Titan of the Year: Kim Bartmann expanded her empire to almost a dozen restaurants

You think you had a busy year? Try being Kim Bartmann.

The influential and innovative restaurateur remade her Third Bird — first into Bearcat, then into the Bird. She collaborated with chef Asher Miller to transform the former Cafe Maude into Book Club. She worked with the same team that created Kyatchi in 2014 as they launched a just-opened Lowertown version, in the former home of Tanpopo. She nailed down the details on Trapeze, the Champagne bar she's been plotting for Uptown (look for a January opening).

Oh, and in her spare time she watched over the eight remarkable, idiosyncratic Minneapolis restaurants — Barbette, Bread & Pickle, Bryant-Lake Bowl, Gigi's Cafe, Pat's Tap, Red Stag Supperclub, Tiny Diner and the Bird — that constitute the Bartmann Group.

To borrow from the great, late Hubert Humphrey, what a cold Omaha we'd be without her.