Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
Keefer Court Returns! Public Domain Comes To the Former Haute Dish Space!
Back in December, Keefer Court Bakery announced that it was closing after 40+ years in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. (Someone interested in acquiring the building gave them an offer they couldn’t refuse.) The family-owned business, run by Michelle Kwan and her father, Sunny Kwan, specialized in savory Chinese eats like BBQ pork buns as well as Vietnamese sweets. Now they’re primed for a comeback: Pho Mai Asia Mall recently announced that Keefer is coming to Eden Prairie this fall/winter. Sahan Journal has the scoop; their source says that restaurant Pho Mai and Keefer will be "collaborating."
Meanwhile, over in the North Loop, the long-empty space at 119 Washington Ave. N. is set to reopen this summer as a fancy bar called Public Domain. The bar will specialize in craft cocktails, though there will be no menus. “Basically the bartenders have a couple hundred cocktails in their heads, ready to go, and everything’s a conversation with guests,” owner Stefan Van Voorst tells North Loop’s news site. “We’ve got like 30 different old fashioneds.” Sounds intense! The space has been unoccupied since Haute Dish closed in 2017.
State Poised to Spend $1B on Affordable Housing
The Minnesota Senate passed a $1 billion housing omnibus bill today, which now heads to Gov. Tim Walz for his signature. According to Peter Callaghan at MinnPost, the bill includes a veritable panoply (our words, not his) of provisions, channeling money toward emergency rental assistance, the preservation of private housing, downpayment assistance for lower-income buyers, a new state housing voucher plan, housing infrastructure, finance plans for residents of mobile home parks, help for nonprofits that support the unhoused, and sprinklers for already existing public housing.
Also in the bill is a new rental assistance program that’s funded by a quarter-cent sales tax increase in the metro area. The increase, which passed in and out of drafts during the budget negotiations, will create Minnesota’s first ongoing funding stream dedicated to housing, and is expected to raise $200 million. Democrats, as you might expect, are pleased with the bill; House Housing Committee Chair Mike Howard (DFL-Richfield) called it “a home run of a housing bill.” Republicans, as you also might expect, hate it. “I would disagree that this is a home run,” said Rep. Jim Nash (R-Waconia) trying much too hard. “I would categorize this as about five or six foul balls and then chasing a ball that’s down and away and striking out.” Dude, just say it’s a strikeout.
Minneapolis Is Back!
Backing that thang up, that is. We don't want to gild the lily and spoil what is, in essence, a perfect video. It was reportedly captured Sunday outside of Gold Room Restaurant & Lounge near Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. It features two women twerking with gusto atop the hood of an MPD SUV, in broad daylight no less. They're undeterred as a cop, who appears to be ripped out of central casting, gives an exasperated scowl before gently pulling one of the women off his vehicle. Depending on how much you'd like to read into the clip, it's either deeply symbolic of Minneapolis circa 2023, for better or worse, or perhaps it's dumb frivolity on overdrive. It's certainly worth 20 seconds of your afternoon:
Unwavering Wolf Drags Dead Deer
We concluded yesterday's Flyover with a sad story about a hero bear getting euthanized Sunday by the DNR in north Minneapolis. We still weep for him. Yet, at the same time, we turn our attention to a more uplifting wildlife story outta Grand Marais. Late last month, area journalist Joe Friedrichs happened upon a curious scene during a cold, wet North Shore morning: a damn wolf lugging a damn deer carcass up a hill! Friedrichs was alerted to the hungry beast after he saw a large pool of blood off the shoulder of Hwy. 61 near the Cascade River, Outdoor News reported last week. Hm, I guess this is also a sad story if you're deer-sympathetic... well, such is the indifferent cruelty of nature, to get all Herzogian on ya. There's no disputing this much: Video evidence of the determined wolf is neat. See for yourself:
