DULUTH — On Monday morning, Bruce Block negotiated a deal to sell a longtime popular seasonal custard shop in Grand Marais that he named for the daughter who was his youngest at the time it was built.
Popular downtown Grand Marais custard and pizza shop burns down
Owner Bruce Block said he had plans to sell Sydney's — but now he might rebuild.
April 10, 2023 at 10:32PM
Block second-guessed himself after it was done — did he really want to sell what had become a downtown favorite of locals and tourists? As he drove out of town, he got a phone call: Sydney's Frozen Custard and Wood-Fired Pizza was on fire.
The Cook County Sheriff's Office said the fire started at 11:09 a.m., and firefighters from Grand Marais and nearby departments worked to put it out into the afternoon.
It's a total loss, according to Block, a contractor. The cause is still uncertain, but he suspects squirrels in the wiring based on a chewed up bottle of chocolate he saw before the fire.
"It's a bizarre day," Block said. "I can't believe the universe is constituted in such a way that these things happen."
The Cook County Historical Society wrote in a Facebook post that the custard shop was built on land that was originally part of the Voyageur Trading Post property.
"There wasn't anything there when we built it," Block said. "It was just beach gravel."
First it was a custard shop named for the baby of the family — the mascot, he said. In the early years, the shop's namesake claimed the business as her own. Later, Block said, the novelty wore off for young Sydney — she refused to let anyone call her by her first name when they were in the vicinity of the shop.
Sydney's grew to include pita wraps, then gyros, Chicago-style hotdogs, and eventually wood-fired pizzas on its menu. It's been a Grand Marais fixture for 21 years and is the last stop before the town's Artist Point — a spot known for its scenic views and jagged rocks near the Grand Marais Coast Guard Station.
Linda Jurek, executive director of Visit Cook County, reported a busy scene at the fire which was contained mostly to the restaurant. The memory of the April 2020 fire that destroyed the Crooked Spoon restaurant and nearby retail spaces was fresh on her mind.
Block's, too. He had done roof work on that restaurant and was delivering the bill for the work when he saw that fire — which also happened the day after Easter. This time, when Block pulled up to Sydney's, Nathan Hingos of the Crooked Spoon was there for him.
"He found me and gave me a big hug," he said. "I'd been standing there next to him watching his restaurant burn three years ago."
The fire offered a bit of clarity to Block and by Monday evening he had a tentative plan.
"Now I'm thinking I might as well rebuild it," he said.
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