6 major restaurant openings (and 4 closings) in the Twin Cities

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ESSENTIAL

MINNESOTA

Good morning, Minnesota! Here's a tip: Never write a newsletter on an empty stomach 🍔 On to the news 📢

By Eder Campuzano

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

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Twin Cities restaurants seeing a slow start to holiday season, and they desperately need some cheer

Who ordered the fancy French burger?

Joy Summers/The Minnesota Star Tribune

The weather outside is starting to get a teensy bit frightful. Good thing there are plenty of new eateries to retreat to, and we've got a peek at some of the most notable openings in the Twin Cities courtesy of Taste Editor Nicole Hvidsten.

She rounded up six new restaurants you should know about, plus four closures sure to raise an eyebrow. Here are some of the highlights:

• Armando Ocampo and Lilia Zagal will open their third full-service Los Ocampo restaurant in the Merriam Park neighborhood of St. Paul. It'll be open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday.

• Jonathan Gans and Josh Hoyt have recently opened an upscale burger joint in Minneapolis: Le Burger 4304. It's open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Saturday.

• You know what makes for a good double date? Hot pot. And Richfield now has a new dip-centric eatery in Dragon Pot, open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

So, who's closing?

THC-friendly bar Hi-Flora recently announced that fines and financial hardships have forced it to close its doors. Reporter Louis Krauss has the full story below. And Hvidsten has the full list of restaurant openings and closures, as well.

Related coverage

GOING OUT

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What's next for the CC Club?

My friends regularly fail to see the humor in my sad attempts at break-dancing in every bar along Lyndale Avenue. And one of the boulevard's best places to liquor up my thoughts, the CC Club, may be on the auction block.

Its owners turned 75 earlier this year, and that has Randy Segal and Steve Shapiro mulling over how and when to transfer ownership. Workers would get first dibs if they collectively buy the place, Segal said.

Louis Krauss has the full story here.

(And you get an Essential Minnesota point if you can name the Motion City Soundtrack song I referenced in this blurb.)

Jay Boller/The Minnesota Star Tribune

FOOTBALL ACROSS MINNESOTA

Jeff Wheeler/The Minnesota Star Tribune

A handful of Minnesota college football programs earned berths in the Division II and Division III playoffs that start this week. The formula for success for many of them is antithetical to the “three yards and a cloud of dust” offensive philosophy of yesteryear.

These teams have quarterbacks that sling it.

Passing records have fallen at all levels across Minnesota colleges as teams put trust in their quarterbacks to run wide-open spread offenses. Quarterbacks such as Aaron Syverson at St. John’s, Jack Strand at MSU Moorhead and several others rank among the national leaders in different statistical categories. Passing yards, touchdown passes, completion percentages.

These quarterbacks are accurate and efficient. And they throw the ball a lot, putting stress on defenses.

Said Strand: “I always say it’s a quarterback’s dream to play in our offense because everything is a throw. We’re throwing the ball 40, 50, 60 times a game sometimes. I don’t know any quarterback who wouldn’t want to do that.” Read all about them in today's edition of Football Across Minnesota.

- Chip Scoggins, columnist

IN OTHER NEWS

THE MINNESOTA GOODBYE

MurphShoots via Reddit

It's a bit dreary out today, isn't it?

Alas, it seems like the last vestiges of autumn are behind us as the state turns toward winter. With that, let's take a moment to admire a few stunning frames from Reddit user MurphShoots, who posted three cityscapes to the social network yesterday.

This stunning shot, taken at the intersection of E. 50th Street and Minnehaha Avenue, absolutely took my breath away. Click or tap on the image above to see the full gallery.