Farm-to-table restaurant joins Sylvan Brewing in Lanesboro

May 4—LANESBORO, Minn. — You couldn't pick a better setting for a farm-to-table restaurant than the former grain elevator that is already home to Sylvan Brewing in Lanesboro.

The new restaurant represents a partnership between Sylvan Brewing and Driftless Trading Post in Lanesboro. Zach Lind, owner of Driftless Trading Post, said he is looking forward to the year-round opportunity after starting a seasonal restaurant in Peterson in 2021.

He's moving into a food trailer for the summer to join Lanesboro's busy season while a kitchen and additional dining space are added onto Sylvan Brewing. Although food wasn't in the original expansion plans for brewery owners Andy and Karen Heimdahl, Karen said they're hungry to serve their customers.

"Lanesboro has many restaurants, obviously, but can definitely use more food options and obviously having food on site that pairs really well with beer is something we're really excited about," Karen Heimdahl said.

The Lanesboro and Peterson restaurants are an extension of the "small food world" Lind's family has worked in for over 10 years as farmers, including raising beef, pork and chicken in Rushford. The items are highlighted on a

simple menu

with burgers, sandwiches and barbecue. Lind said the barbecue is a unique choice and pairs well with beer. He added the barbecue allows flexibility for the farm, too, with "nose to tail" options.

"We're farmers, my whole family they're all farmers, mostly beef, pork. And so we've been using the restaurant as a way of supporting our farming endeavors. We can't raise everything, though, so we've found over the years a lot of other good farms in our area," Lind said. "It fits the theme and it fits what we believe in about small farms and finding an avenue for small farms to actually still stay relevant."

With locally sourced food, customers will become familiar with Grandpa Don's meat, Homestead Dairy's cheeses, Rushing Waters' fish and Bakers' Field bread. In the "active ag town," Heimdahl also enjoys how spent grain from the brewery becomes feed for the cattle and chickens at the Lind's farm and the meat then comes back to the restaurant.

While road construction dust rumbles along with the trucks on Parkway Avenue, Lind said they're "crossing our fingers" that more of the road construction is complete by opening day on Friday. The restaurant's construction will occur in three phases, from indoor dining to the kitchen.

The restaurant expansion project won't dismantle the history of the Lanesboro Grain Co., where grain towers have become bathrooms and tables cover the former grain pit. Reclaimed wood from the building also makes up the taproom bar and tables inside the brewery. The 'grains, feeds and seeds' will instead grow anew with the partnership.

Heimdahl said locals and visitors will enjoy the additional food option, whether through the summer or winter months.

"We feel really strongly about being open in winter too," Heimdahl said. "We just really want to be open year-round because there are people that live here, and there are people that still travel here and we want to be open for them."

"It's a unique economic model that Lanesboro has grown here because you still have the ag but you've blended that in with some tourism," Lind said. "Some of these other small towns used to be ag only and as farmers got bigger, there's less farmers and so it's hard to have a town that's exclusively ag only and with manufacturing not really viable around these areas anymore either, it's like what else can a small town do to have a vibrant town?"

In a town of outdoor activities along the Root River, Driftless Trading Post and Sylvan Brewing are excited to add to downtown Lanesboro while kicking off with a taste of the food to come in the fall.

The food trailer will match the hours of Sylvan Brewing, which are Mondays 4-8 p.m., Thursdays 2-8 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays noon to 9 p.m., and Sundays 1-7 p.m. On opening weekend, May 5-7, the food trailer hours are noon to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 1-6 p.m. on Sunday.

"We're ingredient-focused more than preparation-focused," Lind said. "If you have the best ingredients, it makes it a lot easier to make good food."