Fun Photos of Tondonia winery tour...

Check out our photos of the beautiful and intriguing Lopez-Heredia family's winery in Spain here. It was an amazing tour, and they were ridiculously gracious, friendly and welcoming. We were particularly honored to get a peek at the gran reservas slumbering beneath their blankets of mold and spider webs! We are excited to add their wine to our list in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

Fun Photos of Tondonia winery tour...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30029202@N03/sets/72157629935363290/

Belgian Beer Dinner at Blackbird, Sunday June 10th

We excited to host our third beer dinner! Chris and the kitchen crew are hard at work drinking copious amounts of Belgian brews to expertly a create special 5 course meal for this night. We'll play the classic hits: trappist, wheat, dubbel and sour, and deftly pair them with some tasty treats.

THE DETAILS:
Sunday June 10th
$65 bucks all inclusive.
5:30 - "meat & greet"
6:00 - dinner
Seating is limited ~ grab your ticket today by calling the restaurant at 612.823.4790 or online by clicking the button.

Mojo Beer 'stache Contest 5/14 and 5/15

In celebration of American Craft Beer Week (May 14 - 20), we've got some silly events planned. The first: Mojo Beer'stache Contest.

TO ENTER:
1. visit us during Happy Hour on Monday 5/14 and/or Tuesday 5/15 (we encourage the "and" part of that and/or)
2. order a Mojo Nitro
3. give yourself a good Beer 'stache
4. we take a polaroid of your stylin' 'stache and post it in the restaurant
5. customers vote on their favorite Beer 'stache

Voting takes place through Friday the 18th. The winner takes home a gift pack from Boulder Beer, lucky duck!

For some examples of the fine standards we've personally set here, clickty-click on this sexy photo!

Stuffing Ourselves Silly with Morel Mushrooms

This year's crop of morels is short, but sweet as ever. We love to GORGE ourselves on this limited edition from Mother Nature. Springtime! It's the most wonderful time of the year! Well maybe in close running with the end of summer tomato harvest- the only truly delicious time to eat a tomato, in our humble opinions. And of course stone fruit. And apples. Oh, and sweetcorn... that's a delicious season too. So actually, we're looking forward to gorging ourselves on all the fruits and veggies at their peak!

Part of the reason we're particularly fond of the morels is due to their elusive nature combined with good times with friends, family and the Outdoors (things we don't get so much of these days). We look forward to springtime woodland hunts with friends and family. After we fill our baskets, we head back to the kitchen for beers and simply prepared morels: cast iron skillet, hot oil, morels lightly dusted in flour, salt and pepper, ultimately eaten hot and straight from the pan. Nobody sits down, we all just hover over that pan.

Cheers to your delicious springtime memories!

Dining Out for Life 2012

We had a full house pretty much all day.  Thank you to all who helped make our significant donation to the Aliveness Project possible.  We beat last year's donation, and our expectations!  And it was such a delight to serve so many swell people...

Bonus:  a surprise visit from Tim from Aliveness & Sven!  There was a lot of picture snapping and hugging, and this surprise visit made the evening even more special for many of our guests.

Looking forward to 2013!  In the meantime, "like" the Aliveness Project on Facebook to keep track of all the good they do throughout the year, and additional ways you can support their good work. Here's the link!

Good Morning!

Dine Out, Fight Aids! Thursday April 26th

We're delighted to be celebrating our 5th year of participation in this community event. On Thursday April 26th, we'll be donating 40% of our total day's sales to benefit the Aliveness Project, who dedicate their life's work to helping our fellow Minnesotans impacted by HIV/AIDS. Since 1985, the Aliveness Project has been a key resource for enhancing the lives of individuals and families devastated by this illness.

We invite you to join us on the 26th for breakfast, happy hour, lunch, and dinner... it all counts toward the donation! Your part in all of this is easy ~ just eat! We do the rest.

You're welcome to make a reservation for yourself, up to a group of 8 for this special day. Call us at 612-823-4790 to make your reservation. As always, we will set aside a number of tables for spontaneous walking in too!

Beginning April 2nd - New Hours!

Well, we decided to take the plunge into the world of early mornings and late nights. We've always wanted to offer weekday breakfast, and have worked diligently over the past 5 years to build our reputation as fine purveyors of all things eggs & bacon (and french toast, and pancakes, and coffee). We're honored to have such a dedicated following, and are ready to take this show to the weekdays!

As for late nights, the requests for closing later from y'all have been heard. We'll offer a late night happy hour during the week, with some fun snacks, apps (and full-on meals). Expect deliciousness. Expect great deals on handcrafted taps and quality driven wines. On busier nights, expect L.O.U.D music, laughter and general merriment.

Now let's do this!

Founders KBS Tapping = Wednesday March 21 @ 3pm

Blackbird welcomes Founders Kentucky Bourbon Stout- imperial stout, cave aged in oak bourbon barrels for a year. We are definitely excited to tap this limited release, highly acclaimed (and highly anticipated) keg!

We'll tap it at 3:00pm ~ and serve it until it's gone! Join us!