and mojo sauce (which will be repurposed into sandwiches for lunch), as well as family-style plates and handmade pasta.

"America is a melting pot of flavors, techniques and people," Gonzalez said. "So it would be a shame to be limited by just a single genre. I like to eat the world's food, not just what's in our neighborhood."

Look for a late-May debut for the restaurant, which is a project of Madison Restaurant Group.

Madison Restaurant Group also owns Green Lantern, Public Kitchen + Bar, Handsome Hog, Fitzgerald's and Eagle Street Grille in the Twin Cities.

A new cafe and culinary project featuring a dream team of chefs, baristas and cocktail masters is set to open in Minneapolis this June.

Lynhall (thelynhall.com), in the 11,500-square-foot space that formerly housed the Soo Visual Arts Center at 2640 Lyndale Av. S., will house a "market-inspired" cafe as well as an incubator kitchen for start-ups, a kitchen television studio and a private dining area.

Chef Shane Oporto, the former chef de cuisine at La Belle Vie, meanwhile, will handle the regular cafe menu, which will include a mix of roasted meats and vegetables in a fast-casual environment.

The Bittercube team — which has created cocktail programs at restaurants such as Cafe Alma, the Hewing Hotel and Can Can Wonderland — will design the drinks at Lynhall.

On the television side, former KSTP reporter Eric Gislason will oversee a project targeting start-ups that are seeking professional-grade equipment ready for production and packaging. The high-end television equipment will be available for incubators to promote their products, and any packaged goods may be sold in Lynhall's marketplace.

Since debuting last June, Rebel Donut Bar (rebeldonutbar.com) has built its reputation through sales at the Northeast Farmers Market, brewery pop-ups and other events.

Now they hope to open the doors to their own establishment at 1226 NE. 2nd St. in Minneapolis later this month.

The attraction? Teeny tiny doughnuts in flavors like caramel tahini, Cajun apricot habañero and chocolate cucumber parsley. Really, chocolate cucumber parsley?

"It's refreshing almost," Traver said. "It's just really light with a little bit of sweetness in there.

"I dig doughnuts because you can do anything with them," he said, "you can just slap anything on there."

Traver said the unique size was unintentional, at least at first. With only a small fryer, he and Gumeringer were just trying to be as efficient as possible.

"But people just fell in love with them," he said. "You don't have to commit to buying a huge one with 600 calories, or you can try a bunch of different ones. And people just think they're adorable."

The eatery, which opened at 169 N. Victoria St. on April 15, took a pause in service last Friday, announcing the halt via Facebook.

After 17 years, a longtime St. Paul noodle shop will close.

The owners of Tanpopo (308 Prince St., 651-209-6527, tanpoporestaurant.com) announced via their website that they would serve their last patrons on May 23. Tanpopo is known for its noodle soups, particularly udon, opening well before the ramen craze struck the Midwest.