Star chef Russell Klein dishes up harsh words for Minneapolis

This will be the last week for another good restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. Star chef Russell Klein announced last week that he will close Foreign Legion, not long after closing the Eastern European gem Brasserie Zentral. The city eating scene will lose a lot of flavor.

As he's leaving, Klein had some harsh words for the city of Minneapolis, citing the taxes placed on diners due to convention center and stadium add-ons. But he also told reporters that the city doesn't give a rip about downtown businesses. In St. Paul, where Klein runs the French restaurant Meritage, they show him the love, and it's unconditional, he says.

On Friday, Klein just seemed ready to finish his final week in Minneapolis and hit the road back to the other side of the river. But he wanted to clarify some comments he made and acknowledged his restaurants failed because of many reasons.

"I don't blame the city for my closing," Klein said. "But the city did make things harder all along the way. It came down to, 'OK, do I want to invest in another business here, or do I look elsewhere?' [In Minneapolis] we have a mayor and a City Council that wants to dictate our schedules and make us an island with a $15 minimum wage."

Klein was referring to the botched working family agenda, which was quickly dropped when restaurants complained. "But they still want it," Klein said. "At this point it's kind of openly hostile. I find St. Paul more interested in being a partner with you. [Mayor] Chris Coleman is just a better politician" than Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, who did not return messages.

He raises interesting questions. So is Klein an outlier in the restaurant scene, just bitter that his concept didn't take, or is his experience a sign of trouble?

Depends.

Brasserie Zentral was lauded by critics. The Star Tribune named it the top restaurant in the metro. But its location in the Soo Line building was awkward and squarely in the business core, where lunch is often the meal that makes the cash register sing.

Jacob Frey, whose City Council ward abuts Klein's restaurants, sympathizes, but says "we've got way more businesses opening than closing. In the North Loop small businesses are opening like popcorn. The restaurant business is inherently difficult, they need all the support they can get from elected officials."

Grant Wilson, manager of the Department of Licenses and Consumer Services, said he isn't aware that Minneapolis has a more difficult process, and he said of more than 1,000 licenses, he gets few complaints.

Tim McKee, former chef of La Belle Vie, which closed last year, agrees with some of Klein's points, but not all.

The taxes, which city officials told me are about 4 percent higher than in St. Paul, are not a huge problem in McKee's view. Not many people planning to spend $100 on a meal will drive instead to St. Paul to save $4.

"That's not a conscious cost to most people. I really don't see that as being an impact in the business," McKee said. "It can be argued that the stadiums are a positive because they bring more people to your restaurant. My experience in St. Paul is more limited, but it was a very welcoming environment. We did have meetings with the mayor and he was very supportive."

McKee agreed that the current Minneapolis City Council does not appreciate the challenges of the restaurant business downtown, and restaurant owners fear the council will continue to pursue new rules that will hinder business.

He couldn't say if regulations and licensing were any easier in St. Paul and said that inspectors "vary even within each city."

Downtown Minneapolis also has many more restaurants than St. Paul, which likely is a factor in how welcome a chef feels, McKee said. In St. Paul, Meritage is a big fish in a small pond. McKee added that some downtown Minneapolis restaurants, such as Manny's, still do tremendous business.

Klein said he doesn't want to sound like a whiner, and "politicians don't owe me anything." But he said they need to take a look at the way small businesses operate.

John Puckett, an owner of Punch Pizza, has three restaurants in Minneapolis and two in St. Paul, plus others in the suburbs. "There are pros and cons, good things and bad things at all locations," he said, but he has not found working with Minneapolis to be especially difficult. He did, however, get a proclamation from Coleman when Punch celebrated its 20th anniversary.

"Maybe it's that St. Paul pride, they're like Avis, they try harder," said Puckett. "But I do love the performance at our Minneapolis stores."

That's exactly why, in all likelihood, the spaces vacated by several recent restaurant closures will be filled again — by other restaurants.

jtevlin@startribune.com • 612-673-1702