Spice of life

Tim McKee,
Las Belle Vie:
612.874.6440
ti******@********ie.com

Josh Thoma,
Solera Restaurant:
612.338.0062
jo**@**************nt.com

Jay Sparks,
D’Amico:
612.238.4444

Spice of life
by Carla Waldemar

MANY OF THE TOWNS’ finest chefs honed their culinary skills in the D’Amico kitchens, then branched off to fulfill their own personal dreams.

Tim McKee and Josh Thoma met behind the range at Azur, the D’Amicos’ Mediterranean fine-dining concept that, despite rave reviews, ended up in the obits a couple of decades ago. Today the two operate a host of culinary operations. But unlike their mentors’ stable, each boasts its own name, theme and set of partners, many of whom represent staffers invited to become investors – a unique way to expand without a corporate umbrella.

When Azur closed, McKee and Thoma decided to join forces and launch a smaller, less formal French Mediterranean concept in Stillwater, called La Belle Vie. Critics loved it, and foodies fought for reservations – at least, on weekends. Few undertook the commute on a snowy January Tuesday.

Thus, a “learning moment” occurred, which went by the real-estate mantra, “location, location, location.” So La Belle Vie migrated to the heart of the metro, in a grand old building (and former fine-dining restaurant) directly on Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis, where it’s still doing standing room only business. Since then, the pair, joined by a variety of partners, has opened three more restaurants, each with a different theme and price point, with a couple more on the drawing board for 2009.

By 2003, four years into successfully running La Belle Vie, recalls McKee, “it was time to do something new. According to our business model, unless you expand you cannot grow. Plus, we were eager for more opportunities to be creative.”

Counter to prevailing wisdom, the idea was not to roll out a prototype for a mini-chain – in fact, the new idea was not even French-Mediterranean, and not under the La Belle Vie corporate umbrella. Unlike many dining organizations, each of the pair’s restaurants has a different group of funders, partners, and the list goes on. Employees, rather than leaving to launch their own cafés, are encouraged to become partners in the venture of their dreams, as evidenced in the next concepts out of the gate.

But first, back to the launch of Solera in the heart of Minneapolis’s theater district, conceived with the more informal, more energetic theme of Spanish tapas. McKee and La Belle Vie partner and wine guy Bill Summerville set off for Barcelona to ensure that their new venture would be authentic in food and drink and ambience, a McKee mantra.

Having cornered fine dining, this time they would broaden the appeal to multiple demographics, as Josh Thoma, who’s turned from cooking to managing front-of-the-house operations for the company, explains:  “The not-so-adventurous pre-theater diner in from the suburbs, followed, once the curtain’s up, by the serious foodies, and later, a more energetic late-night crowd.”

Single diners – maybe business travelers – can feel at ease supping at the demonstration counter, too. Thinking even broader, the pair incorporated a third-floor events space enabling them to host corporate parties of up to 300 guests.

“The days of high-end dining were waning,” Thoma says.

McKee continues, “We’re not about great big concepts, but small,well-executed and focused places we can wrap our arms around.” This wasanother vote for the tapas concept, “which we could offer at a lowerprice point,” he notes. “We could charge less than at La Belle Vie,whose reputation calls for the highest level of talented help, pluscostly stemware, china and,” he gasps, “forks at $6 each.

“We would make better use of our money not duplicating that,” (alsoimportant because the 30,000 square feet of Solera’s building is notthe cheapest to maintain, he says with a laugh). Thanks in large partto McKee’s insistence on authenticity and quality, food costs of thetwo kitchens are surprisingly similar: 34 percent at La Belle Vie and30 percent at Solera – though diners’ bills are vastly different.

Another important lesson they mastered the hard way, after the initialStillwater experience: “The way we’d gone about our first financing wasbad. Spend upfront for a good lawyer” who can help negotiate afavorable lease, McKee instructs.

Itchy spatulas once again: Five years later, by 2008, “both Josh and Iwere looking at different projects, but eventually we both worked onboth,”  says McKee. Thus, two more discrete ventures debuted lastsummer. Smalley’s Caribbean Barbecue is an even more informal conceptin Stillwater, wherein longtime Solera and La Belle Vie grill cookShawn Smalley stepped up as a partner. Once again, McKee hopped a plane- this time to Jamaica – in quest of authenticity. “Because there areso many barbecue places around, we wanted to bring something differentto the conversation – so we’re cooking over pimento wood, as it’s donein Jamaica.”

Yes, but what about that Stillwater winter? “Even without terrificwinter business, we can afford to do it because, instead of fine china,it’s wax paper and a plastic basket. At LBV an appetizer costs $15,while at Smalley’s, that gets you a whole chicken (which means our foodcosts are not low; instead, we’re offering really good value.”)

Almost simultaneously the pair opened Barrio on the Nicollet Mall, justa few blocks from Solera but a completely different concept and newpartners: developer Tim Rooney and Ryan Burnet, in real estate.

This time, “It’s primarily a bar but with good Latin street food,” saysMcKee, attracting a different, high-energy demographic. And it’s goinggangbusters, “doing half a million dollars in sales, although it’s muchsmaller than Solera,” McKee says. By summer, look for another Barrio -this time, in St. Paul’s newly lively Lowertown – “the first time aconcept has been repeated,” says McKee.

“It’s really a labor of love each time, and we can’t really make volumepurchases because each concept is different. Same with liquor, too” -wine at LBV, sherry at Solera, Bario’s tequila list and Smalley’sstrength in rum. That makes cross-promoting difficult too, he allows,because “people have a particular experience in mind. Many people don’teven know that these concepts are run by the same people,” he says.

How can this diversity succeed?According to the pair’s first boss and mentor, Jay Sparks, corporatechef of the D’Amico enterprises, it’s “because they’ve had lots ofexperience managing restaurants, and experience pays off. These guysknow what they have to do to make money, the discipline involved, andboth are very organized. They make sure the people in their restaurantscan manage their business; they hold their feet to the fire. They’reaware, and don’t get caught up in vanity expenses, like insisting onthe costliest ingredients. And they complement each other. Josh startedout in the kitchen, too – a boy genius! – but really took to thebusiness side, negotiating leases, doing deals. And he’s so personablein the front of the house. He remembers names, knows everyone in town.”

Staffing procedures, overseen by Thoma, are similar throughout, whichhelps – “the same training, but different etiquette,” says McKee. “AtLBV, servers have the luxury of spending time with guests, while atBarrio, with its high pace, you can’t. The way you expand is to developyour employees,” he believes, promoting a sous-chef at one venue  tothe exec chef slot when another opens. Case in point: Bill Fairbanks,who worked 12 years at Solera and LBV, now serves as Barrio’s executivechef.

Tim’s the creative man, the guy in the whites. “I bring up theemployees. I talk to each chef every day and stop in at least once aweek to discuss financials and menu concepts.  I spend most of my timeat La Belle Vie, the flagship, but because I have an excellent chef decuisine there, it enables me to work on different projects” – such asthe restaurant at the Guthrie Theater, called Cue, which McKee has beenasked to take over, to debut in July. Also in the works is a newdowntown Minneapolis cocktail lounge aimed, he says, at reaching ademographic that’s “35-plus and cool.”

Meanwhile Thoma heads operations, financials and front-of-houseprotocol from his base at Solera, overseeing a total staff of 300, whomhe runs through a grueling training period – glossaries of cookingterms and foreign words, extensive tastings, wine education, precedinga stringent written test – before they hit the floor.

“Opportunities open up for a reason,” insists McKee, recalling thelong-ago closure of Azur. Since then, the pair’s forte has becomepushing culinary envelopes. “We didn’t intend La Belle Vie to be ‘finedining’, but it was perceived that way – so, let’s make it the best intown,” McKee states.

“At Solera, we introduced a new style of eating,” with tapas, “and atSmalley’s a different style of barbecue. At Barrio, it’s Latin streetfood, but not your ordinary taco. The Guthrie space will be the firstin town to showcase sustainably harvested seafood,” yet anotheruncharted foray, and likely to be another winner.

Why? Bottom line, according to its creator: “If I do something, I do it right.”