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Tag Archives: Duluth

September 7, 2017 · 2:43 pm

New Scenic Cafe, Positively 3rd Street Bakery, Leif Erikson Park, Russ Kendall’s Smoke House – Duluth, Knife River

New Scenic Cafe did not disappoint. Lovely location on a lakeside country road about 12 miles north of Duluth, pretty backwoods decor with lots of wood, local artwork, even stacked tree branches here and there. The food was great — a light interesting cold corn soup, tuna sashimi tacos with avocado and interesting slaw, frites, a pulled pork sandwich with avocado and queso, a killer sundae with caramel corn, peanuts, hot fudge and locally-made ice cream. When we left at 10:20 p.m. two people were relaxing in low wooden chairs around a fire pit on the front lawn, watching the almost-full moon drop a puddle of light onto the lake.

Before dinner, we ended up by the lighthouse in Two Harbors, which turned out to be a lovely place to watch the sunset over the water as we stood on a long breakwater.

Since I am

writing a story about smoked fish shops here, we stopped at Russ Kendall’s Smokehouse in Knife River, a famous old roadside joint with a totally different vibe than Northern Waters. Knotty wood walls, an old neon sign outside advertising Royal Bohemian Beer and the Smokehouse, smoked fish and that’s about it, although there is a dining area in an adjacent room with tables, an old pinball machine, pool table and bar. (When I asked the woman behind the fish counter if the bar was operational she said no. “My grandfather was killed in a knife fight at the bar so we only sell beer to go,” she explained.

This morning we walked down the hill to Positively 3rd Street Bakery, (named after a song by Bob Dylan, who was born here). A sweet guy with a ponytail sold us a gooey roll and wheat bran muffin, then gave us free coffee that we took down the hill to a lovely rose garden at Leif Erikson Park. We found a bench overlooking the water. The public spaces here are really nice. Lots of lakeside paths and gardens and parks. We got more coffee at Duluth Coffee, a hipster place downtown and set off for Grand Marais on a pretty morning.

Airbnb room with a view (Lake Superior) and Northern Waters Smokehaus – Duluth

Another great Airbnb (unlike the one I booked in Minneapolis where the weird host cancelled at the last minute). We are in a airy blue-walled room on the second floor of an old wooden house in a neighborhood high on a hill above downtown and the blue waters of Lake Superior. Some nice touches including a Polaroid camera to snap a few shots (haven’t used one in years), a white noise machine, pretty botanical prints on the walls, a map with pins to stick in to show where visitors are from. (Other Des Moines residents had been here, as had visitors from Tehran and Hamburg.) We shared a bathroom with the one other room, which wasn’t an issue.

After a brief stop at The Minneapolis Farmers Market downtown on Lyndale near Twins stadium to pick up huge red dahlias, raspberries, strawberries, scones and banana bread to take to Noah and Rachel’s new apartment on Emerson Street, we drove two hours or so to Duluth (not too much traffic) and tried our first batch of smoked whitefish at Northern Waters Smokehaus, a hip, foodie sandwich shop inside an old brick warehouse renovated into a marketplace with nice shops. I ate the fish on saltines with a smear of cream cheese, as directed.