50th and France Restaurants in Edina: What's Changing

"People think that it's competition, but I always think that the more in one intersection, the better for everybody."

Chef Daniel del Prado said that to Mpls.St.Paul Magazine last September, right after announcing his third project in the 50th and France district. He wasn't being modest. By now, del Prado's fingerprints have ended up on three separate storefronts within a five minute walk of each other, and the past year has brought several new restaurant projects to the district.

If you walk this stretch of France Avenue on a regular Tuesday, you've probably noticed the signage change more in the last year than in the previous ten. What's easy to miss is that nearly every new name traces back to one of two people: del Prado or Gavin Kaysen. Several of the recent restaurant projects are connected to chefs with established Twin Cities followings.

The Barrio Deal Set the Template

Cocina del Barrio had been on France Avenue for fifteen years before it closed on October 1, 2025. Owner Ryan Burnet owns the building, which meant he had a real choice when the lease question came up: sublet to whoever showed up next, sell, or find a partner who could fill an upscale slot in a district that doesn't have many open ones. He picked del Prado.

Americana, the restaurant that deal produced, is currently slated for a fall 2026 opening in that same building. The remodel adds a glass-enclosed rooftop patio designed by Christian Dean Architecture, and getting there wasn't simple. Edina's planning staff initially recommended denying the project's parking variance, since the addition would push the building past its allowed floor area ratio without providing the fourteen extra spaces the ordinance requires. Americana's proposed fix was a shared parking agreement with the BMO Harris Bank branch next door, plus a valet service to stretch capacity further. The project was shaped as much by the site’s constraints as by its design.

Then He Did It Again at the Old Lynhall

While Americana was still working through permitting, del Prado's group opened a second concept less than half a mile away. Thérèse, an upscale French brasserie named after del Prado's mother, took over the former Lynhall space inside the Nolan Mains development at 3945 Market Street and opened in late November 2025. The menu leans into real technique: lobster thermidor, chicken presse, escargot in butter, a burger finished with veal jus soaked into the bun. By day the space still reads like a café, sun through the windows, mixed wood left over from its Lynhall years. By night it turns into something louder and closer to a full brasserie, built for groups but still workable for a two-top.

That's two projects in two months from the same restaurant group, on top of Dexter's, the sports bar del Prado had already opened at 3717 West 50th Street the previous August. A third, smaller concept was in the works too, though details on that one were still unannounced as of last fall.

The Food Hall Version of the Same Bet

Del Prado's group didn't stop at standalone restaurants. Attached to Dexter's, a small food hall called the Side Door started rolling out its lineup this year:

• Lucia's, a New York City style sourdough pizza counter with salads and chicken parm, opened August 6, 2026
• Daq Daq, a Korean fried chicken concept, set to open later this year
• Rose Sushi, focused on nigiri and rolls, also slated for later in 2026

Three concepts, one operator, one address, all adding to the district's restaurant mix.

Kaysen Made the Same Move, Just Down the Block

Del Prado isn't the only chef betting on a name people already know. Gavin Kaysen, the James Beard winner behind Spoon & Stable, relaunched Bellecour as a standalone daytime cafe at 3934 Market Street, opening November 18, 2025, around the same time Thérèse debuted a few blocks away. Bellecour had spent the prior five years as a joint venture with Cooks of Crocus Hill. When that partnership split, Kaysen kept the Edina address and rebuilt it as a straightforward bakery and cafe: pastries, tartines, a jambon beurre, coffee starting at 7 a.m. daily. The French onion soup on the menu is the same one Kaysen served at the original Bellecour in Wayzata before closing it in 2020.

Two of the district's highest profile debuts landed in the same month, and both came from chefs who had already built a following somewhere else in the Twin Cities. Neither was a first restaurant. Neither was a gamble on an unknown quantity.

What's Actually New If You're Deciding Where to Eat This Week

Even the district's older tenants are following the same logic instead of packing up. Mr. Paul's Supper Club, open since 2021, has already branched out into Mothership Pizza Paradise and a back bar called Carnival Bar rather than ceding ground when leases turn over. Smith Coffee and Cafe is opening a second location in the former D'Amico & Sons space at 3948 West 50th Street, and Smithson, a steak and seafood concept from Baldamar and 6Smith's Sharon and Randy Stanley, is targeting a fall 2026 debut a few blocks away at Southdale Center. Neither belongs to del Prado or Kaysen, and that's the point. Both are extensions of restaurants that already have a following elsewhere in the Twin Cities, which means the pattern holds even for the names that aren't already famous on this block.

If you're planning an evening here this month, Thérèse is the safer bet for something structured, and Bellecour handles the twenty-minute coffee stop. Americana is the one to watch. Once it opens, the building that spent fifteen years as Cocina del Barrio will have gone from a single story cantina to a two story restaurant with a rooftop, closing the loop on a deal Burnet and del Prado struck almost exactly a year ago this fall.

None of this required 50th and France to add a single new address. Every seat that opened this year came from a lease that already existed, handed to a chef who had already proven himself somewhere else in the metro. Taken together, these openings show how established operators are adding concepts within the district's existing footprint.

If 50th and France is the kind of block you'd want as your daily backdrop, Michael Favre can walk you through what living near it actually looks like, day to day, season to season. Let's Find Home.