Kaskaid Hospitality remakes Figlio, expands at Mall of America

Get ready to say goodbye to Figlio, all over again.

Fans of the restaurant will remember in 2012 when, with great fanfare, Kaskaid Hospitality revived the storied Figlio name (the Italian word for "son") in the Shops at West End in St. Louis Park.

Previous owner Parasole Restaurant Holdings had inexplicably pulled the plug on the 25-year-old Uptown dining institution in 2009. The revival was Kaskaid's effort to reboot its short-lived Sopranos Italian Kitchen — which in itself was a stand-in for Ringo, a (non-Kaskaid) crash-and-burn restaurant — and the effort delivered both the name and a handful of classic Figlio dishes to a new suburban location.

But some ideas apparently don't travel well. Kaskaid is turning out the lights at Figlio in late October, and quickly replacing it with another, as yet-unnamed Italian concept.

"We've certainly had a successful run with Figlio," said Kaskaid Hospitality founder and CEO Kam Talebi. "But we have been listening to our customers, and they are demanding lighter fare than the heavier, more traditional Figlio menu. We feel it's time to update the brand, one that resonates where we're going, which is healthier, lighter and Mediterranean."

There's more. Coming in 2015, Kaskaid plans to launch two restaurants at the Mall of America in Bloomington.

One will be a second outlet of the company's Figlio replacement, the other will be a new burger-centric operation. Talebi isn't revealing the restaurants' exact locations, but they'll operate in side-by-side berths on the mall's third floor.

Crave is also in expansion mode. A suburban Las Vegas location, in the Downtown Summerlin mall, is opening Oct. 9, and late November is the target for moving into Westfield Montgomery mall in Bethesda, Md., next door to a Cheesecake Factory. "We're certainly excited about competing against them," said Talebi.

Seven-year-old Crave currently operates in eight locations, including the Mall of America, downtown Minneapolis, Omaha, Cincinnati, Austin, Texas, and Coral Gables, Fla.

Stewart Woodman — formerly of Heidi's, and a Food & Wine magazine Best New Chef — signed on as the company's culinary director about six months ago, and plenty of change is being driven by that hire. To date, Woodman has remade the company's problematic first-floor restaurant at Union into small plates-focused Workshop at Union — it's third iteration in two years — and he's overseen menu changes across the company.

An overhaul of the menu at BoneYard Kitchen & Bar, the company's Southern-accented Uptown property, is rolling out on Friday, with more salads, burgers and grilled items.

At Crave, Woodman's menu remake debuted Wednesday at its Galleria and West End locations. All eight locations will be cooking the new menu within two weeks. Sushi remains, but among the 40 new dishes are a grapefruit-jicama salad, a seven-cheese mac-and-cheese with chicken-apple sausage and a five-spice barramundi in a port wine reduction.

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