Minneapolis, MN

How the Spoon and Cherry sculpture found a home in Minneapolis

Published

41 mins ago

September 5, 2024

How the Spoon and Cherry sculpture found a home in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS — It’s recognizable not just in Minneapolis, but across the country, and for good reason.

It’s the center piece of the Walker Art Center’s sculpture garden. And in many ways, it’s become a state symbol. Roughly 600,000 people a year visit the Spoon and Cherry.

“It’s bigger than the sculpture garden. It’s bigger than the Walker. It’s something that has become emblematic of the state of Minnesota in general,” said Siri Engberg, Senior Curator and Director of Visual Arts for Walker Art Center.

Last year the Spoonbridge and Cherry, as its technically called, celebrated 35 years on site. In the late 80’s artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen were tasked with creating something special for the sculpture garden.

“Claus Oldenberg is known for whimsical pop art, infused works that are very much everyday objects and changing them in surprising ways,” said Engberg.

In Chicago, Oldenberg had an idea to use a spoon as a bridge into Lake Michigan. It didn’t work out. But he found a place for the utensil in Minneapolis. His thought was the bowl of the spoon could be associated with the prow of a Viking ship, over the water.

“I think the cherry with the color, the red, that’s what pops it out,” said Vicki Friedman who is visiting with her husband Gary from St. Louis, Missouri.

Van Bruggen thought so too. She’s the one who convinced Oldenburg that the fruit would be “the cherry on top” for his masterpiece.

The cherry weighs about 1,200 pounds. And the spoon portion of the sculpture is nearly 3 tons. It’s made out of stainless steel and aluminum and it took two years to build on the east coast. Then it was shipped by flatbed trailer to Minneapolis. In May of 1988, two cranes finally put the spoon and cherry in its place.

“It’s pretty cool. It shoots water out of the stem,” said Ximena Fernandez, who was visiting the sculpture garden.

The sculpture is a giant fountain surrounded by a wet meadow. Oldenburg designed it that way as a shout-out to the Land of 10,000 Lakes. When the wind changes direction, you feel the mist coming from the stem.

The sculpture needs to be cleaned after a long winter and repainted every so often. But maintaining that shine is what’s helped it become the picture capitol of Minneapolis. People get creative with their photos and some will go to great heights to get a closer look.

“I love it. It’s so unique. I don’t think there’s anything like it in the world,” said the Friedmans.

“It’s neat. You can’t see this kind of merging between art and nature anywhere else,” said Engberg. “The scale of this piece is monumental. Against the Minneapolis skyline it’s kind of an incredible object.”

Again, the Spoonbridge and Cherry is surrounded by a wet meadow with native plants. It’s all designed to help recycle rainwater through the fountain.

John Lauritsen

John Lauritsen is an Emmy award-winning reporter from Montevideo, Minn. He joined WCCO-TV in late-July of 2007. Two days after he started, the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed.

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Minneapolis, MN

The Twin Cities’ Most Anticipated Fall Restaurant Openings

Published

8 hours ago

September 4, 2024

Press Room

The Twin Cities’ Most Anticipated Fall Restaurant Openings

Minneapolis and St. Paul are fresh off a season of big new restaurant openings, including, most recently, a cozy neighborhood bistro dishing up ravioli du Dauphine and salted chocolate chip cookies, a supper club-y new St. Paul restaurant from the owners of Lake Elmo Inn, and a fancy new sports bar from chef Daniel del Prado, among others. Fall has even more in store: Stay tuned for an ultra popular dumpling pop-up-turned-permanent-restaurant and a hifi wine bar coming to Northeast Minneapolis; a revived cocktail lounge and New Orleans-style restaurant opening on Lake Street; a low-key Japanese cafe coming to the North Loop; and more. Here are this fall’s most anticipated Twin Cities restaurant and bar openings.

Zenska Glava sommelier Sarina Garibović and songwriter and musician Sam Cassidy have teamed up to open Small Hours, a bar built for wine and music lovers, in Northeast Minneapolis. Most wines will be served by the bottle, so that customers can “immerse themselves in the culture and story behind each bottle,” per Garibović, though there will be a rotating by-the-glass menu. There’ll be a food menu of small plates that complement the wines, too, like tinned fish served with fresh-baked bread from local bakers Sisters Mpls. Beyond the wine, high-fidelity music is the focus at Small Hours: The bar has an assortment of both new and vintage sound equipment, including a floating turntable and a rotary mixer, not to mention a thorough record collection. Opening September 21. 2201 NE 2nd Street, Minneapolis

Cafe Yoto

Chef Yo Hasegawa, a 10-year veteran of acclaimed omakase restaurant Kado No Mise, will soon open a North Loop cafe of his own, according to Downtown Voices. Cafe Yoto promises a casual vibe, counter service, and a focus on takeout. Earlier this year, Hasegawa teamed up with Kado No Mise chef Shigeyuki Furukawa for a two-night, walk-in-only pop-up called Yo Monday Cafe — its menu of sauteed ribeye bowls, assorted sashimi, and soba noodles crowned with fried tofu may offer a hint of what’s to come at Cafe Yoto. Look for an October opening. 548 N. Washington Avenue, Minneapolis, inside the Duffey Building

Linda Cao and Peter Bian’s immensely popular dumpling pop-up Saturday Dumpling Co. is opening as a permanent restaurant in Northeast Minneapolis this fall, in the former Glam Doll space on Central Avenue. The vision is for a counter-service set-up, where customers can order pan-fried, steamed, or deep-fried dumplings, plus rice bowls and special items like SDC’s popular scallion pancake burritos, per details from Mpls.St.Paul Magazine; there’ll be a deli case, too. Saturday Dumpling Co. has also launched a restaurant fundraiser page where supporters can buy merchandise (not the least of which is a limited edition Saturday Dumpling Co. Baggu bag) and private dumpling classes, or “adopt” a piece of equipment. An opening date hasn’t yet been announced. 519 Central Avenue NE, Minneapolis

Aster House

Aster House — the newest venture from Jeff Arundel of Aster Café and Jefe Urban Cocina — will open in the Brown-Ryan stable house near the riverfront on St. Anthony Main this fall. A supper club-style menu from chef Karyn Tomlinson of Myriel blends modern and retro vibes, featuring straightforward dishes that make use of regional ingredients — think wild rice croquettes, Hasselback potatoes with sour cream and chives, and the like. Keep an eye out for an early fall opening. 25 SE Main Street, Minneapolis

A new bakery is set to open on St. Paul’s Grand Avenue this fall, bringing a menu of challah, pita, slow-fermented sourdough loaves, and bagels (served with schmears and butter, of course) in tow. Razava Bread Co comes from head baker Omri Zin-Tamir (of farmers market mainstay the Bakery on 22nd Street) and owner Steve Baldinger, whose family founded Baldinger Bakery in West St. Paul circa 1888. An opening date hasn’t yet been announced, but in the meantime, keep an eye on Instagram and catch Razava at local farmers markets. 685 Grand Avenue, St. Paul

Du Nord Cocktail Room and Lagniappe

Chris and Shanelle Montana, founders of Du Nord Distillery, are both opening a new restaurant and reviving their south Minneapolis cocktail room, which closed in 2020, in Lake Street’s newly renovated Coliseum building. Lagniappe’s New Orlean-style menu will feature dishes like redfish on the half-shell and shrimp remoulade; the Montanas are steadily rolling out sneak peeks of the cocktail menu, which promises frothy espresso martinis and an apple Old Fashioned. On Saturday, September 21, Du Nord is hosting a free “Krewe Du Nord” New Orleans-style music festival at the Coliseum building — Big 6 Brass Band is traveling all the way from the Big Easy for the event. An opening date hasn’t been announced yet. 2700 E. Lake Street, Minneapolis

A new restaurant from Jeff Watson — executive chef and culinary director for Dani del Prado’s restaurants; also an alum of Isaac Becker’s Bar La Grassa and Burch Steak — is set to open in Northeast Minneapolis’s former Erté & the Peacock Lounge this fall. Per the Star Tribune, expect a menu that delves into East Asian cuisine, especially Korean dishes, featuring barbecued meats, hearty noodle bowls, and plenty of banchan. A bar program from del Prado bar maven Megan Luedtke promises highlights of sochu and makgeolli (an effervescent Korean rice wine). Look for an early fall opening. 323 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis

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Minneapolis, MN

New Longfellow restaurant Lynette is built on deep-rooted success

Published

15 hours ago

September 4, 2024

Press Room

New Longfellow restaurant Lynette is built on deep-rooted success

The building just needed to cooperate. What was expected to be a quick turn ended up being a monthslong process of removing walls and uncovering the secrets they held, one being outdated wiring. “We wanted to save as much as we could, but ultimately … I think we only have one wall that remained,” said Travis Serbus-White.

Lynette would take neighborhood service a step further and be open all day. Breakfast would include coffee and pastries; lunch could be lingered over on the patio facing the garden center across the street. And the dinner menu needed to strike a balance between young families and romantic evenings out. They needed a chef who could handle a lot.

Luckily, there was one who lived in the neighborhood. Brian Sharpe came from CōV, the popular Edina restaurant. “They were talking to me about volume,” Sharpe said. He was deft in handling the surges of a spacious suburban eatery that also has regulars with high standards. Creating three separate menus that would meet the neighborhood where it was at didn’t phase him one bit.

(Joy Summers/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

With design help from Studio Grey, Melissa Siers-Rients and Billie Serbus-White created a soothing space: tartan-wrapped bar chairs, gold fixtures, a wide-open room with a pastry counter tucked into the front, and dining spaces with chairs and booths that could function for small groups, families with squirmy kids or adults who want to linger and catch up. “The goal was English cottage meets New Orleans,” said Ben Siers-Rients.

As with any restaurant opening, there were plenty of last-minute details to pull together.

“There’s a lot of weight to carry with a restaurant,” said Siers-Rients. “I liken it to working out. Doing a squat — you start out with a bar loaded down with weights and you’re going to fall. You’re going to get hurt. But, start with the bar, add a little weight, a little more and suddenly it’s like, yeah, I can carry that.”

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