A New Bakery Is Bringing Bagels, Challah, and Sourdough to Grand Avenue

A new bakery is coming to Grand Avenue later this summer, but attendees of St. Paul’s Grand Old Day event can get a sneak peek this Sunday, June 2. Razava Bread Co. comes from head baker Omri Zin-Tamir, the name behind farmers market mainstay the Bakery on 22nd Street, and owner Steve Baldinger, whose family bakery, Baldinger Bakery, was founded in West St. Paul in 1888. The duo plan to offer slow-fermented sourdough loaves, challah, pita, and bagels with schmears and butter, plus hot coffee.

Justin Sutherland partners with Golden Thyme

Chef Justin Sutherland and his father, Kerry Sutherland, have teamed up with the nonprofit Rondo Community Land Trust to reopen Golden Thyme Coffee and Cafe as an all-day restaurant, the Pioneer Press reports. (RCLT purchased Golden Thyme from owners Mychael and Stephanie Wright last year, and has since operated it as an incubator space for Black and community-owned businesses.) Under Sutherland’s menu direction, the cafe plans to offer breakfast, coffee, and a smoothie and juice bar in the earlier hours of the day, then sit-down lunch and dinner service — the team is renovating the space to add a full bar, space for 50 seats inside, and around 20 to 25 on the patio. The menu is still in the works, but Sutherland told the Pioneer Press that it’ll likely feature “soul food classics and American fare.”

Beer and wine sales will return to Lake Nokomis

When the Painted Turtle opened in the former Sandcastle space at Lake Nokomis last summer, its owners were surprised to learn that it couldn’t legally serve alcohol to lakeside diners — state and city laws require businesses to have three walls and roof in order to obtain a liquor license. The restaurant has been working with the Minneapolis parks board to construct a compliant covered seating area, but a new state bill passed in the most recent legislative session creates a workaround to the three-wall rule, as Axios reports. The Painted Turtle still has a few hurdles to clear, but could be serving wine and beer by sometime mid-summer.

Soup for You enters a new era

Chef Judah Nataf’s Soup for You! Cafe, a Seward staple that has served free community meals for almost a decade, is moving from the basement of Bethany Lutheran Church — where it was founded in 2015 — to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, right near the intersection of Minnehaha Avenue and Lake Street, according to a press release posted on Soup for You’s Facebook page. The cafe officially reopens at its new spot on June 3.