Paul Lynch, FireLake Grillhouse & Cocktail Bar
By Mike Mitchelson

FireLake Grillhouse & Cocktail Bar in Minneapolis is “first and foremost a Midwestern restaurant,” Executive Chef Paul Lynch proclaimed. During the harvest months, Lynch said he buys 70 percent of the product served in the restaurant from Minnesota growers, including everything from bison to chicken to cheeses to vegetables. “It’s about the Midwest flavors and ingredients, and we throw a touch of the Mediterranean influence in it, because the purity and unencumbered style of Mediterranean was a perfect match for us in what we wanted to accomplish here.”

Lynch’s passion for, and desire to use locally grown products is what inspired the creation of the Heartland Food Network with the Minnesota Project, an organization focused on promoting sustainable agriculture and renewable energy. About three years ago, Lynch had a chance meeting with Pepin Heights orchard and Minnesota Project representatives, and spoke to them about challenges chefs face trying to source local products. “I’ve lived and worked all over the world, and I really found the process of sourcing local products very hit and miss and very time consuming,” he said.

The program’s development included opinions from all aspects of the foodservice industry, Lynch said, from the farmer to the end user. “We took that information and we used it to build the guidelines for the Network,” he said. “I think any chef, given the choice of buying locally raised tomatoes or something shipped from Florida picked green, the choice is going to be, ‘Let me have the local product.’ And it’s going to reinforce the taste of place.”

Helping the program was getting a commitment from major distributors, such as SYSCO, to buy local products. Other restaurants, including Bayport Cookery in Bayport and Muffaletta in St. Paul, have joined the program.

The program also works to preserve farming communities. Through the program’s Web site and support contacts, a two-way dialogue with farmers can be established, Lynch said. “We’re going to be able to know two to three weeks out what’s coming up fresh so we can plan our menus in advance,” he said. “But then the reverse is true, we can go back to the farmers and say, ‘Hey, I really think there’s a great market here for baby arugula.

“We want to provide farmers with viable options of diversification,” Lynch added. “With the cost of energy today, why are we shipping this stuff in from Florida, Texas and California, when, since May, we should be able to grow this stuff in the ground? Why would I buy chickens from Arkansas, when we have great chicken producers here in the state?”

The overall ecological goal to the program, Lynch said, is regional, sustainable and, ideally, organic product. “If we can…support those willing to take on these higher aspirations, we’re going to allow them to flourish, and therefore it’s going to continue to lead us to higher quality, better diversity, and a better environment through greater stewardship. It’s going to be a win-win situation for everyone.”


Born Texan

Lynch’s knowledge of Midwestern bounty might have one assuming he’s a native. He’s not. Born and raised in Southwest Texas, Lynch became a globe-trotting chef for Four Seasons hotels when he graduated New England Culinary Institute.

Minnesota was a convenient place to land, however, roughly equidistant between his extended family and his wife’s, a native of Canada. “People say, ‘Oh, you lived in Hawaii, what are you doing back in Minnesota?’” he said. “Well, paradise comes wrapped in many forms. ‘Values’ is a term that’s really overplayed, but it’s true, the values of the Midwest are the perfect fit for what we want for our family.”

Lynch wanted to be a chef from a very young age, long before the position was a career path. “When I was in high school, no one said they wanted to become a chef,” he said. “Now, I went to career day at my daughter’s school—she’s going into the third grade—and up on the wall are these big posters: ‘What do you dream to be: a policeman, an astronaut, a fireman, a doctor, a chef.’ We’re one of the big five now!”

Lynch recalled making his first pie when he was six, and selling muffins he made from a corner stand instead of lemonade. His first job was as a server at a Howard Johnson’s, and almost immediately he made his way to the kitchen. “I didn’t start of with any glory,” he said. “I was the lead cook at Denny’s three times in my wild young days.”

His career took him to various regional chain restaurants, where he rose to kitchen management and product development positions. He was 30 and the GM for Bennigan’s restaurant chain before deciding to go to culinary school.

From culinary school, he worked as a chef for the Four Seasons hotel group, first in London, England; then Austin, Texas; Nevis, West Indies; Houston, Dallas and finally Hawaii. He’s worked as executive chef for the Radisson Plaza for eight years. At each stop he’s worked to absorb the local cuisine.

Rather than channel his local sourcing insight and kitchen experience into his own bistro or fine dining restaurant, Lynch found the opportunity to explore any culinary vision he might have within the hotel environment. “What I loved (in the hotel) was the assets that could be brought to bear, so you can achieve your goals for service, for return on investment, and also quality of food,” he said. “People are much more willing to explore when they are staying at a hotel—and if they are staying with someone else’s expense account, even more willing to explore, so it provides you with a degree of freedom.”

Radisson is owned by Carlson Companies, and Lynch has many opportunities to serve guests with diverse backgrounds at a variety of events. “I’m lucky enough that I can order foie gras from France, or sea urchins from Australia—I can use any ingredient, and I do,” Lynch said. Guests have been Washington politicos to European royalty to Chinese dignitaries.

With each occasion, Lynch has the same philosophy—authentic food from the region. “My focus and my dream is, when I’m asked to do authentic ethnic food, I want nothing to do with doing an ethnic ‘twist’ on it; I try to do it as authentically as possible, and do the research,” he said. “I didn’t grow up in China, but I have cooks that did and busboys, so they can validate the flavor profiles.”

And don’t get him started on “fusion” food. “The movement back toward authentic ethnic foods instead of fusion is the most refreshing thing that’s come along in ages, because its getting back to real food,” he said.

Real food. Which brings Lynch back to FireLake, The Radisson restaurant that isn’t a Radisson restaurant. “When we opened FireLake (three years ago), we were very conscious of never associating the two,” Lynch said. The FireLake name and Radisson never appear together, and the restaurant has a separate address and entrance. “When people asked where we were, we would say ‘We’re adjacent to…,’” he said.

While proud of the food quality at Radisson, Lynch said the reality is diners no longer equate a hotel restaurant with excellence, a distinct change from 20 years ago. With competition from chefs opening their own high-quality restaurants, “hotels lost their positions,” Lynch said. “It wasn’t about delivering nice experiences, and maintaining of quality, it was trying to deliver a return on investment.”

The separation tactic has worked; diners often don’t believe it’s a hotel-owned restaurant. “I can stand in the dining room and hear the argument going on at a table,” Lynch said. “I listen to that, and I just let it go on, because that’s exactly what we wanted to achieve.”

Outside the restaurant and other demands of Radisson Plaza’s various foodservice operations, Lynch’s mind remains focused on food. At home, during the summer, he works in his garden, home to 14 fruit trees, and a variety of berries and vegetables. Then he cooks or cans the bounty. “I’m a cook,” he said. “If I don’t get a chance to do it at work, I’m cooking for myself, family or friends on the back deck, during the glorious Minnesota summers, eating whatever comes out of the garden.”