Spectator’s lives and thrives, and other notes

Without intention, the past two issues of FSN have featured sports bars in the “top story” slot: McHugh’s Grille & Bar last month, and Tom Reid’s Hockey City Pub this month. It’s a restaurant genre that often doesn’t get much respect, yet it’s as demanding as any other—perhaps more, since there are many bars out there that sling up a few televisions, grill a few burgers and declare themselves the neighborhood sports authority. And it might work—until someone swoops in and does it right.

It’s all about establishing identity, and the way a restaurant does that effectively is taking their location, neighborhood and potential clientele into account. Chris McHugh did that when he bought Spectator’s Grille & Bar in Savage. (And one could say Premier Management, which owned the three Spectator’s, thought about those things when they sold the bars to focus on their Major’s brand). McHugh saw the Spectator’s name carried with it baggage: Customers weren’t coming. He changed the name, the menu and…you can read the rest of that story in the archives on FSN’s revamped Web site, www.foodservicenews.net.

But the Spectator’s name lives on, and is doing quite well, thank you, said Kraig Karver, who owns Spectator’s in Ramsey (he also purchased it from Premier), and opened in December a second Spectator’s in Ham Lake. I received an e-mail from Karver shortly after the magazine appeared in mailboxes, concerned that McHugh’s assessment of the former menu would reflect badly on his Spectator’s restaurants—perfectly understandable.

Karver explained briefly Spectator’s recent history: Karver was hired by Premier 2001 to help develop the first Spectator’s restaurant in Ramsey. It was successful, and expanded to Albertville and Savage.

Premier later decided to sell the Spectator’s restaurants to focus on their Major’s Sport’s Bar brand. Karver liked Spectator’s. “It wasn’t ‘mine,’ but it was kind of my baby,” he said. “I wanted to take it and keep running with it.”

Karver, with partners, bought the Ramsey store in March 2004. Premier turned the Albertville store into a Major’s, and continued to try to sell the Savage Spectator’s, which McHugh bought in November 2006.

Both Karver and McHugh reworked their menus. But Karver didn’t “completely overhaul the menu,” as McHugh felt it necessary at his location. “We looked at our menu items and put a little more thought and care into them,” he said, and they removed traditional entrées from the menu. “We realized what we are. We are a sport’s bar, but we are a sport’s bar that has really good food. If you talk to (our customers), you’ll hear our food is exceptional.”

Their signature items are the hand-pattied Spectator burger—a variation on the original item developed by Premier—revamped pizza offerings and house-made soups.

Business is bustling at both locations—the name Spectator’s is gold for Karver. “Premier taught me a lot as far as promotions and whatnot,” Karver said, who is good friends with Premier owner Bob Carlson. “We’re not too different than what we were doing before.”

Idols add to Reid’s

Tom Reid had a plan to create a unique identity for his pub. You can read about all that in this month’s top story, of course, while I write off on a bit of a tangent.

First, some background. I’ve mentioned before I was born in Montreal. It is a fact that, if a child isn’t skating by age two, they are institutionalized. I was skating at two, playing organized hockey at four, and, of course, worshipping the Montreal Canadiens hockey team. For a kid in the 1970s in Montreal, church was the Montreal Forum. We weren’t allowed to watch television in our house, but there were exceptions: Hockey Night in Canada and Howie Meeker’s Hockey School (Meeker was a former Toronto Maple Leafs winger, a regular broadcaster and Canada’s uber-hockey instructor).

My family tells a story about me, as a very young child, being passed around on a plane by the Canadiens team in the midst of one of their Stanley Cup seasons—they wound up on our flight because of a scheduling snafu—so I could collect their autographs. I don’t recall this—I was probably in shock. But I do remember that pad filled with autographs. And Pete Mahovlich, the Canadiens 6 foot, 5 inch left wing, lived down the street from our family. I wore his number, 20, for most of my playing days.

When we moved to the U.S., I still followed my home team, but also obsessed over others—most notably the North Stars. I kept playing, too, until college.

My interest drifted from the game as players I knew—as a fan and personally—aged, got hurt and retired. Then the North Stars moved to Dallas. But when the Wild were founded in 2000, they brought with them names that were familiar: Jacques Lemaire (coach), Mario Tremblay (assistant coach) and Doug Risebrough (general manager)—all former Montreal Canadiens. I paid attention a bit more—more seriously this year, as the Wild went on an incredible second-half run.

So, walking into Tom Reid’s Hockey City Pub brought about a massive rush of nostalgia. I’d been in the bar before, several times, to watch a friend perform with his band (the stage no longer exists; Reid said they needed the table space). But those were late nights, the place was packed, and I never saw the memorabilia. And, when talking with Reid, the conversation can’t help but turn to the game. “For many people—mine too—interest waned when the North Stars left Minnesota,” Reid said. “But I’m also president of the Minnesota NHL Alumni Association, and we tried to keep those ties (to the community) strong.”

And for those retired players who tout their game as superior, Reid shrugged. “There aren’t too may DC-3s, anymore, either,” he said. “It was a slower game (back then), a different game. You don’t see the body checks today like you did back then, the hip checks. And the players today train 12 months out of the year. When our season was done, we were gone, and maybe we’d find our skates again a week before training camp started.”

I had noticed something before our interview began, however. Lemaire and Tremblay were “in the house,” as the saying goes. I’ve never been one to bother people whose profession puts them in the public’s eye. I figure, when they’re not doing their thing, they’d like to lead their life like anyone else would. But as Reid was leading me around the pub showing me all the historic hockey items, he said, “Hey, let me introduce you to these guys.”

Wow. Jacques Lemaire. Sure, he’s the coach of the Wild, but to me, he’s also the guy who scored two Stanley Cup-winning goals. And Mario Tremblay? The guy could put the puck in the net and bury a guy through the boards. I remember watching them skate all those years ago. I shook their hands, we chit chatted a bit, and, well, we’re all adults. Conversation ends and you go back to your business. But I’m still a little giddy from the experience. (And Reid ain’t no slouch either, he scored on a penalty shot against Canadiens’ superhero goalie Ken Dryden in 1971. But I forgive him.)
It’s hard to say how individual childhood heroes impact your adult life. But I do know that as a kid growing up in Montreal, watching the Canadiens was a lesson learned in total teamwork, something that applies to nearly every career path.