La Belle Vie To Close This Month; Owner Cites Working Families Ordinance

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) –A longtime bastion of fine dining in Minneapolis is slated to close at the end of the month.

Dara Grumdahl, restaurant critic for Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine and host of WCCO Radio’s Off the Menu, says La Belle Vie will be closing on Oct. 24. Owner Tim McKee notified his staff Thursday afternoon.

The upscale Minneapolis eatery, just south of Loring Park, has been one of the most recognized and celebrated restaurants in the Twin Cities for more than a decade.

Grumdahl said there are a couple of reasons behind McKee’s decision to close the doors.
“(The minimum wage law) kind of ruined his margins,” Grumdahl said. “He’s really upset about this working families (ordinance), he thinks that he’s not making money now, and (if Minneapolis passes that ordinance) they’ll be in debt and it will be a disaster.”

McKee also said that the major road construction on the nearby intersection of Hennepin and Lyndale won’t help get people in the door.

La Belle Vie opened in Stillwater in 1998, and was a game-changer, according to Grumdahl.
“When they opened, there were very few chef-driven restaurants,” she said. “Now that’s the standard, but (McKee) is one of the people that was the trailblazer for that model.”
Grumdahl also says La Belle Vie launched the careers of so many other successful restaurateurs in the Twin Cities.
“The restaurant is foundational to everything that makes Minneapolis a food city.”
The restaurant will close one day shy of La Belle Vie’s 10th anniversary at it’s current location.