Travail Kitchen & Amusements turns bar into a pop-up for staffers

Leave it to the mighty creative forces at Travail Kitchen & Amusements (4124 W. Broadway, Robbinsdale, travailkitchen.com) to stretch the definition of "pop-up."

This time around, chefs/co-owners James Winberg, Mike Brown and Bob Gerken are stepping aside. They're turning over the seats in the restaurant's bar, the Rookery, to a different staffer every two months, allowing them to create their own temporary restaurant-within-a-restaurant they're calling Spotlight.

"It's about giving the talented people working for us the actual opportunity of running a restaurant, without the risk of failing," said Winberg. "This is basically their way of finding an identity, expressing their own style, and cooking good food."

It's set up as a one-man/-woman marathon.

"They'll be planning the menus, prepping, working the line, running dishes, doing cleanup, even the financials," said Brown. As an additional motivator, those who surpass a financial break-even point will share in the profits.

First up is Nate Moser, taking the March 2-April 30 shift.

"When I go out, I like to sit at bars and eat bar food," said Moser. "So I'll be making bar food that I like to eat."

"My concept is basically going to be pasta," said Goettsch. "Some light crudos, some gelato and sorbet. It's the things that I know and love, and that I love to cook."

Spotlight will follow Travail's Wednesday-through-Saturday schedule.

Get ready to greet the Hi-Lo Diner (4020 E. Lake St., Mpls.,hi-lo-diner.com).

The 1957 factory-built beauty spent decades outside Pittsburgh as the Venus Diner. It rolled into Minneapolis last August on the back of a pair of semitrailer trucks, and came to rest in front of an abandoned Taco Bell. Happily, all that remains of that fast-food eyesore is a walk-in cooler and a pair of exterior walls.

"We kept them up, in part, because we want to remind ourselves that we saved the city from another Taco Bell," said co-owner Mike Smith with a laugh.

"Our goal is to have the food match the aesthetic expectations," said Smith.

One house specialty will be Hi-Tops, doughnut-like fried dough crowned with all kinds of goodness: fried chicken, Korean short ribs with hoisin slaw, a cheese-curd/onion-ring/fried-egg combination.

Dan Oskey of Tattersall Distilling is developing a cocktail menu that will focus on midcentury libations, served to 2 a.m. on weekends and to midnight Sunday through Thursday.

The venture is a collaboration between the Blue Door Pub (1811 Selby Av., St. Paul; 3448 42nd Av. S., Mpls.; 1514 Como Av. SE., Mpls., bdp.com) and the neighboring Forage Modern Workshop and Brownsmith Restoration.

The painstakingly restored 82-seat (12 are counter stools, naturally) interior is just as much of a knockout as the gleaming exterior.

Look for a mid-March opening.