Parella's Opening, Workshop Returning, Vieux Carre Set to Rock and Alma Lights

Monday is the day that Parella, the Italian eatery from Michael Larson and chef Todd Macdonald will open to the public. The restaurant inside Calhoun Square will be open for lunch and dinner. Here is a first look at the dinner menu in progress.

Vieux Carre, the old Artist's Quarter in St. Paul will swing to life on Tuesday. The place is under control of the same people who run The Dakota. Chef Derik Moran has created some dishes to be served, but cautioned that the venue is about music first. Great music and good food, sounds like an easterly sister to the Dakota, indeed.

Workshop at Union has apparently been dark since mid-June. Creative Director Stewart Woodman has been focusing on other Crave empire ventures, but a new post on the Facebook page gives hope that the new concept inside the space will rise soon. When we spoke with Woodman when he took over the project, it was clear that the restaurant would be an evolution in terms of concept and the menu.

We checked in with James Beard Award winning chef Alex Roberts of Restaurant Alma earlier this week to see how the Alma cafe is progressing. The project is inching forward, thanks to the need for some rezoning to accomodate the botique hotel they hope to put in above the restaurant space. Until the restaurant is ready, we have consoled ourselves with bakery pop ups and now we have Alma Lights to look forward to. The empty space (that used to be a coffee shop) has been acting as a home base for artists Northern Lights. Beginning July 15 they will host events featuring the artists' work. Light snacks of the cheese and crackers variety will be on hand thanks to Alma. More information and tickets are available here.