PinKU in Minneapolis is closing after New Year's Eve blowout

PinKU Japanese Street Food (20 University Av. NE., Mpls., pinkujapanese.com) has announced that it's closing its doors with one last party on New Year's Eve. The creative, casual restaurant opened in northeast Minneapolis in 2016 and has had an impressive run. At one point it expanded to co-op grab-and-go dishes and an outlet at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, which closed during the pandemic.

Xiaoteng (X) Huang opened the restaurant with the help of chef John Sugimura, who created a menu with crispy gyoza and salmon cakes that quickly drew fans. More recently, chef Tomoyo Rudin worked with Huang to update the menu.

PinKU's employees have been invited to work inside the restaurant replacing it, Pa Tea & Poke, which will open Jan. 1.

The epic last meal on Dec. 31 will be filled with classics from the menu, served all-you-can-eat for $99. E-mail x@pinkujapanese.com for reservations.

The former Andy's Grille spot inside Midtown Global Market (920 E. Lake St., Mpls., midtownglobalmarket.org) has been remade into The Kitchen by Baked Brand, run by local entrepreneur Destinee Shelby. The new restaurant will join the food hall with a menu stacked with chicken sandwiches, fresh pressed juices, massive stuffed turkey legs and more.

Target Center has added two more tasty — and local — concession options to Timberwolves home games. Nashville Coop, the wildly popular food truck-turned-storefront (300 S. Snelling Av., St. Paul, nashvillecoop.com) that specializes in chicken fingers of varying degrees of spice, will now be available on game days. So will Soul Bowl, yet another outlet for Gerard and Brittany Klass' popular fast-casual, build-a-bowl-of-soul-food concept. (Other Soul Bowl locations are inside Graze Provisions + Libations in the North Loop and in Richfield.) At Target Center, find Soul Bowl in Section 106 and Nashville Coop in Section 225.

Soul Fu, one of the original kitchen concepts at Galley North Loop (729 Washington Av. N., Mpls., northloopgalley.org), has closed. The stand was the work of Timmy Truong, and served a comfort food combination of soul food and Chinese American cuisine, such as fried chicken on fried rice.

The original lineup at the small food hall, billed as place for small businesses to launch, first opened in the winter of 2019. Along with Soul Fu, other restaurants included the wildly popular Detroit-style pizza spot Wrecktangle, Ono Hawaiian Plates and Thigh Times Birdhouse, which closed during the pandemic. MB Foodhouse, a twist on Tex Mex cuisine, was later added to the roster, and is still open.