Biz Buzz: New restaurant opens Monday

shiners restaurant.JPG — Shiners restaurant and bar is slated to open Monday, June 22, in Jenkins. With patio seating and kiosk ordering where customers pick their order and then get a text when it is ready, the restaurant is taking advantage of technology in the new normal. Submitted photo

By Renee Richardson

June 19, 2020 at 10:59 AM

A new restaurant is opening 11 a.m. Monday, June 22, in Jenkins.

Shiners, a bar and restaurant, is offering subs, soup, salads and appetizers with 10 craft beer varieties. The restaurant has patio seating and a kiosk with a 22-inch computer screen and card reader for customer orders that will print receipts. Rae and Sean Smuda, part owners, are the full-time managers.

“Customers just walk up and follow our digital menu options and pick what they want,” Rae Smuda stated in an email. “Then finish up with payment and phone number (optional). When the order is up, the system will automatically text the customer letting them know it’s ready!”

Smuda described the restaurant as family friendly and featuring a modern atmosphere. It has seating for about 100 with TVs, online orders and a pickup window. It also features a small stage for a two-person band, comedian, singer-songwriter. The building was previously known as Underdogs Bar and Grill. Alcohol is served not by the kiosk but ordered through a bartender or server.

“We always knew we wanted to have our own place and we saw an opportunity with Underdogs,” Smuda said.

Smuda said both she and her husband have been in the restaurant industry for 15 years.

Subs include ham and cheese, a signature club sub, chicken bacon ranch and Santa Fe chicken as well as a Philly and pulled pork, vegetarian and spinach artichoke turkey.

Soups include chicken wild rice, vegetable beef and a soup of the day. Salads include Caesar, Thai chicken, southwest and greens, complete with a Shiners vinaigrette. The greens salad has lettuce, feta, cucumbers, avocados, onions and sunflower seeds.

Appetizers include dips — queso, spinach and artichoke, jalapeno cilantro hummus, and black bean and corn salsa — served with corn chips or veggies.

For children, the restaurant has peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, ham and cheese, avocado BLT and quesidilla.

The restaurant is open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to close Friday and Saturday.

BluPaisley Boutique moved from Main Street Nisswa to Pequot Lakes last month. BluPaisley, one of the top three contestants in the 2018 Destination Downtown Business Challenge with owner Lindsay Topp. BluPaisley is now sharing space with The Fun Sisters Boutique in Pequot Lakes.

IMG-7744 (1).JPG — Rae and Sean Smuda, part owners, are the full-time managers at Shiners restaurant and bar, are with children Wayva, Charlee, and Wylder in this family photo. Submitted photo

By Renee Richardson

Renee Richardson is managing editor at the Brainerd Dispatch. She joined the Brainerd Dispatch in 1996 after earning her bachelor's degree in mass communications at St. Cloud State University.
Renee Richardson can be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or by calling 218-855-5852 or follow her on Twitter @dispatchbizbuzz or Facebook.