Two months after Cafe Maude shuttered, mega restaurateur Kim Bartmann is preparing to reopen the south Minneapolis space as a California fusion eatery and takeout operation.
Book Club – featuring what Bartmann sees as a blend of Mexican, Italian, Asian and more – will debut at 5411 Penn. Av. S. in the Armatage neighborhood sometime in the next three or four weeks, she said.
Asher Miller – who formerly helmed the kitchen at Barbette, one of Bartmann's other properties, and has worked with Wolfgang Puck and Andrew Zimmern – will be the operating partner and the influence behind items like potstickers, fresh pasta dishes and whole, spatch-cocked chicken with herbs, cooked on the wood-fired grill.
"We just want to play around and have fun with this idea of California fusion, farm-to-table with a lot of different inspirations," Bartmann said.
Bartmann said Book Club's menu will be takeout friendly, and that she and Miller plan for patrons to also be able to order food for pickup on the restaurant's website. And with one of the few full liquor licenses in the area, Bartmann says she plans to keep the culture and tradition of craft cocktailing that began at Cafe Maude, one of the Twin Cities' pioneers.
Bartmann, who also owns Red Stag Supperclub, Bryant Lake Bowl, Pat's Tap and many other establishments around town, might have another unveiling next month, too.
Trapeze, the long-awaited Champagne bar attached to Barbette, is getting close, she said, and could open its doors in October as well.
"It will be bubbles focused all the way," Bartmann said, with an extensive sparkling wine and sparkling wine cocktail list, but the slender space at 1600 W. Lake St. in Uptown will also have a modest still wine menu. Tapas-style noshes, such as toasts with rillettes and cheese, will be available as well.
