The Lake Street Comebacks This Fall Are Built Differently Than What They Replaced

Laune Bread at 3605 E. Lake St. now opens at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and closes at 1 p.m. The rest of the week, the door stays shut. The bakery came back Oct. 1 after a six-week pause, and co-owners Chris MacLeod and Tiff Ri are now running it themselves. In July, the Star Tribune reported that the reset would mean fewer staff and a smaller pastry selection.

That shorter week matches a pattern along East Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue this fall. Most of the "new" places are second acts in rooms the neighborhood already knew. The ones coming back have changed how they're run: who owns them, how they pay for themselves, and how many hours they open.

Same room in the Coliseum Building, new kind of operator

Square Roots opened Sept. 11 at 2700 E. Lake St., Suite 100, in the Coliseum Building. If an Afro-Creole Southern restaurant in that spot feels familiar, Racket points out that Lagniappe served similar food in the same space. Lagniappe and the Du Nord Cocktail Room next door opened in 2024 and closed at the end of May 2025 after about eight months.

Square Roots runs as a nonprofit with a paid residency built into the kitchen. In its preview, Mpls.St.Paul Magazine reported the plan to bring on 13 residents ages 18 to 24 at $18 an hour, with culinary training, mentorship and credentials. The magazine also reports a Food Access Fund that subsidizes menu prices.

The current menu includes corncake, gumbo, redfish with maque choux, funky grits, Wagyu short rib and seared scallops. The menu page doesn't list hours, so check before you head over.

On Nicollet, the founder bought the building space

A few blocks west, Martiya began a monthlong soft opening Oct. 1 at 3036 Nicollet Ave. It's the first full-service, sit-down restaurant from Abdirahman Kahin, who founded Afro Deli. The Star Tribune's preview ran under the headline "Lake Street deserves the best."

The restaurant is in Opportunity Crossing, a Project for Pride in Living development with 110 affordable apartments and commercial space. According to the Star Tribune, Kahin bought two of the commercial units, one for the restaurant and one for flex space. The flex room is set up for private events, community gatherings, meetings and training sessions. The space also has two dining rooms and a patio, designed by InUnison Design.

The food is halal Somali diaspora cooking. The Star Tribune highlighted short rib kaykay with sabaayad noodles, lamb suugo, coconut cod curry, steak frites with xawaash fries, sambusas, goat kebabs and tamarind honey prawns. Martiya doesn't serve alcohol. Instead it offers zero-proof cocktails, Somali tea and other specialty drinks. There's a free parking lot behind the restaurant. Reservations go through a Toast link on the restaurant's site.

Hours change on Nov. 1. During the soft opening, Martiya serves dinner Wednesday through Sunday from 4 to 10 p.m. After the planned Nov. 1 grand opening, it's scheduled to open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., adding lunch and weekend brunch. Both the date and the expanded hours are plans, so confirm before you go.

Where the corridor stands as of Oct. 12

Seward Cafe, the cooperatively owned Franklin Avenue spot that reopened in 2023 with a new crew, is closed "for the time being," according to Racket. It will keep booking and hosting shows and events. Racket also reports that Good Times Pizza on West 38th Street announced in September, in a since-deleted Instagram post first spotted by Bring Me the News, that it was "hitting pause." At the western end of Lake Street, OG ZaZa reopened the former Mesa Pizza space in Uptown with New Haven-style pies, so that block has late-night slices again.

Powderhorn's annual night out runs into Martiya's switch

The corridor's biggest annual tradition sits right on top of Martiya's change. BareBones Puppet Theatre's 33rd Halloween Extravaganza, "Hum, Honk, Howl: As Above, So Below," runs Oct. 29 through 31 and Nov. 1 at Powderhorn Park, with a rain date of Nov. 2. BareBones lists the show as puppetry, stilting, dance, fire, live music and song.

From the BareBones show page, here's what to know before you go:

• Gates open at 6 p.m. The show starts at 7 p.m. and runs 45 to 60 minutes.
• Tickets are pay-what-you-can. There are three entry gates this year.
• All seating is on the ground and first-come, first-served, so bring a blanket or cushion.
• There's a separate seating area for masked guests.
• Elders and people with mobility challenges have a reserved area but need to bring their own chairs. Space is limited.
• Brass Messengers play after the show Friday, Oct. 30, and Brass Solidarity plays after the show Saturday, Oct. 31.
• Sunday, Nov. 1, has full ASL interpretation and audio description.

The last scheduled night of BareBones falls on the date Martiya plans to start full-service hours. Here's one way to do both that Sunday, assuming both dates hold:

1. Go to Martiya at 11 a.m., when lunch service is set to begin, and use the free lot behind the restaurant.
2. Get to Powderhorn Park by the time gates open at 6 p.m. if you want a good spot on the ground.
3. Stay for the 7 p.m. show. That night it includes ASL interpretation and audio description.

If you'd rather eat after the show, Martiya's planned 10 p.m. closing leaves some room once the show lets out around 8, but that schedule is still a plan. For a Saturday instead, Laune's 1 p.m. close means getting there early, not stopping by after the show.

More second acts on Nicollet

The pattern keeps going down Nicollet Avenue. Racket reports that Evergreen Cafe, from pastry chef Shawn McKenzie, is moving into the former Sun Street Breads space at 4600 Nicollet Ave. It plans to serve pastries, bread, cookies, scones and biscuits, plus sit-down breakfast and lunch. No opening date has been announced.

Farther south, the Nicollet Avenue bridge over Minnehaha Creek has been closed to all traffic since March 2. The city's project page says the bridge will stay closed through late 2027. The Minnehaha Parkway bike and pedestrian trail at the site is expected to reopen Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2026. Until then, trail users follow a detour that took effect Sept. 9. So for walkers, the creek trail comes back about a year before cars get the bridge.

Our team keeps track of what opens, pauses and reopens across the Twin Cities. Part of the value of a south Minneapolis home is the walk to Lake Street, Nicollet and Powderhorn. If you're wondering what yours is worth now that several of these storefronts are open again, Cooking Real Estate Team is happy to walk you through it. Get Your Free Home Valuation.