All Along The Lunchcounter: Zimmy’s, The Bob Dylan-Themed Restaurant, Is Closing.

It’s always sad when a small, independently owned business shuts down. But in the case of Hibbing Minnesota’s “Zimmy’s” restaurant, the closure is particularly painful because holy shit I didn’t know there was a Bob Dylan tribute restaurant in the first place, and now it’s too late!

Zimmy’s, named after Hibbing/America’s most famous troubadour, announced they’d be ending their thirty year run after months of tax and liquor license problems. As reported by the Hibbing Daily Tribune:

In an announcement posted on Facebook Thursday, management of the long-standing restaurant said that they are “forced to close” and are hoping that the closure is “only temporary” as they continue to seek a solution that will allow them to reopen “as quickly as possible.”

[…]

Zimmy’s is a destination restaurant, one that put Hibbing on the map due to its homage to Bob Dylan. It attracted visitors from across the world, and many annually during the Dylan Days celebration each May.

“The hardest part about losing this place is that it’s the only place that honors Bob Dylan and does so loudly,” said [Zimmy’s Chef Audrey] Johnson. “Another hard part is that people from Hibbing don’t like Bob Dylan as much as people not from Hibbing like Bob Dylan.

Now, full disclosure, I don’t really like most Dylan songs. And, by all accounts, the guy is a world-class asshole. Still, the knowledge that I’ll never flip through the back pages of a Zimmy’s menu has left me more than a little disappointed. It’s not as if there’s a booming industry of other novelty restaurants dedicated to singin’ yids (actually, while decidedly not a novelty, Manitoba’s on Ave. B is pretty great).

This was my one shot, and now:

*Poof* it’s gone.

So, goodbye Zimmy’s. I’m sorry I never got to eat inside you. I wonder if, like your namesake, you were wildly hit and miss. But, like your namesake, I’m sure you were one of a kind.

[via City Pages]

What do you think?