St. Paul daytime cafe is closing after 8 months

Hey Bear Cafe announced Monday on social media that it will close after just eight months. The counter-service cafe at 791 Raymond Av. in St. Paul shared the news via Instagram with kitchen manager Oskar Johnson writing in part: “This Wednesday May 14th will be our last day. Last day as in last day forever day. Not by choice and not for good reasons — our landlords are being unreasonable and kicking us out by the end of the month. We were as amicable as possible and this is where we landed.”

The restaurant opened in September 2024 with a day-brightening menu of egg sandwiches, coffee cake and more before expanding with more savory options.

St. Paul’s historic Rondo neighborhood is once again able to meet up around Golden Thyme. The community anchor went through a thorough remodeling of its cafe at 856 Selby Av., and now there’s also a full restaurant and bar open just down the street at 934 Selby Av.

Founders Mychael and Stephanie Wright created a community touchstone and coffee shop through Golden Thyme. In 2023, the two retired and passed Golden Thyme to the Rondo Community Land Trust, which owns both buildings.

The mission of the restaurant and cafe is to carry on the Wrights’ legacy by continuing to support Black entrepreneurship and focus on community as a gathering space and small-business incubator for startups offering affordable rent.

Both the cafe and restaurant are now open, led by longtime Twin Cities restaurateur Randy Norman. The restaurant offers lunch and dinner with a menu of New Orleans flavors for a modern age, like macaroni and cheese croquettes, catfish po’boys, johnnycakes and collard greens with ham shanks. But there’s also quinoa salad, a big ol’ burger and affogato and cookies for dessert.

The full bar offers beer, wine and a mix of classic cocktails like an Old Fashioned, Paloma and a spiked sweet tea.

The Golden Thyme Coffee Cafe will offer coffee, small bites and more.

The latest Egg on a Roll is now open at 945 NE. Broadway in Northeast — right next to Spyhouse for an epic morning pick-me-up. This is the third Minneapolis location for chef/owner Adam Bresina’s eye-opening shop and the fourth total, with an Egg on a Roll opening in Sioux Falls, S.D., last month.

The storefronts began as a counter inside a North Loop convenience store in 2023 with soufflé egg-centered sandwiches by Bresina. The toppings were exactly the kind of thing the former line cook craved. Expansion has happened quickly, with a Dinkytown location opening in January of this year. Like all Egg on a Roll restaurants, the new outpost is open morning through afternoon seven days a week.

It looks like Southern Social, the casual restaurant that began in Eagan and expanded to Woodbury, is opening a third location in Chaska. The restaurant from Trellis Hospitality will take over the former Cuzzy’s at 2880 Chaska Blvd.

The menus are comfort fare with Southern inspiration, like a lineup of fried chicken sandwiches topped with everything from fried eggs to pimento cheese to Nashville sauce. There’s also barbecue, flatbreads and more.

According to its website, Southern Social Chaska will open this summer. Trellis Hospitality also operates Tamarack Tap, Barley + Vine, Jordan Supper Club, Woolley’s and more.

Matt’s Bar, home of the Jucy Lucy, is bringing the cheese that fans love to fear on the road with a new food truck. No schedule has been released yet, but the molten cheese meat wagon will be out and about this summer. Follow them on Facebook or Instagram for schedule updates. It’s also available for catering, via the Matt’s Bar website.

Northeast’s local art extravaganza is coming up May 16-18, and no good comes from Art-A-Whirling on an empty stomach. Earl Giles will create a buzz with Earl-a-Weed on May 16 with 40 THC vendors, performers and food to quash the munchies. Indeed Brewing’s Whirlygig will take place in their beer garden with the new Pizzeria Lola trailer stocked with pizzas galore.

Plus, there will be a slew of food trucks, including Amazing Momo, Animales at Bauhaus BrewLabs, Jupiter Moon Ice Cream, Paella Depot and more.