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…
By the time this article is published, all the major new outlets in the area will have reported on the May 30th protest in Fargo demanding change and justice after the needless killing of George Floyd, as well as its aftermath. …
by Sonja ThompsonDebra Ruh is the CEO and Founder of Ruh Global IMPACT, a consulting firm that strives to help clients amplify their impact and become disability inclusion leaders. She also serves as the Chair of the United…
Thursday, March 19, 4:30- 8 pm1609 19th Ave N, FargoCass County Soil Conservation District is hosting their annual Ladies’ Ag Night supper event. This event has a goal of bringing together multiple generations of women involved…
by Sofia Makarova and Massimo Sassi The global pandemic is an incredibly challenging time for many. Nearlyone in every three Americans’ jobs have been affected, whether a temporary layoff, a permanent job loss, or a reduction in…
The Death of Empire by A Thousand CutsSome empires last longer than others. Rome was one. The Chinese empire died the death of a thousand cuts they made famous a thousand years ago. But the Chinese heart that was sliced centuries…
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…
It goes without saying that Valentine’s Day is the most profitable of all the holidays and the one with the most tortured history, literally. It is confusing how an ancient Roman festival that involved sacrificing animals and…
Fargo obviously loves their classical music. Audiences have still turned out during the 2019-2020 season of the Sanford Masterworks Series performed by the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra despite an unrelenting winter. That…
Well-deserved praise for writer-director Amy Seimetz’s efficient and provocative “She Dies Tomorrow” almost inevitably points to the film’s eerie timeliness as a metaphor for pandemic-inspired malaise and disequilibrium.…
This weekend, the 10th Annual Unglued Craft Fest will be held at the Plains Art Museum, featuring over 70 local and regional artists selling handmade items. Though most are Fargo-Moorhead residents, artists from Minneapolis, Sioux…
by Dominic EricksonThis March, the Fargo Film Festival will celebrate its 20th year of entertaining die-hard cinephiles and casual moviegoers alike. The festival begins on March 17 and concludes March 21. The event is once again…
by Kris Gruberperriex1@gmail.comAdam Quesnell's last show at The Cellar beneath the Front Street Taproom in Fargo was in early September of 2018. He was embarking on a seminal move from Minneapolis to LA. As always, his comedy was…
by Jill Finkelsonjsfinkelson99@gmail.comFar North Spirits, located up in Hallock, MN, is the northernmost distillery in the lower 48. They may be young in the distillery world but the farm and the spirit reach far into the past.…
by Laurie J Bakeremsdatter@gmail.com Part of modern yoga is participating in the world around us. We live in a time of upheaval in society and nature, and of great suffering in humans of all ages. Most of us perceive this suffering…
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…
“(Kafka’s) world knows no physical or moral order…We, the readers, are reliving our bad dreams…punishment is over all the characters, but the crime remains mysteriously hidden…” - William Hubben“The specter of color is…
