Wasn't there a moratorium on cowboy bars?
With the suburbs fully stocked -- thanks to Toby Keith's, Wild Bill's and Cowboy Jack's -- downtown Minneapolis is looking like the final frontier. Of the three brands, it's the locally owned Cowboy Jack's that will be settling in the rowdy club district.
Don't expect a country-spiked dance club, said co-owner Chris Diebold.
"We don't do clubs," he said. "Just the opposite: We're a bar and restaurant."
The outlaw-themed concept is under construction in the unfinished Ahern's Irish Pub space. Look for a late-April or early-May opening. Diebold and business partner Brian Asmus already have locations in Bloomington, Plymouth and St. Cloud, as well as Cowboy Slim's in Uptown and Cowboy's Saloon in Circle Pines.
With its prime location (one block from Target Field, next to Epic), the space's former occupant seemed destined for big things. But after a year of delays, Ahern's never opened in the 14,000-square-foot building. Ahern's issues, it turned out, were tied up in the financial problems of owner Kelly Jaedike's other business, the Melting Pot (which went through bankruptcy and has since been sold).
This Cowboy Jack's will be patterned after the Bloomington location, which is slightly larger. The bar will feature loads of reclaimed wood furnishings, faux rifles in place of door handles and peanut shells littering the floor. The Cowboy's menu is typical big-bar comfort food: ribs, wings, burgers and "country meatloaf." Its biggest asset in downtown will be the rooftop (never mind its view of parking garages).
While the theme of these bars is cowboy-country, the owners are known as motorcycle guys (they also own the Joint). "Right now we're trying to figure out where we're going to put the bikes," Asmus said.
