New Vegan Restaurant Will Tackle Cursed Lyn/Lake Location

Trio, the vegan restaurant from the three folks that met while marching for Black Lives Matter has signed a lease. Trio will open in Lyn/Lake at 610 West Lake Street. The location has proven challenging for several restaurants. This was the former home to Prairie Dogs, The Gray House, and most recently the Emperors of India. Trio will serve all-vegan soul food and has won a fan base with a series of popular pop ups and a successful Kickstarter campaign. The space will get a light remodel and Trio expects to open later this year.

—McKinney Roe has lured Scott Pampuch to take over the kitchen in the mega-sized restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. The restaurant is owned by Dermot Cowley, who also operates Lola’s Lakehouse, Jake O’Connors and O’Donovan’s Irish Pub. Pampuch is known for his local-farm advocacy, having first been a champion of the movement back when he opened the original Corner Table (a business he sold in 2011.)

McKinney Roe/Website

Pampuch most recently created a full-time eatery inside an airstream outside of Fulton’s Taproom. Before that he ran all the culinary programs at the University of Minnesota. Compared to those two jobs, this massive bi-level 7,000 square foot restaurant seems like an obvious middle road in between. Look for menu changes to hit in early August.

Eliesa Johnson/The Restaurant Project

—Able Seedhouse and Brewery will soon be selling barbecue courtesy of chef Jon Wipfli and his newly purchased 33 foot long smoker. Wipfli is the author of Venison: Slay to Gourmet cookbook and has become the go-to backyard barbecue guy that all the other chefs in town flock to, whenever he fires up the grill. Wipfli told Mpls/St. Paul Magazine that people can expect brisket brunch, oysters and plenty more meaty good times.