John Eccles/Alamy
mickeys-dining-car
We have lost so many good eateries over the years that simply asking a question on social media—like “Which restaurant do you miss the most?”—can elicit a string of replies ripe with reminiscence. It chucks you straight down memory lane. One of mine is The Inn. It was a short-lived spot in the old Hell’s Kitchen/Devil’s Advocate space (which is now an office building) with Tim Niver at the helm, Tyge Nelson in the kitchen, and Timmy Leary behind the bar. It was just a comfortable hang with good food, and they made me a killer cocktail on my 40th birthday. I used to go have a drink with late chef Jack Riebel there. Maybe that, more than a specific plate, is why I miss it.
But, having mourned the loss, how would I feel if suddenly it was coming back?
I’ve been thinking about that a lot, given the losses we’ve incurred in this bloody Q1 of 2025. We knew the closure of Saint Dinette was imminent, but the gut punch of Revival closing all locations was a shocker. Dark Horse in St. Paul is also a sad loss—many a whiskey was enjoyed under Paddy’s reign. To balance that out, we did get Mickey’s Diner back. We also saw Lyn65 come back in homage as Lynette. Burch Steak is coming back in a refreshed form as St. Pierre Steak and Seafood. And we saw the return of ie Italian Eatery from the Travail crew. That’s the one to watch.
When we suffer losses, we have a knee-jerk reaction to think back to glory days, lamenting the present situation that must have caused this pain. Is it nostalgia or the time-washed notion that since a place was formerly beloved, it’s a better bet to bring it back than to strike out with something new? It’s the business version of “Why did we ever break up?” But it seems to me that bringing back the dead does not always work like we think it will. Did no one learn anything from Stephen King’s Pet Sematary?
Remember when they tried to bring back Figlio? They plopped it into the West End and showcased a few dishes, some of the cool décor, and none of the original vibe. How could they? The vibe was inextricable from the neighborhood. It closed within two years. I still don’t know why we keep trying to resurrect Charlie’s Cafe Exceptionale, seeing that it closed in 1982. Is there enough of a fan base that even knows what it was supposed to be?
The Butcher and The Boar/The Butcher’s Tale saga is a particularly odd outcome of this need to claw back a good time. Both Jester Concepts and Kaskaid Hospitality sought to bring back the iconic craft meats eatery, and both added their own spin. It’s like one company brought back the heart and the other company brought back the head—I’ll let you decide which is which.
It’s hard to figure out what people want; I get that. And it’s scary to put something new and untested into this economy. And while I don’t think every good thing gone is a safe bet, maybe ie by Travail does have a good chance at resurrection. The Nokomis neighborhood eatery only closed within the last year, and the grief from its patrons was palpable. I think every news station in town covered it. The ownership closed the restaurant for personal reasons, not because people had grown tired of it. The Travail ownership came in and barely touched the space, plus they hired a lot of the former crew. This one is more about relighting the stoves than it is about raising ghosts.
Nostalgia is known to fill in the potholes of memory lane, which is why a restaurant resurrection can be so hard. We don’t remember why it didn’t work; we just remember why we loved it. By bringing back only the best, shiniest parts, though, we change it. And intuitively, we feel differently toward it, so the spell is broken.
And that leads to the most obvious factor: how we as diners also change. Remembering the days past at a former favorite restaurant is intertwined with remembering our own days past. We are seldom the same people who bellied up to the bar at Figlio or rolled in with a pack of the same ladies at Butcher and The Boar. Might we see a Saint Dinette or Revival revival in 10 years? Who will you be by then?
I think we can all enjoy a visit to the past, but it’s harder to live there. Those restaurants that felt like home to a certain set of Twin Citizens can’t rely solely on what was, if they want staying power. You can honor and build on the past, but you also have to lean into a new era with new eaters.
