Rush is the most recent opening from New Ulm restaurateur Aron Bode. In the 12 years he has been a restaurant owner, Bode has seen himself at the helm of three different restaurants before this one. He said these have all been different concepts and experiences from what he is doing with Rush.

“I opened up with The Retz 227, which is a speakeasy bar,” Bode said. “Then I opened up Pacific Coffee which is a drive-thru coffee shop. I bought Lola’s and inherited everything that came with it. Rush is not [necessarily] different from all [my other restaurants]. It fits in with all of them and the vibe of bringing everyone downtown. What’s different is I have a patio, which I’ve never dealt with. Figuring out how to be seasonal is the biggest difference now.”

Rush occupies the second floor of 126 North Minnesota Street, above The Franklin Downtown. This allows them to have open-air seating and a high-up view of the surrounding downtown and city skyline. This feature is something Bode knew he wanted in his next restaurant, but he had no idea it would be available so soon.

“I didn’t intend to open this restaurant yet,” he said. “Our original plan was to wait five more years before I opened a rooftop restaurant with this kind of concept we have. It happened the spot was open and I decided to do it now.”

Rush owner Aron Bode stands behind the counter, showing off where the dishes are served up. The menu is constantly in flux, having been changed eight times since Rush opened three months ago.

Keeping the menu fresh and constantly diversifying is something Bode prides himself on within the Rush concept. With eight changes to the menu within the first three months, Bode has coined the term “kitchen boredom” for this phenomenon.

“It’s not boredom by any means,” he said. “We want to keep pushing into things we don’t know how to make. We get an idea and we’re like, ‘We should do that. We should put that on the menu. We should see if it works.’ We keep pushing with constantly rotating new ideas.”

Coming up with new ideas is done with group brainstorming. Bode said anyone can bring anything in and start freely trying dishes and different ideas. From there, everyone at Rush tries it and decides whether or not it should go on the menu. There are some items Bode has wanted to use but were too much.

“Alligator,” he said. “We bought an alligator over at Lola and we cooked it. We all sat and ate it. We were like, ‘Yeah, we can’t do this.”

But Rush does not shy away from eccentricity, evidenced by the names of their pizza line-up. Naughty Nana, Sour German, and Lord Farquaad are a few examples of items available. These are also brainstormed by Rush staff, and Bode told the story of how their four-meat pizza was named for a Shrek character.

“It was all of the employees at 11 p.m. after a very busy shift,” he said. “I said ‘We’re going to do pizzas but I need names.’ We started throwing things out there. Lord Farquaad has four meats on it for quad, and then we were talking about Shrek. Someone goes ‘Lord Farquaad, we need to name it that.’ Done. We did that with every single pizza and we were laughing the whole time trying to come up with names. It’s a lot better than going ‘Well, it’s a four-meat pizza.’ [That’s] no fun.”

For the future, Bode still plans to utilize the outdoor space even in the winter. To do so, he plans to capitalize on Minnesota’s winter season and use it to his advantage for a themed addition.

“I was gonna get these little globes, but everyone does globes,” he said. Instead, I opted for a giant igloo that lights up. You can rent the igloo out, you and 12 of your friends. Foods all included, drinks, cocktails, they’re all out there for you. The patio is yours to use. There are games out there, lights, a fire pit. It’s your rental, but you can be warm while still being outside in Minnesota.”

For more information, visit https://www.rushnewulm.com/