According to the press release, Prairie Kitchen & Bar “will specialize in locally grown and seasonal items that evoke the Scandinavian and farming heritage of Minnesota.”

Executive Chef Aaron Hagerdorn is a Culinary Institute of America grad, and is instilling in the menu a “tribute to Minnesota’s unique cuisine, with an emphasis on fresh regional produce, meat, grains, and dairy products,” he said.

Good to see that hotel get a facelift—I, for one, am interested to see the new joint. My last time in there was in late 2010, meeting Chez Panisse Chef David Tanis for an interview. We were both in dumbfounded awe and a slight bit of horror with the time warp of a lobby in which we found ourselves. I haven’t been back since. But it’s a unique venue, I’ve been to several events there over the years—easy parking, nice event spaces, hooked up via skyway, all that. So it’s great to see the money being dumped in for the facelift, and a premier restaurant (if it turns out that way) would be all the better.

More from the release:

Architecture and interior design firm Stonehill & Taylor, responsible for the latest renovation of the property, designed the new restaurant space. “Our inspiration for the restaurant came from the region. We heavily researched Minnesota’s Scandinavian heritage and the historic flour milling industry to add cultural texture into our contemporary design of the space,” said Michael Suomi, principal and vice president of interior design at Stonehill & Taylor.

Begin the day at Prairie Kitchen & Bar with hearty PB&J on griddled cinnamon bread with chestnut butter and lingonberry jam; smoked trout cake benedict; or a savory smoked ham and cheese omelet.  For lunch, guests will enjoy a selection of fresh salads and soups made from scratch, such as chilled honey cucumber and waterzooi.  Sandwich selections include the Meyer natural angus burger, the salmon BLT, and the Northwoods club.  For dinner, the menu offers wild rice bratwurst; parmesan crusted walleye; garlic and veal meatballs; and more.  The sumptuous dessert menu features a chocolate hazelnut torte; a strawberry rhubarb tart; and several other tantalizing selections.

An array of vegan, vegetarian and gluten free choices are available for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert such as the cherry soy smoothie; vanilla and soy milk pancakes with berry blast sugar free syrup and gluten free granola; roasted spring beets with shaved fennel, radish and arugula with a sweet and tart sherry dressing; caramelized artichoke and morel quiche; sweet potato and leek frittatas; and red berry pudding with basil anglaise and candied pecans.

The luxurious bar, made of 13 foot tall walnut and mirrored panels, is the centerpiece of Prairie Kitchen & Bar. The dramatic design offers 80 linear feet of seating for guests and is accessible from all sides.  The bar features an extensive wine and domestic and imported beer list, including a vast selection of beers from local breweries including Summit Brewery, Lift Bridge Brewery and Big Bay Brewing Company.  Signature cocktails are the Honey Crisp Prairie with Prairie Organic Vodka, cranberry juice, and Crispin Honey Crisp Hard Cider; the Bee’s Knee’s Martini with Tanqueray gin, Ames Farm honey and lemon juice; and the Purple Rain with Absolut Citron, Parfait Armour, cranberry and lime juice.

Prairie Kitchen & Bar serves breakfast from 6:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and dinner from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.  A lounge menu is available from 2 p.m. to midnight.  For reservations, call 612-596-4640.  The website for Prairie Kitchen & Bar, www.prairiekitchenandbar.com, will be launched soon.

To celebrate the opening of the Prairie Kitchen & Bar, Hyatt Regency Minneapolis is offering special rates over Memorial Day weekend, from May 25 through 29, starting at $89.00. To book, call 800.233.1234 or visit www.minneapolis.hyatt.com.

“Dean P. Vlahos, also known as Dean Vlachos and Dean Speros Vlachos, as surety for Redstag Properties, Idlewild Properties, Midtown Partners, CRG Investments, DSV Ventures, Chuck & Harold’s, Idlewild Properties II, Wayzata Circle, 78 Street Properties, Redstone American Grills Inc., Luxe Entertainment, Minnesota Airline Holdings and 13th Day, doing business as Boulevard Kitchen & Bar, 270 Bushaway Rd., Wayzata; filed May 4, 12-42728; Chap. 7; assets, $45,812; liabilities, $11,811,854.”

As reported previously in FSN, Vlahos recovered after the implosion of his former friend and convicted Ponzi-schemer Tom Petter’s hollow empire collapsed in 2008—in which Vlahos (and others) was heavily invested—to open BLVD Kitchen & Bar and then eventually reinstated to the Redstone American Grill Board.

For even MORE details (including info from FSN’s reporting in 2008, read Jonathan Maze’s turn today in FSN’s sister publication, the Restaurant Finance Monitor.

Although his third venture as restaurateur, Erik Forsberg gets his first shot at launching his own concept from the ground up. The result is Devil’s Advocate, now occupying the old Hell’s Kitchen space in Downtown Minneapolis.

While sitting at the extended mahogany bar, one can’t help but ogle Forsberg’s dream draft beer selection. The 40 craft and rare to find beers (e.g. Duchesse De Bourgogne, Goose Island Matilda…) are hands down the most elaborate and obscure draft beer offerings in the Twin Cities.

Every Culture has a Meatball

Forsberg’s menu concept showcases meatballs with a mix-a-match, build your own menu. For instance, pick a meatball (served in portions from one to four): pork, beef, chicken, salmon, or falafel. Enjoy the meatball naked or add a sauce: pomodoro, pesto, mushroom cream sauce, roasted garlic yogurt… Build a sandwich with pick your own bun: pretzel, baguette or single slider. Melt some cheese over it: fresh mozzarella or smoked provolone. Get your balls over salad or pasta. The menu can accommodate the pickiest palates while staying affordable comfort food (all sides $5).

Chef lost, Chef found

Just a month before open, the original chef of Devil’s Advocate left with little notice. Forsberg’s forward momentum was halted. He reached out to his friends in the industry for help in finding a new chef in a pinch. Then fate intervened. Jeff Weber, executive chef and co-owner of Eli’s East, recommended his friend and fellow chef Nathan Beauchamp for the job.

Forsberg and Beauchamp, both Eastern Seaboard natives, were finishing each other’s sentences by the end of their first meeting. “He just got it,” said Forsberg referring to Beauchamp. “I gave him the basics, but said make it your own.” And Beauchamp was brought on as a consultant to roll out a menu weeks before opening.

The joining of East Coast minds gives an added bonus to the menu with items such as Sunday gravy, along with hand-cut fries (destined to become a signature item). The fries are reminiscent of Beauchamp’s summer trips to the beach as a child. “My idea is everyone wants to be a kid again,” said Beauchamp. Milkshakes and fried fruit pies are offered as well.

More than just a hired gun, Beauchamp comes with a notable culinary history. He ran Table of Contents in St. Paul years ago fresh out of the C.I.A., then headed back East to work under David Burke at Park Avenue Café. Before returning to the Twin Cities, Beauchamp won the Rammy 2007 Rising Star Chef award while executive chef at Restaurant 1789 in D.C.

There is an obvious deep mutual respect and cohesiveness between Forsberg and Beauchamp-two guys from the same hood. Hopefully that plays out well in continued growth.

“The main thing is that we’re a bar first and a restaurant second,” said Forsberg. “Get people in here to try this beer, and when they taste the food they’ll say, Oh I didn’t expect that.”

Directors Kate Novack and Andrew Rossi set out to document Billy Phelps and John McCormick’s journey to survive and thrive in Eat This New York. Spanning roughly a year starting in autumn of 2001, the former Midwesterners struggle to build and open their restaurant. Appealing, full of energy and grit, Phelps and McCormick roll up their sleeves and dive into the hard work of remodeling a decrepit, but interesting building in Williamsburg Brooklyn. They’ve got moxie, but also a lot of naiveté. McCormick reflects on how, as a child, he always wanted to be one of the “Bowery Boys,” running around New York and getting into trouble. Phelps admits their dream of building a café that harkens back to 1920s Paris café culture is beautiful and romantic. With no real restaurant experience between them, we wonder how practical these dreams are.

But we root for them anyway. And, along the way, Novack and Rossi bring in many of the premier chefs and luminaries of the New York culinary scene to reflect on their own journey. Among them, Sirio Maccioni (who starred in another great documentary, A Table in Heaven), Ruth Reichl, Drew Nieporent, Keith McNally, Tim Zagat, Daniel Boulud and more. It’s easy to get swept away in their tales of pain and glory. Sirio Maccioni insists he’s only successful because he hates his job. As an example he describes how on his first day as maitre d’ of The Colony, he had to juggle Frank Sinatra, Aristotle Onassis and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor all wanting the same table. Daniel Boulud takes a more philosophical turn, describing a chef as a craftsman rather than an artist, because an artist paints a picture only once, whereas a chef must consistently reproduce the same dish.

Restaurateur Keith McNally wistfully thinks back to the beginning of his career when money was tight and creativity needed to fill in where money could not. He wonders about starting over in a new neighborhood like Williamsburg, but thinks he may be too old. Which brings us back to Phelps and McCormick, whose money troubles are decidedly unromantic and possibly fatal. Their budget is blown, they are several months past schedule and nowhere near opening. Financing is doubtful and McCormick’s father flies in to help with the construction.

In some ways the culinary superstars featured in the film overshadow Phelps and McCormick. Details of the pair’s financial woes, a shadowy conflict with potential chefs/partners, and some personal tension between the two friends goes unexplored. Oddly, Novack and Rossi give somewhat short shrift to their subjects. They should have picked up on McNally’s cue and spent more screen time exploring the nitty gritty of the cash-strapped, painful beginnings of the nascent cafe.

If you’ve ever dreamed of going to New York, or opening your own restaurant, perhaps—maybe even especially if you have—Eat This New York is worth a look.

EAT THIS NEW YORK
Documentary (2004)
Directors: Kate Novack, Andrew Rossi
Starring: Billy Phelps, John McCormick, Sirio Maccioni, Ruth Reichl, Drew Nieporent, Keith McNally, Tim Zagat, Daniel Boulud, Rocco DiSpirito

Julie Brown-Micko is a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef and freelance writer based in Minneapolis. The only thing she likes better than a good hollandaise sauce is a great food movie.

The chef: Tom Hanson, owner of the local-foods favorite the Duluth Grill.

The philosophy: “I am one of those people who go on gut instincts of doing what is right and then I’ll try to make it work. I will always do what I think is in the best interest of my staff and customer before I try to make money. We are a scratch kitchen. We serve the freshest food and evaluate the ingredients for quality, nutritional value, as well as flavor in our cooking. Often I have found one has to love their business more than themselves to make it work.

The recipes:

Black Bean Soup

Ingredients:
• 1 lb. black beans (soaked in 1 gallon water overnight)
• 2 cups diced onion
• 1 cup corn
• 1 cup diced green peppers
• 1 cup diced tomatoes with juice
• ½ of one jalapeno, diced small
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 small can green chilis
• 1 Tablespoon cumin
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 quart water
• 2 Tablespoon vegetable base
• ½ bunch cilantro (chopped)

Method:
Puree half of the soaked beans in a food processor or blender. Add onions, green peppers, garlic, green chilies, and all the spices to a large kettle that you will prepare the soup in.

With a little oil sauté for five minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and the rest of the soaked beans.

Turn down heat and simmer for 2-3 hours stirring occasionally until beans break down and soup thickens.

Wild Rice Side Dish

Ingredients:
• 2 cup wild rice (about 8 cups cooked)
• 1 cup crasins
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• 4 tablespoons parsley, chopped
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt

Method:
Cook wild rice according to directions. Mix all ingredients together and serve warm.

To see these and other recipes in the Foodservice News archive, click here.

About a year ago, I received an e-mail indicating that Peter Nowicki was leaving his full time post at the Super Mom’s baking plant in Saint Paul Park. His workmates put together a lavish send off and invited many of the people that had worked with Pete over the course of his career.

I had mixed emotions about attending. I knew it would be rude if I didn’t go and pay my respects, but at the same time, I was nervous because he was the last of my mentors, and it looked like he might be getting out of the show for good. In a way, I felt as if I were burying a father. When I got inside, there were so many people wanting to speak with him, I had to wait to get a viewing. It was kind of like trying to talk to Don Corleone on the day of his daughter’s wedding. When my opportunity came, Pete assured me that he wasn’t ditching me 100 percent, not yet. Instead he thought he might get into some part-time consulting. Well, just the other day I received news that Mr. Nowicki was elected as president of UMBA.

For those of you who don’t follow the baker’s guild, UMBA is short for the Upper Midwest Baking Association. To be assigned to this post isn’t just an honor; it’s also a lot of hard work and responsibility. The more I started thinking about Pete’s appointment, the more I began to reminisce. I’m pretty confident that today I am close to the same age he was when he took me under his wing. With that in mind, I began to realize that in every mentorship, if the process goes as planned, there is a point where the positions of student and master will invert.

I’m not certain we are at that stage yet, but since my “bread master” is wading into new territory, I would be negligent if I didn’t remind him of some of the basics he taught me.

The first time I met Pete, it was three o’clock in the morning. I remember I was standing towards the back of the plant when I noticed a burly silhouette walking towards me. “The names Peter Nowicki, I’ve just moved here from Milwaukee, and I’m going to be the guy you report to—everyday,” he said.

Then I noticed he took an interest in my shoes. I had one red canvas Chuck Taylor on one foot, and a purple one on the other. “What are you hoping to learn while working here?” he asked.
Without flinching, I responded: “I just want to become a solid baker. I want to mix well, run an efficient oven, and maybe work my way up the ladder.”

Pete stared at me the way fathers do when they realize this might be one of those rare occasions where their son was being sincere. “How serious are you about advancing?” he asked.

Basically, I told him I’d do anything, and that’s when the tension broke. A quick smirk appeared and he said, for starters, I needed to wear matching shoes, and the color of those shoes shouldn’t be a shade that’s found in a rainbow. Next he informed me that it wasn’t his place to tell people how to live their lives, but he hinted that if he wanted people to take him serious, he probably wouldn’t have a mullet like mine. Eight hours later, I rocked my first flat top in over a decade.

The training continued. “I’ll tell you truthfully Danny, cosmetic features certainly do have a bearing, but if you really want to separate from your colleagues, the formula is simple,” he said. “If you want to advance past other people who are vying for the same position, all you need to do is show up to work every day, keep your work station cleaner than anybody else, and impress management with any skills that revolve around organization.”

That was it. At first I thought he was pulling my leg. But now that I look back, truer words have never been spoken because these are the elements from which opportunities are made. Sure, there are a million other skills that a young baker needs to acquire before they make their way up the ladder, things like production, costing, communication, etc. But those duties are seldom given to employees that don’t rise to the occasion. Anytime somebody would enter Pete’s office to voice a complaint against another employee, he was famous for saying: “Don’t worry about the other guy, worry about yourself, and remember, cream always floats to the top.”

Attendance, cleanliness and organization. If you think about it carefully, you would agree that organization is the umbrella for those other two virtues. For the longest time I thought peoples’ lack of organization was due to laziness, but recently I have been exposed to some pretty alarming information that makes me think my generalization might not be well-founded. Many scientists are now subscribing to the theory that organization is hard-wired into our DNA.

Most of us are familiar with the seven stages of grieving. Adolescent development has a similar structure, but according to the data I researched, they claimed that organization is the last level in a youth’s development. However, unlike the grieving scenario, complete steps of children’s development can be passed by. Many of the leading authorities claimed up to 40 percent of kids never plug into gaining organizing skills—ever.

Organization can be bypassed and the affected youth will never know it. Oftentimes people simply believe that organization is automatic, or an entitlement.

PBS’s award-wining news show “Frontline” interviewed a Dr. Jay Giedd and claimed that by age six, the brain is already 95 percent its adult size. But the gray matter or thinking part of the brain continues to thicken throughout childhood as the brain gets extra connections. During our 20s, we need to prune back that gray matter like a gardener works on a hedge. If we don’t, our ideas will become overrun, or choke each other out. This pruning is done by embracing numbers and systems.

The part of the brain that is last to develop is the front cortex, and sure enough, this is the part that focuses on judgment, organization, planning and strategizing. So if organization isn’t predisposed in your makeup, does that mean all hope is lost for you? Dr. Geoffrey Putt of Akron Children’s Hospital says there are ways all of us can sharpen that part of our mind, among them: use checklists, establish routines, implement reminder systems, and be consistent.

Maybe I’m getting a little more scientific than you desire, but indulge me just this one time. Pete Nowicki is back in the game, and I just want to send congratulations, and let him know that I still value everything he taught me. Good luck sir, and give them heck.

Dan “Klecko” McGleno is the CEO at Saint Agnes Baking Company in St. Paul and can be reached electronically at kleckobread@comcast.net, at the office at 651-290-7633, or on his cellular device at 651-329-4321.

Foodservice Radio™, the new streaming 24-hour radio station dedicated to the foodservice industry, is live and is officially launching at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago, May 5-8, 2012.

Foodservice Radio features interviews on topics critical to foodservice operators including menu development, management tools, marketing ideas, industry trends and more.  Listeners will hear from industry experts and more importantly, other foodservice operators and chefs.

“Research shows that streaming internet radio reached 40 percent of the U.S. population last month,” according to station owner Bob Ryals.  “The increased adoption of internet radio provides an excellent opportunity to deliver relevant foodservice information through this growing medium.”  With almost one million foodservice outlets and 14 million employees in the United States, the market size for Foodservice Radio rivals the radio markets in the largest metropolitan areas.

“The food service operator has to be an expert in a wide range of disciplines from culinary and management to finance and marketing – all in a challenging, fast-paced environment,” Ryals adds.  “Foodservice Radio is here to keep the operator up-to-date on current issues in a format they can fit into their busy schedule.  The station will bring the industry original content on issues that matter today.”

In addition to the 24-hour streaming station, Foodservice Radio has a news website at www.foodserviceradio.net where listeners can access the station and get additional information about the stories they hear on-air.  Along with podcast of the most popular features, the website also features “In The Weeds,” the weekly comic about the challenges of life in the food service industry.

I spent a lot of time researching, updating and compiling our multi-unit list in this issue, and for that spoke with some very dedicated business people in the restaurant industry. So, when I happened across a link to former New York Times food writer Amanda Hesser’s essay on her Food52 blog, “Advice for Future Food Writers”—which is causing a stir among the food-writing world—I wanted to burn the paper on which it was printed. Damn the Internet for making that grand gesture impossible.

Hesser irritated me. But with her essay, portrayed perfectly what is wrong with “foodie” culture: It’s taken food writing to a place that’s less about journalism and more about the wannabe writer pursuing their own brand of self-actualization and celebrity. That makes the job of writing honestly about the industry—for consumer and business-to-business publications—more difficult. And it’s causing the real food industry professionals to be in perpetual eye-rolling mode.

Hesser tells wannabe food writers that times are difficult to get salaried food-writing gigs—she says gone are the $80,000 year salaries (um, those must be New York numbers). But, she adds, with the great evaporation of salaried food writing positions, there is great opportunity.

Why? Because, Hesser explains, the age of the Internet has stripped the power from the elite journalists who kept out the true-hearted foodies. “There was widespread snobbery toward non-professional writers, and an assumption that it would be a conflict of interest—or just too much self-interest—for a chef to write about cooking or a farmer about raising chickens,” Hesser writes. “The observers kept out the doers, a system that never really made sense.”

As a food and restaurant writer and editor, and a former writer and editor of other subjects and publications, to Hesser, I say, “Whatever.”

Kitchen pros have always contributed to magazines and newspapers. At FSN, for example, there are four that write (Mecca Bos is one), two of them predate my tenure. They’re great, and turn in cleaner copy than many pro “writers” I’ve employed in previous gigs. But I’d never mistake what they write for hard journalism—meaning without editorial slant and fortified by multiple sources. Further, any “doers” that were allegedly “kept out” of writing gigs likely couldn’t write. Which is an important skill to have when your product is words strung together. Frankly, most of the people that harass me for writing work are the “doers” who aren’t really “doers” at all, because they haven’t truly immersed themselves in either vocation. They are the folks that have a kitchen job less because they like to cook, but more because they want to write about how cooking and food makes them feel. As someone who pays people to write, I don’t need that.

Further, Hesser writes that if one wants to become a food writer, “skip journalism and cooking school. Use that money to support yourself while you do mostly low-paying food jobs.”

As a food and restaurant writer and editor, and a former writer and editor of other subjects and publications, I say to Hesser, “That’s really dumb advice.”

To follow her logic, to write about hedge funds one needs to have worked in an investment firm, or to cover politics one needs to have worked in a presidential campaign. Sure. You don’t have to get a culinary or journalism degree to practice the trades (I don’t have either). But take the low paying restaurant gig only if one is seriously thinking of making a career in the restaurant business.

If you seriously want to become a food writer—and want to truly differentiate yourself from a crowded field—then you should decide to give an actual writing job a try. Instead of that low paying job as a dishwasher or prep cook, take that low paying job (or unpaid internship) at a community newspaper, writing about everything from city council meetings to arts features to zoning regulations—and learn to make those subjects interesting, informative and a good read. Learn how to develop sources and ask smart questions contrary to your personal interests and beliefs—and learn that there is no such thing as “writers’ block.” Those outlets have websites to fill, and will take eager writers.

The biggest handicap I see with aspiring writers—particularly aspiring food writers—is they don’t have those basic tools, and those that have some writing skill don’t know how to construct a story, certainly not one that’s well-sourced. A blogger does not necessarily make a good journalist (and usually doesn’t). Even worse, they usually don’t want to write the story I need—the one about equipment, restaurant design, HR issues, and dollars-and-cents, nuts-and-bolts stuff.

Then there is the “columnist” category. I get a lot of pitches from folks to do that (yes, keep them coming, some of the ideas are interesting). However, back when craft was king, columnists didn’t become columnists until they proved their chops as beat writers. Only then did they have the experience and resources to contribute meaningful content, and be reliably interesting.

Specific to food writing, a reputable paper’s restaurant beat is just that: an assigned beat. Let’s look at Hesser’s former employer, for example. The late—and by all accounts fantastic—food writer R.W. Apple was also one of the greatest international affairs correspondents in that paper’s history. Former restaurant critic Frank Bruni covered the Persian Gulf War, national politics and was the Times’ Rome bureau chief before assigning stars to restaurants (now he’s back to writing opinion pieces on all topics). The Times-Picayune’s James Beard-nominated food writer and critic Brett Anderson honed his chops as a music and entertainment writer for the Twin Cities Reader before moving on to Washington DC and, eventually, his current gig. Even local critic Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl started her career reporting on all topics before the City Pages restaurant slot opened up. The points are: these people were beat journalists first and honed their craft, and food writing is not above any other category.

When I took the job as editor of Foodservice News, more than a year passed before I wrote a column. I didn’t know anybody, and I didn’t know the industry. I worked the beat until I understood. I wrote all the unglamorous stories (and still do) because I had to, but it was also a means to learn the beat quickly.

It did not mean taking a job in a restaurant. It meant talking and listening to the experts: the restaurateurs, chefs, managers, manufacturers, vendors, servers. That’s what a journalist does—and, by design, to remain objective, there is a degree of separation from our subjects. “Foodie” writers have a big problem with that last point. They want to be on the inside so badly.

I hear from chefs about the lack of dedication from culinary school graduates, that they don’t understand the heavy lifting (and low pay) involved to become merely competent. They want the attention before they master the craft. Journalism shares the same plight. The Food Network and the Internet have wreaked havoc on both professions, for good and bad.

So, my advice to aspiring food writers (or any type of aspiring writer): Learn the craft you actually want to practice, which will require writing on topics in which you are not interested. If you do get a job writing about food, and think a gig as a prep cook will enhance your understanding, go ahead. But, my guess is, if you’re doing your journalism job correctly, you’ll spend enough time in restaurants that you won’t feel the need to validate yourself by donning a chef coat. And you’ll likely earn the respect of your subjects by simply doing your job well, rather than attempting to do theirs.

I cook a lot. I spend much time with chefs, restaurateurs and other industry insiders, and many have become my friends. But I know I’m not part of their professional world any more than they are a part of mine. And that is perfectly OK.

The Rusty Taco franchise succeeds by reviving an old idea: authenticity.

Walk in to the Rusty Taco restaurant in St. Paul, and if you’ve ever been in a taqueria in Florida, the Southwest or Texas, you recognize the atmosphere. Spartan: concrete floor, ocean blue and sunny yellow painted trim, a few beer signs and store logos on the walls, spent beer kegs and cases stacked neatly in the entryway. Communal tables run the length of the dining room. The smell of meat on the grill. It’s a comfortable place. Customers order food at the register, and pick it up at the counter in front of the kitchen.

It’s a simple menu: 12 tacos. Pork, beef, chicken and seafood varieties, including two vegetarian options. That’s it. No burritos, quesadillas, or anything else, aside from a side of tortilla chips and guac. Those tacos are adorned traditionally, meaning no rice, shredded jack cheese or sour cream. It’s items like pico de gallo, lime wedges, onions, cilantro, shredded cabbage, toasted pumpkin seeds, and for cheese, it’s queso fresco or cojito. All that is piled into corn tortillas (flour available upon request). The price per taco? $2.50 or $3. Four beers on tap (with two locals, Summit and Fulton), a bunch more in bottles and cans.

“This concept does not exist in this format at all,” said Bruce Ringgenberg, the owner. “The food is healthy, it’s clean, it’s not food out of a bag.”

By the time you read this, the second Rusty Taco should be open in Northeast Minneapolis, about one year after the first. Not bad for a first-time restaurateur. But Ringgenberg is a longtime entrepreneur; his background is finance, including a decade for RBC Dain Rauscher and more as a financial advisor and stock trader. During a visit to Texas to eat at the original Rusty Taco, he liked the food so much he did what Victor Kiam did with the Remington shaver.

Sort of. Ringgenberg, with two business partners, bought a franchise. “The business play is good,” he said. “It’s a good trend, there’s a reasonable window of opportunity.”

Segment squeeze

According to Mark Siebert, CEO of Chicago-based iFranchise Group, a consulting firm that helps franchise companies improve and expand their brands, the Mexican food segment is in a state of flux. “Everybody is sort of being squeezed toward the middle,” he said. “The QSR guys are hurting right now, and the full service guys are hurting, and everybody is sort of collapsing into fast casual.”

What’s happened to those players in the casual and QSR world is, in a word, Chipotle. The casual restaurant chains got thumped because consumers realized they could get a high-quality product in a fast casual environment—and therefore at less cost. And the QSRs got thumped because that high-quality product at Chipotle, while more expensive, isn’t that much more expensive, and tastes better.

An even bigger problem for the QSR Mexican food chains is real estate. “The QSR guys are finding that the unit economics of a free-standing location, especially when they are getting squeezed on prices and everybody is trying to see how low they can go, the business economics just aren’t as compelling as they used to be,” Siebert said.

The fast casual concepts win big on that front, since they can fit into smaller or more irregular spaces. “It’s (also) a less complex operation from a labor standpoint,” Siebert said.

To succeed in the fast casual segment against Chipotle, he added, is to differentiate from them. “It’s really not a price game as much as it is a flavor game. (Competitors) have got to differentiate themselves based on the product offering, more than anything else.”

Chipotle is most famous for its burritos, and the menu includes soft- and hard-shell tacos, and has expanded to include salads, “burrito bowls,” and a kids’ option “taco kit.” Another national fast-casual player in the Twin Cities market is Qdoba, with a menu that features burritos, grilled quesadillas, cheese nachos, taco salads, tacos, soups, and kids menu options. Minnesota-based chain Baja Sol Tortilla Grill, which attempted national expansion in recent years (with a full-service concept—it didn’t go well), has 12 fast-casual units in the Twin Cities. Its menu features many of the items listed above, plus an all-you-can-eat salsa and chip bar, with up to 12 salsas made fresh daily.

Del Taco, which will soon join QSR rivals Taco Bell and Taco Johns in this market, offers most of the above options, plus burgers, fries, desserts and milkshakes.

From those, Rusty Taco’s tacos-only menu appears different enough. “We have 11 tacos (12 at Riggenberg’s store),” said Rusty Taco founder and CEO Rusty Fenton. “That’s almost nothing.”

Expanding the menu to mimic competitors doesn’t interest Fenton. “You can’t be everything; you don’t need to get every dollar,” he said. “You try to do everything, you’re going to be average at everything. That’s why our menu is so limited. But that’s also why we can get our food out so quickly, and that’s why we can make things from scratch.”

Rusty’s road

Fenton’s experience appears to have led to this focused concept. He began his restaurant career in Houston, Texas, working for the Pappas family, a name famous in that city for its series of full-service restaurant brands serving cuisine from their native Greece to Louisiana-style seafood (Pappadeaux) to Mexican (Pappasito’s). Fenton was involved in the latter, and eventually left to open his own version of that Mexican restaurant in Dallas in 1986, called Uncle Julio’s.

It was very successful. “And I sold out way too soon, of course,” Fenton said with a rueful laugh. Uncle Julio’s would grow to 16 locations in five states.

He kept his hand in the game, consulting on various projects for some of the biggest names in the industry, including Carlson (which launched the Taqueria Canonita restaurants with Chef Stephan Pyles—one remains in Las Vegas) and Trader Vic’s. While offering his expertise, he was also taking mental notes for what would become Rusty Taco. He opened the first in Dallas in 2010.

“All over Texas or certainly south Dallas, everybody goes to taquerias for food, and they’re just fun,” he said. “The first time I had (the taqueria experience) was in Mexico, where they’re really authentic, and thought it would be cool to do in Dallas, and I learned from my experience in doing bigger restaurants that the way to make money wasn’t really to sell $10 million a year, it’s to not spend so much to get it started.”

The fast casual concept has a smaller real-estate footprint, and the counter service reduces risk and labor costs, thereby simplifying the business plan. Fenton will have seven units open in the Dallas-Fort Worth area by the end of the summer, he said. Other than that, he has no specific growth plans. “Every entrepreneur says, ‘I’m gonna have 100 stores in a year,’” he said. “And we say, ‘Alright, one more.’ Things happen organically. To try to force the number of stores, you start compromising on the location and operators.”

So, isn’t Minnesota an odd growth strategy?

“It is,” Fenton said, with a laugh. “It wasn’t on my target list. It was basically Bruce.”

And Steve Dunn, Fenton’s business partner, who went to college with Ringgenberg at the University of North Dakota. Long story short, Ringgenberg the entrepreneur looked for opportunities, Dunn introduced him to Fenton. Ringgenberg flew to Texas to see the concept and try the food. “His first day, I think he ate at least 20 tacos,” Fenton said, laughing. “It was amazing. And about an equal number of beers. He is a great guy and his energy is unmatched. …I was amazed reading the first reviews and the Yelp comments and just how enthusiastic St. Paul was about the food.”

The un-chain chain

Ringgenberg, as he led the way to the prep kitchen, said he loved the simplicity and quality of the menu. He popped open an Alto Shaam oven to reveal several large hunks of slow-roasting meats. A prep cook chopped vegetables, which were bagged, labeled and placed in meticulously ordered standing coolers.

Walking to the dining area, a line cook began placing steaks and chicken on the grill in preparation for the lunch rush. “When Rusty built the menu, it was (with) all fresh stuff,” Ringgenberg said. “With that, there’s still plenty of room to make the margins work.” The new location in Northeast Minneapolis (in the old Wilde Roast café) won’t be any different than the St. Paul store, except for a full liquor license. A food truck will also roll out in about a month from that new location. And growth? Like Fenton, Ringgenberg isn’t looking to grow fast. “Are we a chain? The word is slightly negative to me,” he said. “We’re not cookiecutter. We want to grow for sure, but keep it urban, at least at first—we want to keep the vibe.”

Rusty Taco franchise info:

Start-up Costs:

• Initial Start-up costs range from $287,000 to $629,000
• Average Initial Investment is $350,000

Estimated Financial Projections:

• Gross Sales Year 1 $1,663,522
• Gross Margin $1,151,706
• Gross Margin Less Expenses $365,790
• Restaurant Income $301,588

Franchise Fees:

• $25,000 per store
• For multi-store agreements – 100 percent of store 1 (or $25,000) and 40 percent (or $10,000) for stores 2+ is due at signing

Ongoing Fees:

• Royalty 5 percent of gross sales; percentage declining against higher sales volumes
• Marketing 1percent is designated for local store marketing activities

Site Criteria:

• Minimum of 75,000 population in a 5 mile radius
• Average median income of $65,000 +
• 2,000 square foot in-line space or free standing
• Excellent – tenant base, visibility to traffic patterns, ingress/egress, and signage opportunities
• Minimum 30 parking spaces
• Non-traditional opportunities will be evaluated on an as needed basis

Referring article: Chef’s Dish, May 2012

Ingredients:
• 1 lb. black beans (soaked in 1 gallon water overnight)
• 2 cups diced onion
• 1 cup corn
• 1 cup diced green peppers
• 1 cup diced tomatoes with juice
• ½ of one jalapeno, diced small
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 small can green chilis
• 1 Tablespoon cumin
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 quart water
• 2 Tablespoon vegetable base
• ½ bunch cilantro (chopped)

Method:
Puree half of the soaked beans in a food processor or blender. Add onions, green peppers, garlic, green chilies, and all the spices to a large kettle that you will prepare the soup in.

With a little oil sauté for five minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and the rest of the soaked beans.

Turn down heat and simmer for 2-3 hours stirring occasionally until beans break down and soup thickens.