Restaurant 301

Wine nights, cooking classes and everyday great food

Robert Lillegard

Today, Bob Bennett tells me, is a busy day.

As the senior executive chef of Restaurant 301, Bennett is in charge of arranging substitutes when one of his 17 employees can’t be there. Sometimes that means filling in himself. Tonight, for example, he’s working until 11. Tomorrow morning he’ll be here by five. And in addition to his normal cooking and staffing, he’s preparing an elaborate chocolate dessert for a bachelorette party, designing three new menus for fall, arranging ingredients with suppliers, and putting together an all-new wine list.

Yes—today is a busy day.

A Northland Gourmand

But hectic is not new for Bennett. He and his wife Kathy opened Bennett’s Bar and Grill in 1992, then moved to the Fitger’s complex in 1997. The restaurant became famous for its Arizona egg rolls and grew rapidly, with 83 employees and a good reputation.

But with both parents working, it became difficult to raise a family. Their young children would play or do homework at the restaurant, and started serving at buffets when they were 10 years old. Almost every holiday was spent at the restaurant: Easter, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, New Year’s Eve.

When their lease ran out in 2006, the Bennetts decided not to renew. Bob placed his resumé all over the country. But as fate would have it, he ended up in Duluth. The Sheraton wanted a great cook for their Duluth restaurant, and who better than this local legend?

Seasonally Driven, Locally Inspired

Restaurant 301 is definitely conservative. The servers wear dress shirts and ironed pants, the tablecloths are white linen, and the menu is a safe mix of braised lamb, mashed potato, and steak dishes. But there are also flashes of serendipity—stainless steel bowls or lavender goat cheese cake. The goal, Bennett says, is to mix the challenging with the comfortable.

“I can satisfy a very refined diner, but at the same time I can intrigue a less-refined diner and they’re willing to try it,” Bennett says. “I’m more inclined to believe in perfection in simplicity.”

The menu here is seasonally driven and locally inspired. Bennett works with local suppliers to get ripe squash, fresh tomatoes, or juicy strawberries, and plans menus around trout season or the smelt run. Then, he works in seasonal themes. In fall, his goal is Old World comfort food: Short ribs braised with cranberries and whole grained mustard, porcini bread pudding, duck with slow-cooked kidney beans. Fall vegetables find their way into an Arabian-style pot-roasted chicken, and sage and squash are stuffed into gleaming little raviolis. In addition to whatever the season brings, diners can count on Arizona Egg Rolls, ginger-cured salmon, and a seafood trio.

“I’ve tried to move those off the menu for new ideas,” Bennett says, “and it’s always back by popular demand.”

With food like that, wine is a must. Bennett is in the process of re-writing the list to include a “unique, wide variety of value-based, handcrafted wines”. His picks for next year? An Argentine Malbec, Australia’s ritzy Two Hands Chiraz, and Vitano, a blended red from Umbria. Bennett hopes to get authentic flavors from outside the mainstream at a low price.

Keeping It Lively

Restaurant 301 is a popular place, with hotel guests and locals crowding the small dining room and catering and room service buzzing. But Bennett wants to make the place a local presence. Part of the package is activities, where the food is the entertainment.

In 2009, Bennett will start wine tasting dinners. For $75-100, diners get a five-course meal with special pairings, and get to hear it straight from the winemaker. “[He’ll explain] what makes his Cabernet different than the guy down the road, and what makes it work with this food,” Bennett says.

A less-expensive option are the wine nights, every Sunday from 5 to 8. Half-priced wines start at three dollars a glass, and the $15, three-course tasting menu is an off-menu celebration of leftover ingredients. Previous nights have included cantaloupe soup, swordfish steaks, and salad with champagne-currant vinagerette and tempura-fried croutons.

Finally, Bennett will resume his popular cooking classes this September. For $25, anyone can learn cooking techniques, recipes, and serving suggestions. At the end of each evening lesson, there’s a full tasting.

With a full roster of activities and a kitchen to run, there’s plenty to do. But for Bennett, it’s all worth doing. Whether teaching cooking, putting on Scotch dinners with Carmody’s, or catering a wedding, he’s working with food in the city he loves.

“We’re changing the direction of a lot of things,” Bennett says, “I’m very grateful for the chance to stay in Duluth.”