Great Escapes 2008: Red Wing

Cards taped to shelves note the staff’s thoughtful picks at the Best of Times Bookstore. The children’s section features a playhouse modeled after Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods, a tribute to the author, who was born a short distance downriver in Pepin, Wisconsin. And even if you’re not in the market for a new suit, check out the classic men’s shop Josephson’s, which has been in business for 130 years (107 at its current location). Its tin ceilings, pine floors, and oak cases with glass doors—kept closed to protect clothes from smoke and soot in the days of burning coal—are a throwback to the past. So are its helpful salespeople, including owner Tom Withers, who handpicks high-quality lines and oversees careful in-house tailoring.

A few blocks down Old West Main Street, Ruth’s German Haus is worth a peek for its colorful array of German gifts and groceries. German chocolates (including the Kinder Surprise Egg with a toy inside) make sweet souvenirs.

Hanisch Bakery

Red Wing’s cafés and coffeehouses offer sugary snacks you may not be able to wait to take home. Local institution Braschler’s Bakery, recently sold by the Braschler family to longtime employees who have changed the name to Hanisch Bakery, sells beautifully iced cookies, decadent pastries, and loaves of Swedish limpa bread. Icelandic almond rolls, caramel rolls, and other morning snacks are among the choices at the exceptional Jenny Lind Bakery, part of the Smokey Row Cafe, near Red Wing Pottery. Comparable treats come with lattes at the cheery Lily’s Coffee House. For more traditional breakfast fare, including pancakes made with Red Wing’s own Sturdiwheat mix, visit Veranda Cafe at the St. James Hotel. More popular with locals is Bev’s Café, where generous breakfasts and lunches are served in a good greasy-spoon way. New York bagels and coffee, plus sandwiches, salads, and soups, are offered at Blue Moon, where diners stash away at tables and comfy chairs surrounded by an electric mix of antiques, art, and books. Even Red Wing’s Caribou Coffee is inviting: Located in the former Chicago Great Western Depot, its two-level seating area basks in sunlight streaming through tall windows.

English–style teas presented in a pretty 1880 Victorian Italianate home—or on a side porch overlooking an English garden—are the specialty at tea room Tale of Two Sisters, run by Bonnie Tracy (sister Susan retired). Sandwiches, scones, desserts, and tea are served Tuesdays through Saturdays. Tracy also offers lunch and monthly teas, often with holiday themes.

Staghead is a must for lunch or dinner, perhaps with a Maredsous Belgian beer, one of eleven choices on tap. Sandwiches, steaks, seafood, and pasta are served under the watchful eye of the namesake stag, a trophy found years ago at a Minnesota State Fairgrounds antiques sale. Appetizers make up much of the menu at nautically themed Oar d’oeuvre, which serves Rush River microbrews and has one of Red Wing’s best outdoor patios, just off Main Street overlooking a garden. The Port, in the basement of the St. James Hotel, hosts Red Wing’s most elegant dining in an intimate, low-light, wine-cellar atmosphere.

Arguably the area’s most widely acclaimed restaurant, now located a few miles away in the Wisconsin woods in Bay City and called The Norton’s, is set to move into a Main Street storefront in Red Wing come June. Owners and chefs Greg and Sarah Norton will continue to use fresh local ingredients at Norton’s Downtown & Lucky Cat Lounge and plan to open a wine shop next door.

Burger and sandwich basics are good choices at Liberty’s Restaurant & Lounge, which has one of Red Wing’s latest kitchen closing times. For weekend evening entertainment, visit Jimmy’s Pub on the fifth floor of the St. James Hotel, with its rich woodwork and clubby warmth.

If roadhouse excitement better suits your style, hop on the Highway 63 bridge to the Harbor Restaurant, Bar & Marina, on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi facing downtown Red Wing. A summertime outdoor bar offers respite from the smoke-filled interior (Wisconsin has not yet banned smoking in restaurants) and hosts blues, country, rock, and reggae festivals.

Although Red Wing’s Falconer Vineyards offers a relaxed spot for enjoying a bottle of wine and a low-key picnic, the vineyards at Vino in the Valley in nearby Maiden Rock, Wisconsin, provide the setting for chef-prepared, white-tablecloth pasta dinners. Served only on Thurs- day and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons, the meals have proven to be hugely popular with locals and offer a beautiful opportunity to take in lush views of the Rush River Valley. A similar concept plays out on Tuesday evenings at Pizza on the Farm, a few miles beyond in Stockholm, Wisconsin, where A to Z Produce & Bakery’s Robbi Bannen and Ted Fisher use ingredients from their eighty-acre organic farm and prepare delicious pizzas in a wood-fired brick oven. Call for directions and bring your own picnic supplies.

The pastoral scene beckons closer to Red Wing as well and is best appreciated from Bay Point and Colvill Parks, both with short trails on the river, as well as Barn Bluff and Sorin’s Bluff, where steep hikes access stunning overlooks. Cycling the Cannon Valley Trail takes in more mileage (up to 19.7 miles to Cannon Falls) as it parallels the beautiful Cannon River on the former Chicago Great Western Railroad line. Bike rentals are available at The Route, where Trek cross/hybrid bikes can be rented for $25 a day.

Although many visitors treat Red Wing as a day trip from the Twin Cities, staying over in town is the best way to experience the charm from morning till night. Poised at a perfect spot downtown is the 1875 St. James Hotel. Its sixty-one rooms—many named after Mississippi River steamboats—are furnished with period antiques and bright carpets and wall coverings. The Victoriana even extends to the halls, where old photos, letters, newspaper articles, and lacy decorative items chronicle the city’s history.

Round Barn Farm Bed & Breakfast & Bread

Bed-and-breakfasts offer additional charm-filled options. Overlooking Red Wing is the 1874 Moondance Inn, which invites guests inside and up its sweeping staircase. At the 1877 Candlelight Inn, which is known for its elegant Victorian breakfasts, exquisite cherry cabinets outfit the library. The 1930s Tudor revival Golden Lantern Inn—the 7,000-square-foot former home of J. R. Sweasy, a former president of the Red Wing Shoe Company—offers a rich but more tailored style that breaks away from Victorian florals. Another less conventional option, four miles from downtown, is the Round Barn Farm Bed & Breakfast & Bread. Here, a 1914 Dammon round barn, listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings, anchors the landscape.