Prescription: More cow

The landmark Burch Pharmacy building at Franklin and Hennepin avenues in Minneapolis has just landed a shiny new tenant: a restaurant by spouses Isaac Becker and Nancy St. Pierre and their business partner Ryan Burnet, three of the forces behind the insanely popular Bar La Grassa. They're calling it Burch, and it's going to be a steakhouse.

"But it won't be your average steakhouse," said Becker. "It sounds weird when I call it that, but I can't think of any other way to describe it without using that label."

There will be beef, yes, all kinds of it. Becker is promising a variety of cuts in a range of sizes and prices.

"And we'll have prime, grass-fed and grass-fed with a corn finish," he said. "My goal is to find the best beef in the country. I can't commit to just locally sourced beef -- there isn't enough variety -- and I don't know that local producers can keep up. But there is a lot of great beef out there, and the goal is, if you want grass-fed, we'll have it, and if you want prime, we'll have it. It's kind of like how you want your eggs done. People are specific. They want what they like. I know I do."

But he's also pledging to cater to diners who aren't interested in a medium-rare porterhouse.

"We're not going to offer a token piece of halibut," said Becker. "We're going to offer a lot of vegetables. We want it to be a destination for people who don't like beef."

Running the show will be chef Danny Del Prado, a Bar La Grassa veteran who has spent the past several years working in Portland, Ore. "Having him coming here and doing this was a big victory for me," said Becker. "With Danny signed on, I'm not as nervous or as scared about it."

Becker and St. Pierre also own 112 Eatery, and Burnet is co-owner, along with Tim Rooney, of the Barrio empire.

The project has a vague, late 2012/early 2013 opening date. The restaurant will cover most of the drug store's street-level footprint, with a 100-seat dining room and bar and an open kitchen.

The limestone-lined basement will house a small kitchen equipped with a wood-burning oven ("All of the food that we serve in the basement will come out of that oven," Becker says) for a casual, neighborhood cafe-style 50-seat bar and dining room.

That busy Franklin-Hennepin intersection has particular significance for Becker, winner of last year's Best Chef: Midwest accolade from the James Beard Foundation. He once lived in the apartment building across the street from the former drug store ("It's where I bought my shampoo and toothpaste") and spent five years cooking next door at the former Lowry's (now Rye Deli).

"I mean, this is my intersection," he said with a laugh. "I've been driving past that place for the last two years thinking, 'What a great space.'"

Diners interested in a Burch preview need look no further than the 112 Eatery. On the first Tuesday of every month, Becker is offering a four-course dinner for $50, and using each course as a test-drive for possible Burch menu items. Reservations are essential.

• Rick Nelson

MayDay parade postponed to Mother's Day

For only the second time in its 38 years, In the Heart of the Beast Theatre postponed last weekend's MayDay Parade and Festival to this Sunday. According to marketing director Brie Jonna, the call was made not because of Sunday's rain, but because of the waterlogged ground at Powderhorn Park. "The park couldn't have sustained all the people and the food trucks, so we made that call to protect the park," she says. Despite the postponement, HOTB offered the opportunity to those who came to town last weekend specifically for the event to check out the puppets in the theater space, and even did an impromptu jaunt to the park with a couple of the outsized puppets. The parade has been rescheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday (Mother's Day), beginning at E. 25th Street and Bloomington Avenue S., and ending with the festival at Powderhorn Park.

• Jahna Peloquin

Impromptu Beasties tribute at Record Room