Business Journal coverage of Parma 8200 venue opening in Bloomington MN in June 2010. Parma 8200 the newest addition to the D'Amico Family of Resturants. Italian cuisine Happy Hour Business Lunch Private Parties Patio in season www.damico.com

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Friday, January 15, 2010
Normandale Lake to get D’Amico restaurant
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL BUSINESS JOURNAL - BY John Vomhof Jr. STAFF WRITER
D’Amico & Partners Inc. will open a full-service Italian restaurant in the Normandale Lake Office Park in Bloomington in
late May.
The yet-to-be-named restaurant will be located on the ground level of the 8200
Tower, which opened last year. D’Amico recently signed a long-term lease for
8,500 square feet of indoor space and an additional 2,500 square feet of outdoor
patio space.
Although D’Amico & Partners is still developing the menu, President Richard
D’Amico said a “centerpiece” of the restaurant will be a U-shaped antipasti bar that
will feature salads and appetizers, including Italian meat and cheeses, fruits,
vegetables and some raw fish. Guest will be able to sit at that bar and watch chefs
prepare the food.
“It will be more of a traditional Italian offering than we’re used to doing,” he said,
contrasting that with the more contemporary fare at D’Amico Kitchen, which
opened at the Chambers Hotel in downtown Minneapolis last August.
Prices will run in the high-$30s to low-$40s for dinner, but closer to $20 for lunch.
“It’s not fine dining by any stretch,” he said. “It will probably fall somewhere between Campiello’s and D’Amico Kitchen.”
The new restaurant will include a full bar.
Richard D’Amico expects the restaurant to attract office workers as well as residents from the surrounding neighborhoods in
Bloomington and Edina. The company had been in talks with NorthMarq about the space for more than two years, he said.
Bloomington-based NorthMarq Commercial Real Estate Services manages the building for New York-based owner TIAA-
CREF.
“It’s such a great location,” D’Amico said. “Even if we start a little slower, that’s OK because we really believe in this project
long term.”
Allan Hickok, co-CEO of Wayzata-based Redstone American Grill and a longtime restaurant analyst, said he thinks the new
D’Amico & Partners restaurant will succeed in Bloomington. Kincaid’s Fish, Chop & Steakhouse has performed well in the
nearby 8400 Tower for more than 20 years, and D’Amico & Partners has built a strong reputation with restaurants like
D’Amico Cucina, which was considered one of the Twin Cities’ top restaurants until it closed last summer.
“They know how to invent things, and they have restaurants that have stuck around for a very long time,” Hickok said.
The new restaurant was designed by Michelle Piontek of Minneapolis-based KKE Architects Inc., who used to work for
D’Amico & Partners and has designed every restaurant the company has opened since 1994.
“It will be a warmer, clubbier setting than people are used to seeing us do, in part to appeal to the business clientele in the
area,” Richard D’Amico said.
D’Amico & Partners owns and manages 21 eateries — 18 in the Twin Cities and three in Naples, Fla. They include D’Amico
Kitchen, Café Lurcat, Bar Lurcat, Masa, two Campiellos and a dozen D’Amico & Sons locations.
Richard D’Amico said sales overall were flat to down 6 percent last year, depending on the location. “We’re not down
double-digits, so we feel fortunate. If you’re down 3 to 6 percent, those are numbers you can deal with.”
jvomhof@bizjournals.com | (612) 288-2101