Chef Nicole Pederson-Bates was hoping Groundswell, the beloved Hamline-Midway neighborhood cafe, would reopen after a devastating fire last year.

At the same time, she was looking for a place of her own to open. So when she saw it listed for rent, she couldn’t resist at least inquiring about it.

“We live in the neighborhood,” Pederson-Bates said. “We loved Groundswell. Having a place close enough to walk to was such a treat.”

After consulting with former owner Megan Greulich Schoonover, Pederson-Bates and her husband and business partner Andrew Bates landed taking a chance on an all-day cafe. And they considered keeping the Groundswell name, but because Pederson-Bates really wants to add dinner to the agenda at some point and it never stuck at Groundswell, they decided on a new name: Bewick Cafe. It’s named after Bewick’s wren, a songbird common in the southwest U.S.

Bewick Cafe will open sometime in the next few weeks, starting with hours of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and expanding to happy hour when the staff and the neighborhood seem ready for it.

“I want to focus the energy into bringing back this small, inviting space,” Pederson-Bates said. “The kitchen is small and tight, and we need to figure out how to make it work.”

The couple has made a few changes to the space — there’s now a small, four-person bar, and to make it seem less like a bakery, they took out the bakery case and will have a temporary one on top of the bar so they can remove it in the evenings. There’s also a long repurposed church pew in the main dining room, and they’ve added the ability to cordon off parts of the adjacent room for private events.

The opening menu will include some smaller plates like marinated cannellini beans with house-made pita, griddled hard-boiled eggs topped with chili crisp and fried shallots, and pickled herring, as well as a breakfast burrito, egg souffle sandwich, braised beef and a vegetable stew. There are sweet and savory bakery items, too, including a cardamom bun and a bacon and caramelized onion scone. They have a soft-serve machine, and they plan to offer a pistachio magic-shell dipped cone.

Bewick has a full liquor license, so there will be craft cocktails, but also beer, wine, nonalcoholic cocktails and, of course, a full espresso program.

Eventually, the team will add dinner, which befits Pederson-Bates’ fine-dining experience.

She grew up in the north metro and got her start in restaurants at Tulips Cafe, the long-shuttered French restaurant on Selby Avenue, and eventually went to culinary school at the Art Institutes International of Minnesota. She’s worked in Chicago and New York, under Marcus Samuelsson and at the venerable Gramercy Tavern. She and her husband returned to Minnesota in 2019, just before the pandemic.

Most recently, she was culinary director at Food Gallery Catering in Minneapolis, but she’s been dreaming of her own space and finally took the leap.

Bewick Cafe: 1340 Thomas Ave., St. Paul; bewickcafe.com