Betty's Fine Foods closed July 7 after a 13-year run at 680 N. High St. in the Short North, and just a few days later the owners of Northstar Caf� were taking measurements. But it won't be another Northstar, which has a restaurant nearby. A lease has been signed for the space but "no concept has been finalized."

Well, that didn�t take long.

Betty�s Fine Foods closed July 7 after a 13-year run at 680 N. High St. in the Short North, and just a few days later, workers from Northstar Cafe were taking measurements.

Betty�s owner Liz Lessner tweeted at 1:30 p.m. Friday: �It�s official: Northstar is coming into Betty's. Contractor is here now. Welcome Northstar!�

The location will not be another Northstar Cafe, however. One already exists just a couple of blocks away on High Street.

Its owners are still working on what will open there � and when.

�We are excited,� said Leigh Nordin, Northstar managing partner. �We are in such the early stages. Plans are developing. We have signed a lease for that space, but no concept has been finalized.�

The Betty�s location is beloved by Northstar�s founders, Kevin Malhame and his wife Katy, Nordin said.

�Before they were married, she was trying to sell him on Columbus,� Nordin said of the Malhames. �She took him to Betty�s.

�They have always had a special affinity for that spot.�

Betty�s was the first restaurant for Lessner, whose Columbus Food League also owns Dirty Frank�s Hot Dog Palace, the Grass Skirt Tiki Room, the Jury Room, Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails and Surly Girl Saloon.

Lessner announced this year that Betty�s would close.

Northstar has three cafe locations, with a fourth slated to open in Westerville in late 2015, plus Third & Hollywood in Grandview Heights.

jmalone@dispatch.com