Welcome another hotel and restaurant to town .
The Hewing Hotel and its anticipated Tullibee are opening to the public on Thursday (Nov. 17) after a series of soft openings.
Housed in a former logging warehouse in Minneapolis' North Loop, the open-concept first floor of the Hewing – which contains Tullibee as well as a lounge, check in, a wine cellar and a ball room – contains many of the original features of the building constructed in 1897, including exposed brick and piping, arched windows and parts of the original wood floor.
Tullibee, the hotel's eatery, is headed by chef Grae Nonas, who recently moved to Minneapolis from Austin, Texas to explore his Scandinavian in the Nordic-themed restaurant. Nonas – who has previously worked in restaurants in New York (including under Mario Batali at Eately), Los Angeles and Italy, among other places – received two nominations for the James Beard rising star chef award while at his Austin restaurant, Olamaie.
On Wednesday night, a sneak peek of his offerings stuck closely to that Nordic script, offering up whole smoked tullibees – a fish native to this area – and salmon with dill sauce, as well as fresh oysters on the half shell, cocktail shrimp, chicken and wild rice soup, duck fat French fries, roasted beets and breads and charcuteries, among other things. Cocktails included an old fashioned and an aquavit punch garnished with torched spruce (yes, like all good parties, there was fire).
The regular menu includes the likes of elk tartar, whole lake trout, bison bone marrow and pork collar with appearances from root vegetables aplenty as well as creamed spinach with smoked trout roe and curried egg, charred cabbage with gruyere and hazelnuts and a cauliflower main dish with winter beans and walnuts. Prices range from $9 to $18 for small plates and sharable dishes and from $19 to $34 for heartier fare. An aged ribeye for two is $42 per person. The restaurant also has a butcher room downstairs and a butcher on site.
The eatery will be open for lunch and dinner starting on Thursday, and all three meals beginning Friday.
A Thanksgiving pre fixe meal is also available by reservation. That menu includes cream of winter squash soup, chicken liver mousse with chokeberry jam and brioche, turkey or Norwegian cod, mashed potatoes, cauliflower gratin, stuffing, brown butter carrots, charred cabbage and a choice of pecan pie, apple pie or cranberry sorbet for dessert.
The Hewing – which comes from a verb that means to square off logs to make them usable for construction – also boasts a roof top that will be used year round after it opens at the start of December. A small enclosed roof top bar with served a paired down menu along with wine, beer and cocktails and a hot buttered rum in the winter months. In the summer, outdoor seating will wrap around the enclosed space. Also upstairs is a 24-person sauna, and an outdoor, rooftop spa-sized pool is under construction that will be converted to a hot tub in the winter.
The pool/ hot tub under construction.
Rain drops that "fall"down the hotel's atrium. Some of them are purple, giving a nod to Prince's recent passing.
The rooftop bar
One of the Hewing's 124 rooms.
