NEW ULM - Lacey Lueth began her culinary career five years ago in downtown St. Paul as the head line chef at the Italian restaurant Pazzaluna.
Three years later, Lueth, who comes from Truman, felt she should come back to southern Minnesota and became the executive chef at The Neighbor's Italian Bistro in Mankato. She was managing the kitchen there until earlier this month.
Now Lueth is moving to New Ulm and bringing some of the things - most notably her Italian cooking but also her love for making pastries - to her own restaurant, Lola's Larkspur Market, which will open early next month.
Cooking runs in Lueth's family. It was also her first real job. She started looking this past summer for a space where she could start a restaurant. She found out about the Larkspur building from her real estate agent and, after she saw it firsthand, decided to make it the location of her first restaurant.
Since then, Lueth has received a surprise visit from a group of women who offered to help her scrub the kitchen and an offer of help from one of the owners of the nearby Marktplatz Mall.
"I've seen people knock on the door. They're excited. It's a place people have missed," Lueth said.
Lueth describes her concept for Lola's Larkspur Market as "upscale Italian." Lola's gets its name from Lueth's infant daughter.
"Some, when they think of Italian, think lasagna and fettuccine alfredo but they don't think of bolognese," she said.
Lola's Larkspur Market won't be a full-scale Italian restaurant, Lueth says, because its kitchen would not be able to provide the space needed.
"This space is meant to be a coffee shop-restaurant with a small menu," she said. "I'm trying to have a menu the kitchen can handle."
But make no mistake about it - Lola's will have Italian food and plenty of it - but it will be on a smaller scale than that of Neighbor's or Pazzaluna, which was voted Best Italian Restaurant by Mpls-St. Paul Magazine in 2007.
Lueth, who graduated from South Central Technical College, was voted Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine's Best Young Chef in 2007 and runner-up for the same award in 2008.
"I don't think there are a lot of people who know how to make their own dish," she said, sitting in one of the Larkspur's brown leather chairs next to its fireplace. "It takes a lot of time to experiment with flavors to come up with a dish on your own, but that's what I plan to do."
The daily menu will include four pasta dishes, four sandwiches, three salads and featured items. Lueth hopes to change the menu according to the seasons and bi-weekly. She also wants to cook with local herbs and vegetables in the summer as well as local bacon and pork.
"I'm not keeping the Larkspur menu at all, but I'm keeping its style," she said.
Lueth is planning to open Lola's Larkspur Market early in March. She plans to be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Monday through Saturday and may open for brunch on Sundays.
The Larkspur coffee drinks and its panini sandwich-maker will stay on. Homemade desserts will still be crowded in the glass case in the counter. The "Oslo" and "New Ulm" sandwiches may return in the future, although Lueth said she wants to try new sandwiches.
Muffins, cookies, scones and lattes, cappuccino and espresso and different sandwiches than the "Oslo" as well as beer and wine and appetizers will now be on the menu. Lueth would also like to make the Larkspur a "happy hour" place that serves wine and appetizers.
Lueth has flatbreads, baked ziti, muffaletta, penne with asiago, spinach and tomato and white wine as well as a chop-chop salad with turkey and salami, romaine, provolone and asiago planned for the Larkspur's opening week.
Service at Lola's Larkspur Market will be different than before. The wait at the cash register will be replaced by numbered table service, which Lueth feels will be more efficient.
Aside from the menu and the service, Lueth will be making some aesthetic changes to the location. The front sign over the restaurant's awning will change. The murals on the Larkspur's inside walls will stay the same. Lueth said she wants local art - be it pottery, watercolor or paintings - for the walls because she believes the space is a perfect fit for it.
She said she wants to eventually teach cooking classes and try custom catering in the future.
She will be doing most of the work during the restaurant's opening herself until her staff is completely trained. She hopes people are understanding on Lola's opening day because there may be kinks that need to be worked out.
"...But I think we're going to offer something unique to this area," said Lueth. "Definitely."
