When Starling opened earlier this year in Edina, the Minneapolis restaurant group Jester Concepts was dipping a toe into suburban dining. Now, it’s going all in. The group behind Borough, Parlour, Butcher & the Boar, Char Bar and P.
S. Steak, all in Minneapolis, has announced three new restaurants coming this year in Excelsior. First to open is Parlour Bar.
The craft cocktail bar with a simple menu changed the way Minneapolis would crave burgers, smashed thin with a crispy crust, when it first opened in 2018 beneath Borough. A second Parlour Bar opened in 2018 in St. Paul, and now the popular burgers can also be found at two food trucks, pop-ups and concession stands in Minneapolis stadiums, but the Excelsior outpost will be the brand’s third brick-and-mortar location.
Parlour will open this fall on the basement level at 200 Water St., just a block from Lake Minnetonka’s Excelsior Bay. The address was previously home to Bull & Wren and Jake O’Connors.
Later this year, Jester Concepts will open two more concepts on the street level. The company shared no further information about what they will be, other than “new.” “Excelsior is beautiful and has a vibrant community poised for continued culinary growth,” Brent Frederick, Jester Concepts’ owner, said in a statement.
“We’re excited to be at the forefront of this as we continue Jester’s westward expansion.” A 240-space parking lot is under construction behind the building. Studio Grey is designing all three restaurants, and the subterranean Parlour will take up 1,200 square feet.
Like its Minneapolis counterpart, it will feature dim lighting and a wooden bar and tables. Blue velvet and tartan plaid banquettes will seat 60. The menu will have all the Parlour signatures: togaroshi popcorn, a dill-brined chicken sandwich, the Parlour burger, and cocktails by Earl Giles.
.
