Storefront

When we moved The Nicollet Diner down to 1333, we still had this building. That is a nicer way of saying we had a lease, a kitchen, a neighborhood that already knew where the door was, and a hole where the 24-hour diner used to sit.

We asked the same question we asked in 2013: what does this stretch of Loring Park need that it does not already have. The answer was not another concept with a paragraph on the window. It was a neighborhood pizza joint. Scratch dough. Pizza by the slice. Broasted chicken. Italian hoagies. Jumbo wings. A bar that stays up. Delivery after the rest of the block has gone to bed.

Mother Clucker's opened here in 2023. Muffin Top Cafe kept the morning half of the building, which it has had since we first set up shop on this corner. Same address family. Different job. Coffee and pastry until 4 p.m. Pizza and chicken until the hour that makes your phone look judgmental.

I am not going to pretend we invented pizza. Minneapolis has pizza. What this corner did not have was a place that behaved like a hangout and a takeout window at the same time. Darts, pinball, and pool tables if you are staying. Boxes if you are not. Broasted chicken for the people who walked in saying they wanted pizza and then smelled the fryer.

The name is the name. You already made the joke. We hear it about fourteen times a night and we still think it is funny, which tells you something about the ownership.

If you used to eat diner breakfast in this room, you are allowed to feel a little haunted. The hash browns moved to Nicollet Mall. The building stayed. Come in for a slice. The neighborhood is still here. So are we.

— Sam