I was having dinner with some friends last week indulging in some pretty amazing fried fish and craft beer when Caly & Scott suggested that what the Twin Cities food scene needs is food boats. The food truck boom is well underway, so much so that some of the trucks are putting down roots with non-mobile eateries, e.g. The Smack Shack, Sushi Fix, and World Street Kitchen. So what’s next? All this river front, all this river; Food Boats! That’s what a river city needs. Not being able to turn down a good name-your-business challenge, I went to work. And I think I have generated a pretty respectable list of names and concepts. So batten down the hatches and tell your restauranteur friends to hit the shipyard.
Illustration Credit: Noah Keesecker
(listed in the order that I thought of them)
Starboard Cow - Burger joint
Portside - Cocktail bar
Porkside - bbq pork menu
Blue Beer’s - beer joint
Black Beer’s - Beer joint
Sherry Ferry - Cocktail and aperitif bar
Three Sheets to the Wind - party barge
Minnow - Fine dining tasting menu. Full tasting is a 3 hour tour
Mastication - Fancy Food
Fish n’ Ships or Fishin’ Ships - Fish and Chips
Barrelman - Craft Beer and brewery
The Brat Yacht - Brats and Beer
Cook, Dine and Drinker - Home cooking
Galley - Fine dining
Crazy Ivan’s - booze boat with signature shots: The Torpedo, The Cannonball, Davy Jones’ Locker, The Dreadnought, The Flotsam, The Hurricane, The Tsunami, Grapeshot, The Icebreaker, The Ironclad, The Mae West, The Man o’ War, The Mess Hall, etc.
Cut and Rum - Steak house with Rum flights
Captain’s Quarters - Whiskey bar
Trim Tab’s - Bar and Grille
Moor, Please - Upscale bar and grille
Queekegs - Brew pub. Technically more of a seafaring name but, whatever. He was on a boat.
Sand Bar - Caribbean bar and grille
Torpedo Burrito - Mexican
Parley - Cocktail bar with light snacks
I’m On A Boat - Nightclub/dance barge
Mark Twain - Wine bar with book store
Coop Deck - Bar and grille specializing in chicken wings and rotisserie.
Pitch and Roll - Sushi
Hard Tack - Light snacks and drinks
The Soup Sloop - Soups
Tack Shack - Bar and grille
Huck Fin’s - Fish fry
Whey Anchor - Cheese shop
Wheelhouse - Cheese shop
Yacht Club - Sandwich shop with a super customizable Club sandwich
Smoke on the Water - Cigar lounge
Bagels and Locks - Breakfast, brunch and bagels
JumpShip - mobile app that allows you to schedule boat-to-boat docking so you can “jump ship” during your evening. For Example, you start the evening off at Whey Anchor with a cheese plate, JumpShip to the Portside for a cocktail before you JumpShip to Mastication for your 8pm dinner reservations. Afterwards, you JumpShip to Trim Tab’s for a little dancing and karaoke followed by a JumpShip to Pitch and Roll for a sushi snack before finally taking the Sherry Ferry back to your port of call while sipping on a classy aperitif.
The questions are:
Who’s on board?
Which food boats would you go to?
Do you have suggestions for more food boats?