Category: Blog Post

BOOZE AND EATS
Celebrate the Cold One

Not every night is made for elegance. This just might be a Juicy Lucy night, a brat night, or mmmm, a beer and wings night. Normally, I wouldn’t expect a lot of partying on a Tuesday, but tonight is the second Groveland Tap Summit Summer Celebration. What does the mean exactly? Well, cheap beer, for one — $1 pints of Summit, music from 8 to 10 p.m., a raffle and prizes, and of course, cheap food — $2 brats and $ .25 wings.

6 p.m., Groveland Tap, 1834 St Clair Ave, St Paul; 651-699-5058.

BOOKS, ART & EATS
Schmooze with a Burger and a Beer

Join the book arts community for some scintillating backyard B.S. — take it however you like, bullshit or book social; it’s your call. (Let’s face it; it’s probably a little bit of both.) Socialize, hob-nob, and engage in your own show-and-tell on the back patio at Grumpy’s, just down the street from the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.

7 p.m., Grumpy’s Bar & Grill, 1111 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-340-9738, (MN Center for Book Arts) 612-215-2520.

MUSIC
You’re Due for a Simple Rock Show

A night made for burgers and beer should be rounded out with a rock show — nothing out of the ordinary, just some solid rock-n-roll. And the 400 Bar has just the thing, a lineup of several different bands — my fellow Brooklyn-ites, Pela; The New Constitution; The Sexy Bang; and local punksters Small Kitchen Appliances (whom who can catch tomorrow night at the Varsity as well).

8 p.m., 400 Bar, 400 Cedar Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612-332-2903; $8.

THEATER & PERFORMANCE
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible No Good, Very Bad Day

“It’s 7 a.m. You wake up with a nasty wad of gum in your hair. Trip on your skateboard. Drop your sweater in a sinkful of water. And your brothers express interest in trading you for some roller blades. And now it’s only 7:15 a.m.! As bad days go, it’s tough to top Alexander’s. He’s the funniest fed-up kid ever, and this is one of the coolest musicals ever.” What more does one have to say? It’s about the best kids book ever — maybe even the best book ever — and it’s being performed by our fabulous Children’s Theater Company. It opens today and runs through October. Don’t miss it.

7 p.m., The Children’s Theater Company, 2400 3rd Ave. S., Minneapolis; $15.

Michelle Gayer-Nicholson made a big splash when she came to town from Chicago — and a stint at world-famous Charlie Trotter’s, where she also co-authored “Charlie Trotter’s Desserts” — to become head chef at Franklin Street Bakery in 2004. It was an odd move which she explained by saying both that she wanted to raise her children here and that she wanted to have the freedom to experiment, pastry-wise. Experiment she did. During Nicholson-Gayer’s reign, the hybrid corner bakeshop and social action site (the original business plan included support from the American Indian Neighborhood Development Corporation) at Franklin and 10th Avenue sported pastries made with green tea, candied pansies, and rosemary polenta. Shortly after seeing Franklin Street through a major expansion in 2005, Gayer-Nicholson left, putatively to teach at Le Cordon Bleu. But today, she’s back, in our local version of Charlie Trotter-style: teaming up with chef Tim McKee at La Belle Vie and sister restaurant Solera. Talk about a power couple.

Like Harry Potter — OK, not quite like Harry Potter — but in the same vein: the release of Bogle Vineyards Phantom is an event which hordes of fans await. We’ve even been known to line up outside stores, credit cards at the ready, and rush in to buy cases of the thick, red, potent brew. While it doesn’t have the household cachet of Gallo or Beringer (a good thing, in my opinion) Bogle is one of the top 20 wine companies in the country — a family of vintners specializing in ruby fruits and vivid wines. Phantom is a proprietary blend of Old Vine Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and Old Vine Mourvedre, that the Sacramento Delta winemakers release only once per year — a limited case run that usually sells out in three to four weeks. This year’s vintage, Phantom 2004, is rich and sweet — almost dessert-like in its mouth feel — with a lot of blackberry on the sides of the tongue, hints of vanilla and clove, and a hauntingly peppery finish that lingers like. . . well. . . the ghost of a long-dead friend. As well it should, with an alcohol content of 14.8%. Local stores, including Haskell’s, just received their shipments of Phantom. So I suggest you put down your copy of the Deathly Hallows this minute so you can run out and buy your share.