Up next for Corner Table owners: new restaurant in old space

Occupation: Nick Rancone, 31, and Thomas Boemer, 34, are co-owners of Corner Table (4537 Nicollet Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-823-0011; cornertablerestaurant.com).

Editor's note: Corner Table recently moved to a new location, a few blocks from its old spot. The new place is at 45th and Nicollet, the old was at 42nd and Nicollet. The two men will turn the vacated spot into a more casual restaurant, showcasing traditional Southern fried chicken and sides.

What is Corner Table all about?

Rancone: It was founded by Scott Pampuch as a neighborhood, elevated-cuisine restaurant. When my wife and I bought it, I was 29. I wanted this understated but elegant dining program. That vision wasn't fully formed, but we have gotten to work with Thomas, and it has gotten a little more refined and elegant. You can walk in here in whatever you want to wear, and we'll treat you the same way. We want to completely surprise and overdeliver for what people expect. We want to give people a really good experience, but we want to be approachable.

Boemer: It definitely has been an evolution. I met Nick and Chenny (Rancone, Nick's wife), and we fell in love with this small restaurant in a community. Corner Table is really balanced -- between front of the house and back of the house, the service and the food, between neighborhood and destination. The restaurant became a combination of a lot of things that both of us wanted to see.

Rancone: I don't view us as a neighborhood restaurant, per se. We do have the neighborhood community, but I don't view it as a "Cheers" kind of place.

What does the new location add?

Rancone: There was an obvious economic element. Being able to obtain the new space gave us a really solid foundation to push what we hadn't been able to push or focus on in the past.

We gained only 10 seats inside, but also a patio with 30 seats.

There are also many more efficiencies, as far as operating expenses go.

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Up next for Corner Table owners: new restaurant in old space