Downtown’s Meaty Eatery with the Year-Round Beer Garden Has Closed

The Butcher & the Boar has closed. The restaurant on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis was known for its bourbon, ample meat portions, and a year-round, heated beer garden. It opened eight years ago with Jack Riebel as the chef and part owner. After he exited the company, several chefs came and left their mark on the restaurant that perpetually smelled of roasty things, including Tommy Begnaud. He was the chef who helped the company open its second location in Charleston, South Carolina.

It’s been a rough year on restaurants and the company that owned Butcher & the Boar. Another restaurant, 4 Bells shuttered earlier this year in nearby Loring Park.

When it first opened in 2012, Butcher and the Boar was an instant success, with impossible to snag reservations and a bounty of praise from the local press. The Star Tribune labeled it the restaurant of the year and a James Beard Award nomination for its opening chef.

A note on the door states that the restaurant states, “Due to COVID-19 and the unrest in Minneapolis we are closing our doors permanently.”

• Butcher and the Boar has closed permanently [STRIB]
• R.I.P. Butcher & the Boar [MSPMag]
• 4 Bells on Loring Park Closes Permanently [ETC]
• All Butcher & the Boar Coverage [ETC]