A major Twin Cities restaurateur team will be opening a new eatery in the former Sapor Cafe and Bar location in Minneapolis' North Loop soon.
Raise your hand if you've heard this one before.
But here's the twist: Instead of Jamie Malone and Erik Anderson with their anticipated collaboration, Brut – the former Sea Change chefs announced they had nabbed the site last year – it will be Bar La Grassa's Ryan Burnet and partners who will take over the space.
Burnet -- who also owns Burch Steak, Barrio and Eastside -- announced on Tuesday that his awaited fast-casual-healthy cafe in downtown Wayzata would be called Crisp & Green. At the same time, he pinpointed another new location for the concept –the former Sapor space at 428 N. Washington Av.
Burnet said he heard the corner location was available through the grapevine.
"Given that it's a small town, I heard that [Malone and Anderson] were not moving forward and [the landlord] was going to be going to market," Burnet said. "I contacted the landlord, and we went straight to lease."
So what happened to Brut, which was initially slated to open last month? When contacted Tuesday, Anderson remained cryptic. He wouldn't confirm that he and Malone had found a new location for Brut, saying only that "the plan hasn't changed."
As for Burnet, he's barreling head on into opening two restaurants simultaneously, despite his jokes that the timing might impair him from finding time to eat or sleep. The Wayzata cafe will land at 765 E. Lake St., which until last July was a People's Organic outlet. That location is expected to open this fall with the North Loop cafe to follow later next spring.
"It wasn't in the game plan initially, but I don't necessarily do well with long-term planning," Burnet said. "I fell in love with the idea of bringing this concept to the North Loop and we decided to move forward knowing the work that was ahead."
