RESTAURANTEURS TO OPEN FOOD HALL ON EAT STREET

A historic building in South Minneapolis where Bob Dylan and Prince once rehearsed will soon be brought back to life as a food hall by a collective of well-known locals.

Eat Street Crossing will open later this year in the Old Arizona Studio building located at 2821 Nicollet Avenue S in the Whittier neighborhood. When it opens, the 15,000 square foot food hall will be feature six distinct food concepts along with a full bar, a liquor store, and indoor and outdoor seating areas.

ESC’s food concepts will be created by two local restaurant couples including Lina Goh and John Ng (the talented duo behind Zen Box Izakaya in Downtown Minneapolis) along with Gabriella Grant-Spangler and Ben Spangler (the now married duo behind Bebe Zito). Trish Gavin, who most recently was the Beverage Director for Ann Ahmed’s Restaurant Group (Hai Hai, Khâluna, Lat 14, and Lemon Grass), will be the Beverage Director for ESC and will create the bar program.

The idea for ESC came after Lina and John felt the need for a new challenge after running Zen Box Izakaya for nearly ten years. The couple began working on plans for ESC before the pandemic and hoped to open it a few years ago but the pandemic had a different plan and delayed the opening. When the world began to live in its new post-pandemic norm, Lina and John quickly sprang back into action and partnered with Gabriella, Ben, and Trish to finally bring ESC to life.

The concept of Eat Street Crossing will be slightly different than other food halls in the Twin Cities as almost all the concepts will be run by the ESC team, not individual vendors.

The food menu at ESC has yet to be confirmed, but you can be sure you’ll find tons of delicious, savory, and unique offerings. What has been confirmed though is that Bebe Zito plans to offer their delicious ice cream along with their now famous burgers and honey butter-dipped fried chicken. Bebe Zito has also hinted that they’re working on another culinary offering that is related to Gabriella’s Brazilian heritage. The duo behind Zen Box Izakaya plan to open two yet-be-revealed concepts within ESC, while popular boba tea shop Chatime will also set up a location within the food hall.

The bar menu will be extensive and cohesive and will focus on inclusion and intentionality. You’ll find plenty of alcoholic beverages, around 15 different ones to be exact, as well as a selection of non-alcoholic drinks and other diet-specific drinks such as low-sugar drinks.

Construction is well underway on the building’s transformation which was designed by Minneapolis-based Christian Dean Architecture. The goal of the project wasn’t to remake the entire building anew, but rather to find the true soul and community of the building. When complete, the building will have been transformed into a stunning space filled with exposed brick, hand-painted murals, a wine wall, and of course, delicious eats and drinks.

Eat Street Crossing is anticipated to open this fall at 2821 Nicollet Avenue S.