Big Ten Bar and Restaurant to close after 60 years

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Gopher07 said:
I guess I'd be curious to know what percent of people that live in that area aren't affiliated with the university. I know, personally, I wanted to get away from the undergrad scene once I hit 22, and that's really all that's over there right now. Northeast, Uptown, North Loop offer a more cosmopolitan experience and mix of young professionals just out of college and early-30s couples just settling down, for a similar price range as these luxury apartments are offering.

Of course, that's just my perspective. There may be more than enough folks that look to relive the college life for several years after graduation.
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Price range is not similar to the areas you point out, and that's a huge generalization to think it's people wanting to relive college life. Plenty of adult events go on there...it's a world class research university. Northrup has unbelievable events and performances. Plus you can walk to everything needed, even groceries. It's a pretty ideal place.
 

Green line makes it more attractive. One roomie in grad school, the other working at Wells Fargo, meet for shots downstairs.
 

citywok said:
If this is how you truly feel I feel bad for you. Businesses such as The Big Ten and Village Wok are institutions that have culturally meant a lot to generations of Gophers. I hope you enjoy the brand spankin' new Noodles and Co. or whatever will go in on the first floor there.

Guaranteed that so many of these successful restaurants are leaving because the "builders" want a super inflated amount of rent.

The "builder" mentality has always been infuriating to me because it rarely represents the desires of the majority, it most often represents what is profitable to a very small percentage of controlling stakeholders- often at direct odds with the will of the community.

On a side note, whoever had the idea that a 20-some story apartment tower catering to "young professionals" DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE SUPERBLOCK DORMS would be appealing, needs to be run out of town.
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What? It's not at all "DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE SUPERBLOCK DORMS".
 

I would love to have a memento from the iconic University restaurant. What a shame, Big Ten gave the campus some history and uniqueness that we sorely lack around campus. Most campuses have establishments that have been around campus for generations, not much nostalgia left on our campus. Oh well, onward and upward.
 


HoustonTXGopher said:
I would love to have a memento from the iconic University restaurant. What a shame, Big Ten gave the campus some history and uniqueness that we sorely lack around campus. Most campuses have establishments that have been around campus for generations, not much nostalgia left on our campus. Oh well, onward and upward.
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You are right. I am not against development, but it certainly is a sad day for us older alumni. I took my kids there the last two years and they loved their subs. We bought t-shirts. My kids still talk about Big 10. They will be as sad as me when I tell them it is gone. I always looked at big 10 as an institution.

Despite this dramatic change, the campus needs an active life. I think this important change is occurring with this development. Lord knows when I went to school there in the early to mid 90's the campus was nothing to brag about.


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IIRC the owners of the Village Wok owned the building and lot, so when word came that they had thrown in the towel, it was only a matter of time for the Ten.

Sad day.
 

GopherRock said:
IIRC the owners of the Village Wok owned the building and lot, so when word came that they had thrown in the towel, it was only a matter of time for the Ten.

Sad day.
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It's been known for sometime the building was coming down, question was if they'd they'd lease new space
 

dpodoll68 said:
What? It's not at all "DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE SUPERBLOCK DORMS".
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Maybe not "directly across the street," but it is two blocks away.

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That would be like saying why would anyone stay at The Commons? Or go to the U hospital?
 

I wonder if that app ever sighs and tells people to look out the window.
 

Village Wok will open up in two years on the main level. Big Ten was not offered to reopen. May have been part of the deal if the owners of the property owned Village Wok.


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I do love that Baker's Square is gone, and Tea House is in. Awesome pre-game food. My five year old thinks everyone has Chinese food for brunch before watching football.
 



Hey, shjt happens. I wish I could still go get an original cherry coke with the syrup on the bottom down at Merwin Drug on the corner of Broadway and Lyndale.

Businesses come and go, you can't fault the Village Wok for cashing in the old building and then releasing a spot back in the new building. The only way you can stop it is by buying the building yourself.


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alchemy2u said:
Hey, shjt happens. I wish I could still go get an original cherry coke with the syrup on the bottom down at Merwin Drug on the corner of Broadway and Lyndale.

Businesses come and go, you can't fault the Village Wok for cashing in the old building and then releasing a spot back in the new building. The only way you can stop it is by buying the building yourself.


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Yep! It hurts emotionally when your favorite place closes, but it's all part of life.
 

highwayman said:
Yeah, we should always keep low profit businesses going for tradition's sake. It's always disgusting to those with no stake.

If hundreds of new residents move in, it will be a huge boon to the local economy.

If you don't like it, buy the site and develop it yourself. Life goes on.
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What do low profit business have to do with this and what is a low profit business? Tradition is important and should br held when possible. The owner does not want to continue despite an upgrade in facilities and the prospect of higher numbers of potential customers. We all have a stake by the way. The world is not necessarily better with high buck developers either. I am not convinced the local economy outside of the folks that lease the rooms will be a boon.
 

GopherHomer said:
This is true - I think. I used to work in an industry that had me selling to restaurants/bars...when I struck up a relationship to the one in Arden Hills, I'm pretty sure they told me that they had no affiliation to the campus/Hopkins location (which are affiliated with one-another). As a UofM student, I was never much of a Big Ten guy, but it's still sad to see it go.
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Welsh's Big Ten in Arden Hills is a one of a kind family owned business, no affiliation with the other two.
 

Vandy said:
Welsh's Big Ten in Arden Hills is a one of a kind family owned business, no affiliation with the other two.
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Think the name for that one actually comes from the highway...
 



I was just in Seattle staying downtown in an 8-story hotel located right next to a 27-story high-rise, which dwarfed all the smaller buildings beneath it. I wonder if anyone realizes just how massive that proposed building is going to be in Stadium Village? Even compared to the Commons Hotel to the north and the hospital to the west it's going to be big. For all the smaller street level buildings to the east and south it's going to look ridiculously out of place.
 

It's ironic that some of the people most adversely affected are those that bought into the high rise that replaced sally's. They just lost two decent affordable restaurants 100 ft away.
 

LakerFan said:
It's ironic that some of the people most adversely affected are those that bought into the high rise that replaced sally's. They just lost two decent affordable restaurants 100 ft away.
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It's never MY house or actions that result in the problem.

It's that everyone else bought one....
 

WindyCityGopher said:
I was just in Seattle staying downtown in an 8-story hotel located right next to a 27-story high-rise, which dwarfed all the smaller buildings beneath it. I wonder if anyone realizes just how massive that proposed building is going to be in Stadium Village? Even compared to the Commons Hotel to the north and the hospital to the west it's going to be big. For all the smaller street level buildings to the east and south it's going to look ridiculously out of place.
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Very much disagree. Although Moos Tower is only 17 stories high, floor heights for medical buildings are pretty tall. That tower is 295 ft tall, which I believe is actually TALLER than this proposal. And that is just on the next block. This will not dwarf over the rest of the neighborhood. It will just add to the campus "skyline a bit. Yes, it is taller than the 6 and seven story buildings to the east, but there is plenty of height just to the west.
 

DLguy said:
but there is plenty of height just to the west.
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Are there places on campus where they are short on height?

I was just on campus this past weekend, I didn't notice any less sky...
 

Ewert86PC said:
*sigh* At least Annie's Parlor is still in Dinkytown.

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I remember Annie's Parlor being listed in an article about the "best" hamburgers in the Twin Cities, along with Matt's and the usual suspects the lazy writers put in every feature of this type. I had not been to Annie's in years so I had a supplier that wanted to take me and one our Buyers to lunch go there.

The atmosphere was great. The hamburgers were hockey puck like and almost certainly were pre-formed patties that came right out of the freezer. The fries were not so great either. I am guessing the malts are good, or at least I hope they are.

I am certain the Blarney Pub has much better food, or at least much better hamburgers.

To the main point, I have never been in a metro area that spends so much time and energy obsessing on building heights and trying to regulate parking. Density and scarcity of parking is a good thing, in general.
 

oak_street1981 said:
I remember Annie's Parlor being listed in an article about the "best" hamburgers in the Twin Cities, along with Matt's and the usual suspects the lazy writers put in every feature of this type. I had not been to Annie's in years so I had a supplier that wanted to take me and one our Buyers to lunch go there.

The atmosphere was great. The hamburgers were hockey puck like and almost certainly were pre-formed patties that came right out of the freezer. The fries were not so great either. I am guessing the malts are good, or at least I hope they are.

I am certain the Blarney Pub has much better food, or at least much better hamburgers.
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I just took my kdis to Annie's after the practice last Friday. Food was great (burger, fries, shake). Some of the best fries in town. Maybe they had a bad day when you were there.
 

Maybe they ditched the preformed, fast food caliber beef patties they were using a couple of years ago. I'll give Annie's another try.
 

Word said:
I just took my kdis to Annie's after the practice last Friday. Food was great (burger, fries, shake). Some of the best fries in town. Maybe they had a bad day when you were there.
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I love the fries in the big shareable baskets. The burgers are not bad, just not exceptional. Great view from the patio.
 

I am sorry to see the Big 10 go on the basis of another campus institution dying. That said, I was never a big fan on game days, going back to basketball during football's exile at the Dome, because you couldn't get in the place unless you arrived super early and the wait was typically well beyond anything reasonable if you didn't. On non game days it was decent, but I always gravitated to Sally's and Stub & Herb's where the atmosphere was better in my opinion.
 

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