Parka, a new café that opened on January 23 on East Lake Street and 40th Avenue South in Minneapolis, has already generated a buzz.
Victory 44 chef Erick Harcey joined forces with
Dogwood Coffee and
Rustica Bakery to open the restaurant, which shares space with
Forage Modern Workshop, a furniture and home goods store.
Spencer Agnew, who works for the
Longfellow Community Council, says the neighborhood welcomes the new business. "People are very excited about Forage Modern Workshop and Parka because of the creative energy they are bringing to East Lake Street," he says, adding, "We are thrilled to see entrepreneurs renovate and bring new life to retail spaces" in this area of Longfellow.
The place carries on the design aesthetic of Forage, which features local designers, with clean, spare lines, big wooden booths, and funky artwork.
The result is "a loving tribute to Minnesota and the far North, with its wooden deer-head wall hangings, the ceramic white squirrel perched on the countertop, and the elaborate Bear Fox Chalk rendition of a 1928 portrait of a bundled-up Inuit family," a
story in the Longfellow Nokomis Messenger reads.
“The challenge, but also the most exciting part of this project was to create a space that both Forage Modern Workshop and Parka felt was seamless but was very functional,” the restaurant’s Facebook page states.
Turning around the old carpenter’s union hall involved getting rid of cubicles, partition walls and a dropped ceiling, “to expose the beautiful mid-century industrial architecture,” it adds.
Parka also features some items that the next-door shop sells.
The café, which serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, has a casual yet upscale feel, the
Heavy Table blog notes.
It’s part of a new foodie trend in the neighborhood, emphasizing artisan-quality, locally-sourced fare that Heavy Table says started with
Peace Coffee shop in 2010 and has continued since then with
Harriet Brewing,
Mosaic Café, the Minneapolis location of
The Blue Door Pub, and Parka.
Source: Spencer Agnew, Longfellow Community Council
Writer: Anna Pratt