Justin Sutherland’s Stillwater Restaurant Is Closing to Relocate

Justin Sutherland, our local Top Chef contestant and recently installed head of the Madison group of restaurants is closing and moving his downtown Stillwater restaurant at the end of this year. Peal & the Thief is the work of Sutherland, Joe Pirrri partnered with Stillwater restauranteurs Brad Nordeen and Joe Ehlenz, who also operate the wildly popular Lolo American Kitchen restaurants. Pearl & the Thief’s final meal inside that beautiful aquamarine and white dining room will be December 31, according to the Pioneer Press.

Sutherland noted that the commute out to Stillwater, while he also oversees Saint Paul’s Handsome Hog, Public Kitchen + Bar, Ox Cart Alehouse, Fitzgerald’s and Gray Duck Tavern was a bit much. He and Pirri plan to relocate the restaurant to downtown Minneapolis. Pearl & the Thief’s chef Brandon Randolph will also be making the move.

Meanwhile, the restaurant address will be closed for just a couple of weeks while Nordeen and Ehlenz reshape it into what they’re calling a Latin version of Lolo’s with tacos, grilled things, tequilas and the like.

• Stillwater’s Pearl & the Thief to Relocate [PiPress]
• St. Paul’s Top Chef to Step to the Head of His Restaurant Group [ETC]
• Inside Pearl & the Thief, a Southern Charmer in Stillwater [ETC]