New farm-to-table restaurant in downtown Minneapolis is actually owned by farmers

A new downtown Minneapolis restaurant owned and operated by the Minnesota Farmers Union is about as farm-to-table as you can get.

Farmers Kitchen + Bar is now open in the former Spoonriver spot in the Mill District (750 S. 2nd St., Mpls., 612-200-9434, farmerskitchenandbar.com).

The combination restaurant, coffee counter and grab-and-go market puts Minnesota farmers front and center. That's because the local farmers that make up the Minnesota Farmers Union are technically the owners.

"This is our restaurant, too," said Jodi Ohlsen Read, co-owner of Shepherd's Way Farms outside of Northfield.

Shepherd's Way cheeses are featured in sandwiches, salads and cheese plates. To get kitchen staff and servers up to speed on Minnesota's bounty, Ohlsen Read came to the restaurant for training sessions with employees.

"We can't be everywhere all the time, so it's really nice to know that there's somebody who knows our story and can represent us," she said.

Executive chef Kris Koch sources cheese, meat, eggs and greens from farmers around the state, and the ever-changing offerings give him the creative freedom to seasonally adapt his menu based on what's available.

"Being able to let these ingredients speak for themselves, letting local scratch ingredients do their thing, is my vision and style of food," Koch said. Having worked for Wolfgang Puck, Koch's experience is steeped in the California cuisine movement, which celebrates seasonality and regionality, a concept easily applied in Minnesota. "These are my roots," he said.

On the all-day menu, served from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., key Minnesota ingredients shine in playful dishes, such as walleye tots and bison/wild rice meatballs. Wild rice also plays a significant role in a Waldorf salad with a creamy cider vinaigrette, smoked turkey and Honeycrisp apples. Sandwiches are loaded with Minnesota-grown produce, and picnic platters pair Minnesota-made cheeses with Red Table charcuterie. Coffee, pastries and grab-and-go items are available from 7:30 a.m., and a small market sells pantry items and rotating meats, produce and cheese. Breakfast and supper will be added as staffing ramps up. Farmers Kitchen + Bar is open from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

The project was announced in 2019 as a partnership between the Farmers Union and the Birchwood Cafe. After a pop-up, Birchwood left the project. Pandemic delays pushed the opening from 2020 to 2021.

While the farm-to-table model is one of the more popular restaurant trends, farmer-owned restaurants are still a relatively novel concept, said Union President Gary Wertish. Washington, D.C., is home to a collection of North Dakota farmer-owned restaurants.

The Minnesota Farmers Union has had practice serving the public before; it operates a popular Minnesota State Fair coffee shop. Its maple cream nitro iced coffee will be on the menu at both locations this year.

Expanding to something permanent has "been in the back of our mind," Wertish said. "At the State Fair we have people ask, where are you located so that we can get that product? And I've always had to say no. Now I can give them an address."