Kalsada, modern Filipino restaurant from Cafe Astoria owners, will close next month

Jared Kaufman, Pioneer Press
·3 min read

Kalsada, the modern Filipino restaurant that was one of Pioneer Press readers’ favorites last year, is closing after less than 18 months.

The restaurant quietly served its last brunch over the weekend, and the last day for dinner will be Friday, Sept. 15.

“We’re very thankful to the neighborhood, the community,” chef and owner Leah Raymundo said on Tuesday. “And especially to my team. They shared so much love to the neighborhood.”

Raymundo and business/life partner John Occhiato also run Cafe Astoria and Stella Belle just off West 7th Street, and they opened Kalsada in spring 2022 in the former Augustine’s spot on Selby Avenue.

Both personally and professionally, the couple had an especially tough winter, they said, and the economics of the restaurant were becoming tenuous.

Filipino food still feels niche in the Twin Cities, Occhiato said, so some people saw the menu as a one-time experience rather than a regular hangout. And the intense snow in January, February and March made already-slow months untenable.

The restaurant was also selling much more food than drinks, a category whose profit margins are typically higher. Compared to their business plans, the restaurant wasn’t making good bar revenue, Occhiato said.

Plus, last November, their son was rushed to the emergency room and diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a condition in which the body’s bone marrow doesn’t produce enough or any new blood cells. He could’ve died that day, Occhiato said, which put things in perspective.

“He spent three to four months in the hospital, as did Leah, and it made it difficult to focus on the restaurants,” Occhiato said. “It made the restaurants seem frivolous, kind of; that there are more important things.”

Luckily, Raymundo said, he’s doing better now after several transfusions and surgeries but is still in and out of clinics.

So when Raymundo and Occhiato received a call out of the blue asking if they wanted to sell the restaurant, they were not interested at first but soon realized the proposal made sense. They’re finalizing details this week, Occhiato said, so more details should be available soon.

As Kalsada winds down for now — Occhiato said they’re “putting a pin” in the project, which could eventually reopen elsewhere in a smaller space — the couple is focusing on their other restaurants. At Cafe Astoria right now, they’re running a campaign for Shine Bright for Kids, a fundraiser for the cancer and blood disorders program at Children’s Minnesota, where their son received treatment.

Raymundo and Occhiato are also hopeful St. Paul city leaders can get creative in boosting family-owned restaurants and local businesses, particularly during festivals and events. For restaurants that operate on such thin margins, like Kalsada, more support could’ve been lifesaving.

“When the city is promoting itself outside the Twin Cities, the small businesses are what give the city its personality,” Occhiato said. “Not just the arenas and the skyline.”

Kalsada: Go before it closes Sept. 15; 1668 Selby Ave., kalsada-stpaul.com/

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