2 new restaurants coming to Excelsior from the owners of Parlour

Ever since Jester Concepts opened its newest Parlour restaurant in downtown Excelsior, we've been eager to get the details on what would open inside the building's two additional restaurant spaces. On Tuesday, co-owner Brent Frederick has confirmed the neighborhood rumors: Mirabelle and Shiki will open sometime during beach season.

When asked how the group chose the ideas for the restaurants, Frederick went back to the beginning.

"I think it started with a walk through of the space," he said. "I've always been a big fan of the space dictates what it needs to be. We aren't a group that has one concept and forces it into different locations."

In this instance, the space, at 200 Water St., spoke to three distinct concepts.

Mirabelle aims directly for the heart of the neighborhood, with an American menu that should please families, date-night couples and casual meetups over fresh fare. The menu has a couple of hallmarks of great Midwestern dining, including popovers and nightly specials like meatloaf, prime rib and fish-fry Fridays.

Central to the room is a bar that will likely serve the caliber of cocktails Jester restaurants — P.S. Steak, Borough and Butcher & the Boar among them — have built a reputation on.

Shiki, the other restaurant, will focus its menu on ramen and dumplings.

"When we toured the space, there was this little billiard room kind of tucked off to the side all by itself," said Frederick. With a door that opens directly to Water Street, he said he and business partner/chef Mike DeCamp agreed: "It's begging for its own concept — it wants to be its own thing."

The space can seat about 30 diners, but it will also offer to-go bowls of ramen, dumplings and bao. For dine-in guests, the bar's cocktails will lean into Japanese flavors and spirits.

Shiki will be open for lunch and dinner daily as well as local delivery. That means to-go ramen bowls on the boat are absolutely an option for this summer.

Both spaces are being designed by Studio Grey.

Parlour Excelsior opened in late 2024 on the subterranean level of the building, with a similar cocktail- and burger-focused menu as the locations in Minneapolis and St. Paul. (There's also a Parlour food truck.)

The Minneapolis-based Jester Concepts has been steadily expanding to the suburbs, opening Starling in Edina last year and buying Rustica Bakery & Cafe, with locations in Edina and Minneapolis.

Steakhouse taking over former Bank restaurant space

Downtown Minneapolis is about to get another place to get an opulent meaty dinner in a historic location. The former Bank restaurant at the base of the Westin hotel (88 S. 6th St.) will reopen as Stock & Bond this summer.

National restaurant concept group Apicii boasts that the "multimillion dollar concept" will serve "heritage steak and American whiskey in a stunning setting." The restaurant will source its steaks from Linz Heritage Angus, with operations in Oklahoma and Colorado.

Overseeing the menu will be chef John Sobojinski, a Minnesota native who will also pull in local products from Wild Acres Farms, Fellers Ranch, Cannon Valley and more. Sobojinski spent time working in New York City and was recently running the kitchen at Wood + Paddle in the downtown Minneapolis Royal Sonesta hotel.

The bar program will be whiskey-dominated with American wines and classic cocktails.

Apicii restaurant group also operates the two restaurant concepts in the Hotel Ivy in downtown Minneapolis. The company has another Stock & Bond location in Oklahoma City, where dinner prices highlight the specialness of this brand of occasion dining. The Minneapolis menu hasn't been released yet, but we'll see how Stock & Bond stacks up to its steakhouse neighbors — Murray's and Manny's — both just blocks away.

Is Travail's next move a bakery?

Reports are bubbling up that an entity of Travail has purchased the now-vacant Wuollet Bakery in downtown Robbinsdale.

It would be another main street presence for the ambitious restaurant group that now runs Graze Food Hall by Travail and relaunched Italian Eatery in Minneapolis, and is working on bringing an iteration of Pig Ate My Pizza to Bloomington.

However, Travail is firmly Robbinsdale based. It's home of their original restaurant, which has evolved into a three-story dining experience, as well as the more casual brewpub Nouvelle.

The chef/owners of Travail have not confirmed or denied the bakery building purchase, but Nectar LLC, an entity managed by James Winberg, one of Travail's three chef-owners, has bought the building at 4139 W. Broadway, according to filings with the Minnesota Department of Revenue.

Gavin Kaysen tapped to open Florida restaurant

After a successful working relationship with the Four Seasons in Minneapolis with his restaurant Mara, Gavin Kaysen will open a second restaurant for the group at a new Florida location. The Merchant Room in Naples will debut this fall.

Merchant was the name Kaysen originally had wanted to use for the restaurant that would become Spoon and Stable, his triumphant culinary return to Minnesota — and a name that was already taken in Madison.

Ten years later, he finally gets to use the name, but for a much different eatery. The Merchant Room's menu will showcase Gulf Coast flavors and seasons for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Kaysen has had ties to the Four Seasons since his days working with Daniel Boulud, and he said in a statement that he's thrilled to work with them again.

"Having this opportunity in particular with the Four Seasons brand is pure bliss — the icing on the cake for me and my team," he said.

Officially welcoming Molly to St. Boni

It's been a slow evolution, but Molly's in St. Bonifacius is now open and operating at full capacity. The cozy eatery that was once St. Boni's Bistro is still a neighborhood dining spot, but now more personal to chef-owner Molly Krinhop.

Krinhop, a Twin Cities hospitality veteran, took over ownership of the small-town restaurant a little more than a year ago, telling the Star Tribune her goal was to get to know her new neighbors and make sure the hospitality was tailored to their needs.

The room received light remodel, new sign, new bar and fresh menu with rotating burger specials, fresh salads, hearty mains and more. Plus, the wine list is built with care toward pairing, patio sipping and budgets. Speaking of the patio, it's open right now.

Minnesota chefs and friends cook for a cause

Christina Nguyen, Ann Kim, Zoë François, Nettie Colón and Jessi Pollak have teamed up for a new cooking series to benefit the Women's Foundation of Minnesota (WFM).

Hosted by Nguyen, a James Beard Award-winning chef, the series is called "Cooking Up a Feminist Future." "I'm super excited to host and shoot this cooking and conversations video series with some of my favorite chefs and bartenders in the city, who also just happen to be females," Nguyen said in a release.

The pros were motivated to create something to benefit the WFM, an organization whose work and scope span the state in an effort to make life better for Minnesota's women and girls.

With a $100 donation between now and May 11, viewers can download the episodes that walk through how to make a meal from cocktails from Pollak, one of the world's best bartenders, to dessert from TV personality and cookbook author François. In between, Kim, also a James Beard Award-winning chef, makes kimchi and pork mandu, Nguyen makes red curry lemongrass shrimp, and Colón holds down the main with Caribbean rice with chicken and Ajilimojili sauce.