Alma’s Alex Roberts and Umami join the heavyweight culinary lineup at Graze food hall

Even more chefs have signed on to the new era of the North Loop’s Graze Food Hall by Travail. Alex Roberts, the James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur behind Alma and Brasa, will launch Caja, a new fried chicken stand.

Plus, Travail is bringing back one of its oldest and most often revisited pop-ups, Umami. Former Travail chef Nick Laurent is returning from Ely, Minn., to take over operations. Laurent had worked with the team’s earlier iterations, and this time around he’s going to use the buddy system. On Umami’s Asian street food menu will be dumplings from the popular pan-fried pop-up-turned-restaurant, Saturday Dumpling Co.

“We’re very excited to have five James Beard Award-recognized chefs under one roof as we continue to elevate the offerings and make Graze the spot to be,” said Molly Herrmann, Graze by Travail’s director of operations.

With the addition of these new stands, Graze will have a full lineup of food vendors for the first time in several years. Here’s more about what’s coming and what’s already open:

Kate and Gustavo Romero will continue to celebrate the power of heritage corn and masa with a menu of fresh tacos and salsas.

The Romeros first opened Nixta as a takeout restaurant in Minneapolis during the pandemic. They eventually expanded to Oro by Nixta, a full-service restaurant that was the Star Tribune’s 2023 Restaurant of the Year and a James Beard Award nominee in the national category of Best New Restaurant.

Expected to open in early February.

One of Travail’s most popular concepts returns with a menu of egg rolls, choose-your-sushi oshizushi bites, fried rice, a variety of dumplings from Saturday Dumpling Co., pineapple upside-down cake and more.

Umami launched as a pop-up in 2013; the team has revisited the idea several times through residencies and at their flagship restaurant in Robbinsdale. Saturday Dumpling Co. from Peter Bian and Linda Cao is another small business that began during the pandemic. The two opened their first restaurant in late 2024.

Expected to open mid-February.

Pronounced “ka-ha,” this counter-service spot will highlight responsibly farmed and sourced chicken that’s fried in beef tallow and served alongside scratch-made sides and desserts inspired by New Orleans Creole and Southern comfort food. Instagram suggests there will be jo-jos.

Roberts said, “I’ve fried chicken for many years, when I have parties and stuff.” His education and interest in the dish first came from staff meals while he was working at the famed restaurant Bouley in New York. There the cooks would make Caribbean-style fried chicken before the restaurant would open for the night. “It made me think about frying chicken differently.”

In the years since, he’s studied the ways different cultures and regions handle the dish and landed on a love of the New Orleans way. At Caja, the seasoned bird will be served at first as tenders or legs, pressure fried in beef tallow for moist meat, big flavor and less grease.

Roberts won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Midwest in 2010 for his restaurant Alma, which opened in 1999. He also heads the fast-casual Brasa, the South American comfort food-focused restaurant with four Twin Cities locations. Restaurant Alma also has spawned an adjacent cafe, boutique hotel and the retail outlet Alma Provisions.

Expected to open mid-February.

Built to pair with the scratch-made salads from Travail’s Graze on the Green, Jones is launching a spritz bar on the lower level of the building. There will be both spiked and several nonalcoholic spritzes available.

Jones is also the owner/operator of Meteor Bar, which was a James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Bar in 2024. He and the Travail collective also have partnered to launch the cocktail bar Stargazer, which opened late last year.

Expected to open early February.

The new stands join the Fabled Rooster, Graze on the Green, Two Mixed Up, and Wrap/Wrad from the folks behind Wrecktangle. The beverage program is also evolving under Jones’ stewardship, and a full program will debut later this year.

Travail took over operations of Graze last year as part of the Robbinsdale-based company’s ambitious expansion plans. Along with Graze and Stargazer, they are reviving ie-Italian Eatery and plan to open an additional Pig Ate My Pizza in Bloomington. That’s in addition to its flagship multilevel fine-dining restaurant in Robbinsdale, the more casual Nouvelle Kitchen & Brewing across the street and Dream Creamery in northeast Minneapolis.