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In river towns, favorites debut anew

On the Red Cedar and in Red Wing, three inns and restaurants finally reopen.

In the tourist axis around Lake Pepin, three great old buildings have opened with new owners, just in time for the fall rush.

On the Red Cedar River in Downsville, Wis., the Creamery Restaurant and Inn has reopened as the New Creamery, and new owners Paula and Terry Vajgrt are adding a cafe, wine bar and gallery.

Down the bluffs and across the Mississippi River in Red Wing, Greg Norton has opened Norton's Downtown in an old J.C. Penney store on Main Street, across from the St. James Hotel. A few blocks away on Fourth Street, Deb Bylander has reopened the 1876 Pratt Taber Inn, Red Wing's first B&B and now its newest.

The western Wisconsin bluffs and Mississippi River Valley draw tourists all year, but the whole world wants to go in fall, especially to Red Wing, only an hour south of the Twin Cities. So we got a head start, driving to Downsville to ride on the Red Cedar State Trail, one of the state's most scenic.

It was Discover Downsville day, and the New Creamery was offering food and music on its flower-lined grounds, good practice for its grand reopening Sept. 5-7. In the former gift shop, Paula Vajgrt was overseeing a liquidation to clear space for a wine bar and the Brickhouse Bakery and Cafe, which she noted will stay open even when when private parties book the restaurant.

"People would show up, and the restaurant would be closed,'' she said. "We want to provide an alternative so we're always available.''

Her parents owned a supper club when she was growing up, she said, and Terry Vajgrt worked as a manager at the old Creamery after college: "He just really loves it,'' she said.

From Downsville, we drove through the bluffs and across the river to Norton's Downtown, where we saw that Greg Norton's hole-in-the-wall days are over. We've followed him from the tiny Staghead in Red Wing to a modest roadhouse across the river in Bay City and now back to downtown — although uptown may be a better way to describe the expansive, bright-blue space, warmed by the glow of paper lanterns.

Our favorite dish, the sassy Asian sea scallops with penne, was still on the menu, and though it's one of the few entrees that comes only in the large size, we ordered two of them, plus Vietnamese meatballs, curried egglant soup and a lovely chocolate cake that was more like a dense mousse.

The dapper Norton, bassist for the band Hüsker Dü before he devoted himself to food and wine, was moving from table to table greeting guests.

"Everybody just loves the smaller portions,'' he told us. "It encourages people to order a couple of different things and experiment.'' He opened in early August, and this Friday, lively jazz singer Christine Rosholt and her band will perform at the new restaurant.

Not far away, Deb Bylander has renovated and reopened the long-closed Pratt Taber Inn, though she's barely told anyone and calls it a "soft'' opening.

But paying guests have found their way to her anyway: "It feels bad to charge them, I've met such incredibly nice people,'' she says.

Bylander is not a typical B&B proprietor. She's never stayed in a bed-and-breakfast, at least not in this country: "Once I was chucked out of a B&B in Nice,'' she said (she complained when the owner turned off the showers).

Her furnishings aren't as sumptuous as those at many Victorian B&Bs, but she line-dries her sheets, lets guests decide among themselves when they want breakfast and provides a room with twin beds that already has proved popular. "I think I want to lose some of that formalness of B&Bs,'' she says.

She saw the Pratt Taber on Red Wing's holiday B&B tour in 2004, bought it the next summer and took her time renovating it.

"It's been an adventure,'' she said in April, when I checked in with her. ''The horror stories you hear? I don't have any. It's fun. I think sometimes I've dawdled because the process is part of the adventure, and the other end is scary and daunting.''

But it seems that the new innkeeper, who still works part-time as a nurse, is a natural host.

"Working in the emergency room helps me get an immediate take on people, on who needs a sense of humor and who needs an ear to listen to what they need to say,'' she says. "I can get a feel for it.''

It's likely she'll soon get lots of practice, because lodgings in Red Wing book solid in October. Book now for fall stays along the Mississippi River (and pretty much everywhere). For ideas and links, see How to find a bed-and-breakfast.

New Creamery in Downsville: It's celebrating its grand reopening Sept. 5-7 with music, appetizers and wine. Monroe Crossing plays Friday night, Bill Hammond on Saturday night and Patrick Pefke-Herriges for Sunday brunch. It's open for dinner Thursday through Monday and for brunch Saturday and Sunday, 715-664-8354.

The inn has 12 rooms, 10 with double whirlpools and all with king beds, organic bedding and sheep's wool pillows. Eight rooms are in the adjoining Bird's Nest, $160-$175, and four are over the inn, $145-$205. Rates include a continental breakfast in the lounge.

For more on the trail and river, see Red Cedar ride 'n' glide.

Norton's Downtown and Lucky Cat Lounge in Red Wing: It's open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday. Classic-jazz singer Christine Rosholt plays Aug. 29 and Sept. 26. 651-388-2711.

Pratt Taber Inn in Red Wing: The 1876 inn has three attractive and comfortable rooms, one with twin beds, from $110 weekdays and $150 weekends. 651-388-7392. Red Wing has many other places to stay; check www.redwing.org.

Last updated on August 29, 2008

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In river towns, favorites debut anew

On the Red Cedar and in Red Wing, three inns and restaurants finally reopen.