 The school board received a single complete bid for transportation services for the next school year.
The transportation proposal from First Student resulted in 17 percent increase in costs per route. The awarded bid also reflects an additional 2.5% increase in consecutive years. During the 2014-2015 school year, the district will pay approximately $5,793,692 for bus services.
Matt Pepper, treasurer of the school board, pointed out that if the board adopted a roadmap that protected the sixth grade center, then the district would eventually be forced to construct a new sixth grade facility to accommodate future enrollment.
“A sixth grade center alone is going to be more expensive than any other middle school,” said Pepper.
The estimate cost of a sixth grade center exceeds the cost of a more traditional middle school by an estimated $10 million, according to statistics released by the district.
Wurst said the costs are “nebulous” at this point. “If we are truly going to hang our hats on dollars, then I don't think we have a lot to hang there,” replied Wurst. “Until we get true bids and until it is truly that construction season, and that construction climate” the costs are not precise.
On a 4-2 vote, the school board adopted a plan where 12 elementary schools will feed into four middle school buildings with a sixth through eighth grade configuration.
Additionally, the plan calls for the construction of a high school level center where the district says special, innovative educational programs will be offered.
Board members Todd Fane, Matt Pepper, Bart Klein, and Boon Lee voted in favor. Bolin and Wurst were opposed. Susan Newburger, president of the school board, was absent and did not cast a vote.
“I feel very good about the process and the outcome, and how it will best represent our district,” said Dr. Springston.
Variations on raw: Ironically, the year’s hottest food trend is raw. It’s crudo (CREW-dough, Italian for “uncooked”) and variations on this appealing way of approaching seafood popped up all over the place, including Parella, Il Foro, Lela and, most artfully, at Monello.
At home in the ’burbs: Suburban dining is definitely on the upswing, with an impressive roster of independently owned and operated restaurants and cocktail lounges popping up during 2015. Victor’s on Water, Cast & Cru, District Fresh Kitchen + Bar, Pub 819 and Birch’s on the Lake gave the western ’burbs a big boost. The east metro lit up with Margaux’s Table, L’Etoile du Nord Cafe, Sovereign Kitchen & Bar, Tamarack Tap Room and the Alchemist. In the north, Rock Elm Tavern and Kendall’s Tavern & Chophouse made their mark, and in the south, it was all about Lela, Hiko Sushi, the revival of King and I Thai and Volstead House.
Mamma mia! Suddenly, it’s seemingly all Italian, all the time, what with the appearance of Il Foro, Italian Eatery, Monello, Parella, Ruscello, Scena Tavern, Victor’s on Water, Z Italiano and Zio Cucina & Bar. There’s more to come, with Mucci’s, Parco 400, Piada Italian Street Food and the Meatball Spot to materialize in 2016.
Next in line: There are many benefits to the flurry of restaurant openings in 2015, not the least of which was the opportunity it created for a new generation of chefs to step up to the stove and make their mark, including Mike DeCamp of Monello, Joe Rolle of Il Foro, Adam Eaton of Saint Dinette and Remy Pettus of Eastside.
That’s Italian: The agnolotti at Victor’s on Water in downtown Excelsior.
Along with Spoon and Stable, the year’s most significant openings include Co-op Creamery Cafe, Eastside, Gyst Fermentation Bar, Il Foro, Monello, Nighthawks/Birdie, Parella, Revival and Saint Dinette.
Other notable 2015 openings included Salt Cellar, Betty Danger’s Country Club, Pub 819, Prime Deli, L’Etoile du Nord Cafe, Citizen Supper Club, 4Bells, Breaking Bread Cafe, Lela, Margaux’s Table, La Ceiba, Harriet’s Inn, District Fresh Kitchen + Bar, Dark Horse Bar & Eatery, Ox Cart Ale House and Peppers & Fries. Several chains gained a foothold in the Twin Cities market, including Giordano’s (deep-dish pizza), Blaze Pizza and Pie Five Pizza (quick-service pizza), Eggy’s Diner (breakfast and lunch) and Naf Naf Grill (falafel, shawarma).
The happy trend that finds food trucks landing permanent berths continued throughout 2015, with gluten-free Sassy Spoon (that miso-braised pork!) Cafe Racer Kitchen (first-rate Colombian fare) Vellee Deli (hot-hot-hot tacos in the skyway) Green + the Grain (the skyway’s freshest build-your-own salads) Big River Pizza (Lowertown’s neighborhood pizzeria) and Gogi Bros. House (lively Korean barbecue in Eden Prairie) all matriculating into brick-and-mortar locations. Other great news? Taco Cat, the delivery service, expanded to a walk-up lunch-and-dinner stand inside the Midtown Global Market.
Meanwhile, a never-ending parade of energetic entrepreneurs continued to energize the food truck scene. Notable newcomers include Misfit Coffee Co., a third-wave coffeehouse on wheels; Tatanka Truck, featuring the indigenous fare of chef Sean Sherman, aka “the Sioux Chef”; Brooks High Beer Battered, which, as the name suggests, does fantastic things with locally brewed craft beers and a deep fryer; and smoked-meats-obsessed Bark and the Bite, from Sapor Cafe and Bar alums Toph Heubach and Noah Miller.
Baker Steve Horton left Rustica, and is working to launch a small-scale grain milling operation in the Food Building in northeast Minneapolis. Stewart Woodman said goodbye to Workshop at Union (it’s now Union Bar & Grill), and is executive chef at the Kahler Hospitality Group in Rochester. Adam Vickerman departed Cafe Levain, and Sarah Master left Barbette to open her Mr. Roberts Resort in her Iron Range hometown of Pengilly, Minn. Phillip “Pip” Hanson, the bartender who put Marvel Bar on the map, is now wowing them at the Artesian at the Langham Hotel in London.
Himalayan Restaurant gave up E. Franklin Avenue for E. Lake Street, Bradstreet Craftshouse left downtown Minneapolis when the Graves 601 Hotel Wyndham Grand was rebranded as the Loews Minneapolis Hotel, transforming itself on Lowry Hill into Bradstreet Neighborhood Craftshouse. Patisserie Margo got a new Edina home.
In its June/July issue, Saveur hailed Minneapolis as “the next great food city.” “We were floored by how Minneapolis was inspiring excitement about Midwestern food the way Nashville was Southern food,” wrote siblings Matt and Ted Lee, authors of “The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook.” And Food & Wine shared its love for Minneapolis not once, but twice. The (gorgeous) tostada chilaquiles from Hola Arepa graced the magazine’s May cover, and in July, Jim Christiansen of Heyday was crowned one of the magazine’s annual Best New Chefs.
Two Minnesotans were leading the charge at a pair Olympic-level culinary competitions in February in Lyon, France. John Kraus of Patisserie 46 led the American team to a bronze medal at the 14th edition of the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie. Gavin Kaysen of Spoon and Stable coached the U.S. team to a silver medal — its best performance to date, by a long shot — at the 15th gathering of the Bocuse d’Or.
In June in Aspen, Colo., Corner Table chef/co-owner Thomas Boemer was crowned “King of Porc” at Cochon 555, beating out nine other chefs in a coast-to-coast, pork-centric culinary showdown.
Also in June, Lenny Russo of Heartland Restaurant and Sean Sherman of Tatanka Truck delivered Midwestern flavors to an international audience, headlining at the James Beard American Restaurant in the USA Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015 in Milan, Italy.
Remy Pettus is the chef at Eastside in downtown Minneapolis.
The city’s strangest nutritional marriage is getting a divorce. Abbott Northwestern Hospital announced that it is ending its dysfunctional 25-year (!) relationship with McDonald’s when the fast-fooder’s lease ends next May 31.
It’s great to see the advent of Lowry Hill Meats and St. Paul Meat Shop, modern-day butcher shops that source whole animals from local farms. Don’t cook? Both shops also step up the Twin Cities’ sandwich game, with considerable gusto and finesse.
For its 100th birthday, the Minneapolis Institute of Art gave itself a new nickname — Mia — and celebrated with a yearlong series of events. The hottest ticket — for food lovers, anyway — was in October, a conversation