Who's Actually Behind the New Doors at 50th & France This Fall?

Between August 6 and September 17, four new places to eat or drink opened at 50th & France. Three of them belong to one restaurant group that had a single dining room at the corner two years ago. The fourth is a sports bar opened by two men who grew up getting their skates sharpened across the street. Very little of this fall's change at 50th & France came from outside. Most of the new doors were opened by people who were already on the corner or a short drive from it, and Daniel del Prado's DDP Restaurant Group accounts for the largest share.

From one dining room to six concepts

DDP's presence at the corner began with Dexter's at 3717 W. 50th St., on the Minneapolis side. Edina Magazine reported in March 2025 that the restaurant had opened the previous August. Del Prado co-owns it with Carla and Spencer Jones. The owners took over the lease from the previous tenant, Agra Culture.

Things moved quickly after that. Thérèse, a French brasserie at 3945 Market St., opened November 21, 2025. Mpls.St.Paul Magazine listed escargot, beef tartare, steak au poivre and Dover sole among its dishes. The Star Tribune noted that it serves lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. In January, noma hi-fi opened in a basement space at 3914 W. 50th St. It's a Japanese-inspired listening lounge and cocktail bar with vinyl, DJs and snacks.

This summer the group opened The Side Door at Dexter's, a mini food hall at 5005 Ewing Ave. S. in the former SotaRol space. Lucia's came first on August 6, serving New York-inspired sourdough pizza, salads, wraps and chicken parm. DaqDaq Korean Fried Chicken and Rose Sushi followed on September 17. According to Bring Me The News, DaqDaq does double-fried chicken inspired by Korean pocha street stalls, and Rose Sushi serves tiered flights of maki, nigiri and chirashi. All three counters are open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

Here is the group's footprint as of the end of September 2026:

The table shows two things. The cluster crosses the city line in both directions, and in about two years it has grown from one restaurant into a full day of eating: brunch, pizza, sushi, fried chicken, a brasserie dinner and a late listening bar. Spencer Jones told Bring Me The News that Lucia's had been serving "our neighbors" for a few weeks and that guests had been asking when the other two counters would open.

The two doors on France Avenue that will sit side by side

The seventh DDP concept is the one people will notice most from the sidewalk. Americana is replacing Cocina del Barrio at 5036 France Ave. S. after a full renovation by Christian Dean Architecture. It reunites del Prado with Barrio owner Ryan Burnet, with DDP running the restaurant. Plans include a glass-enclosed rooftop patio built for year-round use. Del Prado told Mpls.St.Paul Magazine the menu takes inspiration from American dining in the 1950s. In its September 8 roll call, the Star Tribune still listed Americana as coming "by fall 2026" with no specific opening day. The last public construction update was in April, when Bring Me The News described a major renovation underway. Plan on it as coming, not open.

Next door, at 5034 France Ave. S. in the former Salut space, General Sports Bar opened September 8. The owners are Edina restaurateurs Marty Collins and Brett Johnson, the team behind NOLO's Kitchen. The name comes from General Sports, the sporting goods store that sat across the street on France Avenue for more than 50 years before moving next to Braemar Arena. Collins and Johnson asked the store's owners for permission to use the name and got it.

The link to the old store isn't only in the name. General Sports staff run a skate-sharpening service in the bar's basement. Johnson described it to the Sun Current:

"A person could come, drop their kids' skates off, get them sharpened and then slide upstairs for a beer or a burger."

Johnson also told the paper that he and Collins live in Edina and are raising their families there, and that he sees the bar "filling a void." In his view, Bunny's Bar & Grill in St. Louis Park is the closest place doing a traditional sports bar. The Sun Current reported that the owners put about $1 million into the building. That includes turning the lower level, which used to be storage, into a space for private parties with a golf simulator and other games.

Once Americana opens, two adjacent addresses on France Avenue will be run by two different sets of operators who each already had roots at this corner before they signed a lease.

The morning shift moves from Eden Prairie

The same local pattern shows up at breakfast. D'Amico & Sons closed at 3948 W. 50th St. when its lease ended in March. Alex and Ann Schuster, who have run Smith Coffee & Cafe in Eden Prairie since 2006, took the space. The plan is for the Edina cafe to be open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day, with breakfast, lunch, about 90 seats inside and a patio. The owners said they were hoping for an October opening. As of the Star Tribune's September 8 roll call it was still listed as coming soon, and no opening had been reported by the end of September.

The holdup has been the parts of the space customers will never see. The Sun Current reported that the Schusters had spent about $400,000 on construction. The kitchen ceilings had to be torn out and rebuilt, and most of the kitchen's electrical and plumbing had to be replaced. A city official put it plainly: "what passed code back in the 1980s does not pass code in 2026." A small grant from the city's SPARC program is covering part of that work. General Sports Bar received one too, toward about $38,000 of eligible work on a project that cost roughly $1 million.

Nearby, the morning crowd already has another option that came from a familiar name. Gavin Kaysen reopened Bellecour Edina on November 18, 2025, as a cafe serving coffee, pastries and lunch. It replaced the earlier Cooks | Bellecour collaboration. In April, Bring Me The News also reported that Takumi Sushi was set to take over the former Raku space across the street from Smith's new location.

The one newcomer from out of state

MeatEater is the clearest example of an outside brand arriving this year. On August 15 the outdoor-products company opened its first Minnesota store at 3924 50th St., only a few addresses from Smith's future cafe. It is the company's third store. Store manager Ricky Brule runs the Edina location. Even this store shows how much the corner's mix still leans on food and drink. On a short stretch of West 50th Street, it sits between a listening bar at 3914 and a coming cafe at 3948.

What's open and what's still coming, as of September 30

1. Open now: Dexter's, Thérèse, noma hi-fi, Bellecour Edina, and Lucia's, DaqDaq Korean Fried Chicken and Rose Sushi at The Side Door. General Sports Bar has been open since September 8 and MeatEater since August 15.
2. Targeted for October: Smith Coffee & Cafe at 3948 W. 50th St.
3. Targeted for fall 2026, no date announced: Americana at 5036 France Ave. S., with the rooftop conservatory.
4. Announced in April, status unconfirmed: Takumi Sushi in the former Raku space.

For a skate-season weekend, the most useful stop on the list may be the basement at 5034 France Ave. S., where General Sports staff sharpen skates while the restaurant runs upstairs.

Storefronts turning over this quickly can change how a block feels and what nearby homes are worth. That matters if you own near 50th & France or are thinking about selling. Ewing Real Estate Group watches this corner closely, and broker Mel Emery can show you how it is shaping values on your street. Request a complimentary market valuation.