Soul Bowl has an opening date for the new north Minneapolis location

Brittney and chef Gerard Klass’ fast-casual restaurant Soul Bowl begins a new era on Nov. 19, when the newly relocated restaurant opens inside the V3 Sports complex (701 Plymouth Av. N., Mpls.)

“Soul Bowl 2.0 aims to be more than a restaurant — it’s part of a movement to empower and uplift north Minneapolis,” the owners said a news release.

With the new location comes a lot more space and the opportunity for sit-down service, more catering options and an expanded menu that will include breakfast and coffee, burgers, tacos, customizable salads and a “fresh and fit” section with wholesome fare.

Soul Bowl started as a series of pop-ups in this very neighborhood, centered on music and soul food. It found a permanent home in the Graze Provisions + Libations food hall in the North Loop. Outposts were soon added at local stadiums, including Target Center, Target Field, U.S. Bank Stadium and Xcel Energy Center, as well as a popular stand at the Minnesota State Fair.

Soul Bowl closed at Graze earlier this fall in anticipation of the move. The hours at Soul Bowl 2.0 will be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Friday.

Stonegarden opened Monday morning at the base of the Pearl Apartments at 5401 Chicago Av. S. in Mpls. promising breakfast, brunch and broth. The new eatery is the first restaurant for owners Bailey and Andrew Novak.

The menu includes fancy toast, biscuits and gravy, Benedicts and housemade gravlax. Beverages include coffee and a full bar. Reservations are available on Open Table; Stonegarden opens at 7 a.m. daily.

In other day-brightening news, Meritage has finally brought back its brunch service. Since the pandemic, the downtown St. Paul restaurant from Russell and Desta Klein (410 St. Peter St., all cqmeritage-stpaul.com) has been dark on weekend mornings. Once again, Sundays can start with French 75s, pommes frites and those classic omelets. Reservations are available on Resy.

The same people that had us swooning over fine dining inside a gas station are dreaming even bigger for their next venture. Later this month, chef Cristian de Leon, Karen de Leon and Zoilo Ruacho will open Xelas at1180 W. Frontage Road in Stillwater.

While much of the menu at El Sazon is Mexican, Xelas will delve deeper into Mayan cuisine, drawing on rich tradition and flavors from Guatemala and Mexico’s eastern peninsula. That means toasted peppers, ground pepitas, squash, beans and heritage grain corn.

Touting a rum lover’s paradise of a bar, the cocktails will range from creative to classic with flavors to enhance the food.

Xelas will be open Tuesday through Sunday, with the possibility of a Sunday brunch service. Construction is moving along and they’re just waiting on a few final details. But the expectation is that the restaurant will open before December.

Erik Skaar is the new chef de cuisine at Tullibee inside the Hewing hotel (300 Washington Av. N., Mpls.). Skaar was the chef/owner of the destination-worthy Spring Park Scandinavian restaurant Vann, with flavors that Minnesota Star Tribune restaurant critic Jon Cheng praised as “particularly stunning.”

This is Skaar’s first position since the restaurant closed in October 2023. He joins the staff at the North Loop hotel restaurant under Marque Collins, who has been promoted to director of food and beverage operations.

The Hewing Hotel and its restaurant Tullibee opened in late 2016 in the North Loop neighborhood with a core Nordic sensibility and open-fire cooking.

There’s one fewer place to stop for princess tortes as another Wuollet Bakery shutters. This time, it’s the Grand Avenue location in St. Paul. A note taped to the door states that the ownership is looking for a new location, but all mentions of St. Paul have been removed from the company’s website.

It’s part of a challenging year for the bakery, which already closed the Wayzata and Hastings bakeries amid eviction proceedings. The downtown Minneapolis skyway location closed in September.

The iconic bakery was founded in 1977; Eric Shogren bought the company in 2016. Shogren arrived in his native Twin Cities after living abroad for years in Russia, setting sights on putting the Wuollet stamp on several historic, often family-owned bakeries. Soon A Baker’s Wife, Grandma’s Bakery in White Bear Lake, Hans’ Bakery in Anoka, Emily’s Bakery in Hastings as well as the metro locations of Wuollet were all under Shogren’s business umbrella.

“We’re really working hard to make our business successful,” Shogren told the Minnesota Star Tribune in June. “We’re trying to be part of the solution here.” Remaining locations listed on the company website are Edina, Robbinsdale, Uptown and a Baker’s Wife in south Minneapolis and Hans’ Bakery in Anoka.

The now-vacant bakery space on Grand Avenue will be part of an expansion by neighboring retail shop Good Things.

At least according to Bimbo Bakeries. The announcement came over the weekend on National Fried Chicken Sandwich Day, but we could not miss the momentous news that out of all the chicken sandwiches in the land, this downtown Minneapolis daytime restaurant’s was the best.

Hen House Eatery (114 S. 8th St., Mpls.) beat out all the competition to score the nod from national bun supplier Bimbo Bakery. According to a release, “The GOAT, a classic Midwestern grilled chicken sandwich with Cajun seasoning and BBQ sauce served on Artesano Bakery Buns” earned the highest number of consumer votes.