Something quieter than a grand opening is happening at 50th & France this year. Over roughly twelve months, the same intersection Edina residents have circled for coffee runs and Saturday errands is turning into one of the most concentrated chef-driven dining blocks in the west metro. If you live here, the practical question isn't whether the district is changing. It's which of the seven new places is worth your Friday reservation, and which ones to walk past.
The short version: Daniel del Prado, the chef behind Martina, Colita, Rosalia, and Cardamom in Minneapolis, is now the operator with the biggest footprint on the block. He is opening two restaurants at 50th & France this year and already runs a third one block west. That single fact reshapes how a longtime Edina resident should think about the neighborhood's food scene going into 2027.
The lineup, in one place
Here is what has opened, is opening, or is under construction within a five-minute walk of the intersection.
| Place | Address | Concept | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thérèse | 3945 Market St. (Nolan Mains) | Upscale French brasserie | Early November 2026 |
| Americana | 5036 France Ave. S. | New American, glass rooftop | Fall 2026 |
| Side Door at Dexter's | 3717 W. 50th St. | Food hall: Daq Daq, Lucia's, Rose Sushi | Opening soon |
| Smith Coffee & Cafe | 3948 W. 50th St. | Coffee, pastries, breakfast | Fall 2026 |
| General Sports Bar | 5034 France Ave. S. | Sports bar, 25+ TVs | Summer 2026 |
| Smithson | Southdale Center | Steak and seafood | Fall 2026 |
| Mad Hatter Bakery and Cafe | 7300 Metro Blvd. | British bakery, weekday cafe | Open now |
Seven concepts, four operators with existing Twin Cities restaurants behind them. That density matters.
The Del Prado thesis
Daniel del Prado is unveiling the first of two new restaurants in the 50th and France district, and Thérèse, an upscale French brasserie, is expected to open in early November in the former Lynhall space at 3945 Market St. within the Nolan Mains development. The menu leans into the classics you would expect from the format: steak frites, croque monsieur, Lyonnaise salad, escargot, and French onion soup.
The second project is more consequential for the block's identity. By fall 2026, Americana will replace Cocina del Barrio at 5036 France Ave. S. and feature a glass-enclosed rooftop patio and a redesign by Christian Dean Architecture, with Barrio owner Ryan Burnet teaming with del Prado for the third restaurant in their partnership. Their earlier collaborations, Porzana in the North Loop and Minari in Northeast Minneapolis, are two of the harder reservations in the city.
And this all sits a block from the group's existing anchor. The team led by del Prado opened Dexter's, a "refined" sports bar, at 3717 50th St. W. in Minneapolis last August. The Dexter's building is now getting a food-hall companion. Side Door at Dexter's is a new food hall from Daniel del Prado's restaurant group opening soon near 50th and France, with Daq Daq offering Korean fried chicken, Lucia's serving pizza and salad, and Rose Sushi focused on nigiri and sushi rolls.
Read those three projects together and the pattern is obvious. One operator, three formats, three price points, all within a two-block radius. That is not a coincidence of leasing timing. It is a bet on the district.
The parking fight is the real story
The most instructive detail in any of this coverage is not on a menu. It is a line in the Americana permit file. A city ordinance requires Americana to add 14 off-street parking spaces to ensure there's enough room in the city's public parking ramps for all businesses at 50th & France.
Fourteen spaces is not much on its own. What it tells you is that the district is now dense enough that the city is actively rationing curb and ramp capacity between tenants. Every new restaurant added to the block changes the math for the next one. If you have wondered why some of the previous 50th & France concepts felt sleepy on a weeknight while their sidewalks stayed full, the answer is that foot traffic and parking supply were operating on different curves. That is finally reconciling, and the resolution is coming through denser, higher-turnover restaurants with rooftop and food-hall formats designed to seat more people faster.
What's replacing what
The turnover here is genuine. It is not new construction on empty lots. A wave of new dining spots is moving to 50th and France after multiple longtime establishments closed, and Smith Coffee & Cafe owner Ann Schuster has announced her plans for the former D'Amico & Sons space. The cafe will be open daily from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m., pizza nights may be added down the road, and a grand opening is anticipated sometime this fall.
Meanwhile, General Sports Bar, a new sports bar from the team behind Nolo's, will open this summer in Edina inside the former Salut restaurant space, with more than 25 televisions. Salut had run on the corner for years. Its replacement is a different animal aimed at a different night out.
If you kept a mental map of 50th & France built around D'Amico, Salut, Barrio, and Lynhall, that map is now out of date. Two of those four addresses now belong to del Prado's group.
Beyond the intersection
Two more openings worth putting on your list are not at 50th and France, but they change where an Edina household drives on a Saturday.
Southdale gets a steakhouse
Restaurateurs Sharon and Randy Stanley, of Baldamar and 6Smith, plan to open a steak and seafood restaurant called Smithson in Southdale Center in fall 2026. A Baldamar-caliber steakhouse inside the mall is a signal about where Southdale is heading. Center-court fast casual is not the whole story anymore.
A British bakery hidden in an office park
British sausages, meat pies, scones, and other traditional comfort foods are on the menu at Edina's newest restaurant, Mad Hatter Bakery and Cafe, which celebrated its soft opening ahead of a grand opening Saturday, April 25 inside the One Corporate Center at 7300 Metro Blvd. Jules Hill of the Mad Hatter Cake Co., a regular fixture at Twin Cities farmers markets, is behind the venture, which serves English scones with homemade clotted cream and strawberry jam, fruit buns, traditional Belgian buns, and an assortment of other sweets. With many corporate offices nearby, the Mad Hatter is open weekdays from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., and the cafe features both dine-in and patio seating.
Weekday hours, patio, and a location wedged into an office campus off Metro Boulevard. It is a lunch play, not a dinner play, and worth knowing about specifically because it is easy to miss.
A Friday night, replanned
Here is how the new geography actually maps to an evening.
- 6:15 p.m. Park at the ramp on 51st. If Americana's rooftop is your target and it is full, walk two blocks to Thérèse for the bar seats.
- 7:30 p.m. Skip the entrée at either spot. Split a starter and cross to Side Door at Dexter's for a second course. Daq Daq's Korean fried chicken and Rose Sushi under one roof is a format Edina has not had before.
- 9:00 p.m. Coffee or a nightcap. Smith Coffee will not be open, but the block has plenty of alternatives, and the reason to know Smith is for Saturday breakfast without driving to Eden Prairie.
That itinerary is not possible in Edina today. It becomes possible sometime between this fall and early November.
The one date to hold
If you want to see the whole district at its most walkable, block off the first weekend of June. The 59th Annual Edina Art Fair, one of the nation's top-ranked art festivals, is set to take over the 50th & France district from June 5-7, 2026. Set in the heart of the 50th & France district, the fair transforms the area as the intersection is closed to traffic, creating a walkable, festival atmosphere filled with art, shopping, and discovery, with visitors browsing local boutiques alongside artist booths, beer gardens, food, and live music throughout the weekend. By the time the 60th fair rolls around in 2027, the tenant mix around those booths will look meaningfully different from the one that lined the sidewalks in 2025.
The takeaway for people who already live here
The convenient shorthand for 50th & France used to be "shops with restaurants attached." What is happening this year moves it toward "restaurants with shops attached," and the operators making that shift are people with track records elsewhere in the Twin Cities. That is a genuine change in the character of the block, not a marketing rebrand.
If you have friends visiting from out of town this fall, the itinerary writes itself. If you are the household that has been driving to the North Loop for a Porzana reservation, one of those trips is about to get a lot shorter.
When you are ready to talk about how your own corner of Edina fits into the bigger picture, Kelly Bollinger would love to hear from you. Schedule your complimentary home consultation and let's map out your next chapter over coffee, ideally somewhere on the block.
