Requiem for a classic
La Belle Vie closed its doors on Oct. 24, the victim of rising costs, changing tastes and, yes, disruptive road construction. During its fabled 17-year run, chef/owner Tim McKee's culinary palace was a standard-setting pinnacle of excellence and innovation, an influential training ground and career launchpad for untold numbers of local chefs and hospitality experts, the local birthplace of the modern craft cocktail movement and without question the state's No. 1 special occasion destination. Trouble is, "People don't have enough special occasions," said McKee. The takeaway? For McKee, it's support your local restaurant. "If there's a restaurant that means something to you and you really think is important, it's your responsibility to keep them busy," he said.
Au revoir, Vincent
The closings are continuing through the end of the year. For a wide swath of the Twin Cities dining scene, New Year's Eve will end on a bittersweet note, when chef Vincent Francoual rings out 14 delicious years on Nicollet Mall and shutters his beloved Vincent, a longtime favorite with critics and diners alike. "I've been rethinking my life and, after a lot of reflection, I've basically just decided to move on to something new," he said. "This is more of a life decision than a business decision." Francoual is going to take over the culinary direction of a quartet of Irish pubs — the Local, the Liffey, Cooper and Kieran's Irish Pub — and his namesake restaurant will soon be converted to a Caribou Coffee/Einstein Bros. Bagels mash-up. Also, a pair of long-running favorites are calling it quits on Dec. 23: the original Origami, one of the Twin Cities' first sushi destinations when it debuted 26 years ago, and Calhoun Square's 17-year-old Chiang Mai Thai.
Rest in peace
Twin Cities diners with long memories will recall the trailblazing reign of chef Klaus Mitterhauser. The Austrian native cooked in Switzerland, France, Sweden and Brazil — and taught at the Culinary Institute of America — before relocating to the Twin Cities to work as a research chef at General Mills. During the 1970s and 1980s, Mitterhauser was at the helm of several top-rated Twin Cities kitchens — including La Tortue, 510 Groveland and the Anchorage — before branching out on his own with Mitterhauser La Cuisine in downtown Minneapolis in 1982.
A move to St. Peter, Minn., followed, then he returned to the Twin Cities with Mitterhauser's Restaurant, which ran from 1993 to 1997. "He taught a lot of people, including me, a lot of things about classic European technique," said Lucia Watson, founder of Lucia's Restaurant, who worked in the late 1970s as Mitterhauser's pastry chef at 510 Groveland. Mitterhauser, age 83, died Nov. 4 at his home in North Branch, Minn.
Also departed: restaurateurs Ramon Joseph "Ray" Granda Jr., age 85, and Joe O'Brien, age 83. The couple, together for 55 years — and married on Aug. 1, 2013, the day that same-sex marriage became legal in Minnesota — died within two months of one another this past summer. Their memorably eccentric Continental Pantry and House of Fine Cakes graced St. Paul's West 7th neighborhood for 17 years before closing in 1999.
Going, going, gone
In the midst of a flood of restaurant openings, the year also witnessed a spike in restaurant closings, including some with very long track records: Campus Pizza (56 years), the Four Inns (45 years), Pracna on Main (42 years), Blue Point Restaurant & Oyster Bar (30 years in Wayzata, four in Bloomington), Modern Cafe (20 years), Trattoria da Vinci (16 years), the Glockenspiel (15 years), Rice Paper (15 years), Sapor Cafe and Bar (15 years), Solera (11 years), Masa (10 years) and Tryg's (10 years).
![Vincent's executive chef and owner, Vincent Francoual. ] (SPECIAL TO THE STAR TRIBUNE/BRE McGEE) **Vincent Francoual (executive chef, owner)](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/EEYVKJCMUOO2HDR7AYC3JS3MJY.jpg?&w=1080)
