Eloise Looks To Offer an Intimate Dining Experience

by Emily Gedde | Nov 2024

Grilled Shawarma Spiced Chicken. Photos: Chris Emeott

Wayzata restaurant is designed to be a community hub.

Does the menu for your dining plans include an intimate dinner with wonderful food, innovative cocktails and an intriguing atmosphere? Eloise, which is slated to open this fall in Wayzata, may be relatively new on the scene, but its owner, Lindsay Pohlad, is no stranger to the restaurant business.

Pohlad opened The Grocer’s Table—a market, café and wine bar—four years ago, and it has seen success ever since. When the space next door became available, a new opportunity was born. “I didn’t want to expand The Grocer’s Table. I just felt like what was going on in those four walls was really special,” Pohlad says. “I decided I wanted to try my hand at something different, which was more of an elevated dining concept. Eloise is like the darker, moodier and sexier counterpart to The Grocer’s Table.”

Lindsay Pohlad

Exclusively serving dinner, Eloise is designed to make guests feel as if they are gathered in a friend’s dining room. It’s comfortable and welcoming. The restaurant is a place where guests are encouraged to settle in, order cocktails and enjoy dinner and dessert—an experience as much as a meal. “We want it to have the same warm, inviting vibe that The Grocer’s Table has but with more of a full-service, elevated dining experience,” Pohlad says.

The new restaurant holds a special place in Pohlad’s heart—for a couple of reasons. It’s named after her husband, Tom Pohlad’s, grandmother Eloise Pohlad, and as a mother of three sons, the name was always reserved if Pohlad had a daughter. “I always call my work my fourth child, so I guess this is my metaphorical fourth child,” she says.

Diners can indulge in Parker House Rolls with butter dressed in fine herbs, Aleppo honey, smoky olives and sea salt.

To pay additional tribute to her grandmother-in-law, the menu features one or two nods to Eloise’s era—the 1950s. “There will be some throwback dishes Eloise loved that were true to that time,” Pohlad says.

Speaking of the menu, Pohlad enthusiastically explains that meals come by way of its scratch kitchen and offer a seasonal flare. Diners can expect a relatively traditional set up with some small bites to shareable plates that allow guests to experience different flavor points—from seafood to salad to entrées.

Wagyu Meatloaf Wellington

“There are influences from all over,” She says of menu options. “There is a bit of a Mediterranean feel with bright, bold dishes and delicious sauces and grilled proteins. There is also a Midwest sense and influences from both coasts. The one true thread that keeps it together is that seasonality.”

Pohlad speaks highly of the behind-the-scenes team, which anchors her restaurant ventures, giving an appreciative nod to her executive chef Craig Johnson, who has been with Pohlad since she opened The Grocer’s Table. “He’s a huge part of our team,” she says. Tsu-Hung (Bam) Liu, a newer addition, will work alongside Johnson at Eloise as the chef de cuisine.

Craig Johnson and Tsu-Hung (Bam) Liu work to bring the Eloise menu from concept to plate.

Pohlad also takes pride in being a hands-on owner, which fortifies her reputation in the industry. “I’m an extremely involved owner,” she says. “I’m there every day, all day. I think that helps to instill a great work ethic among my team, and I do everything I can to support them in their roles. I’m involved in menu development, systems, service, hiring—all of it. When you walk into a space where an owner is that involved, you feel a sense that someone cares.”

Pohlad says with Eloise, she’ll continue to proudly represent her brand, concept and food. She wants the dining experience to be memorable and one that will bring diners back again and again. “One of the main focal points of the space is the bar itself,” she says. “The bar feels very ample in terms of where you can eat and [includes] the comfort of the 16 seats. It’s not designed for people to have a drink and get up because the seats are uncomfortable. That’s a place where I want people, who didn’t get a reservation, to know they can walk in our door, find a seat and be taken care of.”