Cute dog art at Stray Dog
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE
Dish goes Meta: Review at the top not the end
Not Meta as in the company, meta as in this is my column talking about itself. As you may or may not know, I am basically a Southside Minneapolis girl. Most of my restaurant news and reviews focus on South Minneapolis places. But restaurant culture, discounting the snooty posh and tragically hip spots on the North Loop, is increasingly migrating to NE Minneapolis, where I have a lot of friends.
That’s not why I’m reviewing a NE place this month.
I went with my friend and neighbor Julie to early-vote on the last day of September. That’s in NE as you know if you are an early-voter too. We deliberately chose a NE spot neither of us had been to for our post-voting lunch. I chose Stray Dog, and although I had not planned to review it, it was nice and I took pictures, so here we are. I had the Bourbon Brown Butter burger in its slider manifestation. (One cool thing about this place – every burger can be ordered in a slider size!) I also had the beet salad which was excellent and a good pairing choice. Because I had to drive home, I did not sample their impressive array of beer taps, nor their THC seltzers. We
Beet salad with Bourbon Brown Butter Slider in the background Stray Dog
loved the vibe, the service, the art on the walls, and also the Brussels sprouts, which Julie ordered.
A bit of history: originally there was a small chain of four Bulldog bars with burgers. Then the one in NE was bought by a couple who wanted to make it fancy. An executive chef – Kevin Kraus – took on the kitchen and became famous for his artisanal but still approachable burgers. Then in 2017, the couple sold the Bulldog NE to Kraus and he renamed it, to avoid association with the three remaining old-school Bulldogs.
Coming soons, openings, closings, and changes
Owamni, as if it’s not in the news enough already, is moving … to the Guthrie Theater dining space! I am pretty excited about this.
The owners of Reverie Cafe + Bar, a highly popular vegan restaurant near Powderhorn Park, are opening a new vegan cafe at the corner of 26th Street and Lyndale, in the space last occupied by Hi Flora! The name is Dreamstate Cafe, and you can subscribe to their mailings to be kept up to date at dreamstatecafe.com. An extra bonus to this news is that Boneshaker Books, which is outgrowing its space in Seward, will occupy the former retail space part of Hi Flora! Check their website if you want to help them move.
From Bring Me the News: local jazz singer Johnnie Brown, who serendipitously is a carpenter
New jazz club coming to Hennepin Ave S., thanks to Jazz singer Johnnie Brown
by day, is renovating a space next door to Isles Buns on Hennepin to open as a jazz venue with restaurant called Brownstone Jazz Club. It’s almost ready, but waiting for its capacity license and liquor license. Brown hopes to open later this winter.
We learned from a recent Flyover column in Racketmn.com that after 11 years on Franklin Avenue, Thai and sushi restaurant Soberfish will close on Nov. 15.
Hospitality and food industry news
There are a couple of feel-good, food-and-drink related articles I highly recommend you read on Racketmn.com. On Oct. 10, Em Cassell did a really good write-up on Albi Kitchen, a recently opened Somali cafe in Loring Park. On Oct. 1, they published a long article by James Figy “Would the Honeycrisp of Hops Revitalize MN Beer?” which is a fascinating deep dive into the hops industry – supply, demand,
Drinks at Albi Kitchen (photo/Em Cassell, Racket)
environment, and research – in our state.
Brian Arola, in a minnpost.com article of October 17, has a piece about the struggles of Minnesota’s soybean farmers as China responds to tariffs by not buying – at all! Gov. Walz toured soybean farms and talked with farmers, but solutions remain elusive. As Arola writes:
China bought nearly 27 million metric tons of soybeans from the U.S. in 2024. At $12.64 billion, China was by far the biggest buyer — the distant, next closest was the European Union’s $2.45 billion. President Donald Trump’s trade standoff with China led the country to turn away from U.S. soybean exports this year, a follow-up to what happened during his first term. Brazil and Argentina seized on the opening.
Going a bit further afield for variety, I read a heartwarming story (Oct. 10 by Marika Price Spitulski) about England’s oldest working flour-producing windmill in “Nice News.” The windmill, Holgate Windmill, is located in rural Yorkshire, an area that I remember very fondly from a
Holgate Windmill in Yorkshire England
solo, week-long, spa vacation I took there. Built in 1770, it stood vacant for about 68 years, but a trust set up to renovate it (which took from 2001 to 2011) got it working again as of old. The trust mills about 4.4 tons of flour annually and also offers paid tours.
