The Star Tribune carried an article on the cover of the Variety section today noting that Sgt. Preston's of the North was no more. New owners have claimed the space and are turning it into a craft beer pub called Republic.
Sgt. Preston's of the North opened at Seven Corners on the West Bank of the U of M campus in the mid 70's. It was the place to be for my gang back then. Every Saturday morning when there was a Golden Gopher Football home game, we'd be there for a Bloody Mary with a beer chaser. OK...maybe we had two. I always had their cold Garlic Meatloaf sandwich. It was really a garlic sandwich, with just a little bit of meatloaf to hold the garlic cloves together.
At noon we'd make our way across the Washington Avenue Bridge to Memorial Stadium to watch Coach Cal Stoll and Quarterback Tony Dungy take on the giants of the Big 10. We bought the cheap seats on the home team side, but always moved over to the visitor's side (which was always empty) so we could sit in the sun to watch the game and work on our tan. Then it was back to Sgt. Preston's for perhaps a few more beer chasers and then fish for compliments on what nice tans and horrible garlic breath we had.
The original owners of Sgt. Prestons sold out in the early 1980's and went on to open The Loon Cafe, my favorite 80's hangout. Just about every thing those guys opened went on to greatness, including, JD Hoyt's, Pickled Parrot, Suji Ya and Dixie's, to name a few.
So farewell and RIP, Sgt. Preston's. You were the place to be when I was 23 and it's nice to know you made it for another 36 years.
Stay tuned to this space...I'm going to see if I can score the recipe for their Garlic Meatloaf Sandwich.
In 1987 I attended a Conference in Minneapolis. It coincided with the NHL All-Star Game so a bunch of us Canadians went to Sgt. Preston’s to watch it. While there I bought one of their sweatshirts which featured the bar’s logo. My son was three at the time so when I got home to Montréal I used all the lettering on the shirt to teach him the alphabet. So, one of his earliest learned phrases was, “sargent prestons bar and saloon, minneapolis minnesota”. I’m still wearing that sweatshirt.
ReplyDeleteThat is such a cool story!!!
DeleteTerry- have you ever scored the original SGT. Preston’s chili recipe?
ReplyDeleteIt was before the Loon Cafe. I remember it as very good for being on the tame side, i think it was called the Diablo Rouge.
Thanks