Changes at the Chambers Hotel, a four-star chef takes on a 3.2 bar

Although Marin Restaurant & Bar disappeared on Monday, chef Mike Rakun isn't going anywhere.

Rakun is converting the nutrition-conscious restaurant, located in the Le Meridien Chambers Minneapolis hotel, into a new concept he's christening Mercy (901 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls., mercympls.com)

"It's going to be a neighborhood restaurant for downtown," he said. "I love downtown, and I want to make it a restaurant where I'd want to go. We'll serve American food, simple but executed to the nines. I don't like 'tweezer' food, that's not me."

Rakun has been Marin's executive chef since the day the doors opened in 2013.

The breakfast-lunch-dinner format will remain; it's a hotel restaurant, after all. Rakun is still working out menu details, but he noted that the menu will include a burger at dinner, a sign that he's taking the restaurant, a popular venue for Hennepin Avenue theatergoers, in a far more casual direction. He's also pulling the plug on the kitchen's pizza oven. Well, as a vehicle for making pizzas, anyway.

"I'm toying with the idea of using the pizza oven for whole-roasted items," he said.

This much is certain: there will be an oyster bar, with a changes-daily roster of nine to 12 varieties. Mercy will also continue to manage the hotel's room service operations and events catering.

"That's when Craig [Bentdahl, Marin's majority owner] turned to me and said, 'My heart isn't in it anymore,' " said Rakun. "I immediately said to him, 'Sell it to me.' "

He did. Rakun remains connected to Bentdahl's six-year-old Mill Valley Kitchen (3906 Excelsior Blvd., St. Louis Park, 952-358-2000, millvalleykitchen.com), but only tangentially.

"I'm a minority shareholder," he said. "I'm out of the day-to-day management, and I don't spend much time there."

The Marin/Mercy space might be the city's most frequently flipped food-and-beverage property.

Its story begins in 2006, when the 60-room Chambers Hotel opened, with international star chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten operating its restaurant, Chambers Kitchen.

The Mercy remake is being designed by Minneapolis-based Shea, which is more than familiar with the 9th-and-Hennepin space; the firm previously designed Chambers Kitchen and Marin.

During what Rakun anticipates to be a five- to six-week construction project, diners will be served in the lower-level Library lounge.

Rakun's investment in the restaurant is a boost for Hennepin, which has endured the recent closings of Rosa Mexicano, Mason's and American Burger Bar. As for "Mercy," it's Rakun's 5-year-old daughter's name.

Look for an early April grand opening.

In December, when Piccolo (4300 Bryant Av. S., Mpls., 612-827-8111, piccolompls.com) co-owners Doug Flicker and Amy Greeley announced they were closing their four-star restaurant — last day is March 11 — Flicker added that he was already looking ahead.

Now's the time. The couple are in the process of purchasing the Sunrise Inn (4563 34th Av. S., Mpls.), one of the city's last 3.2-beer joints. They plan to convert the 70-year-old landmark to Bull's Horn Food and Drink.

"It's going to remain in the spirit of the classic, old-time dive bar," said Greeley. "We want it to be a neighborhood place, and family-friendly."

Flicker and Greeley are purchasing the building, which also includes a few commercial storefronts and a parking lot. The plan is to convert the empty square footage that's adjacent to the Sunrise into a commercial kitchen.

"Right now there's just a little griddle and a fryer," said Flicker. "I'm not 100 percent sure that we'll be able to keep them, but we'd like to."

Fans of the Sunrise, don't worry: The room's well-worn fixtures aren't going anywhere.

Construction will commence in mid-April, with the hope of opening by July.

The project is in its early stages, but Flicker is promising "a killer burger, and we'll dabble in some smoked meats," he said.

"We're trying to avoid the word 'barbecue,' " added Greeley. "But I can see offering some kind of meat-and-three options."

The Sunrise's 3.2 heritage will be history. (Most mainstream beer brands have a 5 percent alcohol level, and craft beers go higher). Flicker and Greeley plan to upgrade the liquor license to include strong beer and wine.

The Bull's Horn has been a long time in the making.

The demise of the Sunrise represents the end of an era. Low-alcohol-beer joints — an anachronism that sprouted out of strict post-Prohibition municipal ordinances — thrived for decades on corners all over Minneapolis. Changes, in both tastes and governance, have been swift.

Twenty years ago, the city's 3.2 joints numbered 56. By 2007, the figure had dwindled to 15, and in 2013 it was down to the Sunrise and the T-Shoppe Bar (4154 Fremont Av. N., Mpls., 612-521-3373).

The friendly neighborhood dive bar is firmly entrenched in Greeley's and Flicker's DNA. Greeley grew up in St. Paul, a block from what was then Mickey's Nook. And Flicker's aunts and uncles owned (the brilliantly named) Flicker's Liquors in Pierz, Minn.

"It was so impactful to me, as a kid," he said. "In every sense, I'm going back to my roots. I'm super-excited. It's that change thing, you know? It's so fun to think of doing something completely different."

Grae Nonas was the big winner at Sunday's Cochon555 competition at the Loews Minneapolis Hotel. The Tullibee (300 Washington Av. N., Mpls., 866-501-3300, hewinghotel.com) chef was crowned the city's "Prince of Porc" at the annual heritage pork-fest.

Check out Cafe Astoria (180 Grand Av., St. Paul, 651-340-9471) in the historic — and lovingly restored — Paulina Building. Owners Leah Raymundo and John Occhiato are focusing on familiar coffeehouse fare, with a happy addition: sweet and savory crepes.

If Occhiato's name rings a bell, it should. He was the last chef at the former D'Amico Cucina, and he's spent the past three years at the Intercontinental St. Paul Riverfront Hotel (11 E. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, 651-292-1900, www.igh.com). "I opened Cafe Astoria in my free time," he said with a laugh.

Look who's running the kitchen at Red Stag Supperclub (509 1st Av. NE., Mpls., 612-767-7766, redstagsupperclub.com): chef Sarah Master. The Barbette (1600 W. Lake St., Mpls., 612-827-5710, barbette.com) vet — and semifinalist on ABC's "The Taste" — has returned to the Twin Cities after a stint at Mr. Roberts Resort and Restaurant in her hometown of Pengilly, Minn.