We sort of knew it was coming, but the Broder family officially announced they will not rebuild and reopen Terzo at the corner of 50th Street and Penn Avenue in South Minneapolis. In an Instagram post, they wrote that “the time, energy, and resources needed to rebuild Terzo are beyond our capacity.”
In February, a water main break caused massive flooding that destroyed Terzo. Charlie Broder told me it was “unrecognizable” and “catastrophic” in a conversation on the radio a couple months back [link]. The choice was almost impossible: “Start over or walk away?” The Broders were renters—they didn’t own the building, so sorting out insurance, approvals, timelines, it’s a lot. Sparrow Cafe and the Paperback Exchange were also tenants and destroyed.
Terzo was my favorite of the Broder restaurants—every time I visited that bar it made me wish I lived in the neighborhood. The best Italian wine-by-the-glass program in the state, maybe in the entire Midwest. I wrote about them for Minnesota Monthly in 2016 as one of the best restaurants for wine pairings, and we did a companion piece with Charlie Broder that’s still worth a read.
I profiled them with WCCO-TV back in the day as well [text via CBSNews Minnesota, video via YouTube]. Terzo was really the kids’ restaurant: Molly Broder is the heartbeat behind the pasta bar, and Charlie and Thomas created Terzo originally as an Italian restaurant without pasta. Seafood, crudos, and small plates—12 years ago, it was revolutionary. They’ve changed over the years, of course, but the service always delighted me. It felt like home. In the post, the Broders allude to that vibe, stating that “the guests made our restaurant a gathering place for countless memories, celebrations and nightly rituals.”
Broder’s Cucina Italiana has been expanding, there’s a dine-in experience returning to that side of the street, and hopefully the Calabrian Porchetta sandwich from Terzo will migrate across the street too. 12 years is a great run—it feels awful that something totally out of their control has led to a permanent closure.
