With same name but new chef, Momento to reopen downtown as a Mediterranean restaurant

After a brief closure, downtown restaurant Momento is reopening Sept. 6 with a new chef and focus on Mediterranean flavors.

Aaron Uban is taking over the kitchen and will be cooking dishes like fava bean dip, mixed seafood cioppino, strip steak with duck fat-poached carrots, and wood-fired porchetta.

Chef Aaron Uban will lead the kitchen at the new iteration of Momento, the downtown St. Paul restaurant that’s reopening in September 2023 with a Mediterranean menu. Uban formerly cooked at Kincaid’s, Strip Club Meat & Fish and Kieran’s Kitchen. (Photo courtesy Morrissey Hospitality)

Uban has cooked all around the Twin Cities, including leading the kitchen at the nearby Kincaid’s location and as culinary director at The Food Building in Northeast Minneapolis. At Momento, he’ll use ingredients from Food Building producers including Baker’s Field Flour & Bread, Lowry Hill Provisions and Alemar Cheese. Fish and vegetables will also come from Indigenous and foraged sources, the restaurant says.

The bar menu is also being rewritten to match the food, with a beefed-up wine list and a few house-made liqueurs, too.

The original Momento restaurant took over the Pazzaluna space in early 2022 and was smaller and more casual than its predecessor, though kept the popular wood-fired oven. After Pazzaluna closed, the space was completely redesigned, including the addition of a centerpiece mural by artist Adam Turman.

Now, as Momento the new-American restaurant becomes Momento the Mediterranean restaurant, the team has once again reconceptualized the decor, though less dramatically. Morrissey Hospitality, which runs the place, is going for a “softer mood” with flowing drapery, plants and “Old World-style” pottery, they said in a news release. The Turman mural is staying, though the artist is planning to updating it.

Starting Sept. 6, Momento will be open from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Momento: 360 St. Peter St.; 651-467-0000; momento-stp.com

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