When a beloved restaurant closes, does a little piece of its loyal regulars die with it? No, don't be ridiculous. Still sad though! Here's the scoop on two recent closures of note.
Pie & Mighty
It seems like just last month we were writing about how Pie & Mighty accepts your garden rhubarb for free slices. As of Sunday, the delightful Minneapolis pie shop at 3553 Chicago Ave. is no more. "The grind, day in and day out, for operational and financial stability wore us thin," owners Ratchet Mattison and Rachel Swan wrote via P&M's website. "We carried out the mission we set out in our business plan: to put pie into the hands of people who need it, and to be the answer to the question, 'where can I get great pie in the Twin Cities?' We closed this chapter while we were well and still whole." Pie & Mighty's noble mission began around 2016, though its brick 'n' mortar shop would open just months before the pandemic lockdown of early 2020. Not great timing. The Twin Cities ain't a great pie town, so having dependably delicious, lard-crusted slices right in Powderhorn was a blessing. All is not lost, however: P&M's farewell note bills the closure as the closing of a chapter in its ongoing "pie adventure," and teases what might come next. (For additional pie content, revisit our savaging of Betty's/exalting of Rustic Inn.)
Bunny's Bar & Grill NE
Folks really seem fond of Bunny's, the northeast Minneapolis satellite location of the 89-year-old St. Louis Park sports bar institution. I rarely venture north of 46th Street, so I probed Racket's resident Northeast expert, an anonymous Star Tribune reporter with true townie credentials, for further intel. "People LOVE Bunny's," he revealed. "I've never been." Great.... Anyway, Bunny's NE opened outside the ol' Grain Belt Brewery in 2016, and quickly established itself as a no-frills hang befitting the neighborhood. Hours ago, the ownership wrote via Facebook: "We have decided to shut our doors permanently, effective immediately. We have loved being a part of the Nordeast community and want to thank everyone for their patronage!" The St. Louis Park flagship, they add, is only eight miles away. "Nothing will be going into the location," owner Gary Rackner wrote on the always-bustling I Love NE Minneapolis Facebook page. "There are new owners of the building coming and they don’t want a restaurant in the location." (For additional townie bar content, revisit our roundup of the 12 most underrated bars in the Twin Cities.)
