No, not Northfield, but downtown Excelsior. I had a meeting with a client there this week and noticed how similar their downtown mainstreet is to our downtown Division St. It even has a bit of a bend to it, though not as pronounced. (Click photos to enlarge.)
Left: Their old movie theater, Excelsior Dock Cinema 3, was showing first run movies. Next door, Yumi’s Sushi Bar, “Your quaint little Sushi Bar by the Lake.” Downtown Northfield needs both of these, don’t you think?
Center & right above: Next to the Dunn Bros. coffeehouse where I was, a relatively new building that didn’t fit with the historic downtown, was Haskell’s Port of Excelsior, both a restaurant and bar adjacent to the liquor store… with outdoor seating (web site photo), natch. This building doesn’t fit with the historic downtown either. I hope we can do better with our liquor store building that’s proposed for 6th and Division.
Sushi would be so nice.
The closest place I know of to get Sushi is Byerly’s/Lunds on hwy 42 in Burnsville. There are several resturants that I have not tried in Bloomington. I have had GREAT luck with Byerly’s though. The Sushi Chef’s there are always so nice, and willing to teach and allow you to sample.
Does anyone know of a place that is closer?
-J
Excelsior has a nice little downtown, but (having lived near there for two years) I think it’s a little too focused on the party scene – Haskell’s, the marinas, etc. – to be a viable comparison to shop-centered Northfield. Not that I would be unhappy to have a sushi place, or a few more ethnic restaurants. One thing that I loved about Excelsior, though, was the intense competition among ice-cream parlors (sadly, we’re on the verge of an ice cream monopoly in Northfield); another thing was being able to bike right into downtown on a rails-to-trails line. There’s no good, safe way to bike safely with kids from points east of Prairie now!
Yes please on the sushi. There was this place in Atlanta that had awesome Thai food and sushi…. mmmmmmmmm.
The Carleton Snack Bar (in Sayles-Hill Campus Center) has several different pre-made sushi options on weekdays during the academic term. The college is on spring break this week, but starting next week, the sushi will be back.
There’s no sushi chef on-site, but it’s remarkably good stuff.
Dan