Visit Lake Street Blog
Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Eve, and Black Friday on Lake Street
November 24, 2009
A few special events to take note of this week as we head into Thanksgiving. First, take note that the Midtown Farmers’ Market is holding their special Thanksgiving Market once again this year, on Wednesday from 1 – 4. Meat, vegetables, apples, bread, chocolates, and canned goods for the next day’s feast will be available. Anyone who pre-ordered a turkey from Hilltop Pastures can pick it up there.
On Thanksgiving itself, it will of course be a quiet day for most of Lake Street, but Magers & Quinn is having a special Thanksgiving Day Sale to beat the crowds. From 12 – 9 everything in the store will be 20% off. No coupons, no crowds.
And in contrast to Thursday, Black Friday is a very busy day for retailers, but one offer in particular stands out. And that’s at Longfellow Grill, which is having a Black Friday breakfast sale. From 4 – 5 AM, a breakfast entree is absolutely free! The deals start dropping from there but are still plenty interesting: 5 – 6 AM it’s 60% off, and 6 – 7 AM, 50% off. So for any early-risers looking for deals, that’ll be one that’s hard to top.
City Pages visits Lyndale Taphouse and Sauce Spirits & Soundbar
November 23, 2009
Sauce and the Lyndale Taphouse are two welcome new additions to the Lyn-Lake scene, having filled a couple spaces left open by the unfortunate closings of La Bodega and JP’s. In City Pages, Rachel Hutton makes a good argument that the two fill holes of another kind as well, niches that the neighborhood was previously lacking.
For example, Hutton says that until now, there wasn’t a good place in the area for a sports fan to go and enjoy the big game of the day while enjoying dinner or a couple drinks. The Lyndale Taphouse is changing all that. According to Hutton, “The Lyndale’s aims are perhaps closer to the more modest, value-oriented, middle-of-the-road approach of Bon Appetit. If you can stand the crowds and the scene, its food is better than what you’d expect for a place with so many TVs.”
She also says that Sauce’s soundbar concept might be just the thing to fill the void left by the closing of the Uptown Bar. “ Overall, Sauce has a comfortable, arty vibe. Abstract paintings and photographs of Twin Cities performers line the walls, and a vending machine sells CDs by local up-and-coming bands.” And the food? “ A stand-alone dinner at Sauce is likely to underwhelm, compared to the neighborhood’s other restaurant offerings. But I’d guess that showgoers will be thrilled to find more interesting fare than the typical rock-club mozzarella sticks and burgers.” I can personally attest that Sauce’s calamari is a culinary thing of beauty, and I also think that their lasagna stands up pretty well in its own right.
Your Weekend Entertainment, November 20-22
November 19, 2009
It’s shaping up to be a nice weekend with temperatures in the mid-50s and lots to do on Lake Street! Let’s start with two annual events.
First up, Saturday from 10 – 3 it’s the Calhoun Coffee Fest, the 20th annual incarnation. Attendees are invited to sample coffee, tea and treats from local and national vendors, participate in a variety of entertainment, and will receive a collectible Coffee Festival mug. Admission is $9, with proceeds benefiting Second Harvest Heartland.
Down the street a bit at the Midtown Global Market, it’s Do It Green! Minnesota’s 4th Annual Green Gifts Fair, also on Saturday, 10 – 5. Shop among 40+ local, eco-friendly artists and businesses, catch local chef demos, an eco fashion show, children’s eco activities and participate in workshops showcasing ideas of how to entertain green this holiday season. Free to the public.
In the theater, Pangea World Theater and Intermedia Arts are co-hosting two screenings of the movie Four Sheets to the Wind as part of Pangea’s Indigenous Voices series. “When Cufe Smallhill (Cody Lightning), a Seminole-Cree from Oklahoma, finds his father dead beside a bottle of pills, he fulfills his promise to sink the body in the family pond. The action begins, leading Cufe to the big city of Tulsa with his sister Miri (Tamara Podemski) and soon discovers an entire world opening up.” The movie at Intermedia Arts at 8:00 PM Friday and Saturday. On Saturday there’s a special panel discussion beforehand at 6:30 PM.
Also on Friday and Saturday, Patrick’s Cabaret puts on a new show, which they called Prix-Fixe Cabaret. Featuring: Erin Drummond-’Dance of the Seal Woman’; dance by Non Edwards; storytelling by Alison Bergblom Johnson; dance by Victoria Olender; bellydance with Alexandra Owings; and music by Adrienne Vaughn.
In the Heart of the Beast Theatre wraps up its run of A Story of Thich Nhat Hanh this weekend. Demand was so great that they’ve added a Saturday matinee show, at 2:00 PM. The rest are sold out so if you don’t have a ticket yet, get one now for that Saturday matinee!
At Bryant Lake Bowl, it’s one serving of Quickies 2009, two of Dykes Do Drag, two of She: Immortal Witch Queen of a Lost World, and the weekend closes with A Christmas Carol: The Golden Girls Remix. Check the theater schedule for times and all the details.
And for the literary types, Magers & Quinn hosts two author discussions. Ted Gioia discusses The Birth (and Death) of the Cool Saturday at 7:00 PM, and Connie Goldman discusses Who Am I?… Now That I’m Not Who I Was? Sunday at 5:00 PM.
Your Weekend Entertainment, November 13-15
November 13, 2009
A new show gets started tonight at the Jungle Theater. The Seafarer by Conor McPherson plays through December 20. “A collection of Irish misfits lay their cards – and their souls – on the table in this tale of a poker game played on Christmas Eve. A wonderful exploration of passion, provocation, and the potential for redemption, The Seafarer showcases one of today’s greatest storytellers, and an all-star cast of local favorites.”
In the Heart of the Beast continues their run of A Path Home: A Story of Thich Nhat Hanh. It shows Friday and Saturday at 7:30 PM and Sunday at 2:00 PM. It’s been gathering some good press lately, including a profile on MPR and a review in the Pioneer Press.
Now that the temperature is getting colder and colder, a bowl of chili gets to be a very tempting meal. The Midtown Global Market’s got you covered there, with this year’s incarnation of the Global Chili Cook-Off. Chili connoisseurs are invited sample 13+ types of chili made by Midtown Global Market business owners. Visitors can cast their vote for the “Public’s Choice Award†by selecting their favorite chili. The competition will be hot as challengers try to unseat last year’s winner, Safari Express. Free recipes will be available too! A $3 donation is suggested and all proceeds will benefit Perspective’s Kids Café program.
Magers & Quinn has two author events this weekend, with Peter Conners discussing his memoir Growing Up Dead, about being a Grateful Dead fan, on Saturday, and Minnesota poets Jill Breckenridge and Morgan Grayce Willow reading from their new work on Sunday.
Last but never least, Bryant Lake Bowl has their usual jam-packed schedule, with Quickies 2009 and Last Laugh on Friday night, Creative Laughter Club House and She: Immortal Witch Queen of a Lost World on Saturday, and on Sunday another run of She followed by a CD release party for Brandon Patton aka BL4k Lotus.
Your Weekend Entertainment, November 6-8
November 06, 2009
Looking a little further out than this weekend, we’d like to remind everyone that our always-fun and always-affordable annual wine tasting & silent auction fundraiser is coming up quick, on November 12. Tickets can be purchased online at our other site. This event is taking up a lot of all our time right now so we’ll do a lightning round of what to do on Lake Street this weekend.
In the Heart of the Beast opens their new mainstage show A Path Home: A Story of Thich Nhat Hanh tonight. They have a great new trailer for it on YouTube which we’ll embed below.
Pangea World Theater and Intermedia Arts have two more showings of Bridges on Friday and Saturday. It’s a show in three acts: Red Dirt Rites, Bbbl, and Conjuré. Read more at the link!
Bryant Lake Bowl is busy as always, with Quickies 2009 and The Underpants Show on Friday night, She: Immortal Witch Queen of a Lost World and The Vilification Tennis Handicapped Show on Saturday, and on Sunday another edition of She.
Magers & Quinn has an author discussion of Practically Green on Friday night and a poetry reading on Sunday night.
Midtown Farmers’ Market is closed for the season but be sure to check out the details of their November 14 fundraiser!
Your Weekend Entertainment, Halloween edition
October 30, 2009
The Peace Coffee pumpkin
Quick version of weekend entertainment today. We’ll have a look at what to do for Halloween. In just a little bit, Midtown Global Market will have their Halloween Family Night. 5:00 – 8:00 PM on Friday, kids in costumes are invited to venture throughout the Market and load up their trick-or-treat bags with candy from participating MGM stores and restaurants. Everyone is welcome to enjoy the free, family-friendly live entertainment from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Market’s Central Plaza.
On October 31st itself, head over to Midtown Farmers’ Market for the last regularly scheduled market of the year. Pick up your last minute pumpkins, along with a wide variety of other vegetables like peppers, cabbage, winter squash, garlic, beets, turnips, potatoes, and celery root.
And for evening entertainment, how about heading over to Bryant Lake Bowl, for Tonight We Abide: The 2nd Annual Big Lebowski Party. “We’re celebrating Halloween the best way we know how… Our 2nd Annual party paying tribute to the Worlds best bowling movie, The Big Lebowski. So join us for a masquerade-bowling tournament, free movie screenings, DJ Christian Fritz spinning tunes from the Coen Brothers film catalog, karaoke, a costume contest, and loads of prizes. Come dressed as your favorite character from the movie and drink some Dude-a-reenos as we pay tribute to the Dude, Walter, Donny, and of course Jesus. No cover.”
Happy Halloween!
Lake Street: the place to get inked
October 23, 2009
Last week, vita.mn had a great cover story profiling five of the Twin Cities’ top tattoo artists. It shouldn’t surprise you to learn that three of those five are right here on Lake Street! Kurt Melancon of Leviticus Tattoo, Shane Wallin of Twilight Tattoo, and Kore Grate of Tatus by Kore are interviewed. Combine that with The Ink Lab, City Pages’ 2009 winner for Best Tattoo Parlor, and it’s obvious that you just can’t go wrong looking for a tattoo on Lake Street, whether you’re in the east, west, or middle!
Your Weekend Entertainment, October 23-25
October 23, 2009
One play closes, another play opens. This is the last weekend for Mary’s Wedding at Jungle Theater. Meanwhile, a few blocks north of Lake Street, Open Eye Figure Theatre’s newest show, Elijah’s Wake, is just getting started. “A visual poem by Michael Sommers. First created in 2003, Michael Sommers revisits this groundbreaking work to be staged in the Open Eye Theatre. ‘…a piece of art the stimulates through visual action, this is an extraordinary work.’ Star Tribune”
As always, Bryant Lake Bowl has multiple shows to see this weekend. This time around, it’s two doses of Vampires Suck: The Vilification Tennis Halloween Show (Friday and Saturday), and the last chance to see Master Works: The Goya Plays (Friday), In the Weeds (Saturday), and The Importance of Being Earnest (Sunday).
And there’s plenty more happening to satisfy your artistic cravings. Friday and Saturday, Intermedia Arts hosts Singing the Legacy of Sekou Sundiata: The America Project Twin Cities, a series of community events including Brown Bag Dialogues, Citizenship Dinners, a Film Screening, Potluck Dinner and Community Sing, all designed to inspire and ignite our passionate ideals around citizenry, civic work, and active engagement in civic life. Friday night, Pangea World Theater hosts Hyphe-NATIONS Performances/Art Installation & Community Dialog, which deals with immigration migration and displacement in our diverse Twin Cities communities, nationally and globally. And Saturdays at In the Heart of the Beast Theatre, it’s puppet shows for kids! This Saturday is Tiddalick the Frog, an Australian Aboriginal story of a grumpy frog who drinks all the water and a little eel who makes a difference.
There are now just a few Midtown Farmers’ Market days left this year, and this Saturday it features an Energy Fair. October 24th is Day 350: the International Day of Action on Climate Change. This Saturday, market hosts Metro Clean Energy Resource Team, Do It Green! Minnesota, and the MN Energy Challenge will give you ideas on ways to save money on your utilities bill while saving energy in your home!
Sunday brunch? Midtown Global Market has you covered. This week it’s Cafe Finspang serving up Swedish meatballs, sausage, pancakes, lingonberry jam, Danish rye bread, and other Nordic treats.
And for the readers out there, Magers & Quinn has three weekend author events. Friday night, Karen Casey reads from Cultivating Hope : Weekly Readings to Open Your Heart and Mind, Saturday night Rachel Coyne reads from her novel Whiskey Heart, and on Sunday Miles Proctor and his vampire posse present The New Vampire’s Handbook: a Guide for the Recently Turned Creature of the Night.
Lake Street on Twitter
October 20, 2009
I’ve noticed lately that some people really like to discover and follow all the different Lake Street places on Twitter. So I thought I’d try to create a definitive directory of them. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far. If you see any missing, please speak up! (And of course, be sure to follow us on Twitter as well, @VisitLakeStreet.
Barbette @BarbetteMpls
The Beauty Room @beautyroommpls
Bryant Lake Bowl @BryantLakeBowl
Gandhi Mahal @gandhimahal
Glaciers Cafe @glacierscafe
Hair By Morgan @hairbymorgan
Hirshfields @hirshfields
Il Gatto @ilgattouptown
In the Heart of the Beast @HOBT
Jungle Theater @JungleTheater
Juut Salon Spa @JuutSalonspa
Longfellow Grill @longfellowgrill
Magers & Quinn @magersandquinn
Manny’s Tortas @MannysTortas
Midtown Global Market @MidtownGlobal
moto-i @motoi2go
Northern Sun @NorthernSun1
Pangea World Theater @Pangea_PanLab
Peace Coffee @Peace_Coffee
Midtown Produce Exchange @ProduceExchange
Resource Center of the Americas @RCTA
Salty Tart @TheSaltyTart
Sauce Spirits & Soundbar @SauceMPLS
Smitten Kitten @SmittenKittenMN
Stella’s Fish Cafe @Stellasfishcafe
Town Talk Diner @towntalkdiner
Uptown Theatre @UptownTheatre
William’s Uptown Pub and Peanut Bar @WilliamsUptown
Your Weekend Entertainment, October 16-18
October 16, 2009
We have a couple high-profile events happening on Lake Street for only this one weekend. First is In the Heart of the Beast Theatre, which is hosting a double feature of two nationally recognized puppeteers. Janaki Ranpura performs Lovesick Sea Play, an innovative story of love in the world of 18th century Atlantic piracy. Bart Buch presents Ode to Walt Whitman, a multi-media puppetry performance that uncovers an unspoken dialogue between Whitman’s Leaves of Grass poems and Federico Garcia Lorca’s Ode to Walt Whitman. The shows are at 7:30 PM Friday & Saturday, 2:00 PM on Sunday. Tickets available online.
And at Midtown Global Market, it’s the 2nd Annual Cheese & Apple Festival on Saturday. The theme will center around locally grown products with about a dozen different local apple and cheese varieties, cooking demonstrations and kids’ activities. Come for lunch, get ideas for your holiday get togethers, learn something new at a cooking demo and listen to some great live music! It will be a day of fun for the whole family as MGM brings the fun of a fall apple orchard tour to the urban environment.
Elsewhere, Magers & Quinn has a full weekend of events. Friday night, Thomas Larson discusses the “Age of Memoir†and his book, The Memoir and the Memoirist. On Saturday, Richard Ojakangas presents Roadside Geology of Minnesota, Beatrice Ojakangas discusses The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever, and Vermont educator Tal Birdsey discusses his book A Room for Learning: The Making of a School in Vermont. And Sunday, Paul Tough discusses his book Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America.
Bryant Lake Bowl has a busy weekend too, with Master Works: The Goya Plays and “inspire” A Tribute to Michael Jackson on Friday Night, In the Weeds and Dragmanity on Saturday, and The Importance of Being Earnest on Sunday. And don’t forget Jungle Theater continuing their run of Mary’s Wedding and another fun Saturday morning at the Midtown Farmers’ Market!
