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Monday, January 29, 2007
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Landing on Lake Alexander is a recipe for happiness for chef EVERYDAY PEOPLE Staff Writer CUSHING - Two four-ounce tenderloin medallions blackened with Cajun spices and served with bordelaise sauce is one of the most popular entrees made by top chef Jeff Garlie of The Landing Food and Spirits near Lake Alexander here.
Garlie and his wife, Melissa, bought the restaurant in 1999. Garlie, 43, has been cooking for most of his life. His love of cooking began in his hometown of Prior Lake.
"My mother was a fantastic cook," said Garlie. "She always used fresh ingredients and everything was from scratch, even her macaroni and cheese which is to die for.
When Garlie was in high school he'd help his mother in the kitchen. Garlie said his mom taught him that in order to be a good cook that he had to always use fresh ingredients, be patient and have a plan in place.
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Jeff Garlie of The Landing Food and Spirits near Lake Alexander prepared sauce for a filet mignon entree. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
» Purchase reprints of this photo.
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Garlie got his first cooking job when he was in high school at the Old Anchor Inn in Prior Lake. He then went to a cooking school in Rosemount. In 1985 he got a cooking job at the Marriott Hotel in Bloomington. Garlie said he learned a lot about cooking basics here.
Garlie transferred to a hotel in Florida, but came back to Minneapolis to cook at the Embassy Suites Hotel and learned how the restaurant business works.
"My idea was to stay at a job for as long as I was learning from people who were better cooks than me," said Garlie. "I'd take the skills they taught me so I could be better than everyone else."
Garlie realized that cooking was his passion when he worked at a French hotel called Hotel Sofitel in the Twin Cities. Daniel Hubert, who was the hotel's executive cook, hired Garlie on the spot.
"He told me he could teach me how to cook," said Garlie. " Every cook in there was better than me so he ruffled some feathers when he took me under his wing ... I was really excited. This was a great job."
Hubert taught Garlie how to make sauces and stock.
Jeff Garlie
Age: 43.
Worst thing you ever ate: "Anything with curry in it."
Best thing you ever ate: "A rack of lamb at an Emeril Lagasse restaurant in New Orleans."
Favorite TV celebrity cook: Mario Batali.
Most common question people ask you: "They ask if they can have the recipe for a dish. I'll sometimes give it to them if I know it and if I think they could make it. Most everything is in my head. I don't have any recipes written down. I'll be telling someone how to make something and I'll see the blank look in their face because it was way over their head."
Time on your longest recipe: "A few days. There are a couple of things that take me a few days to do, including a pheasant entree and veal stock."
If money was no object what is one thing you'd change at the restaurant: "I'd build a bigger kitchen. I'd love to have a bigger kitchen so I'd have more flexibility."
One thing people don't know about you: "That I do like frozen pizzas and I'll eat at McDonald's sometimes."
If you have a suggestion for an Everyday People feature, contact Kathi Nagorski at kathi.nagorski@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5859.
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Garlie worked at several other cooking establishments before coming to The Landing, including a restaurant on a hunting preserve called the Minnesota Horse and Hunt Club.
"It was a huge challenge," said Garlie. "There were only about 15 to 18 people who'd dine there a night and I was bored to death. Within six months I had up to 150 people for dinner on a Friday night. I did a lot of wild game cooking there."
Garlie said his parents bought a home on Lake Alexander and he often came up to the lake to go fishing. When they told Garlie about the restaurant being for sale he jumped at the chance.
"I wanted my own place," said Garlie. "I decided to attack Brainerd so I got the word out to residents on Gull Lake. This was the market I wanted.
"The biggest thing that helped me was Tom Kavanaugh (chef at the former Kavanaugh's restaurant.) He's my biggest supporter and he sent a lot of his customers here because they didn't want to eat at the same place every night.
"This is the first business I owned and I'm going to retire with it."
Garlie is in charge of the kitchen and his wife's in charge of the dining and bar area.
"I couldn't do this without her," he said. "Melissa grew up in the restaurant business and she knows her stuff. She's wonderful."
The Garlies said The Landing is known for its fresh fish, sauces and home-like atmosphere.
When they began preparing the restaurant's menu they knew they had to have a variety of entrees, including the comfort foods, such as burgers and chicken Alfredo, in order to make it.
Garlie said everything he cooks is from scratch and he uses high-quality ingredients. He said he doesn't have any favorite dishes that he prepares, but the entrees most popular with the customers are the blackened tenderloins, the traditional veal liver and the crab baked walleye pike.
Garlie said the best cooking tips he can offer are the ones he learned from his mother. Garlie said it's tough to offer cooking tips to people because learning how to be a good cook takes a long time and people can't learn to cook overnight.
However, Garlie said a few common tips include sauteing vegetables before adding water or stock to soup will bring out the flavor of the vegetables. He also said cooking with wine or alcohol to make sauces or pan gravy brings out the flavor.
"I do have a special seasoning, but I can't tell," he said.
Garlie said outside of the restaurant business he is an avid hunter and fisherman. He described himself as laid back and not flashy.
JENNIFER STOCKINGER can be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.
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