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GRAND RAPIDS, MI – From locally-grown meals to locally-crafted décor, The Sovengard blends acquainted flavors with farm-to-table freshness.
Proprietor Rick Muschiana stated the restaurant, positioned at 443 Bridge St. NW, was based by his household in 2016 to repair a “damaged meals system.”
The Sovengard is part of the New Nordic movement, a Scandinavian culinary philosophy that advances rules of a standard farm-to-table method to encourage environmental sustainability. The method sources native, seasonal meals from farmers and makes use of a constantly-shifting menu to serve conventional meals in new methods.
“I, like different folks, picked up on (the New Nordic motion) as an curiosity, and to me, it went additional in that this was a motion that wasn’t nearly Scandinavian nations,” Muschiana stated. “What it’s to me is de facto in regards to the new means by which we must always supply our substances and attempt to dwell and cook dinner and eat.”
The result’s The Sovengard’s seasonal menu, which is crafted by working with a handful of native meals producers and leveraging what’s in season.
The menu is at present transferring previous the braises and hearty root greens of the winter seasons and searching ahead to the freshness of spring as soon as produce rotates.
At the moment, their winter menu serves objects like a mushroom and root vegetable stew ($19), which marries mushrooms, black garlic, redskin potatoes and a medley of root greens.
The Sovengard gives Scandanavian mainstays akin to Swedish meatballs ($14). The meatballs are made with a locally-sourced mix of beef and lamb combined with Scandinavian rye bread and served with a marinated beet and onion salad, roasted hen gravy and herbs.
Muschiana stated in relation to drinks, the restaurant has been enjoying with new twists on outdated concepts.
The restaurant has been toying with shrubs, that are drinks that use a variety of surprising fruits or greens at The Sovengard, akin to carrots. Whereas not the primary to characteristic it, Muschiana stated clients are additionally embracing amaro, a bitter Italian liqueur historically served after dinner.
Whereas New Nordic is interwoven into The Sovengard’s foods and drinks, it’s additionally a staple of their décor.
From the picket benches inside to the upholstery, the mid-century fashionable look carries the farm-to-table idea by hiring native craftspeople to create furnishings.
“We attempt to carry these morals and philosophies with us by each step of the way in which,” Muschiana stated.
The idea can result in some hesitancy, however Muschiana stated servers like to discipline questions and draw connections to extra acquainted meals. A bit totally different from different Grand Rapids delicacies, he encourages patrons to ask questions and share meals with others when it’s protected to take action.
“We encourage sharing there too,” Muschiana stated. “That’s been a little bit bit extra awkward due to COVID. There’s much less massive teams coming in and clearly much less sharing of meals, however below regular circumstances, we like it when individuals are similar to kind of crawling by a menu and making an attempt all kinds of various issues.”
The previous 12 months has pressured The Sovengard to restrict capability, however its outside Wintergarten allowed the restaurant to take its cozy inside and accommodate COVID-19 restrictions. Inside, waitstaff encourage patrons to thoughts their keep length, maintain their masks on when potential and ensure tables have been unoccupied and sanitized earlier than one other social gathering takes a seat.
However in navigating by the pandemic, Muschiana stated he has seen the group take satisfaction in visiting a restaurant that helps native farmers and meals producers.
He hopes that as patrons get pleasure from meals they might have by no means skilled earlier than, additionally they acknowledge that the way in which they view meals has profound implications domestically.
“If (friends) are searching for a spot the place their hard-earned cash counts, the place it goes again to the local people, native farms and producers, and a spot the place their eating in really makes a distinction to a small native restaurant, we’re that place,” Muschiana stated.
As a result of momentary service limitations, the restaurant is providing takeout, supply, and reservations in its outside winter backyard tents.
The Sovengard is open 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday by Sunday for dinner and 10 a.m. to three p.m. for brunch every weekend. To order a desk, browse the present seasonal menu or order takeout, go to the web site at www.sovengard.com or name (616) 214-7207.
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