Things To Do
Bar La Grassa
James Beard Award-winning chef Isaac Becker’s sultry Italian restaurant is always packed. Small and large plates here are best shared. While waiting for a table, step into the adjoining Snack Bar for a slice of pizza and a cocktail before heading to Bar La Grassa for plates of red-wine spaghetti and dreamy soft-eggs-and-lobster bruschetta.
Black Sheep Coal Fired Pizza
Black Sheep’s coal-fired pizzas are delicately charred and crispy. There’s a broad range of toppings — spicy salami is tempered by mild anise notes in fennel sausage; salty, buttery olives counter bright bites of onion. The bacon and chili pepper pineapple is one of the best. Storm King’s smoky wings are served here too.
NOLO's Kitchen & Bar
NOLO’s strikes a balance between buzzy North Loop restaurant and cozy neighborhood cafe. It’s especially popular for brunch, dishing up salted caramel sticky buns, burrata with cantaloupe and prosciutto, and red chili chilaquiles, not to mention breakfast pizza — but also offers a reliable, unpretentious dinner menu of pasta; entrees like coconut curry seafood stew and sea bass a la plancha; kale Caesars and cobb salads; and small plates.
Guacaya Bistreaux
Guacaya Bistreaux, a Latin-Caribbean tapas bar and restaurant with a bit of New Orleans flair, offers a menu with four distinct sections: tierra (earth), mar (ocean), ganado (pasture), and despensa (pantry). Chef Pedro Wolcott’s dishes range from curried mofongo (a Puerto Rican dish of mashed plantains) to bright snapper ceviche to tangy barbecued shrimp served with a rosemary biscuit. Or grab a seat at the rum bar for a frozen daquiri or banana-infused Old Fashioned.
Parlour
For a late-night burger and cocktail, slip into Parlour, the slinky bar tucked beneath Borough. These smash burgers, layered with white American cheese, are among the best in the Cities. The sleeper hit on this menu, though, is the shoe-string French fries, served with Swiss aioli and built for late-night snacking with an Old Fashioned in hand.
Snack Bar
A sister restaurant and bar to Bar La Grassa and 112 Eatery, Snack Bar is a cozy, intimate spot to grab a cocktail — but it has all the swanky touches that make it a North Loop classic. A “gin parade” headlines the cocktail menu: Mix and match a selection of 18 gins with housemade tonics, juices, or elixirs from local maker 3Leche. The broader cocktail menu includes a spicy paloma and a blood orange cosmo.
Spoon and Stable
Spoon and Stable bar manager Jessi Pollak won the United States Bartenders’ Guild’s bartender of the year award in 2022. Her cocktail menu features classics with fruity and aromatic infusions: a gin and tonic with ginger and pear; a London Calling with bergamot and rhubarb. It’s succinct and impressively precise. There’s a great bar menu, too, with duck meatloaf sliders, black truffle arancini, and grilled bone marrow.
Parc Shop
Parc Shop brings ethical & sustainable fashion to the inspired individual who is seeking quality over quantity.
James & Mary Laurie Bookseller
After more than twenty years our inventory has grown to more than 120,000 volumes of individually selected fine books in many fields and more than 30,000 classical and jazz vinyl records. We have added a gallery for our expansive selection of antiquarian printed maps and prints. Our entire shop is at street level.
Boom Island
A small island in the Mississippi River accessible via the Greenway, offering picnic spots and wildlife watching.
Mill City Museum
Explore the history of the milling industry on the Mississippi River, including exhibits on the river's ecosystem.
