Tenant restaurant to expand into space next door

Tenant, an upscale East Harriet restaurant that’s found success with its ever-changing, six-course tasting menu and reservations-only model, is planning to expand into an adjacent retail space — adding a lounge and some bar seating.

The restaurant, founded in 2017 by Cameron Cecchini and Grisha Hammes, hosts about 25 to 30 diners in three fixed seatings — at 6 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. — and sometimes the small space can be crowded.

They said the expansion is mostly about giving diners the option to arrive early or linger after they’re finished eating. They intend on remaining a “small-focus restaurant” and said they expected the number of meals they serve each week to stay roughly steady, though they may add brunch down the road.  

“It would be nice for people to have the option to stick around for a while and have a drink, listen to some music,” Cecchini said. “[But] we’re small — It’s like the tortoise and the hare for us; we’d like to keep it like that.”

Tenant is working with the city to get an expanded liquor license to serve cocktails, and Cecchini said they’d serve “just the classics — no funny business.”

Cecchini and Hammes’ landlord is Doug Flicker, their former boss. They worked for Flicker at his acclaimed restaurant Piccolo before it closed in December 2016. A few months later they opened Tenant in Piccolo’s space at 4300 Bryant Ave. S. — thus the restaurant’s name.

Posh Spa, a massage therapy business that shares the building with Tenant, will move out on March 1. Owner Sherry Tian said she is looking to find another space nearby in South Minneapolis.  

Tenant hopes to open its expanded space by May.