2007 rolls out more concepts and cheers for old and new with birthday toasts too

DAVE DONE GOOD…and he keeps on doing. What do famous Minnesotans like Carl Pohlad, Leeann Chin, Irwin Jacob, Jesse Ventura, Glen Taylor, and now “Famous Dave” Anderson have in common? No, they are not all famous in the kitchen, but they are all past winners of the annual Minnesota Entrepreneur of the Year Award, handed out the past dozen years courtesy of Minnesota Entrepreneurs, Inc.—alias ME! This creative, non-profit group, which has been around since the early ’80s, was a pioneer in educating, inspiring and providing resources to entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs. In December, ME! hosted their sold-out Annual Awards meeting at the Calhoun Beach Club, and Famous Dave was selected to receive the honors. It couldn’t have been more well-deserved and he couldn’t have been happier.

The dictionary defines entrepreneur as: “a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.” When ME! was formed more than 20 years ago, the word was not used as generously as we use it today, but the exotic French pronunciation and spelling fit those willing to label themselves as risk-takers. Many of us saw entrepreneurs as daring dreamers, wheeler-dealers, even lucky whiz kids who made sacrifices in order to achieve success. But success was never guaranteed, and what is not found in the definition is “hard work.” To me, every risk-taking restaurateur today is a true entrepreneur.

I’ll never forget Leeann Chin smiling when people would say, “Oh, you’re so lucky.” She told me, “You know, you make your own luck…with lots of hard work,” and she wasn’t kidding. Success also means “hands on” from top to bottom. I sat in on a tasting and walk-thru with Lettuce Entertain You’s Rich Melman prior to the opening of his Twin City Grill (at Mall of America) watching his attention to detail from adding sugar to recipes to changing the wall color. Ah yes, an entrepreneur can leave no stone unturned.

Dave Anderson meets all these requirements: driven, focused, hard working, a man with a dream and a passion for BBQ and more. I remember working with Dave back in the mid ’90s when he was rolling out Famous Dave’s BBQ joints and the Blues Club at Calhoun Square and recall he was always working 24-7. For any real entrepreneur, there is no time for “day-dreaming” to make your dream come true. Just work and more work. Dave always had his fingers on the pulse of every little detail too, from the rib sauce or the trim on the brisket in the kitchen to shopping flea markets or antique stores for his signature decorative pieces and memorabilia. Dave was also famous for his unlimited selection of blues songs he pulled together himself to make CDs for music in the BBQ shacks, long before the days of downloads and iPods.

Hard to believe it was 10 years ago—1997—when Nation’s Restaurant News named Famous Dave’s as a “Hot New Concept.” I recall he was also named an “emerging entrepreneur” in Minnesota that year by Ernst and Young. And now? With Dave’s zealous comments at the December meeting we learned more about his projects in 2007, including his newest passion—the Key Lime Cove Water Paradise and Meeting Resort. This little water park, valued at over $135 million, is 40 miles north of Chicago and boasts a 414 suite hotel, 65,000 square foot indoor tropical themed water park and three new restaurants and meeting spaces. Phase II will add another 611 rooms, more than 80,000 square feet of water park and 50,000 square feet of conference space—Uffdah. When will he ever sleep? Note: I see Morrissey Hospitality has signed on as a partner as well. Bravo. They should be opening the first phase in 2008.

FROM RAINFOREST TO REX AND MORE…Just so happened at Dave’s event, another well known entrepreneur, Steve Schussler, was on the program to introduce Dave when he received his Award. It was fun to play catch-up with Steve who is a walking (or should I say running) example of creative energy and risk-taking at its fullest. He has also lived his dream from creating the famous Rainforest concept in his own home (full of exotic birds, waterfalls and jungle plants) unveiled at the Mall of America (and sold for millions) to developing restaurant concepts for the future, like his hot new T-Rex, where Steve does leave big footprints to fill (www.trexcafe.com).

At a holiday open house I had a chance to peek into the Schussler Creative warehouse in Golden Valley, where his dreams are born—and it’s true, dinosaurs do walk the earth again. You are faced with huge teeth, long necked dinosaurs of all sizes and settings of fire and ice steaming thru colorful lighting all around you. The T-Rex Café is defined as a “prehistoric adventure for the family” and a chance for over-the-top experiences—especially for the little ones. Steve sold the concept to Texas-based Landry Restaurants for nearly $8 million (they bought Rainforest in 2000) and says the first opening was last fall in Kansas City. The second is underway and headed for Disney World in Orlando, Fla. In fact, Disney people were at the party, too, taking a closer look at T-Rex and the next new Schussler Creative concept, Yak & Yeti, also opening at Disney in 2007. It looks like an exotic, mystical concept, set high in the Himalayan foothills—like a small village hideaway with ruins and colorful temples we’ve seen in the movies, nestled into the mountains of Nepal. A Shangri-La setting with an Asian fusion-food format. Landry will also roll out this new concept.

LOOK IN ON NEW TEMPLE…If you really can’t wait for the Disney setting above, you can head over to the brick building on the corner of 12th and Harmon in downtown Minneapolis. It became a sparkling new Temple just before the holidays, thanks to local restaurateur/entrepreneur and creative chef Thom Pham. No, this is not a religious place of worship, rather this is the new Temple Bar & Restaurant crafted from the ruins of Tiburon, which bit the dust in 2006. Pham is the creator of the tiny Thanh Do in St. Louis Park then the hot AZIA, Anemone Sushi Bar and the Caterpillar Lounge, on “Eat Street” at the corner of Nicollet and 26th in Minneapolis. This classy corner is yet another step up in appearance and flavor. Lucky for us, they kept the magnificent curvy bar and 45 foot long aquarium, now full of freshwater Koi instead of tropical fish. The red-on-red dining room has a new sunset glow with twinkling red and white hanging lanterns with “bling bling” diamonds and sparkle everywhere overhead. His full window walls and fancy cocktail menu also makes this the perfect spot for sipping martinis and people watching on cold winter nights.

This is Pham’s shrine to his passion for great food in a unique and inviting setting, plus a nod to his grandmother Bo and her French/Vietnamese heritage. They describe the menu as French/Indonesian fusion, and to put the finishing touch on the menu and presentations Pham added the talents of Executive Chef Tuan Nguyen. Tuan (pronounced Two-N), who was born in Vietnam and raised in the Twin Cities, attended the University of Wisconsin Stout in Hotel and Restaurant Management and was a young apprentice at Goodfellows before heading to Las Vegas. In 1998, he joined the renowned Wolfgang Puck organization and at the age of 30, was promoted to an Executive Chef. The following year Tuan was named the organization’s Chef of the Year. He came back to town a few years back to raise his family and headed up the redo of the menu at California Café at the MOA last year.

He agrees the menu, made up lots of choices from small plates to main plates is very inviting and is a mix of both his and Thom’s favorites. There’s a great assortment of fish and seafood plus duck, short ribs and kobe beef too. A daily happy hour from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. encourages after-work lounge visits with its a la carte tasting menu as well. Pham also is looking to beef up the hospitality on East Lake Street with two more concepts in the works: MIX for dining and the Manhattan Martini Lounge a few doors down.

TOASTING TAPAS AT LA BODEGA…Over at the bustling corner of Lyndale and Lake in Minneapolis, another young entrepreneur took a risk in 2000 to build his dream restaurant and opened the La Bodega Tapas Bar, the first tapas bar in the twin cities. We can thank Chef/Owner Maurilio Purpura, a native of Sicily (by way of Miami) who moved here to the chilly northland with his Spanish wife Jacqueline, for the introduction of this popular Spanish appetizer. His timing was right on! Minnesotans were already falling in love with the trend of small plates and small prices, the next natural step toward tapas was a natural fit and the new La Bodega Tapas Bar was the first to offer us this Spanish specialty.

According to Purpura, “When we lived in Miami, we had relatives here who kept asking us to visit Minnesota, and we found we really liked the lakes area and the city was so friendly and alive. We decided we want to stay here when we found this great corner building at Lyn-Lake was available for my vision of a new tapas bar and restaurant. We couldn’t resist and so La Bodega was born.”

Each and every menu item has been built and created by Chef Maurilio with many family Spanish recipes incorporated from Jacqueline’s family and their frequent visits to Spain. Today, the selection of the Bodega tapas being offered has gown to more than 50 choices, and a full menu of other classics ranges from tuna carpaccio to penne pasta with shrimp, mushrooms and sausage as well as their favorite Spanish paellas and homemade pizzas that have also been winning raves from Minnesota fans as well.

Flamenco music and Spanish dancers are another specialty made famous at this cozy corner and have been featured on weekends for the last few years in an adjoining corner lounge space at the corner of the building. This year, the adjoining corner lounge has been transformed into a modern red and white Liola Lounge at La Bodega, featuring Italian favorites from every corner of Sicily, where Maurilio grew up. He officially unveiled Liola last month and blew out the candles for Bodega with specials from tapas to pizza and paella to celebrate his lucky seventh year, including a seven-course Spanish dinner. It was lucky for the other Minnesotans too, since $1 from his sales of all cocktails and tapas was earmarked to benefit the Minnesota Food Shelves. Happy Birthday, Maurilio. Keep up the good work.