Crave, the fast-growing restaurant upstart, has been craving a downtown Minneapolis location, and by next spring, it will have one. The slick, crowd-pleasing mini-chain is taking over the gigantic LaSalle Plaza space currently occupied by Palomino. "We are thrilled to bring the Crave concept to downtown Minneapolis," said CEO Kam Talebi.

It's been nothing but growth for the three-year-old Crave, which opened its first outpost in the Galleria in Edina in 2007. A Mall of America location debuted in 2009, and during the past 12 months the Crave name has expanded into the West End development in St. Louis Park and added outlets in Omaha and Orlando. A second Florida location, in Coral Gables, is in the works.

The news isn't so good for Palomino, which has been a business lunch and pre-theater fixture for 19 years. Mike Majestic, director of marketing for the restaurant's parent company, Seattle-based Restaurants Unlimited (which also operates Kincaid's in Bloomington and St. Paul), said the building's landlord exercised the 60-day termination clause in its lease.

"The closing date of the restaurant will likely be around Dec. 12," Majestic said. "We'll be looking at doing some events/specials between now and then to say thank you to our guests, and, most importantly, to help support our team members as we head into the traditionally busy holiday season. As you can imagine, the timing on the lease termination isn't really great for them."

As for a new downtown Minneapolis location, it's "definitely on our radar, although I don't have any specifics to share at this point," said Majestic.

Talebi has big plans for his new skyway-level address, including adding an enormous, open-air rooftop deck. Opening is set for April.

Rick Nelson • 612-673-4757