It's a long way from Manhattan's Grand Central Oyster Bar to the Minnesota State Fair.
Charlie Torgerson, who calls himself the Meat Guy, has seared his mark on the local and national barbecue scene. He was the head of food and beverage for Famous Dave's for almost 20 years, and these days works as a menu and concept developer, a contractor for the National Pork Board and the owner of the weekends-only Charlie T's Smokehouse barbecue trailer.
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But this time of year? The classically trained chef is an essential contributor to the tantalizing scent of smoke wafting over the fairgrounds. Torgerson is the pitmaster behind RC's BBQ, where he has turned out some of the fair's most consistently dazzling and innovative foods for more than two decades.
Torgerson's new creations, such as chocolate-covered bacon and last year's hit, the Naughty Biscuit, rarely reappear. But the fleetingness of the fair is part of the fun for someone who's devoted most of his career to coming up with new ideas.
Bitten by the barbecue bug
Torgerson, the grandson of a Morris, Minn., butcher, has meat in his DNA. But his journey to becoming one of the fair's most popular food vendors began in New York City.
As a young up-and-comer, the 1985 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America landed an internship at the famed oyster bar under Grand Central Station's Guastavino-tiled arches. Working there for close to three years as a pastry chef in the mid-1980s, spending most of his days and nights underground, he couldn't have predicted how the pace and volume of the New York power lunch would prepare him, years later, for his annual 12-day stint feeding fairgoers.
"Oh, my gosh, it was so crazy, it was so busy, they used to do like 1,000 people for lunch," he said of his time at the storied restaurant. Working back-to-back lunch and dinner shifts "probably did" set him up to endure 15-hour workdays at RC's.
He dipped in and out of the New York region for a few years, while also carving out time to work at an uncle's prime rib joint in Fairbanks, Alaska. But it was a fateful stint in Boston that introduced him to the cuisine he's become known for.
"I got the bug when I ate my first barbecue at Redbones in Somerville, Mass. I had my first bite in '87. I know people would think, 'You didn't have Texas barbecue?' Nope." (Although that venerable barbecue spot was launched by a Texan.)
Torgerson never looked back. "I thought wow, this would be cool up in Alaska," he said. He packed up his Jeep and settled in the far northwest, tinkering with smoke and traveling through the South — from Memphis to Texas — to taste barbecue. From there, he purchased a barbecue pit that had to be shipped to Alaska by barge, and in 1991 opened his first Charlie T's Smokehouse.
"I was way ahead of my time, because the Food Network wasn't big yet. Barbecue wasn't a thing across the world like it is now, when everybody and their brother is a barbecue professional, they think."
The Crystal native headed back to Minnesota in the mid-'90s and worked at a variety of restaurants. Then, he read an article about Dave Anderson, who was about to open a blues club in Minneapolis, Famous Dave's BBQ & Blues. Torgerson headed over to apply for a job as a line cook. "And they saw my resume and said we don't have a kitchen manager, do you want that job? I said sure, and the rest is history."
Under Torgerson's leadership as executive chef and senior director of food and beverage, the chain expanded from four restaurants to more than 200.
In 1997, he opened a stand for Famous Dave's at the Minnesota State Fair, and took it over with a partner in 2001 (similar to a franchise). When Torgerson left Famous Dave's, in 2016, he turned the stand into RC's BBQ.
The fair is lucrative, but "we're not Sweet Martha's," he said, referring to the chocolate chip cookie mega-business, his State Fair neighbor. "I still have to work."
Creative juices flow
Coming up with new fair foods is one of his favorite parts of the job. This year, his creation is the cleverly named Minne Hot Hot, a basket of smoked rib tips coated in Nashville hot sauce.
Developing recipes is Torgerson's specialty the rest of the year, too.
In his role with the pork board, he's tasked with convincing huge national restaurants to put more pork on the menu by providing them with recipes he's devised.
To balance the "monster chains" in his portfolio, Torgerson also takes on smaller clients in the Midwest, such as Charlie's on Prior in Prior Lake. Some of his roles include consulting on menus, fleshing out concepts or coaching kitchen staffs.
He's been doing all three for his most recent client, Kitchen and Rail. The promising new scratch kitchen in Eagan is co-owned by his neighbor and longtime Famous Dave's colleague Victor Salamone.
Salamone led development, growth and franchise operations at Famous Dave's, and moved on to Crave before leaving restaurants to start a nonprofit. For this, his "passion project," he hired Torgerson to help him tell his Italian family's story through the menu.
Some of the recipes come from Salamone's Nana, including her labor-intensive meatballs. There's barbecue on the eclectic menu, too, including one of Torgerson's signature dishes, deeply smoky Vietnamese pork belly coated in caramel glaze. But Salamone's family history provides the heart and soul of the restaurant, and Torgerson was tasked with translating that to a modern restaurant menu.
"Charlie worked with me on my home recipes to make them commercial. He customizes according to the person that he's working with, and then adds the elements of what he already knows — and no one knows like Charlie."
Salamone said he couldn't imagine hiring anyone else for the job.
"Famous Dave's couldn't have grown without him," he said. "You go to who you love and trust the most."
When he helps open a restaurant, Torgerson usually sticks around a while to make sure the burgeoning business gets off the ground.
But six days after the opening of Kitchen and Rail, Torgerson had to "slide out of there," he said. His friend understood. The Minnesota State Fair was about to begin, and the Meat Guy had to get smoking.
Taste Charlie Torgerson's cooking
RC's BBQ at the Minnesota State Fair, with the official new fair food, the Minne Hot Hot. Now through Sept. 5 at the north side of Dan Patch Avenue near the grandstand.
Kitchen and Rail, 3344 Promenade Av., Eagan, kitchenandrail.com. Open 4-10 p.m. Tue.-Thu., 4 p.m.-midnight Fri., 2 p.m.-midnight Sat., and 2-8 p.m. Sun. Brunch coming soon.
Charlie T's Smokehouse trailer, Hamel VFW, 19020 Hamel Road, Plymouth, charlietssmokehouse.com. Weekends only through the fall, beginning Sept. 23.
