Tag Archives: food

We’ll miss you, Lotus Inn

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The Vietnamese Lotus Inn, a family-owned restaurant in Duluth’s Gary neighborhood, reportedly closed on Saturday.

Over its nearly 10 years operating at 1314 Commonwealth Ave., it has gotten good reviews, drawing people from the area. In 2009, our own culinary specialist, staff writer Jana Hollngsworth, picked the Lotus Inn’s combination Pho soup as one of her favorite restaurant offerings in a year-end culinary wrap-up.

She wrote:

“My five top picks center on dishes that I can’t forget, the flavors strong in my memory and a tiny voice in my head chanting: “Must eat again.”

First up on her list was the Lotus’ combination pho soup.

“This dish is composed of thinly sliced chicken, beef and shrimp, fresh cilantro, rice noodles, bean sprouts and a mesmerizingly sweet broth. Hot sauce is on the table, but I only use a little. It’s homemade, and tasting it for the first time made me almost weep with joy.”

The Lotus will, indeed, be missed.

Z’s Deli is back

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Z’s Deli & Restaurant, which was a fixture in the downtown Duluth Skywalk for years, is back after a quiet Jan. 9 re-opening.

But the new Z’s Deli isn’t in the Holiday Center Skywalk, where owner Zeidan Zeidan ran it for more than 20 years. He closed the restaurant in 2011, after the recession had slowed business too much to continue.  But the economy has picked up since then.

The new Z’s Deli is across the street at 220 W. Superior St., which has housed a series of failed eateries since the legendary Mr. Nick’s Char-burger served its last burger there in 2002.

“It feels great to see my customers and all my friends,” Zeidan said. “I’m here every day, greeting people, saying hello to people, shaking hands. We have most every single customer coming in, saying we are glad you are back. We are glad to see you. And that’s worth a lot, believe me.”

The new Z’s Deli has the same menu of sandwiches, salads, soups and all-day breakfast as the old restaurant. It’s again full service. It got its old telephone number —727-1803 — back. And it delivers anywhere downtown, just like before.

Most of the old kitchen staff are back, too.

“We made sure we got them to keep the food consistent,” Zeidan said.

The restaurant is open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Zeidan also is giving Saturdays a try with 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. hours.

So far, business is going well, he says.

“Weekdays are great, it’s wonderful, like I never left,” Zeidan said. “On Saturdays, there’s less people downtown. But the word is getting out. It may come around.”

They’re pushing that all-day breakfast, like their omelettes, and it’s paying off. People are coming back and ordering the same item again, he said.

Zeidan, who moved with his family last year to Doha, Qatar, is glad to be back in Duluth and back running a restaurant. His family roots are in the Middle East.

“People ask me, where did I go?” Zeidan said. “I went home and now I’m back home. This is my living, this is my home, this is where I am.”

Teavana opens at mall

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Hey tea lovers, the long-awaited Teavana  tea store had a soft opening Thursday at Miller Hill Mall.

But it didn’t stay quiet for long. Shoppers, apparently deprived of rare specialty teas for too long, converged on the new shop last weekend. The store offers a changing sampling of brewed teas each day.

By Saturday afternoon, things were hopping at the store. Besides a wide selection of rare loose teas from around the world — including green, black, white, oolong, mate and herbal infusions — they offer cast iron and other tea sets and all sorts of tea paraphrenalia.

The store’s large tea selection includes such offerings as:  Strawberry Rose Champagne (a French-inspried oolong tea), Samurai Chai Mate (a caffeine-rich green tea), Guava Papaya Passion (a white tea made with passionfruit) and Golden Monkey (a black tea that’s one of the top 10 teas of China).

It’s all a matter of taste. But among those I sampled, my favorite was Maharaja Chai Oolong, a rich tea made with spices including cinnamon, ginger, clove and nutty cardamon that’s supposed to be robust. But to me, it was smooth and flavorful.

The loose-leaf teas are sold by the ounce, starting with  a minimum of two ounces, costing  $7 to $12, a store staffer said. But because of the quality of the leaves and other ingredients, you can use them for brewing more than once.

Leeann Chin’s opens Oct. 22

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After months of rumors that Leeann Chin’s was coming to Duluth, we were the first to tell you in late August that it was true.

Leeann Chin would open  in the fall in the Miller Hill Mall food court. However, it would have an express format with a limited menu compared to its sit-down restaurants.

Now we got the details.

It’ll open on Monday, Oct. 22. Hours will be 10 a.m. until 9 p.m.  Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m on Sunday.

While mall officials say the new vendor will complement Max Orient, a longtime Asian food vendor in the food court, observers fear Max Orient will be hurt big time.”

Leeann Chin’s opening comes on the heels of the opening of a Noodles & Co. restaurant at the mall. Both were on many people’s wish list for Duluth.

Specialty tea shop coming to mall

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Here’s some welcome news for tea lovers.

Teavana, a specialty tea retailer, with about 150 stores in the United States and Mexico will open a store at Miller Hill Mall this summer.  Besides loose-leaf teas from around the world, it offers an array of tea accessories. They include cast iron teapots said to be the way to go with brewing tea because cast iron distributes the heat evenly to better bring out the flavors and benefits of tea.

According to its website, Teavana is part tea emporium, part tea bar, offering teas that have good taste and contribute to a healthy lifestyle.

“We wanted to introduce people to the aromas, textures and beneficial qualities of loose leaf teas while enlightening them with the history and variety of teas available,” the website says.

The retail chain started with a teahouse in Atlanta in 1997. The company donates 1 percent of its annual profits to CARE, a humanitarian organization fighting poverty.

The new store will occupy 500 square feet in the mall’s Center Court.

 

Jimmy John’s makes its move

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Fans of Jimmy John’s at the Plaza strip mall in Duluth are going without their gourmet sandwiches today. The restaurant closed for good today at its 1221 E. Superior St. location.

But don’t despair. The sandwiches will continue.

Jimmy John’s new shop across the street at the Plaza Shopping Mall is ready to go. The restaurant’s closing is just temporary so the business can move across the street to its new space. It reopens at its new Plaza mall location at 10 a.m. Tuesday, sandwiched between the old Mr. Movies space and Great Harvest Bread Co.

The new digs look very much like the old shop, long and narrow backed with a brick wall, except it’s a bit smaller.

The restaurant’s exit from the strip mall, comes on the heels of the closing of Plaza Hair Stylists and the move of Anytime Fitness to a new location a few blocks away. That leaves a State Farm insurance agency and the Beijing Restaurant the lone tenants of the strip mall. Eventually, they’ll move out, and the mall will be razed to make way for a CVS pharmacy.

Crabby Bill’s lives on

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Fans of the former fishing boat-turned-concession stand in Canal Park can relax.

Crabby Bill’s is coming back this year.

The owners of the nautical-themed food wagon along the waterfront had put the beached boat business up for sale last year, causing its fans to fret its fate.

It apparently has been sold because a new five-year lease agreement goes before the Duluth City Council on Monday. The new lease is with Service By Bill, Inc. of Brooklyn Center, Minn. A lease is needed because the boat sits on land owned by the city.

Crabby Bill’s will continue under the modified name of Crabby Ol’ Bill’s because the new owners were required to make that change. But the new vendor will continue its signature finger food cuisine of smelt, walleye baskets and smoked fish, fried cheese curds, fruit yogurt and its popular mini-donuts. It’ll also serve up barbecue pork and fried crawfish (aka Minnesota lobster) sandwiches.

The lease calls for the city to get 10 percent of the business’s gross receipts in lieu of rent. The lease allows the business to be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, from May 15 to Sept. 30. Of course, it’s up to the new owners if they’ll be open the entire time.

Taste of Saigon is alive & well

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When we reported that the Saigon Cafe on West First Street in downtown Duluth had closed, the other Saigon restaurant in Canal Park started getting phone calls.

And they weren’t all for takeout.

Callers asked whether the Taste of Saigon restaurant was still open. It was an easy mistake to make for those who just glanced at the headline, “Duluth’s Saigon Cafe closes” or didn’t read the Nov. 8 story carefully.

“They didn’t distinguish between the two Saigons,” said manager Duy Nguyen. “Word got around that the Saigon had closed.”

But a month-and-a-half later, the calls continue. People walk by the restaurant in the DeWitt-Seitz Building and happily say, “I’m so glad you’re still here, ” or they say, “Oh, I thought you were closing.”

“We say , ‘No, no, no,’ ” Nguyen said, in response to the closing comments.

So be assured, the Taste of Saigon at 394 S. Lake Ave., is still open and doing just fine.

And the other Saigon restaurant at 114 W. First St.? A Giant Panda Chinese restaurant is supposed to open there.

 

Duluth Applebee’s makeover

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The Duluth Applebee’s got a quick but thorough makeover last week. The restaurant, at Miller Hill Mall, was only closed 3 1/2 days. But crews must have worked quickly, considering how much was done:

The restaurant now has a fresh, more open new look.  The space is freshly painted and has new wall coverings. Booth and chairs were re-upholstered, new carpeting installed as well as new light fixtures.

The bar has been opened up. The old sight-blocking canopy is gone, the bar top replaced and a new display wall is along the back. New plasma TVs were added, placed for easier viewing.

Photos, memorabilia and murals have been updated with a continued focus on local events, activities and sports teams and schools.

Applebee’s will celebrate its  new look with a ribbon cutting ceremony Monday, Sept. 19  at 11:30 a.m.

Doing lunch at Caribou Coffee

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Caribou Coffee broke into the breakfast market last year with its Daybreaker breakfast sandwiches. That has gone well. So now the mega coffeehouse chain is eyeing the lunch crowd.

Most of its outlets with oven capability around the country started serving premium grilled cheese sandwiches today. In Duluth, that means the Caribou at Stoneridge Shopping Center and in Canal Park.

“We have a special heating system,” said Alicia Stockard, assistant manager at the Canal Park store. “It’s very quick. You can grab your sandwich and go.”

So far, the response has been great, she says. “We’re getting awesome feedback.”

But are people really buying grilled cheese sandwiches?

“They totally are,” Stockard said.

Course, they’re not you’re ordinary grilled cheese sandwiches, not with ingredients like smoked Gouda, caramelized onion and arugula pesto.

The basic version using three cheeses is going for $3.85 at the Canal Park Caribou, while the Gouda Turkey Pesto and Aged Cheddar Roast cost $4.35. But, the most popular by far is the Italian Chicken Melt, she said.

But forget those prices. For a while you can get them for $3 with a coupon and the purchase of a medium drink.  By the way, Caribou Coffee is recommending one of its flavored iced teas to go with it.