GYST Opens, A New Heartland Market, and More

A look at a newly opened fermentation bar and a big change to a local farm-to-table market in today’s edition of The Tap.

The Tap is a biweekly feature created by the Heavy Table and supported by Shepherd Song Farm. “We raise 100 percent grass-fed lambs & goats traditionally, humanely, and sustainably.”

The Tap is the metro area’s comprehensive restaurant buzz roundup, so if you see a new or newly shuttered restaurant, or anything that’s “coming soon,” email Tap editor James Norton at editor@heavytable.com.

GYST Fermentation Bar (now open)
25 E 26th St, Minneapolis

For sisters Kylene (Ky) and Mel Guse, the gravitational pull of complicated food and drink was irresistible. Both left globetrotting careers (Ky in academia, Mel in PR, for companies including Sony and Google) to put down roots in Minneapolis and open up GYST Fermentation Bar, a new spot dedicated to foods including cheese, pickled vegetables, kombucha, cured meat, and wine.

“We wanted to get back to our roots,” says Ky Guse. “To our grandparents, really, who had this bar called the Cantina in the ’70s in South Dakota. We always heard all these funny stories about it. One of the missions for GYST is getting back to the way we used to do things. We wanted to be more connected to the land and the people.”

Both Mel (pictured above, right) and Ky lived in San Francisco for years and worked at Bi-Rite Market, which focuses on organic and artisan products.

GYST’s approach to food and drink is multifaceted. In addition to the Guse sisters, Jill Mott (formerly of The Bachelor Farmer) brings additional firepower on the wine front, and Jim Bovino (owner / operator of the California Street Farm in Northeast Minneapolis) brings a firsthand connection to agriculture.

The GYST team is working with the Minneapolis Health Department to develop in-house fermenting and kombucha programs, and workshops and other events are on the schedule for the near future. But at the moment, GYST is concentrating on serving wine and beer, and food including sandwiches and meat and cheese boards.

“We have three different sandwiches, including a grilled cheese inspired by Hog Island [Oyster Co.] in the Ferry Building in San Francisco,” says Ky. “People are coming in to get sandwiches a little earlier and cheese boards later at night, and that’s what we hoped for.”

The space also has ambitions to compete as a top-flight cheese shop: “If people don’t want to wait in line at France 44 or Surdyk’s, we have these awesome chop-blocks where people can taste cheese and take it to go,” says Ky.

New Heartland retail space (April 2015)
289 E Fifth St, St. Paul

Heartland’s local-driven marketplace will close on Jan. 1, 2015 for a renovation that will eliminate its produce display tables, add seating, and (as per a press release) “re-stage much of our proprietary retail products.”

“… There will be expanded deli offerings as well as the addition of beer and wine. Service will continue to be at the counter. There will be no servers. Heartland Restaurant hours of operation will not be affected by this, but the new incarnation of our market space will have expanded hours to include days that reflect the scheduled games and events at the [Lowertown] ballpark.”

The market’s name may shift to Heartland Sausage Company to reflect a pivot toward selling hot dogs and other sausages created with the Saint Paul Saints in mind.

The same email from Lenny Russo that detailed the market repositioning also announced a hell of an interesting New Year’s Eve menu at Heartland, the restaurant:

“I was down in our basement at home, and I was feeling rather cheerful due to some intoxicating libations. That’s where I keep all of my books, and I started rummaging through the shelves where I happened upon my 1966 copy of Henri-Paul Pellaprat’s Modern French Culinary Art. The original French edition was published in 1936. Chef Pellaprat is probably best known as the founder of Le Cordon Bleu. At any rate, it got me thinking about when I began my culinary career back in 1977 as a dishwasher in a French restaurant in Miami. Wouldn’t it be fun, I thought, to create a retro New Year’s Eve menu. The attached document reflects that thought.”

We don’t generally print full menus here on the Tap, but this thing is a pure pleasure to read. Bon appetit.

Heartland’s Retro New Year’s Eve, 2014

Pasture & Prairie

First course
Oxtail consommé / root vegetable brunoise / chicken meatballs / Italian parsley

Second course
Suckling pig / cranberry-apple compote / pickled green strawberries / microgreens salad

Main course
Free range Limousin veal Marsala / caramelized mushrooms / baby broccoli

Dessert
Dark chocolate mousse cake / red beet mousse / smoked sea salt tuile / rum raisins / cocoa sauce

Rivers & Lakes

First course
Pickled yellow perch / aromatic vegetable julienne / tomato-dill rémoulade

Second course
Braised sturgeon / tiny vegetables / house smoked bacon / braising jus

Main course
Coulibiac of steelhead trout / buckwheat groats / duck egg / fish marrow / puff pastry / spinach / sour cream

Dessert
Baked Alaska / espresso ice cream / meringue / strawberry sauce

Farms & Fields

First course
Pleasant Ridge Reserve cheese tartlet / baby lettuces / glazed chestnut / walnut vinaigrette

Second course
Tricolor borscht / black pepper crème fraîche

Main course
Vegetarian cassoulet / heirloom beans / fennel / wild mushrooms / sunchokes / breadcrumbs / brussels sprouts

Dessert
Poached pear / chèvre mousse / candied pecans / spicy pumpkinseed brittle / macerated cherries

$75 per person fixed price; tax and gratuity additional

NOW OPEN

• GYST Fermentation Bar, 25 E 26th St, Minneapolis | November 2014
• Spoon and Stable, 211 N 1st St, Minneapolis | 2014
• Victor’s on Water, 205 Water St, Excelsior | 2014
• Red Wagon Pizza, 5416 Penn Ave. South, Minneapolis
• Insight Brewing Taproom, 2821 E Hennepin, Minneapolis
• Junkyard Brewing, 1416 1st Ave N, Moorhead
• The Meet Market, 1971 Whitaker St, White Bear Lake
• Bonefish Grill, Shops at West End, St. Louis Park
• Bistro LaRoux, 9372 Lexington Ave N, Circle Pines, MN
• Vikre Distillery Cocktail Room, 525 Lake Ave S, Suite 102, Duluth (Opens Nov. 28)
• Paleos Cuisine and Cocktails, 566 Lilac Dr, Lino Lakes, MN
• Paddy Shack at Half Time Rec, 1013 Front Ave, St. Paul
  

CLOSED / CLOSING:

• Heartland Market (closing New Year’s Day, reopening April 2015)
• Nye’s Polanaise Room (closing 2015)
• Friar Tuck’s in Forest Lake
• Sontes in Rochester (closing New Year’s Day)
• Michael’s restaurant in Rochester (closing New Year’s Day)
• Citizen Cafe
• Lynden’s Soda Fountain (closed until April 21, 2015)
• Terra Waconia — closing end of February 2015
• Surly taproom (closing Oct. 25; reopening bigger and better as the Beer Hall in December)

COMING UP:

Minneapolis

• Il Foro, City Center, Minneapolis | Spring 2015
• Du Nord Craft Spirits sample room, 2610 E 32nd St, Minneapolis | 2015
• Pilgrimage, 2403 E 38th St, Minneapolis | 2015
• Nighthawks, 3753 Nicollet Ave S, Minneapolis | December 2014
• Seward Co-op Friendship Store, 317 38th St E | Summer 2015
• Erick Harcey project TBD, 4312 Upton Ave, Minneapolis | Feb. 2015
• 56 Brewing, 3134 California St NE, Minneapolis | 2015
• Prairie Dogs, 610 West Lake St, Minneapolis | Late 2014
• Urban Forage Winery and Cider House, East Lake St, Minneapolis | Fall 2015
• Lost Falls Distillery, 1915 E 22nd St, Minneapolis | 2015
• Bradstreet Crafthouse, 1930 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis | January 2015
• The Herbivorous Butcher, Minneapolis | 2015
• Pizzeria Lola concept TBD, 165 13th Ave NE, Minneapolis
• Eastlake Brewery, Midtown Global Market, Minneapolis | December 11, 2014
• Surly Brewing Beer Hall, 520 Malcolm Ave SE, Minneapolis | December 2014
• Vellee Deli, Baker Center at 30 S 7th St, Minneapolis | December 2014
• Sassy Spoon, 5011 34th Ave S, Minneapolis | January 2015
• Black Sheep Coal-Fired Pizza (new location), 2550 Nicollet Ave S, Minneapolis | Mid-December 2014
• Corner Table project: Revival mid-South / fried chicken restaurant | 2014
• Betty Danger’s Country Club, 2501 Marshall St, Minneapolis | 2014
• The Bachelor Farmer Cafe Project To Be Named, 200 N 1st St, Minneapolis | 2015

St. Paul

• The Lexington | Spring 2015
• Sidhe Brewing Company, 990 Payne Ave, St. Paul | 2015
• Wabasha Brewing Company, 429 Wabasha St, St. Paul | December 2014
• 11 Wells Cocktail Room, Historic Hamm Building, St. Paul | Spring 2015
• Lexington (new ownership), 1096 Grand Ave, St. Paul | Autumn 2014
• Salt Cellar, 173 Western Ave N, St. Paul | Dec. 20, 2014
• Saint Dinette, 280 E 5th St, St. Paul | 2014

Greater Twin Cities Area and Beyond

• New Bohemia, 8040 Olson Memorial Highway, Golden Valley
• Grand Rounds Brewing Company, 4 Third Street SW, Rochester
• Pub 819 (replacing Hopkins Tavern), 819 Main Street, Hopkins | December 2015
• Wicked Wort Brewing Co., 4165-4175 W Broadway, Robbinsdale | Fall 2015
• Belle Vinez Winery, River Falls, WI | 2015
• Skaalvenn, 8601 73rd Ave N, Suite 28, Brooklyn Park | Awaiting licensing approvals
• Voyageur Brewing Co., 233 W Hwy 61, Grand Marais | Early 2015

The Tap is the Heavy Table’s guide to area restaurant openings, closings, and other major events. The Tap is compiled and published biweekly by the Heavy Table. If you have tips for The Tap, please email James Norton at editor@heavytable.com.