Every restaurant to open in Downtown East this year has moved into a room the neighborhood already knew, and so has every one still on the way. A Seven Corners sports bar moved up Washington Avenue into the old Pog Mahone's space. A sushi chef is finishing the room where Zen Box Izakaya served ramen for more than a decade. A Texas-barbecue kitchen is coming to the Gold Medal Park building that once sold Izzy's ice cream. Each one is an operator taking on a space with a history, and sometimes bringing a history of its own.
Here is where each address stands as of October 11, 2026.
| Address | What was there | New tenant | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 903 Washington Ave. S. | Pog Mahone's | Fathead Bill's Sports Pub & Grill | Opened June 13, 2026 |
| 1024 Washington Ave. S. | Fitchn | Banh Mi House | Dining room officially opened June 11, 2026 |
| 602 Washington Ave. S. | Zen Box Izakaya | Sushi by Baaska | Still listed as coming this fall |
| 1100 S. 2nd St. | Izzy's Ice Cream | Jujube | Still listed as coming this fall |
| 601 Chicago Ave. | Planned Namos sports bar | No tenant reported | Plan fell through; listed for lease as of July |
A Washington Avenue bar moved up Washington Avenue
The clearest second act on the block is Fathead Bill's. For 22 years, Bill and Keala Murray ran The Corner Bar at 1501 Washington Ave. S. in Seven Corners. According to the Fathead Bill's site, that bar closed on August 24, 2025, after its building was sold and no new lease was offered.
The Murrays didn't leave the avenue. They reopened farther toward downtown on the same avenue, in what the Star Tribune identified as the former Pog Mahone's space at 903 Washington. The paper described the location as a block from U.S. Bank Stadium and "a short amble over from the Guthrie and Gold Medal Park." Fathead Bill's opened June 13.
The move brought the menu with it. The Joey Wings, the recipe Bill Murray spent years perfecting at The Corner Bar, come in all nine sauces. The scratch kitchen also turns out the FatHead Classic Smash and Bacon Jam Smash burgers on 3-ounce chuck brisket patties, plus Firecracker Shrimp and Sauteed Steak Bites. The bar runs 16 taps of Minnesota craft beer alongside craft cocktails. The site places the pub half a block from the stadium and one block from the Guthrie.
That location matters most on the days the stadium fills. The U.S. Bank Stadium events page lists five remaining 2026 Vikings home games with dates set:
- Sunday, Oct. 25
- Monday, Nov. 9
- Sunday, Nov. 29
- Sunday, Dec. 6
- Sunday, Dec. 20
The page also lists a home game against the Commanders with its date still to be announced. Dates and kickoff times can move under the NFL's flexible scheduling, so check the Vikings schedule the week of a game. Once football ends, the next big date on the stadium calendar is Monster Jam, Feb. 20 and 21, 2027.
The Zen Box room is waiting on its next chef
Fathead Bill's is an established bar starting over in a new room. A few blocks west, at 602 Washington Ave. S., the opposite is happening. A long-running room is waiting for a new operator to open it.
Zen Box Izakaya started in the skyway in 2004 and moved to Washington Avenue in 2011. Owners John Ng and Lina Goh served the last meal there on Nov. 22, 2025. When they announced the closure, the Star Tribune reported that they cited pandemic recovery, a 2½-year road construction project that cut off access, and the sale of their building. The paper called the space near the Guthrie "a neighborhood mainstay for pre-theater dinners of Japanese curry" and Ng's ramen.
The new tenant is chef-owner Baaska Tegshbileg, whose sushi pop-ups built the following behind Sushi by Baaska. Mpls.St.Paul Magazine reported in August that the menu will go well beyond sushi, with wagyu fried rice, uni pasta, Japanese-style fried chicken, New York steak and robata skewers cooked over charcoal. Tegshbileg is opening without outside investors. Instead, he is selling gift cards and fundraising perks, ranging from omakase dinners to a full restaurant buyout, to help get the doors open. The Star Tribune named Ernest Robledo as chef de cuisine and Pete Nguyen as bar lead.
Tegshbileg was direct about the room he's inheriting. He told Mpls.St.Paul Magazine:
"Zen Box was in this space for 14-plus years; they were the neighborhood staple. We want to be the next one, and continue that legacy."
That August story targeted an October opening. As of Racket's October 1 roundup, the restaurant was still listed as in the works for this fall. We found no confirmation that it had opened by October 11. The restaurant's Instagram is the place to watch for an opening date.
The ice cream building near Gold Medal Park gets a live fire
Jujube follows the same pattern on a longer timeline. Izzy's closed its Minneapolis scoop shop in the Gold Medal Park building on Aug. 31, 2020. The next tenant at 1100 S. 2nd St. is coming from Peter Bian and Linda Cao, the owners of Saturday Dumpling Co. Minnesota Monthly describes Jujube as a full-service restaurant and bar that pairs Asian flavors with Central Texas barbecue and live-fire cooking. Chef Jake Johnson, known as "Texas Jake," is running the kitchen.
The opening date is still open. Jujube's site says "Coming soon," and the Star Tribune's October 5 restaurant roll call still lists it as expected this fall.
Two openings that already settled in
The two places already serving show how quickly a familiar room can take on a new identity.
Banh Mi House took over 1024 Washington Ave. S., the former Fitchn space, according to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. It's run by Mai Huynh, her daughter Annie Huynh and chef Bora Tuy, and the restaurant describes its fast-casual menu as Vietnamese street food with subtle Cambodian influences. The menu covers banh mi, rice bowls and Vietnamese iced coffee. The Star Tribune gives June 11 as the dining room's official opening, while Mill City Times reported an opening on May 22. That gap likely reflects a soft opening before the official one, though neither source says so.
A few blocks away, the Owamni team opened Indígena by Owamni on June 23 at 818 S. 2nd St., inside the Guthrie Theater. It's another opening that went into an existing, well-known building.
The address still waiting, and the street work coming next
Not every room has found its next tenant. In June, Racket reported plans for Namos Restaurant and Lounge at 601 Chicago Ave. near the stadium. By July 22, Axios Twin Cities reported that the plan had fallen through over a liquor-license issue and that the building was listed for lease. That's the latest status we found.
One more date is on the calendar for the blocks around these restaurants. Zen Box's owners named road construction among the reasons they closed, and the next street project nearby is already scheduled. MnDOT lists its 3rd Avenue South/Highway 65 project, between Washington Avenue and South 1st Street, for construction in 2027. The work adds protected bike lanes, improves pedestrian crossings and replaces signals. MnDOT expects lane closures and a temporary closure of 2nd Street access while crews are working.
Roost Real Estate keeps track of Downtown East block by block, including which spaces are filling, which are waiting and what's coming next. If you'd like to talk through what these changes mean near your building, Request a Private Consultation.
