When Starling opened earlier this year in Edina, the Minneapolis restaurant group Jester Concepts was dipping a toe into suburban dining. Now, it’s going all in.
Smashburger trailblazer Parlour opening in Excelsior this fall
Minneapolis restaurant group Jester Concepts continues its suburban expansion with three new spots on Excelsior’s Water Street.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
August 19, 2024 at 7:45PM
The group behind Borough, Parlour, Butcher & the Boar, Char Bar and P.S. Steak, all in Minneapolis, has announced three new restaurants coming this year in Excelsior.
First to open is Parlour Bar. The craft cocktail bar with a simple menu changed the way Minneapolis would crave burgers, smashed thin with a crispy crust, when it opened in 2012 beneath Borough. A second Parlour Bar opened in 2018 in St. Paul, and now the popular burgers can also be found at two food trucks, pop-ups and concession stands in Minneapolis stadiums, but the Excelsior outpost will be the brand’s third brick-and-mortar location.
Parlour will open this fall in the basement level at 200 Water St., just a block from Lake Minnetonka’s Excelsior Bay. The address was previously home to Bull & Wren and Jake O’Connors.
Later this year, Jester Concepts will open two more concepts on the street level. The company shared no further information about what they will be, other than “new.”
“We like to create concepts,” said Brent Frederick, Jester Concepts’ owner. “It’s fun for us to flex that creative muscle to new brands, new design, new menus.”
Moving into suburbs became the company’s strategy when the pandemic took a bite out of business in downtown Minneapolis. “We really noticed that we had our eggs all in the downtown basket, and that was scary for us,” Frederick said.
Starling, which opened in May, was the group’s first suburban restaurant, and it’s been reaching Edina residents who work from home, Frederick said. Inspired by the caliber of restaurants in nearby Wayzata, he chose Excelsior to continue the company’s westward expansion.
“I think it kind of showed us that you don’t have to be in downtown Minneapolis to bring creative and edgy offerings on the culinary side or the design side,” he said. “Minneapolis isn’t the only place where you can create good quality restaurants.”
A 240-space municipal parking lot is under construction behind the building. Studio Grey is designing all three restaurants, and the subterranean Parlour will take up 1,200 square feet. Like its Minneapolis counterpart, it will feature dim lighting and a wooden bar and tables. Blue velvet and tartan plaid banquettes will seat 60.
The menu will have all the Parlour signatures: togaroshi popcorn, a dill-brined chicken sandwich, the Parlour burger, and cocktails by Earl Giles.
Parlour is located at 730 Washington Av. N., Mpls., and 267 W. 7th St., St. Paul. It is coming to 200 Water St., Excelsior, this fall. parlourbar.com
Co-owner Randy Segal said he is thinking about retiring. The hallowed establishment at 26th and Lyndale plays a prominent role in local music history.
