2013 Thursday, April 11, 2013
forestlaketimes.com
Vol. 110 No. 48
Successful restaurateur’s bold vision debuts next week Acqua of Forest Lake to offer fine dining with a view Clint Riese News Editor On the night in 2009 when Acqua Restaurant and Wine Bar opened in the space of a former deli, three customers came through the door. The kitchen was tiny, the ninetable dining room not much bigger. Four years and three expansions later, Daron Close and his team of friends and veteran restaurant workers have turned the White Bear Lake eatery into one of the most heralded fine dining options in all of the Twin Cities metro area. So it is fun to imagine what Close’s crew might do with the gem of a facility on Forest Lake’s Willow Point that was built as the Lake House restaurant and has sat vacant since the fall of 2009. Diners need not wait much longer to find out: Acqua of Forest Lake opens next Tuesday, April 16.
On the Menu
Close said the secret for Acqua’s success in White Bear Lake is not as complicated as, say, its sea scallop with duck bacon, seared foie gras, walnut-apple chutney and cabernet reduction. Rather, a tight-knit team’s commitment to fresh ingredients and outstanding service have set the restaurant and wine bar apart in short order. Those elements of success will not change in the 5-year-old building along Second Lake, Close said.
Photos by Clint Riese
Chris Whalen, J.J. Maleitzke and Daron Close bring significant fine dining experience to their new venture in Forest Lake.
Below: The bar at the former Lake House Restaurant features ample seating and natural lighting. Bottom: All tables will be dressed with cloths and wine glasses. Management wants to keep the focus on topnotch food and service.
In fact, very little will. Close estimates that 85 percent of the White Bear Lake menu will carry over at first. That means diners here should be on the watch for entrees like the herb-andpanko-encrusted, seared sea scallops with sauteed shrimp, crab-crusted Chilean sea bass, and braised pork shank with organic white sweet potato puree and port demi-glace. “Those are rock-star dishes that we’ve had for years, and to try to recreate something with the success level those have had would be naive, I think,” Close said. Sunday brunch, served family style, will include waves of platters featuring scones and muffins, a choice of eggs, pasta and potatoes, sausage and bacon, and crepes and fruit. Executive chef Chris Whalen will make the move north full-time along with a veteran Acqua sous chef. “We’re actually bring-
ing two of our core cooks right out here to make sure that the food doesn’t skip a beat,” Close said. And make no mistake, food is always the main focus at Acqua. Seafood is shipped in from Canada daily and is never frozen. The chefs use top-quality ingredients like Italian artichoke hearts and pomodoraccio tomatoes, with the thought that customers will be happy to pay for the extra cost once they taste the result. “Scratch cooking: You don’t get that many places anymore,” said Acqua veteran J.J. Maleitzke, who will work full-time at this location as general manager. “I think the average consumer may not understand or appreciate it always, until they get it. I think White Bear was blessed with that four years ago when these guys came in and did their thing. They were able to appreciate what a can sauce is and what a true demi-glace is, or what
frozen walleye tastes like and now what fresh, dailycaught walleye tastes like. I think Forest Lake will see that as well very soon.” Even Acqua’s drink menu, managed by
Close’s fiancee, Nicole Whetzel, demands more than the ordinary. Local craft beers will be on tap and in bottles, a wine list will rotate 10 whites and 10 reds ideal for pairing with the dinner menu, and a dozen specialty cocktails will feature ingredients like ginger and passion fruit purees from Napa Valley rather than pre-made mixes. The facility’s generous size will allow for flexibility. A double-decker pizza oven will crank out five varieties each of pizza and flatbread. Neither is on the menu in White Bear Lake. A second dining room may cater to a more casual crowd than the main room. Many meals will be had at a lower price than the original location. For example, Acqua’s three-course tasting menu will run $30 per person here, $40 there.
Creating a Feel
Most of the 30-some member staff has been hired, and Maleitzke has been pleasantly surprised by the pool of candidates away from the metro. On the whole, what may have been missing in experience was made up for in personality. Many new hires have been getting their feet wet in White Bear Lake, and a handful of top servers from there will work here temporarily to ease the transition. “In the Cities, people are job-jumping all the time,” Maleitzke said. “I think we can get some serious loyalty up here if we can build the establishThe main dining room at Acqua of Forest Lake features majestic views of the lake ment that we are looking through tall windows. A second dining room will be used as needed. It may take to create.” on a more casual feel or maintain the same elegance as the main room. A parking shortage is
the chief logistical problem management has been attacking. The 68-spot lot is not feasible if much of it goes to employees, so Close is making arrangements to lease an off-site lot for workers, who will be shuttled to and from the restaurant. The second prong in the solution is complimentary valet parking. Besides adding a nice touch for customers, it will allow 100 vehicles to be squeezed onto the restaurant’s lot. The managers also hope to get significant boat traffic. A dock attendant will help customers disembark in the summer. “It will be an interesting dynamic for us to try to balance traffic in the summer,” Close said. “Regardless, it should create a real energetic scene around here.” Acqua will not offer happy hour or be open for lunch, but boaters can stop for dinner or a drink – there is no dress code requiring slacks and collars. “We want to be food first, but by all means, come in here and get cocktails,” Maleitzke said. “We’re OK with that, too, but the one thing we don’t want to change is that we’re all about food and all about service. We do have a lot of pride in what we do and the product and the level of service, but at the same time, we try to eliminate that pretentiousness.” Acqua of Forest Lake’s hours will be 5-10 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. The management team takes pride in keep-
ing the doors open until the posted time; customers can stroll in at 9:45 p.m. and expect full service without feeling rushed. Reservations are suggested and can be made at 651-464-6130 or OpenTable.com.
Expecting Success
Acqua’s four partners – Close, Whetzel, Maleitzke and Whalen – are optimistic for several reasons. First, they do not have the pressure of a mortgage hanging over head, because their White Bear Lake landlord, Pete Sampair, purchased the building here March 1. “He’s got a lot of faith in what we do, and he’s been a real big piece in what we’ve done with the White Bear one,” Close said. Second, the success of their original restaurant is evidence of a working – even flourishing – business model. “We watched that thing grow, and it’s the same thing here,” Close said. “If you do what you do and everybody’s doing it well and the energy is right, you can watch that thing exponentially grow, which is awesome. This spot definitely has the room to grow, which is exciting.” Also, the initial rush that accompanies almost any new dining establishment will provide the ideal opportunity to impress. “Opening when we do, we have the whole summer to roll,” Close said. “There’s not going to be a shortage of people checking us out, so it’s just about using that as your opportunity.”