James Beard Award-successful chef to helm downtown Grand Rapids cafe
GRAND RAPIDS, MI — A prestigious chef is slated to helm the kitchen area of a downtown Grand Rapids restaurant, and his arrival is currently being touted as a “huge win” for the city’s restaurant scene.
Paul Berglund, winner of the James Beard Foundation’s 2016 Finest Midwest Chef Award, will debut in early 2021 as the new govt chef of Mertens Prime. The cafe, which opened in 2017 and is situated at 35 Oakes St. SW, rebranded in October from New Hotel Mertens.
“I was drawn to Grand Rapids in component by its dynamic and increasing foods and beverage group, which has created me experience welcomed in this article,” Berglund explained in a assertion. “I am thrilled to have the chance to lead to the momentum the local place has produced in modern decades.”
Berglund received his James Beard Award, generally referred to as the Oscars of the meals entire world, in 2016 for his Northern European cuisine offerings as govt chef at The Bachelor Farmer in Minneapolis.
In retaining with the fare at Mertens, Berglund is concocting a menu that is aligned with French-concentrated delicacies but with his very own twists and fusions. The debut of Berglund’s menu is dependent on the lifting of in-human being dining polices in Michigan, Mertens Hospitality officers reported.
Berglund will also oversee the menus of other venues at the Mertens constructing, such as Mertens Rooftop, Café Mertens and 9th St. Steaks. Berglund’s new menu for Mertens Rooftop will debut in late spring 2021.
“We’re thrilled to have Paul share his culinary items with the town of Grand Rapids,” said Anthony Tangorra, taking care of member and restaurant director at Mertens Hospitality. “He is establishing a menu that is made to have him provide out his have expertise and creativity inside the expansive planet of French cuisine and quality steaks and chops that is Mertens Primary. We’re happy to be the system for Paul’s future phase in his culinary journey.”
Mayor Rosalynn Bliss called Berglund’s go to Grand Rapids a “huge win” for the town and cafe scene.
“The stand-out food and beverage created by our places to eat, breweries and distilleries in Grand Rapids has produced amazing added benefits for our town,” Bliss reported in a statement. “Adding a nationally recognized chef of Paul Berglund’s caliber to our currently vibrant restaurant community is a enormous earn for Grand Rapids. We welcome Paul with open up arms and glance forward to attracting people to Grand Rapids to check out his cooking amongst the lots of outstanding places to eat through our town.”
Berglund, as government chef, crafted the menu at The Bachelor Farmer when it opened in 2011. Bon Appétit Magazine named it between its top 10 very best new restaurants of 2012.
He remaining The Bachelor Farmer in 2017 to be nearer to his spouse, Tia Chakraborty, who was pursuing a neurology residency at the Mayo Clinic in close by Rochester, Minnesota.
Berglund and Chakraborty were introduced to Grand Rapids immediately after Chakraborty was a short while ago appointed as a neurointensivist at Spectrum Health and fitness.
Prior to his time in Minnesota, Berglund proven his cooking expertise at the Oliveto Café and Cafe in Oakland, California. At the Italian-focused restaurant, he rose to the rank of chef de delicacies.
Takeout assistance at Mertens Primary is now discontinued as Berglund will work on the new menu. Café Mertens and 9th St. Steaks proceed to offer you takeout and delivery less than their current menus.
Reservations at Mertens Prime have been briefly halted, as nicely. The cafe will announce when reservations will be accessible for booking in the in the vicinity of long term.
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