Meet 26 immigrants who are changing the Twin Cities restaurant scene
Land of lutefisk? Hardly. Meet 26 immigrants who have woven their cooking into the fabric of Minnesota, changing the Twin Cities dining scene forever.
By Rick Nelson, Photos by Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune
May 12, 2017 — 4:55pm
Anoush Ansari
Hemisphere Restaurant Partners (Mission, Tavern Grill, Good to Go, Atlas Grill, District Fresh Kitchen)
Country of origin: Iran
Status: U.S. citizen
Years in U.S.: 39
Number of employees: about 500
Anoush Ansari was 15 and visiting his sister, who was enrolled at Macalester College ("I had to look up Minnesota in the atlas. I'd never heard of it, but when I got here I discovered what a welcoming place it is," he said), when revolution broke out in Iran. He leased a small nearby apartment, enrolled in Highland Park High School and began working in restaurants ("I could go to school during the day, work at night, get fed at work and walk home with a few dollars in my pocket," he said). After years with Morton's of Chicago and D'Amico, he opened Atlas Grill. Twenty years later, he and his partners now operate nine busy restaurants, from Wayzata to Woodbury. "I was definitely one of the lucky ones," he said. "I was in the right place at the right time. I never thought I'd have this size of a company. I have 500 employees counting on me. That's a motivator. If I screw up, they get screwed."
Hemisphere Restaurant Partners (hrprestaurants.com) include Atlas Grill, Mission American Kitchen and Good to Go in Minneapolis, District Fresh Kitchen + Bar in Wayzata and Tavern Grills in Blaine, Woodbury, Edina and Arden Hills.
Stine Aasland
Nordic Waffles, Minneapolis
Country of origin: Norway
Status: Holds an O-1 visa
Years in U.S.: two
Number of employees: four, with 25 projected seasonal workers
After conquering Norway's deeply entrenched waffle culture (yes, in her homeland, Stine Aasland is known as the "Waffle Queen"), this bred-in-her-bones entrepreneur has set out to do the same in the U.S. She settled on the Midwest after discovering a wealth of support, from the Sons of Norway and Norway House in Minneapolis to the Center for Innovation at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.f Her company, Nordic Waffles, takes a two-pronged approach to waffle domination: selling equipment, ingredients and expertise to coffee shops, delis and other food-service clients, and operating stands at events. Her visa, granted to individuals with extraordinary abilities within the arts, sciences and business, expires in about 18 months. She wants to stay. "I want to build the Nordic Waffle empire," she said. "That's going to take a while."
Nordic Waffles, nordicwaffles.com
Sameh Wadi and Saed Wadi
World Street Kitchen and Milkjam Creamery
Country of origin: Kuwait (Palestinian)
Status: U.S. citizen
Years in U.S.: 26 (Saed) and 20 (Sameh)
Number of employees: 60, with 20 seasonal
Following the 1990 Gulf War, members of the Wadi family began to settle in Minneapolis. Saed Wadi was first, studying electrical engineering at the University of Minnesota, and he was immediately smitten with all things American. Sameh Wadi, who arrived later as a young teenager, had a longer adjustment period. "The idea of being an ambassador of our culture is now something that I absolutely love," said Sameh Wadi. "It took a while to realize that you have to bring something to the culture, and to weave yourself into the fabric of the community." Fifteen years apart, they teamed up, with Sameh cooking and Saed running the business. Their restaurant Saffron closed last year, but not before the Wadis opened their eclectic World Street Kitchen (from a food truck by the same name) and its adjacent, ice cream shop, Milkjam Creamery. "When you come over here, you feel so welcome," said Saed Wadi. "The people of Minnesota appreciated me for who I am. That's a feeling that I'd never had."
World Street Kitchen, 2743 Lyndale Av. S., Mpls., 612-424-8855, eatwsk.com; Milkjam Creamery, 2743 Lyndale Av. S., Mpls., 612-424-4668, milkjamcreamery.com
Joe Hatch-Surisook
Sen Yai Sen Lek
Country of origin: Thailand
Status: U.S. citizen
Number of years in U.S.: 44
Number of employees: 25
Joe Hatch-Surisook arrived in Chicago as a 6-year-old. His first encounter with Minnesota was as a visitor to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area as a middle-schooler. "It was one of the defining experiences of my life," he said. After living in the Pacific Northwest, he and his wife, Holly, moved to Minneapolis. They opened Sen Yai Sen Lek (Thai for "Big Noodle, Little Noodle"), based on Thai street food, when their kids were old enough to go to school. The current political climate, with its negative focus on immigration, has Joe worried, but he's glad to live in a city where he feels safe. "For my part, I'll keep the doors open to everyone, as I always have. We've worked hard to be a warm and friendly place to many, and we'll keep doing that."
Sen Yai Sen Lek, 2422 Central Av. NE., Mpls., 612-781-3046, senyai-senlek.com
Georgia Sander
Kafe 421, Minneapolis
Country of origin: Greece
Status: U.S. citizen
Years in U.S.: 55
Number of employees: 50
Georgia Sander was 14 years old when she traded her tiny Greek village — at the time, her family's home did not have electricity or running water — for Pierre, S.D. A dishwashing job in her uncle's restaurant in Pierre was the first in a long line of occupations in the dining industry. Sander spent nearly 20 years at the former Lincoln Del before setting out on her own. A catering business eventually grew into Kafe 421, which will celebrate its 14th birthday in July. "I feel really lucky because in Minnesota, I've never felt like a foreigner, ever," said Sander.
Kafe 421, 421 14th Av. SE., Mpls., 612-623-4900, kafe421.com
Sarala Kattel and Rashmi Bhattachan
Gorkha Palace
Country of origin: Nepal
Status: U.S. citizen (Bhattachan), permanent resident (Kattel)
Years in U.S.: 20 (Bhattachan), 13 (Kattel)
Number of employees: 15
The two met and became friends at — where else? — a restaurant; Rashmi Bhattachan was a customer, Sarala Kattel was a cook. Bhattachan "always had opening a restaurant in the back of my mind." Kattel and her husband were awarded entry to the U.S., literally, by winning the green card lottery. She began working in restaurant kitchens. The pair teamed up to open Gorkha Palace, which has been charming diners for the past seven flavorful years. "We are always so humbled when non-Nepalis come to eat here," said Bhattachan. "They could have chosen anywhere, but they come here, and to see them eating food they didn't grow up eating, and smiling and enjoying themselves, it is very humbling to us."
Gorkha Palace, 23 NE. 4th St., Mpls., 612-886-3451, gorkhapalace.com
Jorge Guzman
Surly Brewing Co.
Country of origin: Mexico
Status: U.S. citizen
Years in U.S.: 32
Number of employees: about 250
The child of a Mexican father and an American mother, Jorge Guzman spent his first five years in his father's native country before a job transfer took the family to Miami, and then to St. Louis. After graduating college, Guzman trained at the Culinary Institute of America. Now he feeds upwards of 10,000 people a week at Surly's vast and dynamic beer hall and at the Brewer's Table, where he crafts cerebral dishes inspired by the brewery's beers. Guzman is a 2017 James Beard Foundation award nominee for Best Chef: Midwest. "There's always going to be flavors of Mexico in my food," he said. "Right now, it's more about traditional influences and techniques that are where I'm from in Mexico. That's what I can bring to the table."
Surly Brewing Co., 520 Malcolm Av. SE., Mpls., 763-999-4040, surlybrewing.com
Heather Jansz
Curry Diva pop-up
Country of origin: Sri Lanka
Status: U.S. citizen
Years in U.S.: 40
Number of employees: two
Count Heather Jansz as a true culinary pioneer. In the late 1970s, she began importing the exotic tastes of her island homeland to meat-and-potatoes northeast Minneapolis, cooking fiery curries as daily specials in a small restaurant. An enthusiastic article in the Minneapolis Star turned her word-of-mouth customer base into a deluge, inspiring Jansz and then-husband Evan Balasuriya to expand in Uptown, where their Sri Lanka Curry House enjoyed a 20-year, paradigm-shifting run. The marriage didn't last, but Jansz kept cooking — perhaps preaching is a better word — first at Curry Leaf Deli in St. Paul, then as a caterer. She was taking baby steps back into the restaurant universe when she met the owner of Our Kitchen. The south Minneapolis breakfast-and-lunch spot was dark at dinner, and Jansz began utilizing its evening downtimes with a pop-up, family-style dinner she calls the Curry Diva. She's still immersed in the ritual she's followed for decades, roasting and grinding spices, twice a week. "It's my joy," she said.
Curry Diva, thecurrydiva.com
Eugene, Marina and Naum Liberman
Moscow on the Hill, St. Paul
Country of origin: Russia
Status: U.S. citizens
Years in U.S.: 25
Number of employees: 45
Anti-Semitism led this professional Moscow couple (he was a dentist, she was a doctor) and their two young sons to seek refuge in the U.S. "It was a really serious process, to be legal," said Marina Liberman. They eventually landed in St. Paul and ended up buying Quail on the Hill, a French restaurant in the city's Cathedral Hill neighborhood. The Libermans feel a responsibility to let Minnesotans know that "Russia isn't just potatoes and cabbage and vodka," she said. "There are so many great things about Russia, and this is the story that we're trying to tell."
371 Selby Av., St. Paul, 651-291-1236, moscowonthehill.com
A restaurateur with four properties in his portfolio — a fifth is opening later this year at 11th and Nicollet in downtown Minneapolis — Dermot Cowley is a quintessential American success story. He showed up on these shores at age 18, and began working in restaurants, eventually marrying a woman from the Twin Cities. "I've never done a day's work in another business in my life," he said. "I love it. I love meeting people, I love dealing with customers. As corny as it sounds, I love getting hugs and handshakes a couple of hundred times a day."
O'Donovan's, 700 1st Av. N., Mpls., 612-317-8896, odonovans.com; McKinney Roe, 530 4th St., Mpls., 612-545-5863, mckinneyroe.com; Jake O'Connor's Public House, 200 Water St., Excelsior, 952-908-9650, jake oconnors.com; Lola's Lakehouse, 318 E. Lake St., Waconia, 952-442-4954, lolaslakehouse.com
Nay Lin
Sushi Avenue
Country of origin: Myanmar
Status: U.S. citizen
Years in U.S.: 17
Number of employees: 100, plus 200 kiosks
When they arrived in the U.S., Nay Lin and his sibling Nay Hla landed jobs as sushi chefs, including working for the company that managed the sushi counters at Lunds & Byerly's. Then they set out on their own. Today, 12-year-old Sushi Avenue supplies retail sushi services to more than 300 locations nationwide. In 2010, they ventured into the restaurant business. The first Masu Sushi and Robata opened in Minneapolis in 2011 to instant popularity. Their quick-service restaurant concept — OneTwoThree Sushi — started in downtown Minneapolis in 2012. "We work very hard, together," said Lin.
Sushi Avenue, sushiavenue.com
Olivier Vrambout
L'Etoile du Nord Cafe
Country of origin: Belgium
Status: Permanent resident
Years in U.S.: 31
Number of employees: 12
Olivier Vrambout's "nomadic" parents brought him to the U.S. when he was 12, and he lived all over, ending up in Minnesota — his ex-wife's home state — to raise their kids. He describes his modest and utterly appealing restaurant this way: "It's basically the way I grew up eating," he said. "Having everything sourced locally is not a new concept by any means, but it was just my upbringing. You went to the market, you ate with the seasons. That's what I discovered in the St. Croix River Valley, there are so just many local farmers. So we showcase what's available, educate people about where their food comes from, and change the menu weekly." After more than three decades, he's now going though the citizenship process. "A drawback of being a permanent resident is that you can't vote. A U.S. citizen can have a voice in the community, a voice on paper. I think that that's good."
L'Etoile du Nord Cafe, 320 5th Av. N., Bayport, 651-439-7507, letoiledunordcafe.com
Luis Patino
Cafe Racer Kitchen
Country of origin: Colombia
Status: Permanent resident
Years in U.S.: 26
Number of employees: 12, plus 12 seasonal
Luis Patino's career epiphany occurred when, while working as a paralegal, he realized he had devoted more time to planning the office potlucks than on his assigned projects. That led to buying and outfitting a former Federal Express vehicle and launching a Latin American-focused food truck. The business eventually added a brick-and-mortar location. He came to Minnesota as a 5-year-old. "My parents saw an opportunity in the immigration laws to come here, learn a different culture and provide me with an educational experience," he said. "They fell in love with Minnesota and decided to stay here and become part of the culture." Patino says that his comforting cooking is inspired by his Colombian background, and that his grandmother is a major kitchen role model. "But I'm as Midwestern as they come," he said. "You might not be able to pronounce some of the names, but the flavors and the concepts, they will remind you of home."
Cafe Racer Kitchen, 2929 E. 25th St., Mpls., 612-208-1695, caferacermn.com
Nina Wong and Thomas Gnanapragasam
ChinDian Cafe
Country of origin: Vietnam (Wong), Malaysia (Gnanapragasam)
Status: U.S. citizen (Wong), permanent resident (Gnanapragasam)
Years in U.S.: 38 (Wong), 17 (Gnanapragasam)
Number of employees: four
Wong's Chinese parents left Vietnam with their eight kids in 1978, spending a month on a cargo ship with 3,000 other people and more than a year in a Hong Kong refugee camp. The family eventually came to Minneapolis and started Rainbow Chinese Restaurant & Bar. Wong struck out on her own in 2005, opening East River Market, and meeting Thomas Gnanapragasam, also an immigrant with Indian and Malaysian roots. They married and changed the name of the business to ChinDian — Chinese and Indian, get it? "It's truly who we are. There's nowhere on Earth like here. The melting pot is good. You can start a new life here, and if you need help, there are organizations here to help you. I'm fortunate to be able to travel, and I don't know other countries where you can do that."
ChinDian, 1500 E. Hennepin Av., Mpls., 612-676-1818, chindiancafe.com
Jama Abdikani
Som Taste
Country of origin: Somalia
Status: Permanent resident
Years in U.S.: 23
Number of employees: five
"When the chaos started in my country, everybody fled," Jama Abdikani said. "Including my family, we were refugees." A sister studying at George Mason University in Virginia sponsored him. He was 14 years old, and completed ninth through 12 grades in Virginia. Through an uncle, Minnesota beckoned. "He convinced me to look at colleges here, and I never went back," Abdikani said. The former track star spent almost 20 years working in the bureaucracies of Hennepin and Ramsey counties, but he never forgot his goal of opening a restaurant, with his siblings' support. His restaurant opened last year and offers delicate sambusas, slow-cooked fava beans, comforting curries, lovingly braised goat. Abdikani has a hit on his hands. "What better way to get to know people, to build a connection, than through food?" he asked. "We have been welcomed by this neighborhood with open arms. People come in to eat our food, and share their stories. I learn from them, they learn from me. And over this food, we realize, 'Hey, we are the same. We all have the same hopes and dreams.' "
Lyn 65, 6439 Lyndale Av. S., Mpls., 612-353-5501, lyn65.com
Hassan Ziadi and Samlali Raja
Moroccan Flavors
Country of origin: Morocco
Status: U.S. citizen (Ziadi), permanent resident (Raja)
Years in U.S.: 14 (Ziadi) and two (Raja)
Number of employees: two
When he returned to the U.S. in 2013 after a 13-year absence, Hassan Ziadi had $500 in his wallet, and a goal: to be his own boss. He spent the next three years juggling 80-hour work weeks in four restaurants until he had amassed roughly half — $40,000 — of what he needed to become make his dream a reality. Samlali Raja and their toddler daughter, Rim, arrived in 2015, and one of the pleasures of visiting their Midtown Global Market enterprise is watching the couple as they work together, creating and serving the tagines and couscous dishes of their native country. Ziadi spent much of the 1990s cooking in top Minneapolis restaurants and then returned to Morocco to run a five-star hotel. He and Raja met while working in a hotel in Qatar. "We met in the kitchen," he said. "I used to be her boss, and now she's the boss." Rim's birth was Ziadi's impetus for returning to the U.S. "I told my wife, 'I've been around the world, and the best place for us to raise a family is in Minneapolis,'?" he said. "I told her, 'There is so much opportunity and such a warm welcome. It will feel like home.'
Moroccan Flavors, 920 E. Lake St., Mpls., 651-410-0361, moroccanflavorsmpls.com
Daniel del Prado
Burch Steak and Pizza Bar, Minneapolis
Country of origin: Argentina
Status: U.S. citizen
Years in U.S.: 16
Number of employees: 150 at Burch, a projected 100 at Diamond's BBQ and Martina
Prado was drawn to the restaurant business for a simple reason: He needed a job. Living in Colorado, he started by washing dishes, was quickly promoted to sous chef. "I fell in love with it," he said. "I always look at people [outside the restaurant industry] and I feel sorry for their life, because this industry is the best. You have a creative outlet, and you meet new people, all the time. And being a chef, it expresses your personality, your culture. I can look at a plate and learn a lot about a chef." He eventually settled in Minneapolis and was a key player in the opening of chef Isaac Becker's Bar La Grassa. In 2013 when Becker opened Burch Steak and Pizza Bar, Del Prado was at its four-star helm. He's leaving Burch at the end of May to open a pair of Minneapolis restaurants. Diamond's BBQ — with its bar and Tex-Mex menu — should debut by early July; Martina, a seafood restaurant, will follow in October. Citizenship came through about six years ago. "I just went to Argentina, and it's not home anymore. This is my country. I'm not from here, but this is my home."
Burch Steak and Pizza Bar, 1933 Colfax Av. S., Mpls., 612-843-1500, burchrestaurant.com
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That we are a nation of immigrants is clearly evident when looking at the restaurant industry. "If you were to take all the immigrants out of restaurants in Minneapolis, there wouldn't be any functioning restaurants," said Daniel del Prado, chef at four-star Burch Steak and Pizza Bar in Minneapolis. He would know. He's an immigrant, from Argentina. Hardworking immigrants have been a key power source for the local dining scene since Minnesota became a state, and thank goodness for that, seeing as how they are constantly invigorating our insular, snow-covered culture by importing flavors, customs, ingredients and ingenuity from every corner of the globe.
Contemplate the 1970s and 1980s, when an influx of Southeast Asian refugees had a profound impact on the way Minnesotans ate, and on so many levels: through exposure via restaurants and supermarkets, and farms and farmers markets.
On a more micro level, consider German-born Eberhard Werthmann, who enjoyed a long and fruitful career as a cooking instructor at what is now St. Paul College, where during a 32-year tenure he trained an estimated 1,500 professional cooks.
Or Maria Elena Hoyos of Colombia, she of Maria's Cafe in Minneapolis, famous for its cachapas, fresh corn pancakes. Or Patrick and Azita Bernet, a French couple who have vastly improved the previously barren pastry and bread landscapes of Richfield and Maple Grove. Or Bea Karngar, who introduces West African flavors and traditions through her City Afrique Restaurant in Minneapolis.
Or Kieran Folliard, who built and sold a collection of Irish pubs, then built, and sold, an Irish whiskey brand (yes, he's from Ireland), and then founded a pioneering craft-foods incubator in northeast Minneapolis that he dubbed the Food Building.
The list could go on and on.
That's not even including the countless laborers who wash dishes, mop floors, bus tables, scrub vegetables and perform the grunt work necessary to maintain the busy, complicated world of restaurants.
Anoush Ansari — an Iranian immigrant and a founder of Hemisphere Restaurant Partners, which operates nine Twin Cities restaurants — is puzzled by aspects of the current immigration debate.
"It's funny to me, because the true Americans in this country are the natives," he said. "Everyone else came from somewhere else, and everyone comes here for the opportunity.
"Just look back a generation or two, and you were coming here on a boat, and you didn't speak the language. I worry about America, which has always been the good guy. Now, we're not always perceived that way."
According to the National Restaurant Association, Minnesota has nearly 270,000 jobs in the restaurant/food service industry.
There's no data on the number of immigrants working in those jobs, but given the cornucopia of languages spoken in restaurants, the figures can't be insignificant. Why? Universal access, says Luis Patino, chef/co-owner of Cafe Racer Kitchen in Minneapolis, and a Colombian immigrant.
"Food is itself its own language," he said. "Go anywhere and you'll have the same focus on meats, vegetables, starches, sauces, flavors, crunchy, salty, savory and sweet. This is the language we all speak. I don't need to actually talk to you to communicate. That's one reason why an immigrant might approach this industry with ease. It's because food connects us more than anything else."
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