At Bûcheron, fine dining meets Midwestern sensibilities

On a recent weekday, Adam Ritter and Jeanie Janas Ritter took turns commuting between their south Minneapolis restaurant Bûcheron and their home a half-mile away.

Jeanie started the day at the restaurant, where she worked on the newsletter, social media, gift card and merchandise orders, revised and approved menu printouts and started decorating for the holidays.

"We have a sick little guy at home, so Adam had him for the morning and I went into work," Jeanie said. "Right now I have a pot of soup on the stove I'm tending to and I'm holding a toddler."

Then it was Adam's turn at the restaurant, working alongside the kitchen team to gear up for dinner service before stepping away to test recipes and prep 10 geese that just arrived and are destined for an upcoming retro-themed holiday multicourse dinner. He also looked to solve an issue with the current menu. "We have to change that kohlrabi dish quickly because, with the season change, it's not really hitting the way it's supposed to," Adam said.

It's the type of tag-teaming the two have balanced since launching their quaint 38-seat French-American bistro Bûcheron (the French word for lumberjack) early this year in the Kingfield neighborhood that quickly became one of the hottest reservations in town and is one of the Minnesota Star Tribune's 2024 Restaurants of the Year. Their brand of food and hospitality, in which Adam heads the kitchen and Jeanie the front of the house, hit a note with diners, a culmination of their fine-dining experience at top-rated restaurants and travels abroad infused with Midwestern sensibilities.

"Those experiences of different cultures are a big part of who we are, and both of us grew up on farms … so we really love the whole process. We're pretty connected in that way to what we're doing," said Adam, who was raised just outside of St. Cloud. Asked to pick a dish that best represents Bûcheron, he zeroes in on the foie gras, a terrine accompanied by Marcona almonds, amaretto gel, raspberry jam and a warm scone.

"That's really our mentality at the restaurant. It's a fine-dining technique but presented in a very casual way so that everybody can enjoy it," Adam said.

That ethos of approachable refinement carries into the dining room. Work-life balance is also key to their philosophy; employees have consistent schedules and consecutive days off.

"We just couldn't do it without them," Adam quipped about the team that includes chef de cuisine Cory Western, sous chef Ricky Flor, general manager Tyler McLeod and bar manager Will Gobeli. This way, the staff gets quality time to be with their family and friends "and then, for us too, we're able to get two days off together with our boys." (The Ritters are parents to a 4- and 2-year-old.)

Next up, they hope to host more special tasting dinners that allow the team to dig deep into a theme or region as well as grow the company in other ways. A New Year's Eve dinner, for example, is inspired by the iconic Minneapolis restaurant Charlie's Exceptionale.

"We'd love to keep all of our staff and we know that in order to keep the team, we need to create opportunities for them so they grow and don't get bored," Adam said. "So we definitely have had those conversations. And it's the same for us — we're kind of always moving and always learning and so I think that's what's going to really continue to keep us hungry."

It's that hunger and drive that have kept the Ritters, who have worked at notable restaurants in Northern California, Chicago and Singapore, satiated in the business they love. The two, who moved to Minneapolis to work at Gavin Kaysen's restaurants (Adam at Spoon and Stable and Jeanie at Bellecour) before branching out on their own, had this advice for those coming up in the industry:

"For young people, we would say don't take shortcuts. It might pay off short-term, but never long-term," Jeanie said. "We have never done things the easy way — we've done things the right way and there's a big difference. Constant refinement and improvement are things you can be making all the time."

Bûcheron, 4257 Nicollet Av. S., Mpls., 612-255-5632, bucheronrestaurant.com. Open Mon.-Sat. 4:30-10 p.m.