Two popular Minneapolis park destinations will have new concessions next spring.
New vendors chosen for Lake Nokomis, Bde Maka Ska concessions
The Painted Turtle will offer beach fare at Nokomis. Lola on the Lake and Pimento Kitchen will serve the rebuilt Bde Maka Ska pavilion.
December 13, 2022 at 7:49PM
The Painted Turtle has been chosen to replace longtime vendor Sandcastle at Lake Nokomis, while Lola on the Lake will return to the rebuilt Bde Maka Ska pavilion in partnership with Pimento Kitchen.
Sandcastle has run the concession stand at Nokomis for the past 10 years and opted not to renew its lease for 2023. The Painted Turtle, the newest venture of the restaurateurs behind the North Loop dog park and taproom Unleashed Hounds and Hops, was approved to take over a five-year lease.
"A big part of it was the familiarity we had with the area," said Sam Carter, co-owner along with Kevin Knutson and Dawn Uremovich. He grew up in south Minneapolis and has spent many summers sitting by Lake Nokomis.
"Dawn ... always describes Nokomis as an every man's lake, and that's kind of how we view ourselves in the general Minneapolis community, as an every man's restaurateur," Carter said.
The Painted Turtle will partner with La La Ice Cream, Kramarczuk Sausage Co. and local breweries to offer scooped ice cream, hot dogs and beer. The team is currently building the rest of the menu, Carter said, envisioning scratch-made "classic Minnesota lakeside fare" like battered walleye fish and chips.
The Park Board also has a new contract with Lola on the Lake to return to the Bde Maka Ska pavilion when it's rebuilt. Lola, which offers smoked wings, ribs, pulled pork sandwiches and shrimp tacos, started operating at Bde Maka Ska in 2017, but was displaced when the popular pavilion burned down in an accidental hookah fire two years later. It continued to serve food at the lake out of a food truck.
Last summer park commissioners approved plans for a new pavilion, and in November approved a new five-year lease for Lola starting next year. Construction is scheduled to be complete by next spring, with vendor operations to resume in May.
Lola will be partnering with Pimento Kitchen in 2023. The Jamaican barbecue by chef Tomme Beevas has an Eat Street location on Nicollet Avenue. Beevas and Lola owner Louis King have been friends for years, but running the pavilion concessions will be their first business venture together.
"We couldn't be more honored to be part of the crown jewels of the Twin Cities," Beevas said.
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