Sioux Falls Restaurant Announces Shocking Closure

One of the mainstays of downtown Sioux Falls dining is going out of business.

Lisa Esser and Steve Blumke, the owners of Papa Woody's Wood-Fired Pizza on North Phillips Avenue, made the heartbreaking announcement on the restaurant's Facebook page Tuesday (December 24) afternoon.

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The establishment started as a food truck in 2016, with a 2,000-pound wood-burning brick oven in the back of a 30-foot trailer.

Three years later, Papa Woody's first restaurant opened in the Jones421 Building. While in that location, the pizza place shocked the world by winning the 2021 Downtown Burger Battle with its first entry, The Uptowner.

Papa Woody's quickly outgrew that space and on Valentine's Day in 2022, opened in its current location, at the north end of The Cascade building.

Check Out This 1962 Listing of Sioux Falls Bars and Restaurants - Do You Remember Any?

Check out this collection of Sioux Falls bars and restaurants. We have Giovanni's Steak House, The Rainbow Bar, Harry's Hamburgers, Eagle Bar and Lounge, Pancake House, Nickel Plate, and more. Do you remember any of them? Or how long any lasted?

Gone But Not Forgotten - Iconic Sioux Falls: Whiffer's Sandwiches

The Merriam-Webster definition of iconic is "widely recognized and well-established." That would definitely describe Whiffer's Sandwiches which used to call North Minnesota Avenue home.

The gone but not forgotten sandwich shop was located in an old house at 1133 North Minnesota Avenue. It served sandwiches to Sioux Falls from November 1978 until the summer of 2020.

Gallery Credit: Karla Brown

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Filed Under: Downtown Sioux Falls, Food, Restaurants

Categories: Articles, News, Newsletter, Sioux Falls, South Dakota