Malone and Anderson announce North Loop restaurant

Once again, the North Loop is proving its position as the Twin Cities' hottest stretch of restaurant real estate.

This time, be on the lookout for Brut, the collaboration between chefs Jamie Malone (pictured, above) and Erik Anderson. Malone's departure from Sea Change was announced today. "Not everything is all together or in place yet, but it's something we have been working on for a while," said Malone.

The couple hasn't nailed down a specific North Loop site just yet, but they've definitely targeted the neighborhood.

"It's where we live, and we want to stay here," said Malone. "We want this restaurant to be what we do when we retire [Malone is 31, Anderson is 41]. We want to be working in the community where we live, where we are a part of. We don't want to work at a place that we're driving to every day."

As for the food, "We want to keep it classical, French-style cookery," said Malone. "Right now we're thinking a shellfish type of thing, but we're really waiting until we find and secure the space, and that will dictate how we do things."

Size-wise, they're aiming at roughly 80 to 100 seats in the dining room, along with an emphasis on a roomy bar. "We want to make the bar very casual, a place you can go a few times a week and have snacks, a glass of wine or maybe a cocktail. Not so expensive that it feels like an occasion."

The Brut name is a reference to the dry-to-the-taste sparkling wine and chosen, Malone added, "Because we both love drinking it," she said with a laugh. "We think it goes well with a lot of the food that we want to cook. And there are lot of interesting sparkling wines from around the world, lots of things that aren't super-accessible — at least right now — in a restaurant setting."

(And no, it has no connection to the 1960s men's cologne of the same name, "Although we should work that in somehow," said Malone with a laugh. "I love that.")

The couple met in 2008 when they were both cooking at the then-new Porter & Frye — although Malone knew of Anderson when she was a student at the Cordon Bleu and he was an instructor — and they later worked together when Anderson was running Sea Change. When Anderson left for Nashville in 2011 to open Catbird Seat, she replaced him at Sea Change. Both chefs have national profiles, most notably as Food & Wine magazine Best New Chefs, he in 2012, she in 2013.

To give diners a taste of what's in store, the couple is planning a series of four-course pop-up dinners at the former Lynn on Bryant (5003 Bryant Av. S., Mpls.), on Aug. 8, 9, 15, 16, 29 and 30. The details — price, reservations, etc. —haven't been hammered out yet, but Malone and Anderson will keep folks posted via their Twitter account, @brutMN.

"We want it to be a fun, summertime, kind of thing," said Malone. "And we need something to do besides go to the dog park every day."

More Malone news: Twin Citians Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine, producers of the Perennial Plate, are turning their attention to a remake of PBS' "Victory Garden," in collaboration with Edible magazines. Their first of 13 half-hour episodes is going to be filmed in Minnesota and will feature — you got it — Jamie Malone.

Meanwhile, at Sea Change, Malone is being replaced by the restaurant's longtime sous chef (and former Alaska fisherman), Ryan Cook.