The Team From Kingfield's ‘Midwest French' Bistro Is Still Digesting Its James Beard Nomination
Jeanie Janas Ritter and Adam Ritter first found out that their Kingfield bistro, Bûcheron, was a finalist for the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in a text from their former boss, Minneapolis culinary icon Gavin Kaysen. The husband-and-wife duo had made a name for themselves working at Kaysen's celebrated restaurants — including Spoon and Stable, Demi, and the soon-to-be-revived Bellecour — before opening Bûcheron just over a year ago. The intimate restaurant quickly earned a devoted following for its refined, French fare.
'We were stunned. It was a couple of crazy days of people emailing and texting us,' says Jeanie, the restaurant's hospitality director. 'One of my favorite moments was when we shared it in our team group chat because of the genuine excitement and pride. It was clear to me that it's everybody's recognition.'
Bûcheron is one of 10 nominees in the category and the only restaurant from the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. (The only other Minnesota restaurant ever nominated in the category was Owamni, which brought home the award in 2022.) This year, they will be joined by a cadre of other Minnesotans for Best Chef: Midwest nominees, including Shigeyuki Furukawa of Kado no Mise, Diane Moua of Diane's Place, and Karyn Tomlinson of Myriel. Bar Brava is a finalist for its notable wine program.
Jeanie sees a common thread among the Twin Cities restaurants that are garnering national attention. 'I think that Minnesota cuisine is defined by the ingredients rather than the technique,' says Jeanie. 'And when you think about the most exciting restaurants in Minneapolis that people are talking about, the techniques at each of those places are pretty dramatically different, but I think there's a similar thread of ingredients that you start to find.'
The menu at Bûcheron is often described as a Midwestern interpretation of the French bistronomy movement, which seems in line with the clear-eyed vision for the restaurant.
'We approach [the food] as 'Midwest French.' Like using a French technique for a Midwestern dish or a French dish with Midwestern ingredients,' says chef Adam Ritter. 'A lot of places you go nowadays, it's like a hodgepodge of different cuisines. So we try to stay in that lane.'
Adam isn't interested in over-manipulating components or disguising their origins. He says that guests and other chefs were pleasantly surprised when he served celery root tortellini in an acorn broth earlier this year. At a dinner last June, he fashioned a tiny frozen tree out of a dolgo crab apple and lilac bushes to mimic a photo in a book by local artist Mary Jo Hoffman.
Ingredients from local producers embed a sense of place into Bûcheron's menu — wild rice from the Indigenous Food Lab, beef from Fellers Ranch, and jam from Adam's uncle's raspberry bushes. To keep ingredients as local as possible — Adam insists Minnesota chanterelles are better than those on the West Coast — his team freezes local produce at peak ripeness to serve year-round.
'Everything needs to taste like what it is, so if a carrot is on the plate, it should taste like a carrot,' says Adam. 'I want to make it delicate to where you can taste everything that's in the dish harmoniously.'
The Ritters' decision to open a restaurant was motivated by both the needs of their growing family and their passion for excellent food and hospitality. The couple, who have two toddlers, wanted to create a positive work environment for their family and employees.
'We were on a walk with our baby right before I went back from maternity leave,' says Jeanie. 'Being in the restaurant business with young children is really hard, there's a lot of nights solo parenting. We knew if we wanted to do this and make it work, we needed to do it on our own terms.'
Being independent restaurant owners has allowed the owners to have more control over their schedules and realize their vision for the menu. The Ritters made time for their family by hiring a team of trusted and familiar faces — both in the kitchen and front of house — that hold the same high culinary standards that they have. A few of Adam's former Demi colleagues joined the Ritters at Bûcheron, including chef de cuisine Cory Western and general manager Tyler McLeod. And thanks to years of developing relationships with the Twin Cities' most discerning diners, the Bûcheron team enjoys the company of many old friends throughout the week. One of the ways their community comes together is through bimonthly tasting dinners, some centered on the cuisines of regions in Spain or France, and others based on a fellow chef's memoir or a book of photography, like Hoffman's.
'We've built up a really good community of guests at other restaurants over the last eight years,' says Jeanie. 'We've gotten so close with so many of our regulars that when we have a hog roast for our team twice a year, a lot of them come.'
With the James Beard spotlight now shining on Bûcheron, the Ritters remain committed to improving the day-to-day experience of running a neighborhood bistro. Reservations are booking out faster than ever, though they're quick to note that the bar is always open for walk-ins. Amid the buzz, the Ritters are still focused on the fundamentals: improving building operations, deepening relationships with local producers, and chipping away at their SBA loan.
While staffed by many industry veterans, the Bûcheron team is still learning the day-to-day realities of overseeing a small neighborhood bistro. It's housed in an older building, and while guests might admire the ambiance by Christian Dean Architecture, behind the scenes, much of the first year has been spent steadily making improvements. Each season brings its own challenges — freezing temperatures, spring rain, and blazing sun which means problem-solving so the patio tables aren't baking hot. Recognition is exciting, but success still looks like hard work, smart decisions, and dishes that taste like home.
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