The Last Milio's in Minnesota Closed on 44th Street. A Neighborhood Bar Took the Corner Down the Block Instead.

"This is the spot that I feel like I needed since I got here, so we decided to create it."

That's Elizabeth Kitzenberg, quoted in Bring Me The News, talking about why she opened Picnic in the old Clancey's space at 4307 Upton Ave S. She wasn't talking about a gap in the market. She was talking about a gap in her own neighborhood, the one she'd lived in for years before she finally did something about it. Milio's closed this year, and Picnic opened nearby. These changes are worth knowing about as you plan a few Saturdays here.

The Sandwich Shop That Outlasted Nearly Everyone

Milio's had been serving sandwiches at 3813 W. 44th St. for close to twenty years, longer than most of the businesses currently open on Upton Avenue. It was also the chain's last remaining location anywhere in Minnesota, which meant its closure in January 2026 wasn't a Linden Hills story so much as a statewide one that happened to end here. The general manager told a local Facebook group the closure came, in his words, sooner than we all thought, and pointed to city conditions and slower winter traffic rather than anything specific to the neighborhood. Fox News later picked up the story, treating it as the end of a Wisconsin-based chain's run in the state.

Milio's closure is one part of the recent change on this block.

What Was Already Standing When It Left

Walk 43rd and Upton on any weekend and the businesses you pass are almost entirely one-off, owner-named, and hard to find anywhere else. Wild Rumpus, the bookstore with the resident cat, has been a fixture for decades. Sebastian Joe's still scoops ice cream from the same corner it always has. Larue's, the clothing and jewelry boutique now at 4301 Upton, moved into the neighborhood a few years back and has been part of the strip's texture ever since. Le Burger 4304 opened in 2024 from two Bachelor Farmer alumni who wanted to do a French-inspired take on an American diner classic. Rosalia Pizza, Tilia, and Martina are also part of the restaurant lineup.

Milio's was a chain among the independent businesses in the area. Its closing marked a change on the strip.

The Bar That Opened Nearby

Picnic opened nearby, in the space at 4307 Upton that had been Clancey's for years before that. Kitzenberg and her husband Andrew opened it as a neighborhood gathering spot first and food second, built for the neighbors who live within walking distance and the diners spilling over from other spots on the street who want a drink before or after their reservation elsewhere.

She named it for the couple's own habit of packing a meal and walking it down to the Lake Harriet Bandshell, a short walk from the storefront. "One of our favorite things is to take a picnic to the Lake Harriet Bandshell," she told Bring Me The News. "Picnic is a nod to that unique aspect of our local culture." That's not a positioning line dreamed up for a press release. It's a description of an actual weekly habit that a lot of Linden Hills residents already share, now with a bar attached to it.

Two Dates on the Fall Calendar

The neighborhood's fall calendar offers two dates worth having in one place before the season gets away from you.

The Fall Festival has been running for roughly fifty years, and this year's food lineup is drawn entirely from businesses already named above, plus a few others just outside the immediate strip. The City of Lakes Art Fair is much younger by comparison, only in its second year, but it fills a similar role: a weekend featuring individual makers, staged on the lake most Linden Hills residents already walk past on their way to somewhere else.

Neither event depends on Linden Hills specifically to exist. The Fall Festival happens in the park. The art fair happens across the lake, technically closer to the East Isles side of Bde Maka Ska than to Upton Avenue. But both draw the same crowd that already treats 43rd and Upton as its errand run, and both offer chances to visit local businesses and artists.

What This Actually Means If You Live Here

This year brought changes to the neighborhood's storefronts and calendar. Milio's, after nearly twenty years in Minnesota, closed; a locally owned bar opened a few blocks away. The festival that's been running for half a century still features local food trucks. The art fair, now in its second year, features artists from across the state.

If you're deciding where to spend a Saturday between now and Halloween, these events offer a guide. Sept. 26 puts you in Linden Hills Park with a plate from Picnic or Broders in hand. Oct. 10 or 11 puts you on the shore of Bde Maka Ska looking at work from an artist who drove in from somewhere else in Minnesota to be there. Neither requires a reservation weeks out or a drive across town. Both offer ways to spend time in the neighborhood as its storefronts change.

Together, the events offer a snapshot of the neighborhood this fall.

Julissa Fuentes Roberts and the team at SAVIA Group Real Estate spend a lot of time in neighborhoods like this one, watching how they hold their shape through turnover. If a Linden Hills conversation ever turns from a fall festival to a future move, they're the ones who already know which corners are worth paying attention to.