Counter Intelligence: Auriga chef wanted to leave on a high note

Business is tough out there. Just ask Doug Flicker, co-owner of Auriga (1930 Hennepin Av. S., Minneapolis). His decade-old restaurant, named for a constellation, is closing.

"I think there's a pendulum in the restaurant business and it swings every 10 years or so," Flicker said. "When we opened in 1997, the pendulum was swinging up to Goodfellow's and fine dining, until people got bored with it. Then the pendulum moved in the other direction, to something radically different, with places like 112 Eatery and Town Talk Diner."

Flicker couldn't pinpoint a definitive reason for the close.

"It's a combination of things," he said. "Some would say it was location, or PR, or changing tastes, who knows? Or you get an $8,300 heating bill and you have to cut a prep shift to pay it. At some point it's neither here nor there. It's the aging dog analogy. The dog isn't going to live forever, so at some point you step in and say you're going to have to put it down. You make the decision and you immediately start to feel better."

Flicker said his co-owner and co-chef Melinda Van Eckhout will concentrate on her family's western Wisconsin farm and its successful CSA (consumer supported agriculture) program. Flicker, a Rochester native, doesn't have a career plan, although he didn't rule out opening a new restaurant with Auriga's third owner, James Andreas.

"There's also a part of me that wants to get out of the winter," Flicker said. "This is an amazing city, but the ground is frozen six months out of the year, which is kind of silly given the things that I love to work with. The bottom line is I don't want to be David Fhima [financially troubled owner of Fhima's and LoTo in St. Paul]. I don't want to be pulled into court, out of respect for the people who work here, for this place and for what we've accomplished in the past. We have a great following, a great staff and we do good food. So why not go out on a high note?"

The restaurant -- a ferociously creative culinary powerhouse -- is serving its last dinner Saturday; call 612-871-0777 for reservations.

South of the river

The newest name in Apple Valley is Osaka Seafood Steakhouse (7537 W. 148th St., 952-432-6155), which is featuring sushi, sashimi, tempura, soups and noodle dishes at lunch and dinner.

Double Dip is on its way to a two-fer. The upstart ice cream shop (10075 Citywalk Dr., Woodbury), which debuted last spring, is opening a second location (12501 Nicollet Av. S.) next month in Burnsville's built-from-scratch downtown. Owners Tami and Joe Jansen import more than three dozen flavors of rich Chocolate Shoppe ice cream from Madison, Wis. (top seller: Zanzibar, which Tami Jansen equates, flavor-wise, to "an old-fashioned Fudgsicle"), and also serves panini and soups. The Jansens aren't kidding when it comes to the name: their single serving is two scoops; a double is four.