Uptown Cafeteria and Support Group (Minneapolis, MN)

9/1/12

On an errand for supplies from the Kitchen Window for Gloria to make macaroons (inspired from our cooking class in Paris), we were walking along Lake Street to another restaurant and decided to give the Uptown Cafeteria a try.

Somewhere hidden in the fog of my memory and RSS feeds, I read that Uptown Cafeteria had a decent tap list and good food.  UC is an interesting place.  My first impression is that it's a cross between a fifties diner and Alary's in St. Paul with an uptown vibe.  Several veggie options on the menu, including mac-n-cheese with mushrooms, broccoli and other stuff, but we settled on the southwest veggie burger with tater tots.  Both were good, but not mind blowing.  I use the Bulldog as my standard of tater tot greatness, and these didn't match up.  We also noticed on the menu that they have late night all you can eat pancakes.  This seems genius and something that I would try if in Uptown late.
On draft, I tried Badger Hill's Minnesota Special Bitter.  As far as the bar's end, it was well served--my first concern going into a new place that, even though they have twenty taps, isn't a beer-centric place. Bartenders were friendly and solicitous.

This is our first American restaurant since returning from France and  Belgium, so being offered water without asking was a bit of a shock.  Gloria and I talked about how Europeans must feel when confronted with American service and whether or not their guidebooks warn of ultra-fast, overly-attentive service.  From our visit, UC has outstanding service, which was refreshing after a month of often having to hunt down bartenders to get a drink.

What makes Minnesota Special Bitter, well, Minnesotan, is the attitude, evidently; according to the website:  "The key to understanding Minnesotans: We're a mashup of extremes."  I didn't take notes on the MSB, but the description fits.  It's very English in style, at its base, but more strongly hopped.  I can see how some might think the flavor is muddled, but it finished very well as it warmed and has promise.  I'm not a fanboy after one draft, but definitely want to give it and Badger Hill another try.  It's my first sample of Badger Hill, though I wrote earlier about their alternating proprietorship with Lucid Brewing.

Overall, perfectly happy with our experience at the Uptown Cafeteria.  Not sure how far I'd drive to go to it, but it's a great place if you happen to be in the neighborhood.

Alternating proprietorship: new creativity in craft beer

Badger Hill logo from
www.badgerhillingbrewing.com

Not being a professional brewers, it seems to me that those of us who are mainly drinkers miss the finer points of the business side of beer.  An article on Minnesota Beer Activists discusses in detail the relationship between Lucid Brewing and another upstart brewery called Badger Hill Brewing Co.  It's a business partnership known as alternating proprietorship (AP) in which two breweries exist side by side in the same facility.  In this case, in addition to sharing space and equipment, Lucid head brewer Eric Biermann will be the Badger Hill brewer until they get to a point that they can hire their own head brewer.  Interesting idea, and sounds like a great way to make more beer.

Pretty much every start up history I've read or heard on a brewery tour, begins with the milk tank or other franken-brewery story that was their way to control costs to get beer flowing.  For a larger, successful brewery, the next part of the story is how they needed to re-invest to build the next larger brewery.  This pattern always seemed wasteful to me, but there didn't seem to be much of an alternative.

AP sounds like a great idea that can mitigate the perceived negatives of contract brewing or the real costs of starting a brewery from scratch.  A quick search turned up this entry on a legal blog that gives a bit of history to the idea.  According to the article, AP gained traction in 2005 when the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) issued a circular to highlight this less expensive idea to start a brewery.  Brewing is still a lot of hard work and not without risk, as attested by this blog of a budding professional brewer who found the idea interesting but has put the brewery on hold.  This recent post on the San Diego beer blog highlights interest in using AP as way to increase production for local breweries.  Since my research wasn't exhaustive, I'm guessing other beer geeks turning hopeful brewer or brewery owner are exploring AP as a path to their beer dreams. At the heart of all great craft beer is creativity, and it clearly goes beyond clever names and hop additions.