A new cafe is settling into the fire-scarred storefront at 1340 Thomas Ave. W. in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood, where chef Nicole Pederson-Bates and her husband Andrew Bates are opening Bewick Cafe around Minnesota State Fair time. The couple built out the space themselves with help from friends, including a salvaged butcher-block counter Andrew Bates moved from Chicago to St. Paul.
The space has sat empty since Groundswell, a 17-year neighborhood staple, was damaged by a fire in May 2025 and announced in February that it would not reopen, according to Bring Me The News. The fire caused extensive smoke damage across neighboring storefronts, and community members and adjacent businesses launched GoFundMe campaigns that raised over $7,600 to help displaced Groundswell staff, per a separate Bring Me The News report. Groundswell had opened in the neighborhood in 2009 and was once ranked among Midway’s top businesses in Hoodline’s own Midway neighborhood guide.
Pederson-Bates found the real estate listing for the space herself, according to reporting by the Minnesota Star Tribune. She told the paper she did not want to open the restaurant alone, so she asked Andrew Bates, whom she later married, to become her business partner. He is the one who suggested the name Bewick, inspired by the Bewick’s wren, a small songbird that nests in woodlands and thickets. The name is pronounced like the automobile brand Buick, the cafe’s owners clarified in a community Facebook post.
A Chef’s Long Road Back to Minnesota
Pederson-Bates grew up around the northern suburbs of Minneapolis and studied at the Art Institutes International Minnesota before working in the mountains, Chicago and New York, according to the same Star Tribune profile. She studied under chef Vincent Françoual at Vincent a Restaurant, where she developed a respect for seasonal, local ingredients and a robust pantry of seasonings. Her resume also includes stints at Gramercy Tavern and Red Rooster in Harlem, where chef Marcus Samuelsson once asked her whether she had heard of spice…