Photo by Michele Manske
Urban Garden owner Sharon Toll.
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Gardening for condo dwellers
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By Michelle Bruch
A garden store tailored for condo balconies is up and running in the old Vanderbloom space at Heritage Landing, 415 N. 1st St. Owner Sharon Toll said the Urban Garden shop is a major career change for her. She spent many years working as a technical writer, and spent her summers working at garden stores. “I just liked the business so much, being around the flowers and the people who buy them, I thought long and hard about how could I do this for myself [and] make this my day job,” she said. Toll said she landed in the North Loop after driving around with her sister hunting for potential store locations. As they came closer to Downtown, Toll realized a store focusing on container gardening and window boxes might be perfect for this neighborhood.
••• The owners of 112 Eatery and Barrio are teaming up to open an Italian restaurant in the old Babalu space at 800 Washington Ave. N. in August. The venue is called Bar La Grassa, which means “the fat,” and is the nickname for the Bologna region of Italy. The 150-seat design by ESG Architects will include a rustic grotto bar, a dining room with seating overlooking an open kitchen, and a private dining room. The restaurant is going for an intimate feel with raw woods, wrought iron and exposed brick. As with the 112 Eatery, Bar La Grassa would provide food at a range of price points. The menu includes 10 fresh and 10 dry pastas with small portions priced from $8–$9 and larger portions from $16–$18. The husband-and-wife owners of 112 Eatery met Josh Thoma, one the restaurateurs behind Solera, Barrio and La Belle Vie, back in the early ’90s when they all worked together at D’Amico Cucina.
••• Two months after Sam’s Wine Shop closed, a new operation is applying to open up in the same spot at 218 Washington Ave. N. The business is called Sam’s Wine and Spirits. A city committee approved the business license in late April, requiring that the shop refrain from selling beer in singles less than 16 ounces, and refrain from selling wine or distilled spirits in quantities of 100 milliliters or less. ••• Construction started last week on a new CVS Pharmacy in Elliot Park. CVS will occupy 10,000 square feet on the ground floor of the Skyscape Condominiums, where the Otho restaurant operated at South 10th Street and Portland until late last year. Skyscape developer Paul Dincin said CVS’ purchase — rather than a lease — is a huge vote of confidence in the Elliot Park neighborhood. The store will open in September. ••• The James Beard Foundation has named La Belle Vie Chef Tim McKee the best chef in the Midwest. In addition to La Belle Vie, McKee is the chef behind menus at Solera and Barrio, and he’s working on an overhaul of the Guthrie Theater’s restaurant operations that will open in July. According to the James Beard Foundation, the awards represent thehighest honors for food and beverage professionals in America. ••• The Downtown Resource Group has launched a new contest called “Clues for Cash.” It’s a Minneapolis trivia contest that has $5,000 in local gift cards as the grand prize. Two clues will be revealed in each edition of the Downtown Journal this summer. The winner will be announced on Aug. 6 at the Loop Bar and Restaurant, 600 Washington Ave. N. For more details, visit downtownresourcegroup.com. ••• The Little Wagon has closed at 420 S. 4th St. Owner Terry Keegan said the business struggled because of the economic downturn. “It was largely dependent on Star & Tribune and Grain Exchange, and they downsized dramatically,” he said. “Not enough sales to keep it going.”
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