The new 2023 Greater Grand Forks visitor guide is ready to go. The CVB says 35,000 copies were printed for distribution.
Featured on the cover is Molly Yeh’s new eatery – Bernie’s in East Grand Forks. The restaurant opened October 1st and just recently expanded the hours of operation to include dinner selections.
Yeh talked about getting Bernie’s up and running in an interview with KNOX News this week:
You (Molly) are an author and host of a TV show on the Food Network. Why open Bernie’s?
We have such amazing ingredients in this area. We have such incredible delicious local cuisine. I wanted a place to showcase that and to create a community meeting and gathering place. Also to work with so much of our local talent. We have incredible chefs…cooks…and bakers and a wonderful group and staff at Bernie’s.
Opening a new restaurant is not easy. What struggles have you encountered?
It has been a million different little learning curves. There are so many tiny details to think about when you are opening a restaurant. My background is recipe development…for me thinking about menus and what dishes we are going to serve that was what I was anticipating would be the meat of it. It’s that but also how do we serve water…where do we get high chairs…what dishes do we need to stock. There are so many details and keeping track of those details requires a village. We have this incredible village that has helped with all those things. We ran into the same challenges that so many other restaurants in the area have run into with staffing and hiring enough people. That was one of the things that held us back from opening dinner as soon as we wanted too. It’s been a new and exciting experience for me to see people eating these recipes because in the past if I wanted people to try my food they would go get a cookbook or find a recipe. They would be making that recipe in their home and I wouldn’t get to see it happen. It’s been fun to see that instant interaction.
You have a passion for food. Are people surprised to learn how much Nick (husband) has brought to the table when it comes to Bernie’s?
Oh my gosh! I don’t know what we would do without his business mind…and mind for numbers. I am completely lost when it comes to that. That has been an incredible thing to discover where my weaknesses are – that’s where his strengths are. He is a huge vital part of the business aspect of it. I have no idea what we are going to do when spring planting starts are the farming season ramps up again (laughter).
Do you ever step out of the business office at the restaurant and wander into the kitchen to help out?
Yes…and it’s been so much fun. My favorite thing to do is work what they call the expo position. It’s a new word for me. It’s the person who once the line cooks prepare a dish the expo adds the last sprinkling of flaking salt…herbs…and garnishes. It’s sort of the last eyes on the dish. For dinner service I have been doing a lot of that along with Chris and Jake our chefs. That for me has been so creative fulfilling. It is really a lot of fun to see those dishes come together and send them out to the customers. I absolutely love being in the kitchen.
Is the menu evolving or pretty much set with the addition of dinner?
The dinner menu is completely new. It’s a smaller menu…we like to say it’s sort of curated…so it’s not a huge expansive menu like the café menu is. We have some really special dishes that are more dinner-centric. Even our burger…we have a burger on the café menu…we also have a burger on the dinner menu but it’s different. You have the option of a wild rice patty or beef patty. My favorite is a wild rice patty with bacon on it. Everything is stuff you really crave…especially during this winter. We are still going to add our hot dish and lefse dog. We do anticipate making changes with the seasons as ingredients come into season. Just as we have done with the café menu we will be changing the vegetable sides. Things just taste better when they are in season.
You have a lot of fans across the country. Have any of them reached out to you to say they are planning a trip to EGF to check things out?
We have had customers come in…I met a few from Hawaii the other day…from Alaska…Tennessee… from Florida….from all over. It’s been so fun to meet them and sign their cookbooks and send them with a few treats for the pane ride home.
Molly…what’s next? Is there another season of “Girl Meets Farm” in the works? Another book?
We are about to get back into filing season 13 of “Girl Meets Farm.” I am working on another book. I am hoping to expand the day from 24 hours to 36 hours (laughter). We are looking ahead with Bernie’s and what we will add to our market during the summertime. Just thinking about the different picnic baskets you can bring out to the lake. We will doing some more fun events at Bernie’s like a charcuterie class. Now that we have this space the world is our oyster as far as events that highlight local businesses.
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