by Chris Larson | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | May 1st, 2019
To say that this year’s Bartenders Battle was the best display of talent in the six years since its creation would be an understatement and a disservice to not only the bartenders who made it into the competition, but also the incredibly creative and seasoned professionals who barely missed out on taking their skills to the stage at the Holiday Inn Great Hall on Sunday the 14th.
In fact, the competition was so fierce this year that we had to add a “build your way in” to this…
by Sabrina Hornung | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | April 10th, 2019
Well shiver me timbers. After weeks of sampling some of the finest drinks in F-M from more bars than we could shake a belaying pin at, the results of High Plains Reader’s 6th Annual Cocktail Showdown are in!
For nine weeks, three judges were presented with a shot or after-dinner drink (depending on the establishment) and a drink at each stop of the showdown. Bartenders at participating establishments were judged on presentation, flavor, and creativity, in two different bar…
by Chris Larson | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | March 27th, 2019
On our ninth week of the Cocktail Showdown, we made just a single stop that showcased one of the most well known restaurants in North Dakota, The Toasted Frog. While they had been locally and regionally celebrated for their restaurants in Fargo, Grand Forks, and Bismarck, the downtown Fargo location of The Toasted Frog and the franchise, in general, was recently given some big-time TV attention from both the Travel Channel and The Food Network. The latter focused primarily on the…
by Chris Larson | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | March 20th, 2019
The eighth week of this year’s HPR Cocktail Showdown was another tripleheader for our panel of judges. On this particular week, we found ourselves focused on a trio of downtown dining and entertainment establishments to visit some new competitors as well as experience the return of a couple of seasoned veterans. We first made a return to the Sanctuary Events Center to visit Aaron Duma and spend some time in the coolest “church basement” in town while drinking a couple of entries…
by Chris Larson | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | March 13th, 2019
It sure seems like almost every week we go out for the Cocktail Showdown, we are faced with winter weather that threatens to derail our plans. This was one of the first Wednesdays of the year that found us enjoying a fairly mild winter walk to one of the more established downtown drinking spots, Rooter’s, where Leo Gonzalez mixed us up a couple of drinks that featured Jameson and will probably sell like mad after the St. Patrick’s Day downtown parade. We then hoofed it down the…
by Chris Larson | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | March 6th, 2019
Our sixth week of the Cocktail Showdown was another tripleheader that had us hotel hopping before ending the night on the western edge of Fargo, in the vicinity of the mall. When we go out and do the judging for this competition, I always like to imagine for a moment that I am a visitor to our town and view the experience through the eyes of someone who doesn’t have an insiders look at the industry. Hotel hopping and seeking out hotspots located near the mall makes it quite easy to…
by Chris Larson | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | February 27th, 2019
For the fifth week of the cocktail showdown, we packed three establishments into one night so let’s get right into it with our first stop which was not only a first-time entry into the competition but also a brand new business. Opened in late October, 46 North Pints and Provisions is the newest addition to the downtown dining scene and brings a slightly elevated gastropub model to the corner to the east of the post office. The space is wide open and warm with a touch of sleek chic…
by Chris Larson | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | February 20th, 2019
Chef’s Table Catering recently converted the building that formerly housed the restaurant Barbacoa into a private dining and event space. Located just south of 32nd Avenue off 42nd street, they have kept all of the great lighting fixtures and features but opened the space up into one large dining room that can seat up to 125 and is worth consideration for your next special event. Adam Nehk is their Bar Catering Manager & Event Coordinator/Mixologist and he explained that they have…
by Chris Larson | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | February 13th, 2019
After a day of checking the weather updates and keeping an eye on any closing announcements from this week’s entrants, our judges ordered up a ride share service and headed out to the western side of town for two stops in West Fargo. The fact that these establishments are located directly across the street from each other made it seem like such an easy trek between the two but the piles of snow covering every sidewalk corner made the short walk across 9th street east in West Fargo a…
by Chris Larson | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | February 6th, 2019
For our second week of the Cocktail Showdown, it was an abbreviated one due to the bitter cold weather closing down several of the establishments throughout downtown, including the ones we were set to visit. Thankfully, Andrew Hardy was excited enough about his competition entry to come in on a night off and treat us to a makeup Monday at the Sidestreet Grille and Pub, on 4th and 4th in downtown Fargo.
The Sidestreet is one of those hangouts that seems to have it all. One of the most…
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VALLEY CITY – Lowell Busching shuffled into The Vault, pointed to the staff-less counter featuring self-serve sandwiches, Kuchen, and coffee before launching into a history of the building, once a bank. Books and magazines are…
You probably won’t be connecting an Ethernet cable to your smartphone anytime soon. But it’s usually worth running Ethernet cables to the devices that matter, if you can—gaming and media PCs (or consoles), backup devices, and…
Thursday, July 25, 6:30-8:30 p.m.Zandbroz, 420 N Broadway, FargoAuthor Sarah Coomber will be making an appearance at Zandbroz for a reading and signing of her recently released memoir, "The Same Moon." Recently wed and soon…
It’s no secret Theodore Roosevelt loved North Dakota. It’s also no secret North Dakotans love Teddy. He left us with a legendary legacy and it’s no wonder that the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library will be in the…
There Seems To Be A Lot Of Confusion About What Freedom Is!At a recent conference of the evangelical Christian’s Faith and Freedom Coalition, Chairman Ralph Reed, long a hard worker for the Moral Majority’s Jerry Falwell, had…
To say that this year’s Bartenders Battle was the best display of talent in the six years since its creation would be an understatement and a disservice to not only the bartenders who made it into the competition, but also the…
By Teresa Farrelltara.Ekren@essentiahealth.orgLove it or hate it, it’s rhubarb season! Rhubarb brings back good memories for me.Growing up on the family farm, my siblings and I would head outside with a bowl of sugar, snap off…
High Plains Reader had the opportunity to catch up with Sarah Shook, front woman of the North Carolina based punk country band Sarah Shook and the Disarmers. We had a chance to talk about life and love from the road, where she…
Legendary British skipper Tracy Edwards, who in 1989 led the first all-female crew of sailors to compete in the tough-as-nails, 33,000-mile Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, makes for a convincing heroine in filmmaker Alex…
The US Postal Service recently released a set of stamps celebrating the New Deal era post office murals that were federally commissioned during the Roosevelt administration, though the mural that graces the walls of the New…
The annual mainstage summer musical, produced by Trollwood Performing Arts School and sponsored by Bell Bank, opens Thursday, July 11. This year’s performance is Disney’s “Freaky Friday.” Trollwood Performing Arts…
Stand-up comedy is traditionally a one-way exchange. Outside of the odd question addressed to a random audience member, the limit of the spectators’ contribution to the conversation is their laughter at the comedy stylings being…
If you’re from the region you may have sipped, sampled or caught word of a libation often referred to as “red eye” or “wedding whiskey” at some point. In fact some of our friends of German Russia descent swear by it. If…
Every Thursday evening during the month of June, Mara Solberg is inviting people to come out and try Yoga on the Farm. It is a unique yoga experience that was born from an idea that was proposed to Solberg.“I’ve been with Red…
by HPR Contributor
by Devin Joubertdevinlillianjoubert@gmail.comIt’s that beautiful time of the year that’s filled with seasonal decorations, sparkly lights, warm family gatherings, and delicious feasts. I love everything about this time of the…
Woman is born free and lives equal to man in her rights…The purpose of any political association is the conservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of woman and man; these rights are liberty, property, security, and…
