Petite Leon is now Company Bar, and it opens this week

Company Bar, the Kingfield neighborhood restaurant that’s the rebranded Petite Leon, will open Jan. 17.

What’s changing: the cozy dining room is getting a light refresh, chef Ben Rockwell’s menu will lean toward comfort and the bar will be stocked with affordable beverages — all served with a friendly familiarity.

What hasn’t changed is the ownership. Company Bar is part of Reel to Reel Hospitality, from Ben Siers-Rients and Travis Serbus, which also operates Lynette and Little Tijuana in Minneapolis. The restaurant will also continue its profit-sharing structure with employees, who helped the owners come up with the restaurant’s new name.

Serbus explained the thought behind the name was to invite diners in for a seven-days-a-week dinner party. As in, we’re having company over tonight.

“It’s all about the feelings we invoke in people,” he said. “We want you to feel better leaving than when you arrived.”

Petite Leon opened in 2020 and evolved several times over its five years. The restaurant closed at the end of 2025 for this reset.

When the space reopens, the menu will feature new bites like a hot mortadella sandwich, shishito pepper dip and more, alongside a couple of Petite Leon classics like the cheeseburger and Basque-style cheesecake. There will be an emphasis on shareable snacks and small plates, and priced with the goal that a couple can enjoy a night out for under $100.

Company Bar will be open Tuesdays through Sundays for dinner through midnight.

The news that Fair State Brewing’s Minneapolis taproom was closing was tough, but the fact that Farina Rossa food operation would continue in the space was a bit of solace. Now, after a temporary closure, chef/owner JohnMichael Lynch is ready to get back to serving artisan Detroit- and tavern-style pizzas on sourdough crusts in the taproom space (2506 Central Av. NE.) along with some new additions.

Farina Rossa officially reopens Thursday, Jan. 15. In addition to pies, Lynch has added weekend brunch from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays with items such as bagels, rise-and-shine-type sandwiches and breakfast pizzas.

Eventually, a beverage program will be added. “We have to reapply for liquor license so that will take a few months,” Lynch said.

Speaking of pizza, the owners of Love Pizza, the New England coal-fired pizza concept, are putting the Golden Valley eatery on hiatus to pursue another pie-related venture.

Currently, Love Pizza’s frozen pies can be found in Hy-Vee (metro locations), Lakewinds Food Co-Op and a number of independent Twin Cities retailers, with launches underway at Fresh Thyme this month and regional expansion into Target in spring.

Service ended Jan. 4 to make way for the frozen production ramp-up until Love Pizza finds a larger facility. Follow the progress at lovefrozenpizza.com.

Burger Dive has completed its move from inside Rosedale Center’s food hall to a standalone restaurant near the mall’s movie theater.

The smashburger-centered restaurant from owners Kevin Fitzgerald, Nick O’Leary and Josh Thoma has operated as a food stand at Potluck for the past six years. The new location allows for an expanded menu that includes breakfast and has room for pull tabs, karaoke, trivia and other events.

O’Leary described the interior as cozy and dimly lit, giving dive bar vibes inside the new construction.

Beyond burgers, the savory menu includes sandwiches, salads and appetizers.

Meanwhile, the mall’s former Burger Dive stand and bar will become an outpost of Smack Shack, Thoma and Fitzgerald’s casual seafood concept. Expect to find Smack Shack’s signature lobster rolls along with gourmet hot dogs, wings and more.

The New Uptown Cafe (3008 Hennepin Av., Mpls.), located in what was once the North Face store, announced its sudden closure via Facebook after more than three years. Sister restaurant Uptown Diner, at 2548 Hennepin Av. S., remains open.

“This was an incredibly difficult decision,” stated a Facebook post from the restaurant. “We have so loved delivering breakfast and lunch to our neighbors, and we are deeply grateful to the team who showed up every day with care and commitment, often under increasingly challenging circumstances, as well as to the customers who supported us along the way.”

How do you best celebrate the season? With reasons to hang outdoors and have some fun popping into restaurants while you’re at it. At least, that’s the idea behind some of these wintery features and events:

Downtown Stillwater is hosting Taste of the Nations in conjunction with the World Snow Celebration and 2026 World Snow Sculpting Championship currently underway. Taste of the Nations features 16 local bars and restaurants that are creating dishes based on participating pro-sculpting teams. This year’s roster includes Denmark, Ecuador, Lithuania, Mongolia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Thailand and Turkey.

Revelers can savor such dishes by picking up a Taste of the Nations passport at participating restaurants that can be used now through Jan. 25. Those who stamp all 16 locations can enter a Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce grand prize drawing of $20 gift certificates from each of the participating restaurants.