Kieran's Kitchen Northeast opens

If Kieran Folliard is opening a cafe, Irish poetry can't be far away.

The restaurateur, whose name is stamped on Kieran's Irish Pub (he founded it but no longer owns it or its sister restaurants, which include the Local), drew inspiration for his newest restaurant, Kieran's Kitchen Northeast, from a poem by Seamus Heaney called "Digging." The poem's imagery of a squat pen and a spade became the logo for Folliard's cafe, which opened last Friday in the Food Building (117 14th Av. NE., Mpls., 612-354-2808, kieranskitchen.com).

The new place is a departure from Folliard's previous ventures, which rested heavily on his Irish origin. Kieran's Kitchen Northeast is no pub — although you will find dark wood bars, ornate mirrors and other reused relics from Folliard's pub-owning days, in the new restaurant's horse-stable-chic historic dining room.

Kieran's Kitchen Northeast is an all-day spot for coffee and pastries, sandwiches and fresh pastas that highlight the products of the Food Building's other tenants. (Folliard owns the building.) It is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

Baker's Field Flour & Bread makes the croissants, doughnuts, bagels and loaves for sale at the counter and used as the building block for sandwiches. Red Table Meat Co. and Alemar Cheese Co. fill those sandwiches with their salami and cured pork and Brie and fromage blanc, respectively. Honey comes from Skinny Jake's Fat Honey, which has beehives on the roof of the building. Dozens of other ingredients come from local producers as well.

Executive chef Ian Gray's daily trips to produce markets yield a crisp salad with croutons rendered in Red Table salami and other playful dishes that give veggies their due — such as a meaty-yet-meatless smoked carrot sandwich on Baker's Field Hundred Rye with harissa hummus and Alemar Brie. One housemade pasta dish pays homage to comfort food in the form of cream cheese dumplings, served over a mound of julienne vegetables.

"This is really about shining a light on craft foods," Folliard said.

"I asked them if they'd sell me their lease back," Folliard said. "We need to have something that is focused just on the products in the building and how we can be expansive with them."

Eric Carrara is "100% Italian," so the name of his new casual spot in St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood made perfect sense to him: Due Focacceria (duefocacceria.com). Due (pronounced DOO-ay) means "two" in Italian, fitting for his and his wife's second restaurant in the Twin Cities.

But he admits that in Due's short time open at 475 S. Fairview Av. — only a couple of weeks, and not even officially until the week of Aug. 17 — the pronunciation has required a bit of an Italian education.

Here's what else folks are getting: fresh focaccia bread, cheese and meat boards, spritzy aperitivo cocktails and, eventually, a takeout counter with fresh pastas and sauces, all inside a former coffee shop (Espresso Royale).

Carrara envisions Due as the kind of place that neighbors will walk to after work, have a drink and a light bite, get some takeout and walk back home for dinner — just like in southern Italy.

Carrara added, "We thought this was the closest thing to allow that to happen."

The 1,500-square-foot restaurant isn't full-service — in fact, most ordering will be done by kiosk (although the place isn't entirely cashless, if that's not your thing).

There are no entrees. But salads, sandwiches, soups and the boards for snacking can easily turn into a dinner. Plus, the counter inside will eventually offer to-go portions of fresh pasta and sauces, in addition to that chewy focaccia.

Hours are limited to evenings for now, but will slowly expand to include lunchtime in the coming weeks.

The Carraras also own ie: Italian Eatery (4724 Cedar Av. S., Mpls., 612-223-8504, italianeatery.com), and an adjacent space they want to turn into another casual spot in the next year. Yes, it'll be Italian.

More than 10,000 square feet of space will be devoted to those furry friends, including a leash-only bar, an off-leash area, and an outdoor bar and a play space with a water feature

Many local breweries have been amenable to dog-loving drinkers, so Unleashed will honor the connection by featuring microbrews.

Food will be "a bit of a higher-end version of bar fare," said Lauren Carter, who is the marketing representative of Unleashed. "Gourmet hot dogs" (really), "nice sandwiches," plus vegetarian and vegan dishes. And a dog menu. Think matching bacon flight for you and your pooch. Rice bowls. Lots of protein. "No onions. No chocolate, obviously," Carter said.

And then there's dog beer. A pup-safe, effervescent drink that's "tasty to whatever their taste buds are desiring," Carter said. "They aren't the pickiest eaters, dogs."

Co-owners Sam Carter and Kevin Knuston came up with the idea as dog owners who would come home from work to tend to their pets, but who then felt guilty about going back out to socialize. Breweries that do allow dogs have limited food and drink options, and "dogs are all stuck on leashes and pushed under tables," Lauren Carter said.

Although dogs must be on their leashes, the owners of Stanley's Northeast (2500 University Av. NE., Mpls., 612-788-2529, ­stanleysbarroom.com) blazed a trail with a dog food menu. That restaurant, along with the Howe Daily Kitchen & Bar and Pub 819, has served a total of 20,000 meals of Turkey Muttloaf and more. Two managers from those restaurants, Luke Derheim and David Benowitz, plan to open the dog-friendly pub the Block (7008 Hwy. 7, St. Louis Park) in 2020 or 2021.

At Unleashed Hounds & Hops, rules and regulations, such as vaccination requirements, are still being ironed out.

There's been some swift backlash on social media since word got out about the concept of people drinking with lots of dogs around. But Carter isn't too worried.

"It's just the internet," she said.

It can be ruff out there.