New Restaurants

New North Barstow St. Building to House Twin Cities-Based Restaurant

Tom Giffey |

A Twin Cities-based restaurant will make its home in a soon-to-be-built commercial structure on North Barstow Street in downtown Eau Claire.

Hazelwood Food + Drink – which advertises itself as having “delicious and fresh modern comfort food” – opened in 2017 in Bloomington, Minnesota, near the Mall of America. A second location is slated to open in a three-story commercial building that Monarch Ventures will start building later this year on the so-called “liner site” along North Barstow Street. The 18,600-square-foot building is expected to be completed by 2021.

The new building will be just east of the city’s North Barstow parking ramp and next to the future site of the Children’s Museum of Eau Claire. Both Monarch and the Children’s Museum recently signed memorandums of understanding with the city’s Redevelopment Authority, which owns the now-vacant property, which until 2014 was the site of the post office.

Commonweal Development of Eau Claire is seeking tenants for the Class A office space in the new building, which is says “offers excellent visibility, large windows, views of the Eau Claire River and direct access to the parking ramp.”

The menu of the Hazelwood Food + Drink in Bloomington offers a range of flavors, from grilled meatloaf and salmon to wood-fired pizza and clay pots (such as chicken pot pie or lobster mac and cheese), pastas, sandwiches and burgers, and hand-cut steaks.

According to Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, Hazelwood Food + Drink is part of Twin Cities-based Nova Restaurant Group, which also operates several Minnesota eateries, including Tavern 4&5 in Eden Prairie, Hazellewood Grill and Tap Room in Tonka Bay, and Pescara, Terza Ristorante, and Chester’s in Rochester.

Click for a closer look. Images: Ayres Associates.
Click for a closer look. Images: Ayres Associates.