New Longfellow restaurant Lynette is built on deep-rooted success

“We had so much hubris and ego to open that place. Now, it’s the opposite,” said Travis Serbus-White.

“Well,” conceded Ben Siers-Rients, his business partner of just under a decade, “maybe still a little hubris.”

That hubris and ego came with the opening of Lyn 65, a restaurant that had as many differences as similarities to their newest venture in Minneapolis’ Longfellow neighborhood, Lynette.

To understand all that goes into running a cafe that serves freshly made pain au chocolate and cardamom-laced coffee cake in the mornings, segues to a daytime soup and sandwich cafe, and then to dinner service that fills the dining room with couples on date nights and family outings, it’s best to start at the beginning. Lynette’s DNA comes from an unlikely, ambitious restaurant in a strip mall.

“I don’t think we trained anybody,” Siers-Rients said of Lyn 65, which opened in 2015. “We had no manuals — nothing. We were trying to dig ourselves out of a financial hole and the reviews came in harsh and early. I still have a T-shirt with the best one printed on it: ‘A group of 3rd graders could open a better restaurant.’ ”

What they did have was ambition. The kitchen was resting burgers, letting the juices settle, treating them like steaks. By the time they arrived in the dining room, they’d gone cold. “People want a burger that’s going to burn their mouth, with juices dripping down their hands. We had to relearn how to do everything.”

They looked to the chefs at the top of the fine-dining field at the time: Tim McKee, Steven Brown, Isaac Becker, Doug Flicker and Alex Roberts. When looking to those bold-name chefs with a collection of James Beard Awards, people tend to think of starched white linen. But the young chefs learned that the key to long-term success has nothing to do with the big guy in the kitchen barking orders. Instead, they needed to get quiet.

“To this day,” Siers-Rients said, “people will tell us how much Lyn 65 meant to them.”

But like all good times, it had to end. The building was sold and the strip mall that held it was demolished for new real estate. “Ultimately, the people who owned the building owned most of the restaurants,” said Siers-Rients.

The restaurant became a calling card for chefs who would go on to create their own legacies. Jose Alarcon helmed the groundbreaking Mexican fine-dining restaurant Popol Vuh and Jason Sawicki recently opened Black Duck Spirits & Hearth; both were Lyn 65 alums.

Serbus-White and Siers-Rients would work together again with new partners. Both were part of the founding of Petite León, the acclaimed south Minneapolis restaurant created with chef Jorge Guzmán. Serbus-White opened Little Tijuana with an ownership crew of industry friends.

It was out of curiosity that the two went to look at the former Riverview Cafe. The building had been empty after the closing of the beloved neighborhood wine bar located kitty-corner from the Riverview Theater. With the experience of working inside old buildings and reviving popular eateries, they decided to jump in. And they knew just who to pull in to build a solid partnership.

The building just needed to cooperate. What was expected to be a quick turn ended up being a monthslong process of removing walls and uncovering the secrets they held, one being outdated wiring. “We wanted to save as much as we could, but ultimately ... I think we only have one wall that remained,” said Travis Serbus-White.

Lynette would take neighborhood service a step further and be open all day. Breakfast would include coffee and pastries; lunch could be lingered over on the patio facing the garden center across the street. And the dinner menu needed to strike a balance between young families and romantic evenings out. They needed a chef who could handle a lot.

Luckily, there was one who lived in the neighborhood. Brian Sharpe came from CōV, the popular Edina restaurant. “They were talking to me about volume,” Sharpe said. He was deft in handling the surges of a spacious suburban eatery that also has regulars with high standards. Creating three separate menus that would meet the neighborhood where it was at didn’t phase him one bit.

With design help from Studio Grey, Melissa Siers-Rients and Billie Serbus-White created a soothing space: tartan-wrapped bar chairs, gold fixtures, a wide-open room with a pastry counter tucked into the front, and dining spaces with chairs and booths that could function for small groups, families with squirmy kids or adults who want to linger and catch up. “The goal was English cottage meets New Orleans,” said Ben Siers-Rients.

As with any restaurant opening, there were plenty of last-minute details to pull together.

In carrying those expectations, the neighborhood let them know exactly what they loved, and what they didn’t. A team with more hubris might have argued that the guests will learn.

Instead, they’re listening, learning and finding a way to keep moving.

Where: 3753 42nd Av. S., Mpls., lynettemn.com

Hours: Cafe open 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Tue.-Sun.; dinner 4-10 p.m. Wed.-Sun. (Hours subject to change.) Closed Mondays.

Prices: House cocktails, $13; starters and sides $4-$18; entrees $14-$45; pizzas $16-$18.

Getting there: Lynette is on the bus line and there’s a bike rack out front. For parking, there is a small lot in the back with on-street parking that’s easiest to access when the movie theater isn’t hopping. The restaurant is entirely one level. Acoustics can become boisterous during full dinner service.