For Chef Gavin Kaysen, dining experiences are like music.
In the last decade, Kaysen has created a small but mighty hospitality empire in Minneapolis, first with Spoon and Stable, an eatery that specializes in New American cuisine, and later with Demi, a 20-seat restaurant that reflects his perspective on fine dining—and smooth listening.
“Demi is jazz,” says Kaysen, whose résumé includes two James Beard Awards. “It’s that restaurant that produces a really incredible experience where you walk away and you think to yourself, those are the masters of their craft, and it was a pleasure to eat there and be a part of it.”
Spoon and Stable, meanwhile, is rock and roll. “It’s a party,” Kaysen declares. “It’s energetic; it’s fun. It’s exactly what I would want in a restaurant if I went out to eat.”
Such a description begs the question: What musical genre will describe the Merchant Room, Kaysen’s new restaurant set to open this fall at the forthcoming Naples Beach Club, a Four Seasons Resort? “It’s a mix—it’s eclectic,” says the 46-year-old chef. “You’ve got R&B, but you’ve also got identifiable hits. I mean, we’re in Minnesota, so it’s got to be Prince. We’re bringing Prince down to Naples.”
In reality, Kaysen and his team are developing a concept that shares plenty of DNA with his first Minneapolis restaurant, especially when it comes to cuisine. “New American” is often synonymous with farm-to-table, but the way Kaysen interprets the style, it’s more indicative of America’s roots as a melting pot of cultures. “In the food business, we all travel so much and we see each other so much,” he says of the culinary world’s tight-knit community of chefs. “We grow up in the profession together, and we end up learning all these different techniques, so New American is really this blanket opportunity to say that we’re going to take the experiences that we’ve learned from each other all around the world.”
We’re bringing Prince down to Naples.” —Gavin Kaysen
As for the chef’s own journey, it began in Vermont at the New England Culinary Institute. Shortly afterward, professional opportunities took him to Napa Valley, then to Switzerland, England, San Diego, Manhattan—where he worked alongside Daniel Boulud—and finally back to the Twin Cities, where he grew up.
In that time, especially as chef de cuisine at Café Boulud in Manhattan, Kaysen developed an understanding of the importance of high-quality ingredients sourced from local purveyors. With the Merchant Room, he’s excited to forge new relationships with farmers and fishermen along Florida’s west coast. Still, he will be bringing along a few finds from the northern Midwest, such as flour that’s produced from an heirloom variety of wheat grown 33 miles from Spoon and Stable. That will allow the chef to recreate some of the pastas he’s become famous for in Minneapolis, including a rendition of a seafood fra diavolo with squid-ink spaghetti.
“There’s going to be a familiarity to the cuisine and the menu because this is sort of the sister to Spoon and Stable,” he explains. “What will be different is the setting that we’re in.”
In the words of Prince: “It’s all about being there.”
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