Northeast Minneapolis' Stargazer Cocktail Bar Closes, Reborn as Italian Eatery

Stargazer, the moody cocktail bar with a starry-purple ceiling and a menu accessed only by QR code, is closing its doors on September 5 in Northeast Minneapolis before returning in October as a completely different kind of restaurant. Travail Collective, the hospitality group behind the bar, has announced that the space at 1304 NE 2nd St. will be revamped and reopen as a neighborhood restaurant centered on Italian-inspired food, complete with housemade pastas and shareable plates.

The news came via a subscriber email cited by the Minnesota Star Tribune, which first reported that the bar will close, be reconfigured, and return this fall with a friendlier, more accessible identity. Stargazer opened in winter 2024 as a joint project between Travail Collective and beverage director Robb Jones, who also co-owns Meteor, a North Minneapolis bar nominated for a 2024 James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar, according to White Bear Lake Magazine. Jones had previously served as bar director at Gavin Kaysen's Spoon and Stable before helping design Stargazer's original cocktail program.

A Galaxy-Themed Menu Fades Out

Stargazer's signature gimmick was its digital galaxy menu, a QR-code-only system engineered with local photographer Scott Meinzer that organized more than 50 drinks into interactive star clusters with names like the Botanical Cluster and Fruit Nebula, per Racket MN. The intimate 40-seat room was built around a horseshoe bar and mostly two-seat tables, with an intentionally dark, cozy layout that made it nearly impossible to see inside from the street, the Star Tribune reported. The bar primarily served small snack plates rather than full meals, with bartender Jeff Rogers leading the bar crew.

The bluish-purple starry ceiling and the space-shuttle-pod-style restrooms will reportedly stick around even as the concept changes, according to Racket MN's original coverage of the buildout. That same address at 1304 NE 2nd St. previously housed the growler and crowler shop for Dangerous Man Brewing Company before Stargazer took over the corner, a lineage that fits a broader churn of craft beverage spots in the neighborhood — Hoodline previously reported on HeadFlyer's own taproom closure after nine years just blocks away.

Competing in One of the City's Hottest Food Corridors

Stargazer sits in the Sheridan neighborhood's increasingly celebrated culinary corridor, right alongside Vinai from chef Yia Vang and Oro by Nixta, a 2024 James Beard Best New Restaurant finalist, as noted by Bring Me the News. The intersection of 2nd Street and 13th Avenue Northeast has become one of the city's most talked-about dining stretches, and the new Italian concept appears aimed at capturing regular dinner traffic rather than a late-night cocktail crowd. Whether the room will be reconfigured to seat larger groups remains unclear, though the Star Tribune noted the interior currently favors a sizable central bar and small two-top tables.

The pivot fits a pattern Bring Me the News describes across the Twin Cities, where ambitious cocktail bars and fine-dining concepts have increasingly shifted toward budget-conscious, community-rooted dining. Travail Collective told subscribers that restaurants should be welcoming, approachable, and rooted in community — language that signals the group's broader strategic direction as much as it does Stargazer's specific reboot.

A Final Countdown of Tasting Menus

Before the lights go dim on the constellation theme, Stargazer is running a nightly four-course “Travail-Style” tasting menu for two priced at $47, alongside rotating cocktail specials, through its September 5 closing date. Online reservations remain open for the final stretch. The new Italian-slanted menu, expected to feature housemade pastas, shareable plates, and seasonal specialties, is slated to debut when the space reopens in October.

Travail Collective's footprint extends well beyond Stargazer and its Robbinsdale flagship, encompassing ie by Travail in South Minneapolis, two Pig Ate My Pizza locations including a newer outpost in Bloomington, two Dream Creamery locations, and operations at Graze Food Hall in the North Loop — the same food hall Hoodline covered recently when it hosted a $50 tiki-themed luau event. It remains unclear how Stargazer's eventual pricing will compare with ie's Italian menu in South Minneapolis, or whether Robb Jones will stay involved in shaping the bar program once the pasta-forward concept takes over.