ST. CLOUD (WJON News) — After several months of renovation, a new restaurant is almost ready to open its doors on St. Cloud’s East End.
The Kitchenette at 417 East St. Germain Street is in the former Dutch Maid Bakery building.
Owner Maddie Waseka started with just a shell of a building and transformed it into a cool space to grab a cup of coffee, have brunch, or dinner.
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It will be open for people to walk through on Sunday during Festi-Fall. They’ll offer coffee and cider for people who want to visit. But their first official day that they’ll be open for business hasn’t been announced just yet.
They have hired all the staff and are ready to open soon.
The Kitchenette By Day
It will be a breakfast, bistro, and coffee shop.
Their regular hours will eventually be open six to seven days a week from 7:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.
Besides the food and coffee, they’ll offer a full mimosa menu (like they have at the Copper Kitchen), Bloody Marys, screwdrivers, etc.
The St. Cloud City Council is expected to approve its liquor license during its meeting on Monday night.
The Kitchenette by Evening
Waseka says the entire point of the space is to do whatever she wants. She envisions bringing in other local chefs from around town for specialty dinners. Or, having one-off spotlight menus with cocktail pairings. She’s considering having pop-up dinners that aren’t advertised or announced but only spread by word of mouth.
They won’t have regular evening hours, just specialty dinners.
While The Copper Kitchen has decades of tradition and loyal customers, Waseka says she’s looking forward to using the new restaurant as a creative outlet for unique and different events that St. Cloud doesn’t have.
Building a Brand
Waseka, who hasn’t even turned 30 yet, is building a name for herself in the St Cloud restaurant scene. She is also the owner of The Copper Kitchen on Highway 10, which has been in her family for generations. She says the two years of construction on Highway 10 were a struggle, but since then, that restaurant has been thriving.
She thinks opening a sister restaurant down the street will help take some of the pressure off the sometimes very busy staff at The Copper Kitchen.
While Waseka is a trained chef herself, she isn’t going to be spending much time in the kitchen. She has hired a full-time chef for The Kitchenette who will be in charge of creating the food program.