Walk past 5036 France Avenue this month and you'll see fencing, a permit posted in the window, and no sign of the restaurant that's supposed to replace Cocina del Barrio. The wait isn't because nobody wants the space. It's because Edina's building code requires the incoming restaurant, Americana, to add 14 off-street parking spaces before it can open, a condition tied to keeping enough capacity in the city's public ramps for every business at the intersection. That single ordinance line is the real reason 50th & France's much-discussed restaurant wave is arriving in stages instead of all at once.
Once you know that, the rest of the picture reads differently. The story residents keep hearing is "a bunch of new restaurants are coming to 50th & France." The more accurate version is narrower and more interesting: a handful of operators who already run successful spots elsewhere in the Twin Cities are the ones filling almost every empty storefront on this stretch, which runs along France Avenue and West 50th Street right where Edina meets the Minneapolis city line. This isn't a neighborhood attracting fresh concepts from outside. It's a small group of known names consolidating territory on a strip they already understand.
The Math Behind the Storefronts
Start with chef Daniel del Prado. His restaurant group already operates Dexter's, a sports bar he opened in August 2024 with owners Carla and Spencer Jones, named for the couple's bulldog, just over the Edina line in Minneapolis at 3717 W. 50th St. He followed that with Thérèse, an upscale French brasserie that opened in late November 2025 in the former Lynhall space at 3945 Market St. in Edina, inside the Nolan Mains development. A food hall called Side Door, tucked into the Dexter's building, is set to bring in Daq Daq for Korean fried chicken, Lucia's for pizza and salad, and Rose Sushi for nigiri. And del Prado is now teaming with Ryan Burnet, the owner of the restaurant Americana is replacing, on what a Star Tribune report on the deal called the third restaurant in their partnership.
That's four addresses tied to one restaurant group on a strip you can walk end to end in about ten minutes, straddling both sides of the city line. Burnet isn't being pushed out by newcomers. He's rebuilding on his own footprint with a partner who already has three other properties on the same stretch, and this is the third project the two of them have built together.
The other names filling in the gaps follow the same logic. Marty Collins and Brett Johnson, who own NOLO's Kitchen and Bar along with its Rooftop Bar and Basement Bar in the North Loop, are opening General Sports Bar in the former Salut Bar Americain space at 5034 France Ave. Sharon and Randy Stanley, the team behind Baldamar and 6Smith, are opening Smithson, a steak and seafood concept, inside Southdale Center. Ann Schuster, who already runs Smith Coffee & Cafe out of a historic Eden Prairie farmhouse, is opening a second location in the former D'Amico & Sons space at 3948 W. 50th St. Every one of these is an established operator extending into Edina, not a first-time concept testing the market.
What's Actually Open Right Now
For anyone trying to plan a dinner this month rather than track construction permits, here's where things stand as of early August 2026:
| Restaurant | Address | Status | Backers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dexter's | 3717 W. 50th St., Minneapolis | Open since August 2024, patio expansion underway into former SotaRol space | Daniel del Prado, Carla & Spencer Jones |
| Thérèse | 3945 Market St., Edina | Open since late November 2025 | Daniel del Prado |
| Bellecour (daytime cafe) | Across the street from Thérèse | Already open | Independent |
| Mr. Paul's Supper Club & Carnival Bar | Across the plaza from Thérèse | Already open | Independent |
| General Sports Bar | 5034 France Ave., Edina | Expected late summer 2026 | Marty Collins, Brett Johnson, chef Peter Hoff |
| Side Door food hall | Inside the Dexter's building, 3717 W. 50th St., Minneapolis | Opening soon, no firm date | Daniel del Prado |
| Americana | 5036 France Ave., Edina | Fall 2026, pending parking buildout | Daniel del Prado, Ryan Burnet |
| Smith Coffee & Cafe | 3948 W. 50th St., Edina | Fall 2026 | Ann Schuster |
| Smithson | Southdale Center, Edina | Fall 2026 | Sharon & Randy Stanley |
Dexter's is worth a closer look if you want evidence the strategy works. According to Edina Magazine's feature on the restaurant, about 70 percent of Dexter's guests arrive with reservations, while the other 30 percent are neighborhood walk-ins and employees from nearby businesses stopping in for a bite. That ratio is the reason the group filed to expand the kitchen and patio into the adjacent former SotaRol space, adding roughly 50 patio seats. A restaurant that's still adding seats two years after opening is a useful signal for why the same operator keeps getting handed new addresses on this block.
Why the Old Names Keep Coming Back
General Sports Bar carries the clearest example of how personal this wave actually is. Collins told the Star Tribune that as a kid he used to visit General Sports, the hockey equipment shop that has operated near Braemar since 1962, and that going downstairs to get his skates sharpened is one of his clearest Edina memories. The new bar's name is a direct nod to that shop, not a rebrand of it. Johnson, whose father ran Edina's Hilltop eatery before he took it over, put it plainly:
"We're pretty plugged into the Edina neighborhood and I could see people perk up when I mentioned the concept."
That's not marketing language borrowed from a template. It's an operator explaining why he thinks a 140-seat sports bar with 25-plus TVs, a 40-seat patio, and a basement game room with darts and a golf simulator will work in this specific spot: because he grew up going to the store the bar is named after.
The pattern holds across every name on this list. Burnet already ran a restaurant on this exact block for years before Americana. Del Prado tested the neighborhood with Dexter's before committing to Thérèse and now a third concept. Schuster is bringing a cafe she already runs successfully in Eden Prairie to a space just a few miles away rather than starting from zero. None of these are bets on an unproven idea. They're operators redeploying something they've already made work, in a location they already know draws foot traffic.
The Evening to Pair With It
If you want to see the strip at its best this week, the timing lines up. Edina's Lighthouse Night and Torchlight Concert runs tomorrow, Sunday, August 9, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Centennial Lakes Park, a short walk from 50th & France. The evening leans into early-1900s throwback entertainment, including a sleight-of-hand magician, an Italian organ grinder, a Wurlitzer band organ, and 25-cent ice cream cones served throughout the park. Fife and drums perform at 7:45 p.m., followed by the Torchlight Concert itself at 8:30 p.m., featuring the First John Philip Sousa Memorial Band. Admission and parking are free. Grab dinner at Dexter's or Thérèse beforehand and you've got a full evening without moving your car.
The bigger point is one most coverage of this strip has missed. 50th & France isn't experiencing generic restaurant turnover, the kind where old leases expire and whoever bids highest moves in. It's watching a handful of operators who already succeeded here or nearby double down on the same few blocks. That's a different kind of neighborhood signal than a wave of unrelated new openings, and it's the reason the strip has kept its character through several rounds of closures instead of feeling like a different place every year.
If you're thinking about what a neighborhood like this means for a home's long-term value, that's a conversation worth having with someone who tracks it closely. Your Home By Design works throughout Edina and the surrounding suburbs, pairing local market knowledge with staging and remodel expertise for sellers and buyers alike. Start Your Home By Design with a free market and staging consultation whenever you're ready to talk specifics.