Longtime Uptown coffee shop owner Sanjeev Azad said he has turned over Lake and Bryant Cafe to new owners after four years of operation. The news was sudden, posted on Azad’s personal Instagram page on Monday.

Lake and Bryant Cafe operates as both a coffee shop and a breakfast and lunch spot with an eclectic food menu that includes Extremely Hot Breakfast Noodles, shakshuka, and huevos rancheros. The clientele is equally as diverse.

“This business has taken off, taken on its own life and personality,” Azad said at the bustling cafe in the middle of Uptown on Wednesday. Azad sold the business to the owners of Gálapagos Bar and Grill on East Lake Street, a deal he said was in the works since May.

Azad and his wife, Loveleen, opened the cafe in 2021. Azad was also the franchisee of numerous Dunn Brothers in Uptown. He and his wife moved to Uptown from Blaine when he opened the Dunn Brothers on 25th 1/2 Street and Hennepin Avenue before another franchisee took it over. He also operated the Dunn Brothers at Lake Street and Humboldt Avenue and, no kidding, the Dunn Brothers that once occupied the Lake and Bryant Cafe spot.

Azad said nothing will immediately change at the cafe. We are reaching out to the owners of Gálapagos to confirm.

“I’m mad at him,” Allison Westplate said with a smile. Westplate drove from Minnetonka to say goodbye to Azad. “I don't leave my house for anything.”

Westplate teased Azad about opening a catering business so she could continue eating his food.

"He went around the whole world," Westplate said. "You think someone can just make this up if they live in Minnesota?" Westplate said.

Azad and his wife are back in Blaine now.

Lake and Bryant Cafe is located at 821 W. Lake St. and is open 8 a.m.-3 p.m. daily.