Former Bellecour in Wayzata will reopen as Italian restaurant and pizza takeout location

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Chef Daniel del Prado is opening Josefina and the takeout place Pizza Fina in the former Bellecour restaurant in Wayzata.

A single of the optimum profile restaurant closings of 2020 is foremost to a new beginning.

Bellecour, Gavin Kaysen’s shuttered French restaurant in Wayzata, will be reborn this spring as Josefina, an Italian restaurant from a team that features chef and restaurateur Daniel del Prado.

The menu will be encouraged by the cuisine of Rome. “It is really Italian, but we are hoping to aim on the area,” del Prado mentioned. “It is really pork hefty. Amatriciana is from Rome. Cacio e Pepe is from Rome. Rice fritters. We are undertaking our interpretation of salt cod fritters. But hefty on pasta, major on vegetable sides, and pizza.”

Pizza, in actuality, will be a concentrate of the related previous Bellecour bakery, which will benefit from a takeout window to distribute spherical Roman pies as the offshoot Pizza Fina.

Del Prado and company partner Aaron Switz teamed up with chef Steve McMullen, who was the opening chef de cuisine at Burch Steak and Pizza Bar beneath del Prado, who was executive chef.

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Bellecour in Wayzata will before long turn into the Italian restaurant Josefina.

McMullen had considering that moved to New York, but when the pandemic introduced him property, he reconnected with del Prado.

“I really like him,” del Prado stated. “He is good.”

This is a chaotic time for del Prado, whose eating places incorporate Martina and Colita, and the recently opened Argentine-Sicilian pizzeria Rosalia.

The soonest we can hope Josefina to open up is someday this spring.

“It’s the finest I can do appropriate now,” he explained. “I am making an attempt to be extra present at the dining establishments. I work each day, and I end by all the places to eat each and every working day. I am super linked to anything and make all final decisions.” But, he emphasized, if the pandemic taught him everything, it’s that functioning a cafe is a group effort and hard work. “It truly is a full group of people today,” he mentioned, that will get Roman-design and style pizza into the palms of Wayzatans.

© Star Tribune/Star Tribune/Star Tribune file/Star Tribune/TNS
Star Tribune file Bellecour in Wayzata will before long grow to be the Italian cafe Josefina.

Of class, the deal with — 739 E. Lake St. — is a storied one particular. In the 1970s, it revolutionized French cuisine in the Twin Metropolitan areas as Chouette. More not long ago, it was home to Kaysen’s 4-star bistro.

“Right away, I known as Gavin and I requested for his blessing, out of regard,” del Prado said. “These are big sneakers. I know men and women are likely to compare it no issue what. I can only do my best.”

Sharyn Jackson • 612-673-4853

@SharynJackson