Photographic "After Party" From The Metro Top 100...

Photos By John Hoff

So I already wrote about what a blast I had at the Metro Magazine party for the Metro 100, to which this blog was named. The fun, the progress, the rapid march of revitalization in NoMi never stops and it's hard to even keep up with the stories and pictures. It's great this blog was named only because it helps get out the story of positive, hard-won change in NoMi, brought about through the vision and struggle of many individuals.

So these photos are a couple weeks old, now, but when somebody throws a great soiree and gives me free booze (Patron Tequila and a new, interesting Scotch called Naked Grouse) I sort of feel like, hey, I need to write about that party.

What I remember, anyway. So, um...

The photo above shows the Patron Tequila Girl, who was hired as much for her scintillating personality as her ability to mix drinks, including some kind of decadent recipe involving coffee-flavored Patron XO Cafe, click here. The recipe for the drink is below, note the raindrops that seeped through the roof of the tent. The weather didn't dim anybody's spirits, especially since there were plenty of...well, spirits.



The Metro 100 party was mostly situated at the 331 Club, but included a total of 14 locations along 13th Ave. NE. This Metro Party route can be easily replicated by trendsters looking for a night of fun in a compact geographic area, so for those seeking a night of culture and bar-hopping, here are the locations from north to south, all along 13th Ave. NE from 4th St. to 2nd St.

Northeast Social

Rogue Buddha

The Ritz Theater

Easel Street

iWare

The Modern Cafe

Jon Oulman Salon

331 Club

Erte (please note this is the location where I once had a steak dinner with The Devil, click here)

Peacock Lounge (It's part of Erte, but almost like a different location)

The Anchor Fish & Chips

Spinario

Shuga Records

Frank Stone Gallery

One of the locations had a Metro 100 "Twitter Party," with the tweets projected on a large screen. 

During the party, I ran into Brandt Williams of Minnesota Public Radio, who writes such great articles about NoMi, click here for an example, and his wife Mecca Bos-Williams, who writes "professional foodie" articles for Metro Magazine, click here for more info. 

These two nice U of M college students had a job for the night giving away Angie's Authentic Kettle Corn. Good thing I wore my 1980s parachute pants with extra zip-up pockets! This stuff is made locally, so the more I eat the more I can brag about being a good environmentalist. 

Above, Jake Nyberg with a companion. Nyberg was part of the "creative class of 2009," see article below and click here for a link. Nyberg produces something called "branded entertainment" where products tell their own compelling, interesting story. I ran into Nyberg at Anchor Fish & Chips, where you can get a cool temporary tattoo of an anchor. That's Nyberg's arm in the photo below. I think. I myself woke up with a tattoo but what can I say? That's NOT my sleeve. 

Below, this is the guy who runs Heavy Table Dot Com, which also made the Metro 100 magazine. When I checked out the website, I came across something about Naked Grouse Scotch, one of the sponsors of the Metro 100 party. COINCIDENCE OR CONSPIRACY? No doubt A CONSPIRACY TO MAKE REALLY GREAT SCOTCH. 

Below, at Anchor Fish & Chips, they've perfected the two-part pour, which is necessary to produce a perfect mug of Guinness. 

Below, here is Paul Schmelzer, whose ultra-succinct political and cultural forum  Twitter.com/Iteeth made Metro Magazine's top 100. Schmelzer, click here for his Facebook profile, lives in the Willard Hay neighborhood of NoMi. 


Here, when I ran into Ed Kohler of The Deets Dot Com at Anchor Fish & Chips we sort of replicated our image in Metro Magazine. You know what would be REALLY COOL? Like, if I could get a picture of Ed and myself posing behind THIS IMAGE BELOW! And then just keep doing it over and over, mirror-looking-into-mirror style, for as long as we could sustain it. Hmmmm. 






These folks were just going into Anchor Fish & Chips while I was taking pictures, and they were all, like, TAKE OUR PICTURE! So I obliged, and it was my last picture of the night. It was a fun and random end to a fun and (somewhat) random event.