Alary’s Bar downtown partners with Petey’s Texas Bar B Que to provide meaty menu

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As we head into the first NFL weekend, Chicago Bears fans (and fans of barbecue) can rejoice — Alary’s Bar in downtown St. Paul has found a culinary partner in Petey’s Texas Bar B Que.

Petey’s owner Mike Peterson has another tie-in to the famously cop-friendly bar: He was a law enforcement officer on the U.S. border in Laredo, Texas.

Peterson, who also spent 23 years working for McDonald’s, started learning about smoking meat while he lived down south, but it wasn’t until he returned to Minnesota that he really got hooked.

“Once I got it dialed in, people kept wanting more and more,” Peterson said.

That prompted friends to chip in to help him buy a trailer-sized smoker that he picked up in Nashville. Those friends were promised food at cost, and a business was born.

After a few years of unofficial catering for friends and family, another friend helped Peterson buy a food truck, and he’s been officially operating as a street food vendor — with a temporary residence at JR’s Bar in Burnsville (now closed).

When Peterson and his wife, Tina, who also worked at McDonald’s and helps run the business, saw that Alary’s was reopening and was looking for a culinary partner, they reached out to owner Bill Collins and a partnership was born.

The extensive menu includes fun apps like Texas Stogies (jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon and grilled), smoked wings, smoked queso nachos and rib tips. Entrees range from pulled pork, hot links, brisket and smoked turkey to a full menu of burgers and sandwiches.

Though Peterson is a barbecue purist and believes his meat, lovingly smoked over oak logs, should stand on its own, he recognizes that Minnesotans love sauce, and he goes out of his way to accommodate them with 20 house-made barbecue sauces.

Peterson and Collins want to remind patrons that they have free parking in a lot and in the ramp next door. Food service hours will run 4-9 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m.-9 p.m. on weekends.

As a thank-you for their service, active and retired members of law enforcement get a 50% discount on food and beverage.

Collins, owner of Camp Bar on Robert Street, bought the previously shuttered Alary’s and reopened it this spring.

Alary’s Bar: 139 E. Seventh St., St. Paul; alarys.com

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K.C. Chiefs ‘superfan’ gets 17½ years in prison for string of bank stick-ups in U.S., including 2 in Twin Cities

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A diehard Kansas City Chiefs fan who was known on social media and at games as “ChiefsAholic” was sentenced Thursday to 17½ years in federal prison and ordered to pay a half-million dollars in restitution for pulling off a string of bank robberies across the central U.S. and attempting to rob banks in Apple Valley and Savage.

Xaviar Michael Babudar, 30, of Overland Park, Kan., robbed or tried to rob 11 banks and credit unions across seven states — netting nearly $848,000 — during a sixteen-month period starting in March 2022, according to federal prosecutors. In all but a few of the robberies, Babudar brandished what appeared to be a firearm.

Babudar’s robbery spree enabled him to purchase expensive tickets to Chiefs games and cultivate a large online following as “ChiefsAholic,” a knockoff of the Chiefs’ official mascot K.C. Wolf.

“This ChiefsAholic persona was the way he chose to present himself to the world,” prosecutors wrote last week in a sentencing memorandum. “But to the many bank and credit union employees he victimized between 2022 and 2023, Babudar put on a different mask — usually a ski or paintball mask coupled with goggles — which was also meant to conceal his true identity.”

Babudar robbed three banks in Iowa and one each in Nebraska, Oklahoma and Tennessee between March 2, 2022, and his first arrest on Dec 16, 2022. He then laundered the robbery proceeds through area casinos and bank accounts, according to a criminal complaint filed under seal in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City in May 2023.

Babudar’s two attempted robberies in the Twin Cities came within two hours on Nov. 29, 2022.

Federal prosecutors say these surveillance photos show Xaviar Michael Babudar, then 28, of Overland Park, Kansas, trying to rob Royal Credit Union at 14295 Cedar Ave. in Apple Valley on Nov. 29, 2022. (Courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Missouri)

He first entered Wings Financial Credit Union at 14411 Minnesota 13 in Savage just after noon and demanded that employees open the vault. Upon seeing it only held small bills, he left the bank without taking anything.

About an hour and half later, Babudar tried to rob the Royal Credit Union at 14295 Cedar Ave. in Apple Valley. He again discovered only small bills in the vault and left with nothing.

Babudar was charged in Tulsa County, Okla., in a December 2022 heist at the Tulsa Teachers Federal Credit Union, where he made off with $139,500. FBI investigators reviewed bank records, casino transaction records and financial documents and discovered that he had purchased and redeemed more than $1 million in chips from casinos in Missouri, Kansas and Illinois between April and December of 2022, the criminal complaint said.

Despite objections from Tulsa prosecutors, Babudar was released from custody on an $80,000 bond in February 2023, according to the sentencing memorandum. Four days later, the Chiefs won Super Bowl LVII, a game in which Babudar won $100,000 from two bets he placed in June 2022 in the midst of his robbery spree.

Babudar then removed his ankle monitor and fled prosecution. He evaded detection over the next few months, robbing a bank in Sparks, Nev., on June 8, 2023, and a U.S. Bank branch in El Dorado Hills, Calif., on July 3, 2023. The FBI caught up with him four days later, arresting him in Lincoln, Calif.

‘Guy in the wolf suit’

According to an ESPN.com report in February 2023, Babudar was one of the most popular Chiefs fans on game days. He was known as “the guy in the wolf suit, often shown on TV, who’d run around tailgates in head-to-toe gray fur, claws and a mask, firing up fans.”

The criminal complaint noted that Babudar “enjoyed a robust social media presence as a Kansas City Chiefs superfan.” However, in late December, fans began to notice that his popular Twitter account — @ChiefsAholic — went silent, before one found his mugshot from the Oklahoma jail, the ESPN.com report said.

As part of a February plea agreement, Babudar pleaded guilty to one count each of bank robbery, money laundering and transporting stolen property across state lines.

His sentence includes three years of supervised release following prison. He was ordered to pay $532,675 in restitution to the banks and forfeit to the government property involved in his money laundering, including an autographed painting of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes that was recovered by the FBI.

His sentencing came on the same day the defending Super Bowl Champion Chiefs were to kick off the NFL season with a home game against the Baltimore Ravens at Arrowhead Stadium.

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Bunk beds are the trendiest new amenity at luxury hotels

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Carlye Wisel | (TNS) Bloomberg News

The new trend at luxury hotels draws inspiration from the least luxurious accommodations on Earth: dorm rooms.

At a time when consumers are looking for better value and hotels are dealing with unprecedented demand, the bunk bed has emerged a win-win design solution.

“In markets with really high room rates and really high occupancies, adding a few more beds to a room means you can fit more people in it and charge more,” says Alastair Thomann, chief executive officer of the hip hostel brand Generator, where custom bunks now stretch three high in some locations. “Suddenly, a little villa which used to sleep two or three can sleep five because they’re doubling up. The space allows it. So that’s the game, really — that’s the economics behind it.”

But it isn’t just well-designed hostels that are thinking vertically: It’s luxury and lifestyle brands that range from JW Marriott to Montage and Moxy. And the demand isn’t coming from budget travelers but from parents who want a luxe vibe without paying for multiple rooms. In these cases, bunk beds provide a glorious and rare compromise. They allow families to room together without getting in one another’s way.

Thomann, who got in early on the bunk bed trend, says the uptick in demand has been so sharp — from hoteliers and consumers alike — that it’s driven up purchasing costs and created a supply chain crisis. As a result, he says he now spends 40% more per bunk bed than he did five years ago. And there are so many orders that factories can’t keep up the production, leaving hotels waiting two to three times longer for their orders. Thomann says it’s like witnessing the emergence of a new cottage industry. “The companies that manufacture for us are producing fantastic numbers,” he says. “Their sales guys are really happy.”

With luxury bedding and cozy accommodations, these posh hotel bunks are a far cry from your teenage backpacking days. Here are some high-capacity alternatives for your next family getaway.

Tourists, North Adams, Massachusetts

This Berkshires weekend escape — a 48-room converted motel whose owners include the former bassist of Wilco — is all about comfortable minimalism, with a white-and-blond-wood look that’s full of clean lines and rustic accents. For a particularly smart use of space, book into the Caravan rooms: They have a lofted wooden bunk tucked between the king bed and the wall. Sure, it’s meant as a sleeping nook, but the boxy design feels almost like a fort or play area for kids who need a break from all the hikes, art classes and activities on offer. The bunks are such a hit that when Tourists designed a new cluster of rental homes near the main hotel earlier this year, they included a five-bedroom option with its very own bunked room. Caravan rooms from $196 per night.

Moxy Hotels, New York, New York

“There is something about bunk beds that is inherently playful and camplike,” says Mitchell Hochberg, president of real estate group Lightstone and developer of Moxy Hotels in New York City. He thought the quad bunk accommodations at the 612-room Times Square property, which opened in 2017, would appeal to young travelers who’d also enjoy the nightly DJs at the rooftop bar. But the rooms, outfitted with two sets of twin bunks, have been a hit with a much wider demographic. “Much to our surprise, they’ve been embraced by a broader array of guests — everyone from families with small children to bachelorette parties,” he says.

The bunks were added as a riff on Yabu Pushelberg’s initial design for the hotel, which had an urban camping theme—think pegboard closets, retro phones and metal-framed tray tables with ceramic campfire mugs. They’ve proved so successful that the brand has added them to several other locations around the city, including the Moxy Hotels in the Lower East Side, Chelsea, the East Village and Williamsburg. “The rooms become a win-win to both travelers and hotel owners, notes Hochberg. “They afford a lower rate to the individual traveler [in cases where multiple friends are splitting the nightly rate] and, in the aggregate, a higher rate to the hotel.” Twin bunk rooms from $264.

Beaverbrook, Surrey Hills, UK

Just 20 miles outside London is this family-friendly manor with 470 acres in the scenic Surrey Hills. Since December 2023, it’s also been home to the Village, a collection of cottages inspired by literary and artistic giants, including C.S. Lewis and the Brontë sisters. Of the 21 rooms, a half-dozen are whimsically outfitted suites that feature bunks: pastel-colored beds adorned with sweet checkered blankets and seersucker privacy curtains.

The elevated design of the bunks proves that Beaverbrook is a place that knows how to play to fancy kids—or perhaps fancy parents. On any given week there are G-rated film screenings in a private cinema, mini bento box lunches in the dining room and a full slate of camplike weekend activities, such as survival skills training and beekeeping. That means parents get to explore the grounds on their own, whether that means enjoying an afternoon spritz at Sit Frank’s Bar, which is lined floor to ceiling in botanical paintings, or taking a jaunt to the checkerboard-tiled pool at the Coach House Spa. Village Suites from $1,512.

JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes, Orlando, Florida

Bunk suites have proved so popular among theme-park-bound families in central Florida that the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes doubled its inventory just two years after first introducing them in 2022. “As we continue to see the rise of multigenerational travel, the need and desire for this style of room continues to grow,” says Michael Scioscia, the hotel’s general manager. Guests in the hotel’s two-bedroom suites — which have a king bed and twin bunks in one bedroom and a king bed in the other — get a dedicated hospitality team and VIP check-in experience. (Consider it a leg up on the chaos of Disney and Universal.) The newly renovated on-site water park is another perk: Its three waterslides, lazy river and aquatic ropes course rival the options at its theme-park neighbors. Two-bedroom suites from $1,741.

Montage Los Cabos, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

The two- and three-bedroom residences at this Baja Peninsula getaway take bunk beds to another level — a wider one. Here, three sets of bunks contain a total of six queen-size mattresses — no twins — which may be the plushest way to sleep a half-dozen cousins under one roof.

“It’s a great way to turn a room into a fun, larger sleepover experience,” says Azadeh Hawkins, global creative director for Montage International, which has also installed bunks at its Big Sky, Montana location. In Cabo, it takes an already kid-friendly resort over the edge. When larger broods aren’t splashing in the villa’s private plunge pool or running on the white sand beaches of Santa Marina Bay, their younger members can partake of activities such as paintball, mountain biking and archery. As for the adults, the hotel has a focus on mezcal, using it for “renewal” massages at the spa, putting it into Benedicts at breakfast and offering classes on mixing the spirit into cocktails. Three-bedroom residences with bunks from $4,370.

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Review: ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ has Michael Keaton and everything going for it, except the funny

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Revisit the 1988 “Beetlejuice” if you haven’t lately. It’s stranger, jankier, funnier and try-anything-er than you may recall. As the freelance bio-exorcist Betelgeuse, aka Beetlejuice, Michael Keaton delivered wondrous combinations of subtle vocal throwaways and outlandish visual invention as both participant and heckler in his own paranormal comedy. Director Tim Burton, hot off “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” reportedly considered casting Sammy Davis Jr. in the role, among others. But it was kismet for Keaton, and for Winona Ryder as the grieving, healing Lydia Deetz, as well as a crack supporting ensemble seemingly assembled in some sort of dream.

There’s a lot more Keaton in the 36-years-later reboot “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” which pays off in terms of a great and versatile star’s screen time. But holy cats, is this movie disappointing! I mean really not good enough! Some people, Burton fans many of them, slag off Burton projects like the live-action “Dumbo” or the feature “Dark Shadows.”  While many disagree, given the wide but generally admiring critical response to “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” in its world premiere last week at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, this one, for me, ranks right down there with “Dumbo.” It is not enough to make a swole version of the first “Beetlejuice,” at somewhere around 14 times the original’s $15 million product budget. With the effects upgrades and joyless bombast taking over, did the comedy ever have a chance?

Now the mother of teenage Astrid (Jenna Ortega), ghost-friendly Lydia hosts a successful reality/talk show produced by her smarmy fiancee (Justin Theroux). The show is a haunted-house affair, featuring standoffs between supernatural and super-normal inhabitants of the same domiciles, with Lydia acting as “psychic mediator.” The tragic death of Lydia’s father leaves Astrid bereft and also skeptical: If mom’s TV shtick is genuine, why can’t she make afterlife contact with Astrid’s grandfather?

When Beetlejuice enters the story, he’s still smitten with Lydia. Beyond that, his ex-wife Delores (Monica Bellucci), determined to exact revenge on her dirty dog of a former husband, goes about sucking the souls out of humans who get in her way. There’s more to the screenplay by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, including Astrid meeting a sweet fellow outsider (Arthur Conti), and Willem Dafoe’s deceased but lively detective — an actor who played a detective when he was alive, so why stop now?

Burton’s design teams remain among the finest commercial film creatives working, and there are some visual ideas and images in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” that hit that elusive sweet spot between the macabre and the wittily macabre only a Burton movie can manage. When Keaton sails into a flashback reverie about how he and Delores met and then broke up, it’s depicted in the operatically intense style of an Italian gallo horror melodrama. Elsewhere we get bits of the cramped “Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” German Expressionism in the scenic design, which is amusing. More clinically impressive than amusing: the sight of Bellucci’s formerly dismembered Delores reattaching her own limbs with a staple gun.

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What’s missing is not simply surprise, or the pleasurable shock of a new kind of ghost comedy. It’s the near-complete absence of verbal wit, all the more frustrating since Keaton is ready to play, and he’s hardly alone. The legendarily gifted Catherine O’Hara returns as Lydia’s stepmother Delia, as haughty as ever. But we keep waiting for the jokes to land — to do their job, in other words. Without a fresh take on familiar material, director Burton makes do with his own detours and let’s-try-this-for-a-while segments, including a torturous musical sequence backed by the song “MacArthur Park” that goes on approximately forever. Then there’s a “Soul Train” riff, which feels way, way off, taste-wise and big-ending-dance-party wise.

It can’t hold a candle, in other words, to the happy ending of the first “Beetlejuice,” which found human and otherworld cohabitants of the same old house on the hill living in peace and harmony, with Harry Belafonte’s rendition of the Calypso classic “Jump in the Line” providing the backbeat. I’m sure this sequel will do well enough. But it’s a helluva comedown, and seeing “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” in a huge opening-night crowd at the Venice festival, I didn’t hear much in the way of actual laughter, proving that a couple of hundred million can buy you almost anything. Almost.

“Beetle Beetlejuice” — 1.5 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: PG-13 (for violent content, macabre and bloody images, strong language, some suggestive material and brief drug use)

Running time: 1:44

How to watch: Premieres in theaters Sept. 5

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

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