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Attic Fire Over KC’s Saloon in Pillager

February 24th, 2010

”KC'sKC’s Saloon in Pillager was the site of an attic fire on Monday morning as reported by the Brainerd Dispatch.

A little after 9:30am the fire was reported by the restaurant employees. They had noticed smoke on the main floor of the building. Upon arrival the firefighters found smoke in the attic and flames coming from the southwest corner of the roof.

The Pillager Fire Department and chief Randy Lee were joined by firefighters from Brainerd.

With the attic not easily accessible from the main floor, firefighters needed to cut out a large section of the outside wall. They extinguished the fire and removed the burning insulation from the attic.

The fire was under control within 15 minutes of the arrival of the firefighters.

Damage to the main floor of KC’s Saloon was minimal. There was some water damage from fighting the fire, but no flame damage and very little smoke damage. Some ceiling tiles were damaged. Chief Lee said “It could have been a whole lot worse if (the employees) hadn’t been there.”

The Brainerd Fire Department was called for the potential use of that department’s ladder truck. The truck was not needed, but the Brainerd firefighters still helped out to clear the building of smoke.

No injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire was not known Monday afternoon, but Lee said he didn’t believe it was suspicious in nature. The state fire marshal’s office is investigating.

I called KC’s Saloon this afternoon and they are still cleaning up, but expect to re-open shortly.

 

Voting Open for St Cloud Times “Best Of Central Minnesota”

February 20th, 2010

Best of Central MinnesotaIt’s that time of year again when the St Cloud Times let’s its readers pick the best Central Minnesota has to offer.

Actually, since it’s sponsored by the St Cloud Times it’s more accurately the Best of the St Cloud Metro Area. All the restaurant nominees are from St Cloud, Waite Park, Sauk Rapids, Sartell and St Joseph.

The write-in primaries are over (held Jan 14 - Feb 10) and the finalists have been named in thirty categories covering entertainment and - of course - restaurants.

Ciatti’s Ristorante received the most overall nominations with seven.

I have listed the restaurant categories below, and you can go to www.sctimes.com/bestof to vote for your favorites.

Val's Rapids ServiceBest Burger
Val’s Rapid Serv
Ciatti’s
Five Guys Burgers and Fries

Best Vegetarian
Mongo’s
Bravo Burritos
Pacific Wok
Sawatdee

Local BlendBest Coffeehouse
Caribou
Starbucks
Meeting Grounds
Local Blend

Best Pasta
Ciatti’s
Olive Garden
Mi Famiglia

AntonsBest Seafood
Ciatti’s
Red Lobster
Anton’s

Best Deli/Sandwich
Hemsing’s Deli
Bo Diddley’s
Erbert & Gerbert’s

Little FiestaBest New Venue
Ciatti’s
Pizza Ranch
Little Fiesta

Best Buffet
Old Country Buffet
Bonanza
China Star

Sammy's PizzaBest Pizza
House Of Pizza
Sammy’s Pizza
DiMaggio’s

Best Fine Dining
Ciatti’s
Mi Famiglia
Anton’s

Mexican VillageBest International Cuisine
Ciatti’s
Cafe Renaissance
Mexican Village

Best Burrito
Bravo Burritos
Chipotle
Mexican Village

The White HorseBest Beer Selection
Old Chicago
Granite City
The White Horse

Best Wine Selection
Ciatti’s
Olive Garden
Veranda Lounge

Bravo BurritosBest Meal Under $10
Val’s Rapid Serv
Panera Bread
Bravo Burritos
Sammy’s Pizza

 

Third Time’s A Charm for Dewey’s Restaurant

February 17th, 2010

”Dewey’sSue Strand and her daughter Heather Pekarek are back in charge of Dewey’s Restaurant in Foley - again.

The Strands initially bought the restaurant (then called Jacks) back in 1990. They operated it for ten years until they sold in 2000. The building itself has been around “since the roads were dirt” according to Sue. In its history the structure has held a saloon, a clothing store and a pool hall.

”HeatherThe family bought it back again in 2005 and that’s when the name was changed to Dewey’s Restaurant. They got out of the business once again in 2008, but felt drawn to came back again this year. The new Dewey’s Restaurant re-opened in early February with a more simple concept than in the past.

Where Dewey’s Restaurant used to offer a full menu, they now focus on providing a full buffet. Or you can get soup and the salad bar. Especially popular on the buffet is the broasted chicken and an even bigger hit seems to be the baked fish.

”TheThey pride themselves on having variety in the buffet, and you won’t typically see the same layout when you come back for your next visit. They may throw in some Chinese food, they may throw in some Mexican food, or they may surprise you with something else. There are twenty choices on the buffet, and it’s all homemade.

The buffet is open from 10:45am - 8:00pm Monday through Saturday, and from 9:00am - 2:00pm for Sunday brunch. The cost on weekdays for the buffet is $7.99 for adults, $6.99 for seniors and $5.49 for kids (who get a free beverage). On weekends some premium items are added to the buffet and the price goes up to $9.99 for adults, $8.99 for seniors and $5.99 for kids.

”PizzaBut the buffet restaurant is just one half of the new Dewey’s.

Adjacent to the buffet restaurant is a pizza and ice cream place that they hope to turn into a popular spot for the kids in the area. There are arcade games and they host parties. They’ve hosted a couple birthday parties already. They will also deliver their pizza to about a six-mile radius. The pizza part of the business is open a little later - until 9:00pm on weekdays and 10:00pm on weekends.

Monthly pizza specials are offered. Currently they offer a large one-topping for $9.99 or a large one-topping with six bread and a two-liter of pop for $15.99.

”SitDewey’s currently employs eight or nine people, but they’re still feeling out how many people they actually need.

Goups can reserve space for meetings.

They also plan to have special setups for Lent, Mother’s Day and other holidays.

Stop into Dewey’s in Foley soon, grab a table by the fireplace and enjoy a good buffet. Learn why the third time’s the charm for Sue, Heather and the rest of the crew at Dewey’s Restaurant.

Visit the Dewey’s Restaurant page on MinnesotaRestaurantSearch.com for contact information and directions.

 

“Undercover Boss” Spotlights Hooters

February 14th, 2010

The new CBS show “Undercover Boss” aired on Sunday evening and featured the president and CEO of Hooters Coby Brooks. In the show Mr Brooks shaved off his goatee, put on some glasses and started calling himself Scott on his way to working undercover in several Hooters restaurants in the Dallas area.

The company is well known for it’s logo and female wait staff wearing tank tops and tight orange shorts. It’s no secret that the “Hooters Girls” are the primary marketing gimic for the chain. And for a long time it has been a very successful franchise with over 400 restaurants. They even launched a short-lived airline complete with Hooters girls on board.

Today Hooters has fallen on tough times, not unlike many casual restaurant chains. Same store sales have dropped and many locations near places of corporate travel, which has also seen a drop lately. In central Minnesota most people are familiar that a Hooters came and went on Division St in St Cloud. Now the entire company is reportedly up for sale.

After that bit of history, we return to our story and our ‘hero’ Coby Brooks. He first tries to work in the back of the house for one of the biggest and busiest locations, but he doesn’t quite cut the mustard and his first manager isn’t all that pleased. But Brooks realizes the company may be undervaluing this type of employee.

Next he works a day for another location and goes out with two of the Hooters girls to hand out free samples to passers by on the street. During this time he gets a chance to hear first hand comments he has known existed about Hooters. He hears directly from some women how they feel that Hooters is basically degrading to women. And he also talks with the Hooters girls how they feel about such comments.

At another stop he steps in as an assistant manager and witnesses a very crass managerial style. The manager makes the girls play a game of eating a plate of beans with no hands to see who gets to leave early. Finally Brooks witnesses a very good but overworked manager and visits a factory that makes their sauces and other products.

The show ends with Brooks revealing his true identity to the various workers he encountered. He made a $50,000 donation to the first manager’s favorite charity, offered the Hooters girls he worked with a marketing gig, gave the overworked manager a free vacation and scolded the game playing manager. Mr Brooks ended up looking like a great guy.

On the surface it was a fun show to watch. But down deeper, it probably is genious marketing on the part of Brooks and Hooters. The many people who would never step foot in a Hooters just because of the name and the reputation got to see the fine man behind the operation - and they saw this fine man care deeply about his employees and the company’s reputation. Maybe now Mr and Mrs Viewer won’t be so leary about visiting Hooters. Maybe this show takes the chain one tiny step closer to the ‘family friendly’ market it so desperately craves. Maybe this show takes an investment firm one step closer to buying the Hooters brand.

There was a slight risk to Hooters agreeing to this television show. They gave up all rights to editing. But in exchange they get tens of millions of eyeballs looking at Hooters in a new light. And as Brooks said, they don’t have anything to hide, so why not?

The final cut of the show certainly didn’t do anything to make Hooters standing in the marketplace any worse.

I have no reason to doubt that Coby Brooks is a fine, caring man. And I have no reason to believe that the Hooters girls aren’t fine people trying to make an honest living. I still can’t believe I would ever step into a Hooters though - especially with my wife and kids along. Of course with the St Cloud location no longer in existence, I need to go into the cities to find one. Maybe when I go to Florida in April…



Watch CBS News Videos Online

 

Charlie’s Cafe Founder Dies

February 9th, 2010

Charlies CafeCharlie Heidgerken of Charlie’s Cafe fame in Freeport died on Monday, February 8 of cancer of the esophagus. He was 71.

Heidgerken bought the Freeport Cafe from his brother Dennis on June 1, 1962 and renamed it Charlie’s Cafe in 1963. It relocated to its current main street location in 1965. He sold the cafe to John Botz in the 70’s, but ended up buying it back. In 1999 he sold it to his brother Bud, now a former state representative.

Charlie’s Cafe has been featured in a National Geographic magazine article by Garrison Keillor called In Search of Lake Wobegon. Keillor was a regular customer while working at the radio station at St John’s and is said to have modeled the Chatterbox Cafe after Charlie’s.

National Geographic PhotoA framed autographed photo of Keillor sitting in the corner at Charlie’s reads: “To Charlie’s: the true home of Lake Wobegon.”

Charlie Heidgerken was diagnosed with cancer last November and is survived by his wife and three children. Mass will be Friday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Freeport.

Bud Heidgerken has since passed on the responsibility of Charlie’s Cafe to Jesse and Julie Job who will continue the tradition of this Minnesota small town landmark.

Charlie’s Cafe on MinnesotaRestaurantSearch.com