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A dozen drinks for the holidays
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By Sarah McKenzie
La Belle Vie bartending star Johnny Michaels has created a new lineup of holiday cocktails.
The drinks were unveiled Dec. 12 for the restaurant’s “12 Drinks Before Christmas.” A new cocktail will be unveiled each day. They will be on the menu until New Year’s Eve.
A classic favorite, the Mistletoe, will be on the list again. Michaels unveiled the drink when La Belle Vie moved into the Groveland four years ago. It will be available at Solera this year, too. It’s a sparkling citrus pomegranate vodka martini.
The Grinch Nog is making an appearance on the holiday cocktail menu for a second year. “It’s the anti-holiday drink that packs a punch,” Michaels said.
The martini is made with rye whiskey, gin, cherry brandy, absinthe, lemon and bitters.
A new cocktail on the menu this year is the First Frost — a fresh take on a root beer float with white brandy, minted maple syrup and local root beer.
New drinks with especially clever names include “Over the River and through the Holidazzle Traffic,” “Your Family is Insane (but I love you anyway)” and “Sure Mr. Scrooge, I Can Work Christmas Eve.”
“We try to be like a cocktail dating service — we ask some questions and match people with drinks we think would appeal to them,” Michaels said. “My hope is that they just love the drinks, and that along with everything else at La Belle Vie, they just enjoy themselves and have a great time. That they leave super happy.” Holiday cocktails at La Belle Vie The Mistletoe • Sparkling citrus pomegranate martini
The Grinch Nog • Whiskey, gin and cherry brandy, among other things
Over the River and Through the Holidazzle Traffic • Gingerbread hot buttered rum
Purple Santa • Hot white chocolate
The Flu Shot • Lemon-ginger-zinc-echinacea mini martini
Lump of Coal • Bourbon amaro mint julep
Merry Christmas Mr. Burns • Prune-infused gin with Christmas tonic
Santa’s Little Helper • Two shots of espresso vanilla hazelnut vodka topped with caramel cream
Your Family is Insane (but I love you anyway) • A sugarplum brandy old fashioned with Christmas bitters
Sure Mr. Scrooge, I Can Work Christmas Eve • Whiskey, brandy and black coffee
The Christmas Shovel • Taro-chai hazelnut milk
First Frost • White brandy with minted maple root beer cream
Sugar Plum • Gin, plum wine and champagne
* Bartender Johnny Michaels was asked to make 12 drinks for the menu, but he came up with 13. La Belle Vie
510 Groveland Ave.
874-6440
labellevie.us
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Art beat // Closing and opening
By Dylan Thomas
Art of This leaving current space, but won’t cease to existLYNDALE — A few weeks before they planned to shutter their Nicollet Avenue art space for good, John Marks and David Petersen of Art of This Gallery reflected on “Open Summer,” their ongoing, open door, last blast summer project. A free-for-all residency program that eventually enrolled 80-some artists, the slowly percolating “Open Summer” was building steam as it headed into its, and the gallery’s, grand finale at the end of August. And for all the potential pitfalls in telling some seven dozen people where the gallery key is hidden, about the worst thing that happened all summer was when someone spilled salsa in the refrigerator and never cleaned it up.
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On the mat // Green yogis in Linden Hills
By Sarah McKenzie
Devanadi Yoga, a new studio near Lake Harriet, is a trailblazer in the local yoga community. The small 525-square-foot studio, tucked behind the Bruley Center on West 43rd Street in Linden Hills, is the first yoga studio in the state to be certified by the Green Yoga Association for its environmentally friendly efforts. The studio’s green practices include using non-VOC paint, controlling the thermostat to keep the building energy efficient and encouraging students to walk, bus or bike to class. Tanya Boigenzahn Sowards, studio director/owner of Devanadi Yoga, said being green is “core value of the studio and it ties back to the yogic philosophy of doing no harm.” “Minneapolis frequently ranks as one of the top green
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Everyday gardener // Q&A
By Meleah Maynard
Struggling tomatoes, rain barrels and rootbound plantsEven though spring started in earnest in March this year, it still seems like summer is going by too fast. So, fast, in fact, my inbox has been a bit stuffed with questions. As always, I’ve replied directly to people who asked for help with various things. But here in the column I’m going to cover some of the questions that seem likely to be of interest to a lot of gardeners. By far, the questions I’m getting most are about tomatoes, so I’ll start there. Q: My tomato plants look good and have a lot of flowers, but I’m not getting a lot of fruit this year. What’s going on?A: It’s been too hot for tomatoes to set fruit
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Flavor // A smokin’ sensation on Nicollet
By Carla Waldemar
If you’re wondering what caused the traffic stand-still on South Nicollet the other evening, let’s just say I should have kept my window shut. When passing cars got a whiff of possibly the best aroma in the galaxy — I’m talking about barbecue, of course — they halted to demand, “Where’d you get that?” At C&G’s, of course. Greg Alford launched C&G’s Smoking Barbecue exactly a year ago; the anniversary balloons in the otherwise-Spartan, clean-as-a-whistle hole in the wall provided the only touch of whimsy in this serious business. Greg was born in Louisiana, which may explain his superior taste in food. He grew up in Detroit, one of 12 kids whose mamma set him to cooking when he was 5, he
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Wild city // Eating the yard
By Mary Jean Port
I love August. It is so lush. All summer, as I nurse the garden along, I anticipate these eating days. We now have too much of everything: tomatoes, green beans, heat, humidity, and also thunder, for those of us who have a dog frightened by it. I have been working our piece of ground for 14 years, and have good soil to show for it. Back when we first started, my husband was more of a lawn guy. He liked the idea of a garden, but drew a line in the grass with his toe. Don’t dig up anything beyond here, he said. So I dug my first of what are now 10 beds, and planted the pumpkin right on his line. The vines ran out of the garden and took over the whole backyard. My husband good-naturedly threw up his hands. We started with vegetables, and
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Kid rock
By Sam Lane
Twin Town Guitars hosts a camp that gives young musicians a chance to play and perform in a bandMore than 60 excited, camera-toting fans packed Cause Spirits and Soundbar on a warm August afternoon waiting for two headline bands to take the stage. The hotly anticipated musicians weren’t well known. They weren’t 20-somethings trying to strike a record deal. They weren’t middle-aged men trying to relive their youth. They were kids, ages 8–17, who spent prior weeks at Twin Town Guitars, 3400 Lyndale Ave. S., preparing for their first concert. In an economy where budget cuts deal constant blows to public school music programs, the owners of Twin Town have spent the last three summers providing a haven for aspiring
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