Behind the Apron

THEapron

When it comes to dining, we often glance at a menu, patiently await with a growling stomach and then devour what is soon placed in front of us. However, many of us don't quite understand all that goes on behind the scenes and how these delicious dishes get from point A to point Belly. We talked with a variety of chefs throughout the area and let them give us a peek into a day in their lives. Their culinary delights don't just appear out of thin air and should not be treated as such. Join us in exploring what it really takes to be able to don a chef's apron.

By Alexandra Martin Photos by J Alan Paul Photography

JOE BRUNNER

MEZZALUNA309 Roberts St N, Fargo

ABOUT MEZZALUNA

Located downtown just behind the historic Fargo Theatre is Mezzaluna, a casual, fine dining spot. Expect an upscale eatery with the decor and menu of a big-city restaurant, the warmth and familiarity of a small-town joint and the mystique of a 1920s speakeasy.

South Fargo native Joe Brunner is the newest Executive Chef at Mezzaluna. Brunner, however, did not come to the chef life from birth. After a two year stint studying Criminal Justice at NDSU, he decided to switch over to NDSCS culinary school in Wahpeton to follow something he’s always known: cooking. Growing up around his mother and grandmother cooking inspired him to switch back into this life, and Fargo eaters are thankful for this decision.

After working with Eric Watson, owner of Rustica and Mosaic Foods, at NDSCS, Watson approached Brunner about a job working with him at Rustica and Mezzaluna. Brunner rose through the ranks, becoming sous chef to Watson and then ultimately executive chef of Mezzaluna. In April, Brunner joined co-owner Taylor Snelling in taking over Mezzaluna, all while ensuring the Fargo staple stayed true to its roots.

Brunner and his team at Mezzaluna release four seasonal menus throughout the year, so he always is on his toes and thinking of new things to feature. “We have to think of the time and what is in season with our local farmers. Me and my sous chefs brainstorm and research. We sit together and come up with ideas, maybe based on what we have done before,” said Brunner. Keeping the menu new and fresh each month is certainly a task that pays off with diners who frequent Mezzaluna.

“When you find that dish and you know it’s the one, that’s the best part of the job,” said Brunner. “We’ve gone through so many dishes where you put out the dish and it sounded great in your mind, but it just ended up not working.” After processes of trial and error, Brunner noted that when it all falls into place and both himself and the customer are satisfied, it’s the most rewarding experience.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

7:30 AM: Wake up. Check my phone for messages and e-mails. Get up and grab something quick to eat.

8:00 AM: Leave the house. Stop and grab a coffee on the way into the restaurant.

8:30 AM: Get to the restaurant and unlock the doors for deliveries and staff to show up. Get down to the office, send some more emails, double check orders coming in for the day to check if I’ll have to head to the store to grab a couple of things.

9:00 AM: Organize prep list for the day for everyone (including myself) to execute before the PM cooks show up at 4PM.

9:15 AM: Start knocking out big prep projects like 6-hour braised pork shanks, braised duck leg, salmon fabrication, beef tenderloin fabrication, chicken fabrication, duck fabrication and soups/sauces.

10:00 AM: Morning staff shows up (Sous Chef, Prep Cook, Dishwasher). We have a little get together to determine who is going to do what and if they know how everything is done. If not, I or my Sous Chefs Jared and Brittney will show how it is done. Training and teaching are a big thing at Mezzaluna. Knowing every project and station is key.

11:00 AM – 2:00 PM: Meetings with representatives from all my distributors throughout the week. Once the prep list and store runs are finished, I give my team a little break before we roll into dinner service. During this time, I like to take a second and do some research about different seasons, different flavors, different concepts that maybe we would want to feature in our upcoming menu. Were always looking for something different.

3:00 PM: Meet with Front of the House managers to talk about Reservations and to organize how service is going to go from both sides of the restaurant.

4:00 PM: PM crew shows up for dinner service (doors open at 5). Ensure that they have everything they need.

5:00 – 9:00PM: Doors open. Friday and Saturdays, I’m the Expo, which means I organize and send out all the food to the guests. After the rush is over, Jared (my sous chef) and I go downstairs in the prep kitchen to brainstorm and spitball ideas we came up with throughout the day.

10:00 PM: Start to wrap up what I’m working on. Make sure everyone is looking good on their Mise en Place for the night. Once they’re all good to go, I’ll take off.

10:30 PM – 11:30: Leave the restaurant.

11:00 PM - 1:00 AM: Get home. My girlfriend, Nevada, gets home around the same time so I like to make us something to eat, but nothing crazy. I start to wind down and just watch some TV. Some would say that’s a perfect time to try and get away from the restaurant, but that never works out. The only TV I find myself watching is anything to do with cooking and food. Even while watching TV I'll open one of my cook books and look up something I just thought of...it's never ending. But that is why I love what I do, this career is ever changing. And with what I want Mezzaluna to be, we have to stay with and even ahead of the trends. After all this, I’m ready for bed and I hit the sack, excited for what tomorrow is going to bring.

JOEY HAYNES

PRAIRIE ROOTS FOOD CO-OP

1213 Northern Pacific Ave Suite 100, Fargo

ABOUT PRAIRIE ROOTS FOOD CO-OP

Aptly named, Prairie Roots Food Co-Op embraces all that our local prairie has to offer by providing downtown Fargo with locally harvested or prepared foods. Providing a mix of natural and organic foods, you can gather your groceries here or enjoy their hot bar of ready-to-eat dishes.

New to Prairie Roots Co-Op, but an 11 year veteran of the Fargo area is Joey Haynes. Growing up with an Air Force father and moving around from San Antonio to Grand Forks to Fargo, and many places in between, Haynes is used to bouncing around a bit. After finishing college at NDSU, he dove right into the food world. His resume includes working in the bakery at Hornbachers, helping open all the Panera’s in North Dakota, being head chef at Vinyl Taco when it opened, then opening his own Green House Cafe. Since August however, Haynes has taken on the new deli manager and chef role at Prairie Roots Food Co-Op.

With Prairie Roots only being just over a year old, Haynes is taking on this position as a way to bring in some fresh ideas and provide some great dishes. Haynes noted that lots of people stop by the Co-Op for groceries and produce, but often breeze past the hot food bar and deli section. He wants to change that and give customers more and more options for tasty foods, especially vegan items.

“Since it’s a hot bar and it’s serve yourself, there tends to be a lot more comfort foods and home cooked type meals here. It’ll be nice to expand on because a lot of people don’t have time to cook anymore,” said Haynes. He intends to include some favorites, such as the Green House Cafe vegan mac and cheese, to allow shoppers to have access to good, quick bites. “It’ll fill you up, it’ll taste good and you won’t feel like crap afterwards,” said Haynes.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

6:00 AM: Wake up. Take out our dog, Rooper, while I drink a glass of lemon water. Then I take Rooper back inside, wake up my wife, Abby, and tell her bye for the day. She works at 7am, most days. I also check emails and our employer phone app for anything urgent.

6:15 AM: Go work out. I feel like I need to work out before work almost every day, or else my mind is a mess while I am in the kitchen.

7:30 AM: Get ready and leave for work.

8:00 AM: Look at our Grab & Go case for holes and check with our prep cook, Roxy, to make sure all is going well. Help with whatever needs to be done. Make coffee and breakfast sandwiches, as needed.

10:00 AM: Start to set up for lunch. We have a hot food bar, salad bar and daily soups. Everything is fresh, so timing changes according to the daily menu, but it is important to give yourself enough time.

11:00 AM-2:00 PM: Lunchtime. Working a weigh and pay food bar is much different from restaurants. Rather than waiting on orders to come back to the kitchen, we have to keep a constant eye on the bar to stay ahead of daily demand. We don’t keep back up items warm, because we want to keep everything as fresh as possible, so we have to make sure we are starting items well before they run out.

2:00 PM-4:30 PM: Our hot bar is open the whole day, 11am-7pm, but this time is generally a bit slower. So, this is when I try to get to all of my meetings and phone calls. Working at a co-op is great because we work with so many local food vendors, but of course, everyone’s schedule is different, so it gets tricky sometimes. In general, everyone is very flexible and great to work with.

4:30 PM: Make sure the hot bar and salad bar are nice and full for dinner and make a night prep list for the closing cook.

5:00 PM: Ask around the co-op to see if anyone else needs help with any miscellaneous tasks. I love the environment here, because no matter what part of the store you work in, everyone is willing to lend a hand.

5:30 PM-6:00 PM: Get home and make dinner for Abby and I.

6:00 PM -10:00 PM: I rarely sit down in a day, but if I do, it’s during this time to watch one of our favorite shows. Otherwise, I do some yard work or housework, or we go find some live music to enjoy while I bounce recipe ideas off of Abby. Abby doesn’t cook too much, but when she does, it’s great, and she is great at telling me how appealing an idea sounds before I even try it, which is almost as important as how it tastes.

RYAN NITSCHKE

LUNA

1545 South University Dr., Fargo

ABOUT LUNA

Luna is a neighborhood kitchen and wine and beer lounge. Midwest tastes can be found at Luna with their ever-evolving menu of dishes that embrace local providers and the community. Beginning as a coffee shop, this Fargo staple has since transformed into a full eatery with a menu designed for sharing.

Ryan Nitschke is the executive chef at Luna. He found his way to Luna after being the executive chef at The HoDo for eight years and then being approached to take over and create a kitchen for Luna. What used to be a wine and cheese hot spot has turned to a full neighborhood restaurant thanks to Nitschke. This has allowed him to be able to have freedom with the menu, a cool and lucky thing, he notes.

Running the kitchen of a place like Luna has allowed him to have more freedom and be more experimental with his cooking. “The experimental part of it never stops. That's kind of my identity, being an experimental cook and a farm-to-table cook,” said Nitschke. “I’m really passionate about working with the farmers that I’ve been working with the past 10 and half years. I cook a lot with seasonality, so the menu changes a lot with that. Whatever the farmer drops off, I cook with.”

Luna has a seasonally driven menu, ensuring that the food available from local farmers gets used at its freshest and most abundant. Being able to work with these area farmers is the backbone of a lot of what Luna does. Being able to keep a rotating menu allows guests to try a variety of different things with each recurring visit.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

7:30am: Internal alarm clock goes off. Roll out of bed brush my teeth, get dressed, and what not. Feed the dog, let the dog out, and let the dog in.

8:00am: Actual alarm goes off. Grab phone and check emails and messages. Look over numbers from the previous day, look at the seafood fresh sheet for the day, and return messages to local farmers for orders.

8:15am: Review new ideas and concepts for the everyday menu and menus for special event.

8:30am: Call in seafood order, specialty food orders, and review other orders needed for the week.

8:50am: Head out the door. Maybe grab a granola bar and a swig of milk on my out, sometimes not. Either way that is usually how breakfast works for me. On my way to the garage, pick any flowers and herbs from the garden that might be available for use. Hop in the car and go.

9:00am: Arrive at Luna. Look over prep list and pulls from the night before. Add and adjust where needed. Turn the equipment on and begin to set up the line for lunch.

9:30am: Maybe grab a coffee and call in any orders that still remain. Get the pastries and breads baking. Get started on prep list in order of priorities. This can include gathering mis en place from dry storage for many prep items. Always trying to keep up with dishes as I go.

10:15am: If I am lucky, the seafood order has arrived, as well as, specialty orders, cheese orders and other truck orders have arrived. Put all the orders away. Usually inspect, clean and portion seafood immediately.

10:45am: While I am prepping, discuss lunch menu with Front Of House for print.

11:00am: Lunch starts. Almost always, orders start coming in right away. For the next hour, I juggle lunch orders, prep, dishes and sometimes late deliveries.

11:55am: Help arrives if on time. The other line cook and I continue through lunch rush with lunch orders, prep, dishes etc. Unless interrupted by phone calls or surprise arrivals from vendors, farmers, health inspector, etc., this lunch rhythm continues until 2:00pm.

1:55pm: Second line cook shows up.

2:00pm: LUNCH IS OVER! Clean up and put away lunch mis en place. Catch up on dishes and finish any prep items left on my list, while other line cooks continue on with their prep lists.

2:30pm: Maybe eat something if the day permits. Some days are too busy to bothered by personal nourishment. Try to eat as I go, but that doesn't always work out.

2:35pm: Run any errands that might need to get done: Costco, grocery store, A&A, Tochi, farm stand, etc.

3:30pm: If traffic isn't too bad and didn't have too many stops, arrive back at Luna. Put away items and review the minions' prep lists. Help and/or answer any questions about new dishes and prep. Talk with other managers and FOH employees.

3:45pm: Try to sit down in office. Review and return emails and other messages from the day.

4:00pm: Type menu for dinner service, print and add to web page. Meanwhile, popovers are going into the oven.

4:15pm: If time permits begin reviewing, costing and coding invoices from deliveries to be payed and filed by accountant.

4:45pm: Team meeting. Talk with FOH and BOH about menu for the evening, answering any questions.

4:55pm: Popovers come out of the oven.

5:00pm: Dinner Service starts. Continue office work, dishes and then jump on the line when I am needed.

5:30pm: Continue cooking on the line through dinner rush, prepping and dish washing sprinkled in there.

8:00-8:30pm: If rush has subsided, discuss and form prep list, new menu items and orders for the next day. Some farmers make their deliveries later so they can utilize the daylight.

9:00pm: Dinner service is over. Grab a beer or head home for the night.

9:15pm: Arrive at home. Clean myself up. Maybe eat something and have a few beverages. Unwind with the family.

10:00pm: Menu plan for the next day and days to come, while trying to relax.

11:00pm-12:00am: Head to bed.

ANDREA BAUMGARDNER

BERNBAUM'S

115 Roberts St N, Fargo

ABOUT BERNBAUM'S

Nestled into a mid-century modern antique shop is BernBaum's, a Nordic-Jewish deli featuring bagels that even a New York native would call

Owned by husband and wife duo Brett Bernath and Andrea Baumgardner, they serve up small plates of bagels and schmear alongside a charming 1950's-meets-East Side NYC atmosphere. While we spoke with Andrea about her experiences here, she made an emphasis on the fact that the operation is a team effort and would not be possible if it was just her doing it alone.

BernBaum's came to life two and a half years ago and has been serving up delicious dishes consistently ever since. When her son was school-age, Andrea didn't want to have to be working nights, so she took a job outside of restaurants for about 2 years. However, with a background of about 20 years of experience here and there in the culinary industry, she found herself unable to stay away form the heat of the kitchen long. With Brett being Jewish and Andrea being Scandinavian-German, they noticed that the Fargo area did't really have any restaurants that highlighted those backgrounds. With experience of doing bagels in her previous jobs, the idea for BernBaums came to life naturally. Brett was already running Mid-Mod Madhaus in a space with plenty of extra room, so they decided to launch to bagel empire there. Tucked away in the back is a kitchen that contains all the prep stations that allow for timely service up front. "We built the most minimal kitchen here to see if it worked and did," said Andrea.

On one of her favorite parts of the experience Andrea said, "It's the community of people who decide to eat here. Whether that's regulars who become friends, or if someone just comes in once. I think it’s very gratifying to have those types of relationships with people and to be able to provide something in their life." Even while speaking with her, Andrea was able to greet everyone who walked in the door by their name and with a warmness that felt like home.

While Andrea and Brett are the masterminds of BernBaum's, they place a huge value on their whole team. “At this point in my life, the most important things to me are the fact that it’s a team sport. It’s very important to me who I work with and it’s very important to me to impart that it’s really not about me,” said Andrea.

Besides Andrea, the team that makes this all happen consists of Paul Perez (chef), Amy Rice (front of house), Brett Bernath (owner) and Pat McCoy (kitchen).