Small Hours ToDoTC.com To Do Twin Cities Date: Oct 23, 2026 Small Hours 2201 NE 2nd St Minneapolis, MN 55418 Phone (952) 206-0719 Website: www.smallhoursmpls.com Home All AllZIP # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Small Hours

We do our best at finding new and interesting restaurants. But we have similar resources to most people. That said we know a few experts that know the Twin City dining industry.

Every Friday night we go North Loop wine and spirits for their 4- 8 PM wine tasting. We do so for a number of reasons. First, it’s free and they have free wine and free parking. It is I guess the closest thing we have to our local Cheers. They may not know your name but after a few samples of wine, they are glad you are there. But the primary reason we go down to North Loop is to talk to the wine experts. Mot the ones that sell at North Loop. They wine experts from the distributors that are out and about and know about the great new restaurants. That is the magic we see in our Friday tastings. And it works both ways we write articles and promote restaurants they are stocking with wine.

We normally have restaurant reservations for Friday night restaurants. Sometimes E needs to make the reservation six weeks out. This past Friday night we had plans on introducing the North Loop to friends. Turns out campaigning was more important than learning about wine. So we went to the tasting with no reservations.

Turns out AMANDA was the wine host. Amanda was off for six months having a kid.  It was fun to get the details of her absence. We had decided tonight we would walk a few blocks to a great surprise restaurant on Washington a few blocks away Guacava Bistreaux. Amanda laughed and said that has been closed for months. Exactly why we are there. Amanda saved us a walk.

We said OK New girl, where SHOULD we go? Amanda said there is a great new restaurant called Small Hours by Hai Hai in the Nord East. It doesn’t have a grill of oven, but great food and wines. So we agreed and finished the tasting and got on the our way.

Two things I need to warn you about Small Hours. Number one the place is small perhaps a dozen tables thirty people. Size of a large home great room. That said, we were welcome as walkins at 7:30 on a Friday night. It’s new, the words not out yet. And our bill SHARING ONE entrée was $169 with two wines and one desert.

For wine we had a Trollinger Chilled Red for $19 and E had two Broc Cellers for  $38. So wine was only a few bucks higher than other places. 

Prior to us getting into wine I did not like olives. It night be because as a kid from Central Wisconsin olives were green and bitter. Since that time I learned to enjoy olives but mostly the purple ones. Well, the olives we tried for $5 as an app were small and green. Turns out I still do not enjoy small green olives. Wonder if the chef is from Wisconsin?

We followed that with a $24 cheese plate. We eat a lot of expensive cheese and the cheese plate was very good. After which we shared a lettuce salad for $12. It was fresh but uneventful.

So far nothing we had ordered needed an oven or grill. Then came our entre for $22. We had fish “cooked” with preservatives  or sauces. It was unusual but was tasty.

When we got done we saw neighbors got desert, so why not we were celebrating, I forget what. The Creame Bolla was vwey good for $11.

The service was what new restaurants are. You read the menu then walkl up and order and someone bring out your food. For the walk out and the beverage fills you will pay 18% service charge $23. It comes on your final bill.

After hours is a reasonably quiet local joint. It has unusual food. The wine was just OK. Maybe we should have ordered the $400 bottle on the menu. If you are looking for an unusual place that can be a bit spending, it might be just the place for you.

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