The Misfits Collective Brings Fire to the Suburbs

If you’re taking on a huge restaurant space in the suburbs, you better bring the heat.

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Even as restaurants become more sure-footed again, few if any seem to want to take on a massive space. Labor shortages and supply chain issues, not to mention steep per-square-foot rent, make some of those huge 300-plus-seaters in the suburbs feel a little too risky. Unless, of course, you’re a risk-taker, used to betting on spots that other restaurant owners would never touch. Tony Donatell, Dan Bennett, and Ralena Young have made a habit out of turning vacant suburban Applebee’s restaurants into winning neighborhood indie joints like Tequila Butcher in Chanhassen and Whiskey Inferno in Savage.

Their latest endeavor, The Misfits Collective in Apple Valley—clocking in at 9,000 square feet (plus 2,000 on the patio)—is their biggest yet and shows off a whole different way to use all that space. They’ve carved up the former Poor Richard’s into four different concepts. It’s not a food hall, because all are under one system and unified by design and ownership. But it breaks the space up into different kinds of experiences: a coffee shop with working space that is open all day; a high-end cocktail bar with wood-fired pizzas; an outdoor patio with its own bar and grill churning out charred dishes from around the world; and a full-service restaurant with an open live-fire cook line that allows for easy family dining as well as a chef’s counter experience.

It’s ambitious, with four different concept menus coming from one kitchen, and it doesn’t shy away from serving octopus and smoked cocktails in an area of the metro that is overwhelmingly populated with chain restaurants. But this crew has paid attention to the suburban eater better than most and is willing to bet that these eaters are looking for something a little off the path, a little different. Maybe we all need to take a gamble on the misfits now and again?

The Wanderer

Outside, under lush conditions, the patio makes you feel like you’re on vacation (instead of a retail complex parking lot). This area’s menu offers you a taste of a far-off cuisine, most of it coming off the outdoor grill anchoring the patio and providing the great smells. Pork belly al pastor tacos with caramelized pineapple, grilled elotes on a stick, and quesa birria tacos were all part of the celebration of Mexico, which will rotate out to another global spot. The drinks lean toward tiki without being bound by tradition. Mezcal, coconut liqueurs, and Japanese whiskey with yuzu all boost the cocktail list past the cliché rum-and-fruit-juice set. Fire pits will help keep this space open as long as possible.

Ratio

At the bar in the center of the room, the bartenders work serious cocktail magic with smoking bubbles and layers of infusions for drinks that are both cutting-edge and very drinkable. You order at the bar, even if you’ve nabbed one of the high-top tables, which seem to be choice picks during the twice-daily happy hours ($5 beer and bump plus half-off drinks). Ratio is all about balance, and if you don’t go for one of their creative plays, the bartenders will take your favorite spirit and create something for you based on the “Golden Ratio.” To keep you sustained and balanced, Detroit-style square pan pizzas come in two sizes and lots of flavors: The White Pizza with chicken, broccolini, ricotta, and pickled habaneros is a fresh alternative, but a must-get is the wood-fired pizza rolls. Or the grilled Caesar.

Curiouser Coffee

With a playful nod toward Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the coffee bar and work space is open for café-style eating and drinking all day. Food ranges from breakfast burritos or biscuits and gravy to creative sandwiches, including a croque madame or the Appalachian with pimento cheese, fried bologna, and green tomatoes. Coffee drinks are both serious, with Intelligentsia or Peace Coffee beans in your cold brew or pour over, and playful, with the Instagram-famous Dalgona whipped coffee and others boosted by macadamia nut milk or orange blossom water. This is basically a craft bartender’s try at a coffee shop, so of course Ralena Young would include a few signature drinks (since she has the liquor license): The Curiously Old Fashioned uses bourbon, rye, and espresso reduced brown sugar to give it a backbone of coffee flavoring.

Eighth Fire

Chef Dan Bennett is a follower of fire maven Francis Mallmann, who teaches of the seven fires of cooking. The Eighth Fire is about the fire that forges community, bringing people together with larger-format dishes (whole fish, whole chicken, big chops) and sharing plates. This is live-fire cooking, which means Eighth Fire is burning cords of wood every day to light the grills and all food is touched by flame in some way. Everything from carrots to gnocchi to lamb shank and scallops cooked on a log: all shareable plates, all come off the flame. A whole chicken is fire-roasted in an open-bottom smoker, creating a bird that is unbelievably tender and just kissed with a light smoke so that it won’t overwhelm the bright chimichurri sauce on the plate. This concept has full-service dining room seating, but the best get is the chef’s table: eight seats along the kitchen bar where you can feel the fire burning feet away as the chefs cook and serve you directly from the line. There are beautiful and slightly smoked cocktails that pair with this food—the Golden Pineapple or the Smoked Onyx Manhattan are particularly special.

14889 Florence Tr., Apple Valley, 952-236-8115, themisfitscollective.co

Mpls.St.Paul Daily Edit

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