- The proprietor of Brazen Open Kitchen area + Bar bought a brunch cafe in Galena.
- Kevin and Lyndsi Scharpf expended a large amount of time eating at Otto’s Location before they bought it.
Chef Kevin Scharpf usually desired to open a cafe in Galena, the really Illinois town about 15 miles south of Dubuque on the Mississippi River. He grew up in the historic town with a charming Major Avenue lined with 125 boutiques and places to eat, and now life there with his wife Lyndsi and two children.
Picturesque Dubuque in shape his needs superior, supplying him an option to establish his cafe, Brazen Open Kitchen & Bar, and be energetic in the local community. He begun serving his Midwestern fare in the city’s Historic Millwork District in 2015.
Seven a long time afterwards and his desires of operating a cafe in Galena arrived genuine. Kevin and Lyndsi Scharpf procured Otto’s Position, a brunch spot throughout the Galena River from Primary Avenue, appropriate alongside the train tracks and the two-story Italianate depot.
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“It presents a new variety of adrenaline,” Scharpf stated in the middle of doing work on a new recipe for coffee cake. “It’s a different approach to food items.”
The Scharpfs bought Otto’s Put from Megan Carter, who took above possession of the cafe in 2019.
Galena resident and cafe namesake Otto Sallman at first manufactured the setting up in 1899 and normally desired to open an eatery there, but his eyesight did not come as a result of right up until 2011 when Dan Wentz and John Slimp opened the restaurant.
Scharpf stated that Sallman was a experienced walker. But even a lot more interesting, regional legend has it that Sallman under no circumstances got about to opening a cafe in the area simply because he was struck by a prepare in Chicago. “Some say they can see his spirit wandering down the tracks in Galena, checking up on his old residence,” an Instagram article states.
“It’s a exclusive place in my hometown of Galena,” mentioned Scharpf, who frequented the restaurant with his spouse and children in advance of acquiring it. “Little did (Megan Carter) know had my eye on it. Surprisingly, it all just came together.”
What is actually on the menu at Otto’s Put?
The few, junior high sweethearts, strategy to include their possess touches to the cafe with a new menu that respects its heritage.
Diners can nestle into a stack of buttermilk pancakes with blueberries and local maple syrup, thick slabs of brioche French toast dusted with powdered sugar, a breakfast sandwich with pork belly and eggs on a ciabatta roll, a sweet potato hash, and egg tacos stuffed with potatoes, mushrooms, onion, spinach and goat cheese, together with favortes these types of as biscuits and gravy and an at any time-switching frittata.
Lunch dishes incorporate sandwiches, such as a BLT on sourdough, a turkey melt with caramelized onion and bacon, a smash burger, and a black bean burger.
Prospects can make it a genuine brunch with a cocktail, these kinds of as a bloody Mary, mimosa, greyhound or Irish coffee.
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Who is Kevin Scharpf?
Scharpf’s increase to fame started off at age 16, when he determined to go to culinary university at Le Cordon Bleu in Minneapolis. He worked at Daniel, the two Michelin star restaurant from Daniel Boulud in New York City, in advance of his job took him to the wonderful-eating dining establishments at Hotel Sofitel, Iliana Regan’s now-shut 1 Michelin star Elizabeth Restaurant in Chicago, and Spoon & Secure in Minneapolis from Gavin Kaysen, a James Beard award-winning chef. Right after his fingers-on encounters with French delicacies and farm-to-table methods to eating, he returned to Dubuque to function at the Diamond Jo Casino for 6 yrs.
At Brazen, Scharpf explores nearby ingredients on his evening meal menu served five evenings a 7 days. Prosciutto or broccolini dot his pizzas whilst he helps make his pastas in property for a vegan stroganoff or carbonara dish. Fried chicken arrives with spicy honey and cornbread, although a brief rib receives a dose of umami braise and goat cheese polenta. Other entreés consist of a pork shoulder with a cannellini bean ragu and chorizo, monkfish with a squash curry and Israeli cous cous, and a 20-ounce rib-eye steak with crimson wine gastrique.
Although the dishes audio extremely higher close, Scharpf needs his clients to arrive as they are and share their plates. The space alone features exposed brick, an open up kitchen area and wood in all places from the tables to the rafters, illuminated by Edison lights, with cement floors beneath.
Diners who want a future-amount experience can guide the chef’s table dubbed the Brazen Reserve, a attractive 12-seat non-public eating room outfitted with its own kitchen area. The house can host everything from an interactive, multi-training course tasting menu to a personal cocktail experience.
Scharpf even has Birds, a meals truck that specializes in fried hen. Carolina barbecue and a spicy fowl sandwich are just two of the options for sandwiches or tenders.
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These touches have not only made the Scharpfs and Brazen regarded in Dubuque, but attracted countrywide consideration way too.
Scharpf competed on Time 16 of Bravo’s “Best Chef” in 2018. That practical experience only lasted 3 episodes when he was eradicated immediately after serving a far too salty ricotta cake with macerated cherries in a Christmas pastry levels of competition. But the appearance put Scharpf and Brazen on the map.
“You couldn’t get any busier,” Scharpf explained about the time just after the display aired. “It aids people have an understanding of that you are not cutesy. … When men and women come in, it’s on reason.”
This calendar year, the James Beard Foundation named Scharpf a semifinalist for Best Chef Midwest, his initial nomination, and maybe the major honor a chef in the United States can gain.
While the Scharpfs you should not plan to improve a good deal in the 50-seat Otto’s Position, they do want to try their hand at meal. For now, Kevin continues to do the job on producing Otto’s Spot a “future-level working experience.”
“It feels just appropriate,” he reported of the dimensions of the cafe. “At times issues just occur in disguises.”
Otto’s Area
Spot: 100 Bouthillier St., Galena, Illinois
Get hold of: 815-776-0240 or ottosgalena.com
Hours: Open for breakfast and lunch 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday via Monday with dinners in the future.
Brazen Open up Kitchen area + Bar
Spot: 955 Washington St. Suite 101, Dubuque
Call: 563-587-8899 or brazenopenkitchen.com
Hrs: 4:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday via Saturday
Susan Stapleton is the leisure editor at The Des Moines Register. Stick to her on Fb, Twitter, or Instagram, or drop her a line at [email protected].
