Skyway Creamery, Zimmy’s, and More

The Tap by James Norton

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Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

Skyway Creamery (opening this summer)

Minneapolis is poised to join Milwaukee and Seattle on the short-but-sexy list of cities with commercial urban creameries. Skyway Creamery is slated to begin producing cheese for sale sometime this summer.

The new cheese plant is a partnership between former Caves of Faribault cheesemaker Rueben Nilsson (pictured above at a North Coast Nosh) and Seamus Folliard. Seamus’s father, pub and 2 Gingers entrepreneur Kieran Folliard, owns and manages the incubator space that the creamery will operate out of at 1401 Marshall Street NE.

“It’s not only a food production space, it’s a place we want people to come to,” says Seamus of the food business accelerator. The space is the base of operations for Red Table Meat Company (run by charcuterie wizard Mike Phillips) and the future home of Chowgirls Killer Catering.

“Right now there are windows into Mike’s space,” says Seamus. “And that is the kind of thing that Skyway is going to have. We’ll be building space where people can look into the make room, and some of the aging cellars. In the heart of the building, we’ll have the tasting room, that’ll be a communal space.”

Nilsson’s vision for Skyway Creamery cheese starts with local milk. “We really want to do something super local,” he says. “We’re going to find a grass-fed farmer so we can buy their milk and really focus from the start on single-farm sourcing and do something fresh, and then something washed-rind, a semi-soft washed rind. There’s some good room there to play.”

Squeaky fresh cheese curds, which are featured at Clock Shadow Creamery in Milwaukee and Beecher’s in Seattle, are under discussion, as is an Irish-style cheddar.

According to Nilsson, the founding of Skyway Creamery fits neatly into a Minnesota cheese boom symbolized among other things by the rise of the Minnesota Cheese Festival and the Minnesota Cheesemakers Guild.

Becca Dilley / Minnesota Lunch
Becca Dilley / Minnesota Lunch

Zimmy’s (closed)

It is with some personal sadness that we mark the closing of Zimmy’s in Hibbing. The campily Bob Dylan-themed eatery was one of the few culinary bright spots in the faded mining town, and we remember with relish the Fraboni’s porketta sandwich (above) that we ate there while researching Minnesota Lunch: From Pasties to Banh Mi.

NOW OPEN

Brenda Johnson / Heavy Table
Brenda Johnson / Heavy Table
Kyatchi sushi
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

Coup-detat-8

CLOSED / CLOSING:

  • Zimmy’s (Hibbing)
  • The Belmore / New Skyway Lounge
  • Sunsets Wayzata
  • Chez Arnaud (White Bear Lake)
  • Singapore, 5554 34th Ave S, Minneapolis
  • Birchwood Cafe | Closed for renovation, reopening late spring.
  • La Chaya Bistro, 4537 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis
  • Serlin’s Cafe, 1124 Payne Ave, St. Paul
  • Sally’s Saloon and Eatery, 712 Washington Ave SE | Closed for remodeling until summer 2014.
  • Buster’s on 28th, 4204 S 28th Ave, Minneapolis | Temporary closure due to mid-2013 fire; unclear when reopening will take place.

COMING UP:

Minneapolis

  • Socialista, North Loop | Spring 2014
  • Eastlake Craft Brewing, Midtown Global Market | Fall 2014
  • Dong Hae Korean Grill and Sushi, 251 1st Ave N, Minneapolis (former Nami space) | Late Spring 2014
  • Drunken Sake, in former True Thai location on Franklin Ave | Late Spring
  • Kyoto Sushi (new location), in former Tiger Sushi spot at Lyn-Lake | Spring 2014
  • Hola Arepa (bricks and mortar), South Minneapolis | Early May
  • Lago Tacos, old Heidi’s location, Minneapolis
  • Corner Table projects: relocation to old La Chaya Bistro space and opening of mid-South / fried chicken restaurant | Spring 2014
  • Aki’s Bread Haus, 2506 Central Ave NE, Minneapolis | Late April at earliest
  • Hen House, 114 S 8th St (old Peter’s Grill location), Minneapolis | Spring 2014
  • Bent Arrow, 5416 Penn Ave S, Minneapolis
  • Lyn 65 Kitchen and Bar, 6439 Lyndale Ave, Richfield | Late March / Early April
  • Betty Danger’s Country Club, 2519 Marshall St, Minneapolis | Opening date unknown
  • Russell and Desta Klein projects: Brasserie Zentral, Cafe Zentral, Foreign Legion wine bar, wine shop to be named, Soo Line Building | 2014
  • Heyday, 2702 Lyndale Ave, Minneapolis | Opens April 2014
  • Ling & Louie’s Kitchen, 9th St and Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis
  • The Nicollet Diner, 1428 Nicollet Ave S, Minneapolis | Late spring 2014
  • Tiny Diner, 1014 E 38th St, Minneapolis | 612.822.6302
  • Unnamed Gastrotruck restaurant, 2400 University Ave NE, Minneapolis

St. Paul

Courtesy Urban Growler
Courtesy Urban Growler

Greater Twin Cities Area

  • Digby’s, Rosedale Mall in Roseville | April 2014
  • Lolo American Kitchen | March 2014
  • Peace Coffee Coffee Bar, Lakewinds Coop, Richfield, MN | June 2014
  • Victor’s, 205 Water St, Excelsior, MN | Spring 2014
  • Maple Island Brewing Co., Stillwater, MN | May 2014
  • LTD (Live the Dream) Brewing, 812 Mainstreet, Hopkins, MN | March 2014
  • Castle Danger Brewery, Two Harbors brewery expansion and taproom | 2014
  • Jordan Brewery, Jordan, MN | Spring 2014

The Tap is the Heavy Table’s guide to area restaurant openings, closings, and other major events. The Tap is compiled and published biweekly by the Heavy Table. If you have tips for The Tap, please email James Norton at editor@heavytable.com.