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Business & Tech

Wise Acre Eatery slated to hit Tangletown in May 2011

Scott Endres and Dean Engelmann are expanding on Nicollet Avenue as they create a true farm-to-table restaurant in the old Liberty Custard space across the street from their very successful Tangletown Gardens.

Children and parents could be heard crying across Southwest Minneapolis on the day announced it would close on January 30, 2011. But now those tears are turning into smiles as Scott Endres and Dean Engelmann have promised that there will be frozen custard at Wise Acre Eatery, which is taking over the space and plans a May 2011 opening.

"The frozen custard will be homemade, made from scratch, the second ingredient not corn syrup and with grass-fed dairy," Endres told Patch.

We spoke with Endres at , the garden center that he founded nine years ago with Engelmann. Across the street, the new Wise Acre Eatery will house the food-related parts of their garden center, like the CSA pickups and fresh produce market. In addition, the restaurant site will have bakery, grab and go, and sit down dining, as well as a serious coffee program and wine and beer. It will all be available in the mid-century modern setting of what was once a 1950's Standard Oil gas station.

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Their plan is to have Wise Acre fully embody the farm-to-table concept, as many of the ingredients used will come directly from their farm in Plato, MN, where they employ sustainable practices in raising plants and free range and heritage livestock.

Ideally, the produce will be picked the same day that it ends up in Wise Acre's kitchens, which is amazing in terms of both the taste and nutrient value of the vegetables.

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"For instance, sweet corn. The first sweet corn, most of it's grown in Georgia. By the time it gets here, it's at least four days from being picked. By that time it's already lost 50% of its nutritional value," Endres said.

Two Lucia's alumni,  Beth Fisher and Caroline Glawe (also of Two Food Wine Design, a consulting company), will be in charge of cooking up these fresh foods in Wise Acre's kitchen — including meats and poultry like grass-fed Scottish Highland Beef, Berkshire Pork, chicken, turkey and duck. Andrew Kopplin will consult on their coffee program and Endres promises a selection of Minnesota and local beers as well as quality wines.

While the menu offerings will be made from sustainably produced goods, they will not be overly fussy. The plan is to keep things casual and affordable, and still impeccably made. For example, they will likely offer a hamburger, sourcing the beef, potatoes (for the fries), pickles and other condiments from their farm in Plato. Customers will order at the counter and then either take their items to go (in biodegradeable packaging) or sit at a table and have it brought to them.

Compost will return to the Plato farm to feed their hogs or fertilize the growing plants, making it a farm to table to farm operation. To start, those vegetable scraps will come from lunch and dinner, with a weekend brunch being considered, in addition to to-go meals, bag lunches and fresh produce.

As some of the shops at Diamond Lake Road and Nicollet have shuttered, the coming of Wise Acre Eatery seems great for the area. Endres and Engelmann knew it was a bit of a now or never moment when the property became available. What if a not-so-great owner took the place over? So they took the leap.

"Hopefully, it (Wise Acre) will be the catalyst to keep things going, to fill some of the other vacant retail spaces a little bit further down. Sort of a renaissance in a way," Endres said of the West 54th Street and Nicollet Avenue area.

Little noses pressed against the glass as they renovate the inside of the building in anticipation of the opening are one sign that the neighborhood is happy to have them expand. Or maybe, it's just the purist expression of a love for frozen custard.

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-5353 Nicollet Ave./612.822.4769

Wise Acre Eatery - 5401 Nicollet Ave.

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