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Big Changes at Victory 44: No Servers! New Chef! Home-Made Tofu! Wait, No Servers?
I got a reader tip that there were big changes afoot at the best restaurant in North Minneapolis, Victory 44. I finally put my big Cheap Eats package to bed this afternoon and was able to follow up the tip, and there’s so much news I barely know where to begin.
Well, first things first: There’s a whole new crew of chefs running this little gastro-pub now. Their leader is James Winberg, a 32-year-old Grand Rapids, Minnesota native who recently was cooking at a Washington-state restaurant named Nimbus. Second in command is Mike Brown, both assisted by Jeff Houseman and, on weekends, owner Erick Harcey (who also owns The Kitchen in Stillwater). They’ve redone the menu to be all—as Winberg tells me—“Farm-to-table local, a mix of old-world and progressive cuisine,” mostly presented by chalk-board, and comprised of such ambitious dishes as a sous-vide cooked tri-tip steak with homemade pappardelle noodles with an herb crème fraiche sauce, homemade mortadella, homemade cured lardo, and homemade tofu. Did I mention homemade? The homemade tofu is made from fresh soybeans, by the way, so it's totally different from the shelf-stable varieties and a legendarily tricky pain-in-the-neck version to make. One of the dishes currently on the menu, with homemade tofu, Winberg tells me, is essentially tofu two ways; first the tofu is pressed into a torchon (that is, compressed and poached so that it becomes a long cylinder, which allows it to be cut into slices). The torchon slice is then seared and served beside fresh tofu curds, pickled butternut squash, and tempura-fried slices of avocado. So that’s kind of mind-blowing and news-worthy in and of itself. New chef makes fresh tofu at Victory 44!
But that’s not even the most shocking news. The most shocking news is that the restaurant has done away with all servers and all managers! The chefs come in in the morning, prep the food, cook, do all the things chefs do, and then when the customers come, they leave their stoves to seat them! They pull beers for them! Then they go back behind the stoves, fire the apps—and run back to the tables with the apps! Sorry for all the exclamation points, but this is making my mind teeter inside my fragile skull. Then when the customers leave, the chefs bus the tables, refill the sugar bowls, sweep the floors—you get the idea.
On top of that—as if fulfilling some crazy cliché of what servers think chefs would do with tips—they’re not even keeping them! They’re putting all the tips into a pool to buy kitchen equipment. They want a Paco-Jet (a super-blender), an ice-cream maker, a curing box for salami, and a lot more. Like stainless steel tables. Chefs. Winberg tells me that his whole little crew has been putting in 13-hour days since they started, arriving at ten o’clock in the morning, and leaving at eleven or midnight. Is this sustainable? I asked him. “It’s a lot of work,” he told me, “But it’s a lot of fun. It’s always fun when you’re cooking good food. It’s been a great opportunity to cut out the middleman, and we have been getting really interesting questions from the customers, and getting immediate feedback. I don’t know if this would work in many restaurants, but this is an appropriate setting to be able to do this, because it’s such a small place.”
All right! Victory 44 has now moved to the top of my list of places I must re-visit soon. Anyone who has been in the last six weeks, please post in the comments and let me know how this grand experiment is going. And trend-watchers, yes, I am aware that Piccolo, the new Doug Flicker restaurant that just opened, announced a very similar experiment. Which leads me to ask: Will 2010 be the year chefs dump all the servers? Will the very fabric of the universe rupture if servers can no longer complain that chefs don’t know what it’s like to deal with customers? Can a restaurant function if servers can’t blame delays on a mysterious, unseen, invisible “kitchen”? What happens when a kitchen of chefs gets all the toys they want? How many chefs does it take to roll up a silverware bundle? Watch this space for the answer to these questions and many, many more.
Victory 44
2203 44th Ave. N., Minneapolis
612-588-2228
victory-44.com
Posted on Monday, January 25, 2010 in Permalink
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Reader Comments:
Restaurants doing without servers just reinforces the point that there is no culture of service in this town.
I ducked in for lunch last Friday, and it was tremendous! Had the tofu dish that Dara writes about. That avacado tempura was killer! I also had the best lentil soup I've ever eaten. The lentil part itself was great -- pureed, so smoother than your usual version of the soup. But what put it over the top was the hunk of pork..."trotter" is what they called it. So tender! It also had a soft-poached egg to add to the richness. And underneath was a wide smear of "black current butter." That sweet element offset the saltiness of the pork and soup.
And Dara's right to key in on the lack of servers. I love having the cooks bring the food to the tables! They can explain what's on the plate (and that usually includes several elements). And if you ask questions, like I do, the cooks seem to really love telling about their creations. This is my new favorite restaurant!
We frequented the place mostly for weekend brunch back before they dropped the amazingly fantastic banana french toast from the menu.
We went back this weekend, and had the Tofu dish Dara wrote about, a salad, and the sirloin with pappardelle, as well as the tres leches cake and the molten chocolate cake.
We loved the concept, and the food. Everything was about 10 bucks, and in tasting sized portions. The people who ordered a tasting menu seemed to get even better stuff.
There was one waitress working, so not ALL the servers have been cut out. We asked the waitress about vegetarian options, and she promised to have "one of the guys" come out. When he did, he described the Tofu dish, and said, "If you want, we could also do a pasta with vegetables."
That is my absolute least favorite restaurant vegetarian cop-out. For a chef driven place, we really expected more. 112 Eatery has done a nice job with that in the past, making a plate that combines some of the best sides. I'm not expecting a chef to invent a new dish on the fly, but I do expect a place that boasts "everyone is a chef" to come up with something better.
Overall, we really enjoyed the meal, and I hope this iteration of the place makes it. It is a great room, and the food has always matched in quality. Demand is the issue, and I fear it will continue to be. It is just too hard for the South Minneapolis crowd to think about coming north. (And, something needs to be done about restaurants that only offer pasta with veggies to the non-meat eating crowd.)
About a month ago, I still had a server. But now I have an excuse to go back. These chefs are ambitious, accessible and dreaming. That's all too rare in this cynical economy.
I love the cozy room's vibe and the food has been fantastic. The Devils on a Horseback app (dates, bacon, brandy glaze) is sinfully delicious.
Victory 44 is a bright spot in north Minneapolis. I hate sharing the neighborhood secret, but these guys are definitely deserving.
We live in North and visit Victory 44 regularly. We are so happy a place like this has made it's home in our neighborhood.
The food is always delicious. The staff gets to know you by first name. It's a great place to dine!
I don't eat vegetables, I just can't stand the texture. Last weekend I went out for dinner with a group of friends - they insisted in going to a vegetarian restaurant that shall remain nameless. So I asked the server what they could do for me. I have never seen such an incredulous stare in my life, she looked at me as if I was from Mars. Pasta with butter - PASTA WITH BUTTER! was the answer.
I do not live in Minneapolis or Minnesota for that matter, but I really, really look forward to eating here during my next visit with the family. I think the concept kicks ass and hope it spreads.
I just heard of the changes at Victory 44 and I am glad that Eric has re-ivented himself in this concept. The old menu and service was good, but economic times sometimes cause us in the business to sometimes have to re-invent the wheel. Thank you Eric for not pulling out of north Minneapolis and leaving us with another empty space. There is no competion, just more and better choices and reasons for people to stay in their own neighborhoods and enjoy what they have.
I went to Victory 44 my first night back to Minneapolis for a long visit and was SO HAPPY I WENT. I love the chefs, and they were fantastic servers who somehow talked my friends and I into ordering their charcuterie plate, which consisted of Things I Thought I'd Never Try, like headcheese (fantastically, we were also sitting next to the skull of the pig whose cheesed-head we were eating. Which was gross, and amazing.). They also brought us several unexpected surprises in between courses, and made me dance for joy that there is such a thing as bacon powder. They are obsessed with dates as an ingredient. And I am fine with that. Oh, and their Reuben is the BEST I have ever tasted. In my whole life. So now I want to move back to minneapolis just to eat there daily. Go Victory 44!
I am sitting at home on a Saturday morning...pondering....why did they fire their staff, have the cooks run the place and take most of their great entrees off the menu...leaving not even one piece of lettuce for salad lovers? I loved the egg sandwich etc...but it appears Emilys won the breakfast challenge in the neighborhood.Than I remembered going there for dinner and getting plain popcorn in a nice silver dish (what happened to the home made chips with that awesome sauce). The food was still good, but literally two cooks ran the entire place and service was attempted, but not a possibility due to the lack of help.If you want to get a 40 chilled in a champne holder...this is your place...if you want a salad....completely out of luck...