DeRusha Eats: Urbana Craeft Kitchen In Bloomington
BLOOMINGTON (WCCO) -- The sun rises over the cucumbers, tomatoes, squash and chard. Dew forms on the crops. The sound of crickets fills the air. It is 6 a.m. in August.
"ding-ding-ding"
The sound of a light rail train pierces the farm-like silence.
"whoosh"
An airplane flies overhead.
"This is the gardens of Urbana," says Paul Lynch, executive chef of the Bloomington Hyatt Regency.
Yes, we are five minutes from Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport and five minutes from Mall of America. This is no bucolic rural scene.
"We're in a perfectly urban setting. There are parking lots surrounding it," Lynch said, laughing.
Several rows of straw bales line an out-lot at the Hyatt. Heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers and beans are planted in straw bales. They could go anywhere: on a patio, pavement, in an empty lot.
"The straw bale isn't just the container; it's actually the nutrition," Lynch said.
The chef treats them, kick-starting decomposition. That feeds the plants and provides another benefit.
"I can actually plant the garden a full month early and have natural heat protecting the root system and keeping it going," he said.
Every morning the kitchen team can go out and pick fresh vegetables, taking them on a 200-foot journey from the garden to the hotel.
The Bloomington Hyatt Regency's team cooks for room service, a quick-serve market, the sit-down Urbana Craeft Kitchen restaurant, and hundreds of meetings and events.
"Whenever we're able to pick in the morning, pop in a salad by lunch, that's good. That's everything a tomato can be," Lynch said.
Lynch has always been known for using Minnesota ingredients in his hotels. This is the next iteration of that.
"I've always done regional local and sustainable. I wanted to go one step further and apply the principles of permaculture: the ability to produce food where you eat it," he said.
Lynch gets real Minnesota walleye from the Red Lake Native American Nation. Commercial fishing isn't allowed in non-tribal Minnesota lakes, so most of what we eat at restaurants comes from Canada.
"All this fish is line caught. No net-dragging. It's providing jobs to members of Red Lake Nation," Lynch said.
Other menu items are imbued with Minnesota spirit: instead of pancakes you get Norwegian Æbleskiver. The coffee cakes are served in Bundt pans, since the Bundt pan was invented here. Of course there's a Swedish meatballs dish.
"I want them to have a taste of place; that they understand where they are, in Minnesota. And what time of year they visit. It should directly reflect that if I'm doing it right," he said.
A delicious taste of Minnesota, that starts in a garden in the parking lot of a suburban hotel.
Location:
Bloomington Hyatt Regency Urbana Craeft Kitchen
3200 East 81st Street, Bloomington MN 55425
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