I figured I'd start my Travel series - Just Go There - with some of my favorite places in my own neighborhood - the North Loop/Warehouse District of Minneapolis. Jeff and I lived in Uptown for a few years when we moved here from San Francisco, but got sick of the crowds/drunken college kids/our Uptown City Apt and bought an amazing 3 story loft w private roof deck in the North Loop. We have quite a few great friends in the neighborhood who are always down to meet up for a drink, and the new outdoor Twins ball park will be finished next year and will be within walking distance. There are many reasons to love this hood, here are a few:1. The Monte Carlo - old school (apparently so old school that they don't have a website) steakhouse with a gorgeous bar where the bartenders know how to make a dirty Grey Goose martini with 3 olives, which I enjoyed with some friends last night. The Monte also has a huge patio for dining al fresco on oysters and champagne in the warmer months. And really good chicken wings.
2. Sapor - $3 Happy Hour until 7 pm every weeknight - that's $3 glasses of wine, $3 beers on tap, $3 burgers, fries and other tasty bites. $3 is basically free, so I'm declaring it the best happy hour around.
3. Black Sheep Coal Fired Pizza - New to the neighborhood, and quite welcome thank you. I was just introduced to coal fired pizza a few months ago at Lombardi's in NYC - America's first pizzeria -and it was amazing. Every pizza I've tried at Black Sheep is delish, and the house salad has the best Italian dressing ever..just go there already.
4. Toast Wine Bar & Cafe - Cozy little wine bar with a great menu of cheeses, small plates, salads and thin crust pizzas - the sundried tomato is my fave. Love that they have delicious J sparkling wine on their list, and many other more reasonably priced wines by the glass. They also have happy hour until 6:00 pm and a fantastic patio for a glass or three of sauvignon blanc on a warm summer night.
5. Club Jager - Perfect for winter months when you can cozy up to the fireplace and enjoy a hot alcoholic beverage or stand around the fire pit on the giant patio outside. The DJs and digital presentations can be hit or miss - sometimes great, sometimes strange and annoying - and the people who frequent the place seem to be mostly NE artists, hipsters and young professionals who live in the neighborhood.
6. Moose & Sadie's, Bev's Wine Bar & Jetset - all owned by Peter Karihara, and all 3 are fantastic to have in the neighborhood. I work from Moose & Sadie's coffee shop a lot since they have free wi-fi, great coffee and a great brunch menu on the weekends and pizzas, salads and soups during the week. Bev's is a candlelit, modern wine bar with a nice little wine list and patio overlooking the downtown skyline. Cocktails at Jetset are known as some of the best - and strongest - in town at this stylish gay bar that feels European and has a rotating roster of DJs spinning deep house on the weekends.
7. 112 Eatery - My favorite restaurant - we go there all the time and always take out of town guests to nosh on lamb scottadito, steak with ponzu, lamb sugo and amazing tres leches in a cozy brick bistro atmosphere. Reasonably priced and open late, can't ask for much more.
8. 414 Sound Bar - Veteran club owners Johann Sfaellos and Enrique Delgado know how to create a cocktail lounge - they used to own The Lounge. Stepping into 414 Sound Bar in the summertime, you feel like you're in South Beach, with comfy couches and DJs spinning electro and house outside, and a view of downtown and the new ballpark. Inside they've created an Asian inspired VIP areas with red Chinese lanterns casting a lovely glow on everyone enjoying live music performances along with their dose of deep house and cocktails. I'll take it.
9. Bunker's & Cuzzy's - Our neighborhood dive bars..both have outdoor patios, greasy food and cheap drinks. The view of downtown from the patio of Cuzzy's is hard to beat, and Bunker's has live music every night with an impressive roster of artists who just pop in when they are in town.
10. The Loop - I can only stand to go there on weeknights for late night happy hour and nachos, or during the day for lunch, once in a very great while. Weekend nights this bar/restaurant somehow transforms into a ridiculous meat market for groups of suburban chubsters who think they're Carrie Bradshaw and D-bags with their collars popped, dancing to 50 Cent in between the booths. No thanks.
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