When Augustine's reopens on May 20, the restaurant (1668 Selby Av., St. Paul, augustinesmn.com) will have new culinary leadership and a different format.
In 2016, owners Howie Melco, Tony Anderson and Anne Marie converted a former laundromat into a gastropub and bakery. Earlier this year, the trio hired Lenny Russo as a consultant, and the former Heartland chef/owner is transitioning the operation into a neighborhood bistro.
Russo has recruited Derik Moran, the talent who spent a decade running the kitchen at the Dakota, as the restaurant's chef. Toni Luschen, longtime pastry chef at the former Lucia's Restaurant, is Augustine's pastry chef. Mega Hoehn, Russo's spouse and the front-of-house face at Heartland, has signed on as general manager.
"It's traditional French bistro with modern touches, and it's a style of cooking that I appreciate the most," said Moran. "It's going to be low-key, simple food, focusing on local, sustainable, seasonal ingredients. I have lots of creative freedom. It's a great opportunity, and I'm looking forward to being a part of the St. Paul community."
Moran said that the menu should change every three to four weeks, and that its 12 to 15 items will be evenly divided into small ("not 'tapas' small," he said) and large plates.
Starting out, the former will include beef tartare with giardiniera and house-baked brioche toast, asparagus with egg and a tarragon aioli, vichyssoise with an arugula purée and French fries with bearnaise sauce. For the latter, there are mussels cooked in white wine and spring onions, cappelletti pasta with mushrooms and artichokes, bass served with lentils and spinach, grass-fed beef sirloin paired with a sunchoke-potato purée and a burger topped with Gruyère, aioli and tomato jam.
Luschen's initial dessert roster includes a rhubarb-lime custard tart with buttermilk ice cream, a vanilla bean panna cotta with strawberry-black pepper compote, a cheese board and nightly semifreddo and sorbet selections.
Small plates prices range from $12 to $20, large plates run $18 to $28 and desserts hover around $12.