Sneak Peek: Surdyk's Sidebar

The new bar carved out of the Nordeast liquor and cheese shop opens Wednesday.

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The kids are all right. I think Jim Surdyk can go on vacation, because his kids are happily bringing the family business into new territories. This Wednesday, the 80-year-old liquor and cheese shop in Northeast will officially open its first on-site restaurant: Sidebar at Surdyk's. It's both an homage to the past and a look forward.

Surdyk's first foray beyond retail, into hospitality, came when the family opened Surdyk's Flights out at the airport in 2010. The counter serving great sandwiches, cheeses, wines, and snacks you could grab for your trip, won big national awards and much love from local travelers rather sick of the pre-flight McNugget face slam. Due to lease negotiations, it left the main terminal and eventually moved to the Humphrey terminal (where it is temporarily on hiatus).

But the bug had bitten. As the neighborhood began growing upwards with condos around them, the Surdyk's clan decided to remodel the cheese chop and take a chunk out of the liquor store space to create a bar and restaurant. Open since 1934, but in this neighborhood since 1979, they are excited to double down for the next generation of Northeasters.

And honestly, they have done a great job pulling the past and the future together in this small space. Enter through the back of the cheese shop or from the street. Floor to ceiling liquor bottles cast a pretty great aura, and some of them are finds. Nestled in the rows are some vintage bottles from Grandpa Surdyk's cellar, including a 1966 Chateau Margaux (yes it's glued down, and also undrinkable.)

The tan leather banquets and chairs play against the central fixture in the room, a copper clad center bar. "I've always dreamed of having a zinc bar," Emily Surdyk told me, "but when Shea came to us with the idea of a copper bar, that was warm but would show wear and patina from use over the years, I loved it."

Vintage ads from the store's past paper the walls, and the bottles tell stories if you care to look closely. But you could happily be ensconced in a cheese plate and never notice. There's a definite 1930's throw back vibe to the curved booths and the vintage rattan cane webbing used on seating, but it still plays modern. Copper accents and modern bar stools help root it in the current moment. 

Of course one of the best parts is the wall-sized garage door that opens fully to the street and patio. It brings in that breeze that indoor diners are looking for in these weird times, and allows the expanded patio to be part of the action. The inside can only seat about 30 with the spacing restrictions, and no seating at the bar for now. The patio adds an additional 30 some seats to the mix, which helps boost the numbers. "We are definitely going to try to stretch the patio season as long as we can," Taylor Surdyk mentioned, "we'll get heaters and blankets, Minnesotans are hardy enough to sit outside for a long time." 

Obviously one of the coolest things about this match up, is that you can preview the shop's wares on the menu. "We have all these great ingredients right here, so let's showcase them on the menu. There's going to be a lot of synergy between the restaurant and the shop so that people can feel like they get to take the experience home if they want to." The cocktail list was designed by Alex Zweber (who happens to own Sharab Shrubs, stocked in store), and features everything from a signature Old Fashioned to a St. Agrestis Spritz. And there is sake on tap here, a nod to Melissa Surdyk's reputation as one of the top sake experts in town. It's nice that the wine list isn't massive, which you think it could be, and they feature about 20 some bottles by 3oz. and 6oz. glass pours. But it's important to note, that you can buy any wine bottle in the shop and bring it into the restaurant with only an $8 corkage fee. That's a pretty slim markup if you ask me.  

As for food, Emily Surdyk really wants it to be neighborhood friendly, "I mean, we'll be using the greatest ingredients we can find, but we don't want to be thought of as fancy. There's cheese curds on the menu, and a burger, but also a great Niçoise aioli plate and a classic gazpacho for a short time. Obviously we're going to do great meat and cheese boards, so we hope that people are going to come and stop by for a snack, maybe after shopping, but also make plans for date night. I think this space can work well for both." They'll be open daily, starting at 4pm on the weekdays, and 11am on weekends. As they get their feet underneath them in a few weeks, they'll start takeout and consider doing lunch if the neighborhood wants it. For now, they'll only do walk-up reservations for both indoors and patio.

It all kicks off tomorrow. If you choose to exit through the cheese shop, be prepared to keep your wallet out.