Surly Brewing Company announced last week that it will be closing its award winning and critically acclaimed fine dining restaurant on its upper level. Customers have until August 5th to book a reservation before it closes its doors.
As executive chef Jorge Guzman prepares to leave Surly, it appears that the overlap of fine dining customers and people visiting the downstairs beer hall was a smaller percentage than they had hoped: The restaurant was not profitable enough to keep its doors open.
The Brewer’s Table sat 85 people upstairs amongst the extremely busy beer hall below that served thousands of customers on busy weekends. The restaurant did earn Chef Guzman a James Bear nomination for Best Chef in the Midwest and was also named a top 10 contender for best new restaurant of the year by Food & Wine Magazine.
The idea behind the restaurant was to to pair Surly’s beers with different tasting menus. It was definitely a home run with some consumers, but for others that wanted to drink a glass of wine with their meal, they would have to look elsewhere. Minnesota’s laws did not allow Surly to serve anything other than their own craft beers within their facility.
Although sad to see it go, the restaurant speaks volumes to the food scene varieties we’re seeing in the Twin Cities. Here’s to hoping the area continues to pursue new and original concepts like these.
