Le Deluge
By Andrew Zimmern
According to a note in my inbox, Fugaise, which is three-and-a-half years old, will cease doing business on Saturday, March 14. It is three-and-a-half years old. According to the letter, “. . . although customer and critic feedback has always been fantastic, the restaurant has recently found it hard to survive financially. Chef/owner Don Saunders had this to say, 'For various reasons, it is simply too difficult to justify continuing to operate given the financial picture at Fugaise. From a financial standpoint, Fugaise was not a success. However, from a personal perspective, when I consider the working relationships and friendships built, the opportunity to be creative and do what I love to do, and the satisfied guests along the way, I view the experience as a success.' Business will continue as usual at Fugaise from now until March 14th. Says Saunders, 'We decided to "announce" this a month prior to the actual closing in order to give guests, both regulars and first-timers, a chance to come experience what we do here at Fugaise.' "
Restaurants are businesses first, artistic endeavors second. Frankly, I think being able to survive for this long with all the bad cards dealt its way is amazing. The bad cards included, but are not limited to:
—Location in a part of town that was supposed to take off faster than it did
—Windowless décor
—A raft of better-placed competition
—Customer fatigue with highly stylized food
—Perception (perhaps faulty) of Fugaise as a special-occasion place
For me, Fugaise was always the restaurant that I never heard many people talk about, and when I first started doing Wednesday night body counts in these pages, I remember the uproar when I posted low foot traffic at Fugaise and predicted its decline twenty months ago. The hardest thing to do in this business is reverse trends and re-energize customers. Fugaise serves great food; I wish I had a chance to eat there in the last few years, and I wish that it was still going to be open.
Several years ago, I did a Fox 9 story on Fugaise, and Saunders made me a lamb dish that I can still taste. I hope I am in town for more than a handful of days throughout the next month so that I can go visit, and I would strongly urge anyone who loves food to stop by this month and support the restaurant. Don Saunders is a gentleman and a great talent with a ton of passion, and I wish he was cooking in a restaurant where more customers could see that. Sadly, that isn’t/wasn’t Fugaise, and the reason I keep bringing this up is that I am hoping that by talking about it, we can afford more exposure to the ideas that make armchair restaurant games fun for food freaks. To those that think that the honest expression of ideas runs contrary to conventional industry boosterism (the kind where we lie to each other by blindly supporting any restaurant just because it's local), well, that is an extraordinarily naive position. I would posit that more opinions and more ideas thrown out there make for a more dynamic petri dish for restaurants to spawn in.
I think there is nothing wrong with stating unequivocally that the issues Fugaise dealt with (namely too few customers) is more connected to Minnesotans' attitudes about going out to eat. That doesn’t mean someone is to blame. It is just a fact.
****
The Style Laboratory has created a cool-sounding event at Graves 601 Hotel dubbed the Duel of the Design. With a chef and a florist, the competing designers have two hours to design a tabletop for eight, develop a menu, select beverages, and set the mood with music. Todd Walker is emceeing the event on March 5 at 5 p.m. Check it out here.
Restaurants are businesses first, artistic endeavors second. Frankly, I think being able to survive for this long with all the bad cards dealt its way is amazing. The bad cards included, but are not limited to:
—Location in a part of town that was supposed to take off faster than it did
—Windowless décor
—A raft of better-placed competition
—Customer fatigue with highly stylized food
—Perception (perhaps faulty) of Fugaise as a special-occasion place
For me, Fugaise was always the restaurant that I never heard many people talk about, and when I first started doing Wednesday night body counts in these pages, I remember the uproar when I posted low foot traffic at Fugaise and predicted its decline twenty months ago. The hardest thing to do in this business is reverse trends and re-energize customers. Fugaise serves great food; I wish I had a chance to eat there in the last few years, and I wish that it was still going to be open.
Several years ago, I did a Fox 9 story on Fugaise, and Saunders made me a lamb dish that I can still taste. I hope I am in town for more than a handful of days throughout the next month so that I can go visit, and I would strongly urge anyone who loves food to stop by this month and support the restaurant. Don Saunders is a gentleman and a great talent with a ton of passion, and I wish he was cooking in a restaurant where more customers could see that. Sadly, that isn’t/wasn’t Fugaise, and the reason I keep bringing this up is that I am hoping that by talking about it, we can afford more exposure to the ideas that make armchair restaurant games fun for food freaks. To those that think that the honest expression of ideas runs contrary to conventional industry boosterism (the kind where we lie to each other by blindly supporting any restaurant just because it's local), well, that is an extraordinarily naive position. I would posit that more opinions and more ideas thrown out there make for a more dynamic petri dish for restaurants to spawn in.
I think there is nothing wrong with stating unequivocally that the issues Fugaise dealt with (namely too few customers) is more connected to Minnesotans' attitudes about going out to eat. That doesn’t mean someone is to blame. It is just a fact.
****
The Style Laboratory has created a cool-sounding event at Graves 601 Hotel dubbed the Duel of the Design. With a chef and a florist, the competing designers have two hours to design a tabletop for eight, develop a menu, select beverages, and set the mood with music. Todd Walker is emceeing the event on March 5 at 5 p.m. Check it out here.
© 2008 MSP Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
I think AZ hit it on the head. I always knew Fugaise was/is open and that folks thought it was/is good, but just never made it there. Maybe it was tucked too far away, or just never got the word spread, but for whatever reason, it just never came up when I explored new restaurant choices in my mind. Sad to hear that another place with a good rep will soon be out the door.
Posted by: HungryinSW on February 17, 2009 at 8:32 AM
I find myself wishing he would relocate to Edina or somewhere that isn't being targeted by beer pubs.
BTW, across the river, Sam's Wine Shop has closed.
Posted by: Steph on February 17, 2009 at 9:55 AM
"Predicted it's decline 20 months ago..."
That's a joke right? You got it wrong. 3 months? 5? even with a year I think you get credit for predicting...but it outlasted your prediction twice as long as it had been open buddy, you got it WRONG.
I recall that prediction and I recall Don noting that he'd never seen you in the restaurant...so, did AZ ever eat there?
Posted by: David Foureyes on February 17, 2009 at 10:35 AM
Stones in stillwater is also done.
Posted by: suberban joe on February 17, 2009 at 12:21 PM
Very good question David...I had the very same thought indeed.
Posted by: Mike M. on February 17, 2009 at 1:53 PM
I predict that every restaurant currently open in the Twin Cities will eventually close. Tune in in 2032 for my I-told-you-so.
Posted by: geoff on February 17, 2009 at 2:38 PM
Millions of local restaurants are now living that will never die.
Posted by: Max "Bunny" Sparber on February 17, 2009 at 3:03 PM
Very sad to hear about Fugaise. Don Saunders is not only an extremely talented chef, but also a gentleman through and through. He did an amazing dinner for globe-dining clients of mine in their home. The clients said "Geri, the only mistake you made was allowing the chef to go home." They enjoyed his food and his company and would have loved to have him stay and drink with them after dinner.
Posted by: Geri Wolf on February 17, 2009 at 3:09 PM
Tune into Geri's blog next week for the feature length, "Our 3-some with the Chef" by Bill & Nadine McGuire.
Posted by: geoff on February 17, 2009 at 4:20 PM
Previous post from last year:
"Did you know they do naked sushi at Temple Restaurant and Bar? As in eating sushi off a naked person. And, according to what my boss Brian Anderson said on the radio last week, not just off naked women. I don't think eating sushi off a naked man has the same intrinsic sex appeal. Hey, that's not a caterpillar roll! And is this the 2008 version of closing for lunch and offering half-price wine? Are these the death throes of a restaurant—when they copy a ten-year-old dining cliché that didn’t work for anyone back in 1997 let alone now?"
My question:
So what is it when a one-hour TV show is built around it? Trying to avoid getting slotted next to one of Samantha Brown's midnight vehicles? Just seems to be some inconsistency. After all, how is what was bad for the goose good for the gander?
My condolences to Don and the Fugaise team. You will be missed.
Posted by: Danny B on February 17, 2009 at 5:04 PM
1. Another post with no pork references. Is this some sort of conspiracy?
2. We spend a lot of our time (well, many of us do) trying to persuade people to change their minds, to re-evaluate. Then, when someone DOES change his/her mind, we holler "Hypocrite!" or call it inconsistency. Not exactly positive reinforcement.
3. Why pick on the McGuires?
4. Pork. Please.
Thanks for your consideration.
Posted by: hank rotisserie on February 17, 2009 at 7:01 PM
Aw, Geoff, you couldn't just let me pay a compliment to Don Saunders?
Aside from that, I don't know the McGuires (I'm sure they are lovely people) so I don't know how they were brought into the conversation.
Posted by: Geri Wolf on February 17, 2009 at 8:11 PM
Danny - It's that sort of talking out of both sides of his mouth (see also every time AZ talks shit about some other food television "personality" then after meeting them speaks glowingly of their awesomeness) that makes me roll my eyes anytime someone talks about Andrew's shows or articles.
(I also have to mention the fact that AZ would go off in a particularly partisan direction during election season, yet he has one of the cities biggest Republicans whispering in his ear at the top of this page. "Write something about estate tax reform...")
I agreed that eating food off a person was absolutely lame and so 10 years ago (and it was lame then)...I own that opinion...yet here is AZ doing a show about it and while I have not seen it, I don't imagine he's sitting there remarking to Alexis, "Man this is in ridiculously bad taste."
Come on Andrew, own those opinions man!
Posted by: David Foureyes on February 27, 2009 at 10:16 AM