A wild week in restaurants with 4 closings and an opening

It’s been a week of big news in restaurants with announcements of closings of restaurants we’ve barely gotten a chance to love and places that hold a special place in our dining history. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s closing and what’s coming next.

Fans of i.e. Italian Eatery and Un Dito were saddened to open their inboxes and find a newsletter update from the restaurants saying that both will close early this summer, either in late May or early June.

Owners Vanessa and Eric Carrara wrote: “The gratitude we have for being able to serve you, to celebrate you, and to create a place to do life together, transcends what words can be conveyed.”

I.e.-Italian Eatery (4724 Cedar Av. S., Mpls.) opened in January 2016 and quickly blossomed into a neighborhood go-to for wine, brunch and pasta. The Star Tribune praised the Carraras as “sharp restaurateurs,” and the restaurant’s lemon polenta pancakes as “sublime.”

In the newsletter, the Carraras noted that the nine-year-old restaurant and its parking lot sibling had record sales in the past year; their St. Paul focacceria Due is unaffected by this news. This is a developing story and we will have more information soon.

Eat Street Crossing’s ramen restaurant Ramen Shoten closes April 28. Owners Lina Goh and chef John Ng are consolidating resources in the hopes of bolstering their original restaurant Zen Box Izakaya (602 Washington Av. S., Mpls., zenbox.com), which has been besieged by a multi-year road construction project on Washington Avenue.

Taking its place is a new pan-Asian restaurant from Las Vegas chef Louross Edralin, who’s also an alum of TV’s “Hell’s Kitchen.” He’s dubbed the new concept Staff Meeting, and it will serve dishes he loves to eat with his crew after restaurant service. Eat Street Crossing is at 2819 Nicollet Av. S., Mpls., eatstreetcrossing.com.

Hark Cafe opened amid the pandemic, during a seismic shift in the way folks visited downtown Minneapolis. And yet they persisted for three years, serving not just niche clients with dietary needs, but anyone who appreciated a sun-filled breakfast spot with bagels and brightly frosted pop-tarts.

Owners Lisa Neumann and Katherine Pardue will shutter the space (430 1st Av. N., Mpls., harkcafe.com) on April 28 and move Hark operations into a commercial kitchen. Fans will still be able to find their goods through catering services.

With three boys of her own, Lindsay Pohlad always kept a girl’s name in the back of her mind, should she ever have a fourth child.

Meanwhile, in 2020, she opened the Grocer’s Table, a casual cafe and market in Wayzata — an experience not unlike raising another little one.

“I’ve always called my work in this industry my fourth child,” she wrote in an email.

So it made sense that, upon deciding to open another restaurant, she’d give it the girl name she had picked out for a human.

This fall, Pohlad will open Eloise, a restaurant with seasonal, global influences. It’ll take over the Lululemon next door to the Grocer’s Table. (The name comes from her husband’s grandmother, philanthropist Eloise Pohlad.)

“People often say they feel like they are sitting in their friend’s kitchen when they are at the Grocer’s Table — the inevitable gathering place when at a friend’s home and a place to casually convene and banter,” Pohlad said. “Eloise will hopefully feel like you are in your friend’s living room that you never want to leave.” Not too fancy, “where you can’t touch the furniture or smudge the glass coffee table,” she added.

Chef Craig Johnson of the Grocer’s Table is overseeing the menu at Eloise.

“There are some bold Mediterranean flavors and, as always for us, a major focus on seasonality which gives the menu a Midwest sensibility,” Pohlad said. “The food will be elevated but still rustic and approachable,” and will even have a few dishes that the real-life Eloise Pohlad enjoyed.

Shea is designing the space, which will have 85 seats inside, plus a patio. The restaurant, at 332 Broadway Av. S., Wayzata, will be open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday.