Colors so bright, a crowd erupts into applause. It’s a Friday night and hundreds are gathering at the Sunset Bar inside Naples Beach Club, a Four Seasons Resort. There is magic in the Gulf Coast sunsets: shockingly bright oranges, pinks, and purples reflecting off the pure blue waters, nothing to block the view but the margarita in your hands. Two-hundred yards away from the throngs of empty-nesters celebrating their own version of spring break, Minnesota’s most famous chef was just dropped off, where his chef’s coat and his knives are waiting for him.
Courtesy of Naples Beach Club
The Merchant Room is Gavin Kaysen’s first restaurant outside of his home state, and while migrating to Naples is one of the more cliche things a Minnesotan can do, this is not his retirement destination.
“I could have just stayed with Spoon and Stable and been financially fine, too,” Kaysen says to me over dinner in Naples this spring. “I’d be bored. I’m not cut from that DNA cloth.”
Photo by Jason DeRusha
Kaysen’s story is local legend: the teenage sandwich artist at the Bloomington, Minnesota, Subway returned to his hometown after running legendary chef Daniel Boulud’s Café Boulud in New York City. Spoon and Stable opened in 2014, then Bellecour, then Demi and Mara at Four Seasons Hotel Minneapolis in 2022. The Merchant Room is his second Four Seasons restaurant, as Naples Beach Club recently underwent an ownership change, a massive $1 billion renovation, and they asked Kaysen to open a restaurant.
It wasn’t exactly a secret.
“Before this was built, I’d get on a plane to come to Naples in July, and somebody would be on the plane and be like, ‘Why are you going to Naples in July? You doing a restaurant down there?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know what to tell you,’” he laughs.
The room is upscale Florida beachy: flamingos abound in lush tropical murals, wicker chandeliers inspired by birdcages are suspended all over the room, rattan bar stools and parquet flooring give a casual and laid-back vibe. And Minnesotans are all over the place.
“It’s funny, the four ladies behind you, they’re from Minnesota. A couple up in the corner, they’re from Minnesota. It’s wild,” he said, “I look at all the reservations every night and see the area codes: 612, 612, 763. And then I look at the names and I’m like, ‘Oh, I know who that is.’”
This is not Spoon and Stable: Florida edition. In fact, Kaysen told us it’s in his contract that he can only have a limited number of menu items from Spoon on the Naples menu. He’s brought the tamarind-glazed pork chop, and the fried cheese curd-laden creamy spinach, too. Florida loves the spaghetti nero, the dark black squid ink pasta jam-packed with giant prawns, octopus, and mussels. It is spectacular.
Mind you, it’ll run you $52 in Naples, compared to $39 at Spoon and Stable. Minnesotans are familiar with the Naples mark-up (in fairness, it is expensive to do business in a resort/vacation town where the risk of hurricanes are not just a theoretical risk). “There’s a flight of stairs from the restaurant floor up into the kitchen because we have to have the equipment 18 feet above sea level,” he says.
Photo by Jason DeRusha
I found the new-to-me menu items to be the most compelling: a lightly steamed fillet of black bass was delicate and flaky. Our server dramatically poured a small carafe of yellow coconut-curry broth on top of the dish. Rich, bold, and a triumph of textures, thanks to baby bok choy and crispy basmati rice.
Photo by Jason DeRusha
The shrimp cocktail was a show-stopper—enormous Gulf Coast shrimp with the cocktail sauce and horseradish already composed, resting on the curve of the crustacean. “You look at shrimp like that, it’s like, OK, what are we gonna do to it? Nothing,” Kaysen says. “Let it be. And that shrimp, it’s just special. You can taste the freshness. You can taste the sweetness. It’s a different level.” Sweet, salty, and assertive enough horseradish to tickle your sinuses. Just glorious.
Photo by Jason DeRusha
The chef who runs the restaurant on a day-to-day basis is Colin Henderson, who left a Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia where he was working for Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten to come work with Kaysen. “If you’re a hot shot, up-and-coming chef, to come to Naples just to learn from you, it’s pretty awesome,” Kaysen says. Eddy Dhenin, the pastry chef from Four Seasons Hotel Minneapolis, also moved to Naples to open the resort and continue working with Kaysen.
Photo by Jason DeRusha
Don’t ask him for his favorite Naples spots to eat—Kaysen has mostly been in and out, and he’s not exploring Le Colonial or the Turtle Club. “I get dropped off, I give [them] my suitcase, and then I just go in the kitchen. And then at some point, I get to my room,” he says. In fact, there’s a back way to get out of the restaurant, so he doesn’t have to do the Minnesota goodbye. On our visit, he just vanished.
There is more work to be done. While the food at The Merchant Room is stellar, the service experience isn’t up to what you’d expect at the Minneapolis restaurants. Naples doesn’t have a huge fine dining scene, so the team here is hiring good people and trying to teach them. It takes time. Kaysen said it took three years before he liked where Spoon and Stable was at. “You gotta get the people up to speed, but you also have to wear in the restaurant, too,” he explains.
While that process plays out, expect more Kaysen projects to emerge. “I get offered to open restaurants every month, if not more. And most of them are just not compelling,” he says. “We’ll do more, but we’ll be very methodical about what more is. What excites me, and am I ready to give up the time to do it? Is my team ready to give up the time to do it with me? Is my family ready to allow me to do it and give up the time?” he asks, knowing that when he travels, he might be missing one of his kids playing hockey back home.
Daniel Boulud had four restaurants when Kaysen started working there. When he left, Boulud had 18. Naples is step two, Minnesota was step one. Step three: It’s somewhere beyond that setting Florida sun.
Photo by Jason DeRusha
YOU SHOULD KNOW:
The Merchant Room is open to the public, you don’t have to be staying at the resort. But Wednesday through Saturday nights, you have to park off the property, as the valet is full with guests.
Kaysen only runs The Merchant Room. Four Seasons also has revitalized local favorites like Sunset Bar and HB’s. Sunset Bar has small bites and quick cocktail service so people can see the unobstructed sunset. HB’s Seafood Restaurant has local seafood and a large raw bar. Chill vibes, as is the norm in Naples.
The hotel has 163 rooms and 57 suites, and most face the ocean.
Fly into Southwest Florida International in Fort Myers, which is about 45 minutes away, or take your private jet to Naples Municipal Airport.
