Northeast Minneapolis restaurant gets new life as sports bar

The Cooper Burger lives on.

Kamal Mohamed, the chef and owner of Stepchld, which closed Aug. 24, announced a new beginning for the space at University and 1st avenues NE.

With a soft opening Thursday and a grand opening Friday, the restaurant is now known as Kizzo, a nod to Mohamed’s childhood nickname. The restaurant will retain some echoes of Stepchld, but in a more casual, counter-service environment that doubles as a sports bar on big game days. The hope, he said, is to create a neighborhood-friendly space that falls somewhere in between hole-in-the-wall dives and high-end eateries.

“There’s this middle ground that consumers are looking for to say, ‘Hey, where can I go once or twice a month to just kind of hang out?’” Mohamed told the Star Tribune. “At Stepchld, we had a few items really drive the brand, so I want to focus on that, and give you the certainty that we’re going to do a few things really well.”

Kizzo is open for dinner every night except Tuesday, and all day Saturday and Sunday. Seating is first-come, first-served, and details are still to come on a membership program for regulars.

Nothing on the menu will cost more than $20.

Fans of Stepchld’s global comfort food will find some familiar bites, such as the Buffalo cauliflower and the Cooper Burger with Ethiopian-spiced aioli — one of the Star Tribune’s favorite burgers in the Twin Cities.

The house-made cinnamon rolls come from Stepchld’s longtime pastry chef Yon Hailu, and his new brand Roll Ritual, which is launching at Kizzo.

As for the space itself, it’s been given a quick refresh since Stepchld closed, with flexible seating and televisions that have been placed in such a way as to not overwhelm the snug corner restaurant.

Mohamed gave two months’ notice about closing Stepchld, saying in June that rising costs of food, labor and rent, as well as capacity limitations in the space, made the business unsustainable.

“Having high rent cost, high food cost, high labor costs, you’re being cut two, three different ways,” Mohamed said. By going to a counter-service model, and “by tightening the menu, we’re going to do a few things really well and keep everything under $20.”

Mohamed used the time in the interim to meet with Stepchld staff to develop new business ideas. Among the ideas he was fielding at the time was a bakery concept from Hailu.

That may be only the start for Mohamed’s next entrepreneurial food ventures. He owns nearby organic cafe Parcelle, which is on the verge of expanding, and is part of the family behind Nashville Coop. He’ll also open the panini shop PaperBoy in the downtown Minneapolis skyway with Hailu later this year.

“For me, a restaurant’s identity is never static; it’s a living thing that should always be open to evolving,” Mohamed said in his announcement. “Kizzo is the result of that passion for innovation, and we’re so excited to open our doors this week with a fresh menu and a service style that feels like the perfect fit for this space. We can’t wait to see how Kizzo’s identity continues to grow as we share it with our guests and the community.”