Under Construction: Union Depot

This is intended to be the first in a series about construction/renovation/development in Lowertown.

Check out the 364 pictures of Union Depot past and future. Or jump to the 11 renovation renderings.

Or, see it all in context with info on public meetings related to the project at the uniondepot.org web site.

Mears Park: An Eating Tour

We tried Faces Mears Park with Loftdottir this week-mainly because it was too cold and rainy to enjoy the pop-up sidewalk cafe at the Wine Bin.

Bottom line- will go again.
Overall- better than ok, but not a home run
Service-not the notoriously slow service of LoTo (same owner, same space)
Dining Room/View- comfortable, great windows on Mears Park. Nice to be up high enough to look over the street parking.

To start-olive sampler $4 at happy hour price, regularly $6
More olives than 2 people can eat for an appetizer. Took the rest home to eat with cream cheese on a bagel. Rating-Love.

Loftdottir-had the Chicken Monte Cristo $7.50 with mixed salad greens. Rating- Infatuation. (We'll see if she still loves it after reheating the half she couldn't eat. That thing is huge.)

Lofty-lobster mac and cheese. "Appetizer" size. $14.00 (entree $26) Server described size quite accurately. The whole wheat macaroni had just the right tooth, the lobster was done just right. However, the overall finish of the dish was just too salty. Added salt or from the cheese? Can't tell. Would have liked the molten cheese sauce to have reflected some of the lobster sweetness. Rating-just friends, but would try it again.

Dessert-after generous dinner portions (even the smaller mac and cheese) we opted for a single truffle each $1.95. These are dense, not too sweet, chocolate treats. Great with the brewed coffee which was a bit slow in finding its way to our table. Rating-love, but not to everyone's taste if you're used to the higher fat texture and sweeter taste of Godiva.

Pop-Up Cafe

Talk about bad luck, the weather was gorgeous when the "pop-up sidewalk cafe" at the corner of 6th and Sibley (in front of the Wine Bin) was installed. Since it was unveiled at a press conference on Wednesday, not so much. With luck things will improve before it is removed. The trial is due to end on Sunday, Sept. 26.

Just one block from Chez Lofty, the concept seems better than we first envisioned. In the interest of full disclosure we have attended public meetings and spoken in favor of permanent widening of the sidewalk from Wacouta to Sibley. This means a bunch of parking meters would be permanently lost and the travel lanes would shift left in front of River Park Lofts, then back right in front of Mears Park Place. The pop-up decking would be a seasonal alternative that would extend along the full block. Here it takes up just one parking space.

Oh yeah, we do plan to update more often than every 16 months.