Valley Vine & Harvest Throwdown

On Sunday, October 14th, the Lake Elmo Inn Event Center hosted the 4th annual Valley Vine and Harvest Throwdown on behalf of Canvas Health.  The Throwdown is a competitive food and wine event featuring the area's finest chefs.  The Lake Elmo Inn and our very own, Chef John Schiltz took home the prize of "Top Chef"!  We just wanted to take the time to thank everyone that participated in this event and all the people that came to support a good cause.  Until next year...

Domacin Wine Bar
Sumac rubbed pork short ribs
with blueberry barbeque sauce
Accompanied by sweet corn
and popcorn polenta.

Luna Rossa Trattoria and Wine Bar
Pan seared pork tenderloin with red
wine reduction sauce, Kalamata
olives, mushrooms, and
feta cheese.

Phil's Tara Hideaway
Chicken with cinnamon and clove
spiced wine reduction. Served with salad
of prosciutto, goat cheese, olive oil
and 18 year old balsamic vinegar.

Lake Elmo Inn
Potato crusted sunfish with
asparagus risotto. Served
with micro greens with
lemon vinaigrette

Smalley's Caribbean Barbeque
Pimento smoked beef ribeye with
Jamaican Curry.

San Pedro Cafe
Jamaican jerk Laughing Bird shrimp
with mango vinaigrette. Accompanied
by chipotle polenta and local vegetables.

Marx Fusion Bistro
Slow braised beef short ribs with
caramelized onions, and horseradish,
mustard, sour cream sauce.
Accompanied by barley shiitake risotto.

All featured wines provided by

World Class Wines and The Wine Company

A special Thank You to all of the Chef's that participated this year including: Chef Jeffrey Lundmark (Domacin Wine Bar), Chef Raffaele Virgillo (Luna Rossa), Chef Mark Hanson (Marx),

Chef Brad Nordeen (Phil's Tara Hideaway), Chef Quinton Hammond (San Pedro Cafe), Chef Shawn Smalley (Smalley's Caribbean Barbeque)

Giving Thanks for a Complete Thanksgiving Meal To-Go from the Lake Elmo Inn

It's about that time..we are offering our "Full Thanksgiving Meal Deal" once again. The same combination will be offered again this year, including: 12 pound Turkey, 4 pounds Mashed Potatoes, 4 pounds of Dressing, 1 pound Cranberries, 1 quart Gravy, 2 pounds Sweet Potatoes, 3 pounds Green Beans Amandine, 18 Dinner Rolls and Butter, and 2 Pie choices including Pumpkin, Pecan, Dutch Apple, or French Silk. Everything will be hot and ready for you to serve.  You can serve 10-12 guests, all for only $144.00 plus tax.

Pickups will be at the Event Center every 15 minutes between 9am and 1pm on Thanksgiving Day. We changed things this year with the 15 minute intervals to help avoid any lines or back ups. Please try to come as close to your scheduled time as possible.

Simply call the Event Center at 651-779-5994 with your pick up time and pie choices.  Credit cards are required to hold your reservation.  Pick-ups can be made from 9:00 am to 1:00pm on Thanksgiving Day.

Happy Turkey Day Everybody!

Getting Used to the New Digs

Well, it's been a month since our re-opening of the Inn and its new dining room. Its still hard to believe that after years of imagining this dream that its finally a reality. We couldn't be happier with the results.

We hope you all like it as well.  Everyone knows that change can be hard to get used to, but in many cases, its for the best. Many people have asked, "Where did you put those salt & pepper shakers?" "Are you ever bringing them back?" The answer: For now they have been put into storage with the others. We may have an idea for the future and building some more cases to put in the Kohler Room, but for now, we'll concentrate on the new dining room changes.

For those of you that don't know, our collection is much larger than what was displayed. Our front lobby still has part of the collection, however in our storage area we have maybe 40-50 more boxes filled with them. Are we still collecting? Well the answer is yes and no. We haven't actively added to our collection in years, but from time to time we still have friends and customers wanting to add some of their family collection to ours. How can we say no to that? They are very gracious and generous.

 So what else is new? Maybe you've wondered about the giant cow that's been parked next to our building. You know the one I'm talking about...

It's Sparkle, the Hereford Steer. No, he isn't there permanently. In fact he has already made his way to the State Fair. Did it get your attention though? Sparkle was with us to help promote our new line of steaks featured on our menu. Certified Hereford Beef. We now carry a very exclusive line, the 1881 Certified Hereford Beef, that is of the top 2% of Hereford available. Its the way beef used to taste: flavorful, tender, juicy. We also upgraded to a new broiler/grill in the kitchen, just to cook these steaks perfectly.

This was a little heavier than they thought. Good thing it was on wheels! Although with how hot is was that day and how heavy that equipment was, those wheels actually sunk into the blacktop!

 Well, enjoy the rest of your summer. This break from the extreme hot weather has been wonderful! Stay tuned for more information about our first Champagne Dinner coming September 20th! 

Staining Stinks

Things have slowed down a bit here. The construction crew finished their portion and the floor guys quickly moved in. Never thought hard wood floors would be so time consuming. They have to lay and glue each one down, sand the entire surface at least a couple of times, which brought a very thick dust everywhere. Then they had to stain the wood in 4 separate layers. Once Friday, twice Saturday, and one last one on Sunday. That stain stinks. Good thing we aren't going in there till Monday. Needless to say the look beautiful so far; excited to see a finished floor. 

In the meantime, our staff has been busy cleaning tile and ovens and freezers and pretty much everything else you can clean in a restaurant. Being shut down allows us to get all things we need to get done easy since we don't have to worry about cooking food.

No one can say the John the owner doesn't work hard. This tile was stuck on pretty tight. Looks like a messy job!

Jose and Sergio were hard at work too They cleaned out three walk-in coolers. Scruba-dub-dub. 

Erik had the task of reorganizing the wine room. Gee, I hope one didn't accidentally uncork, therefore had to drink? Actually, he was relabeling the number system we had. About halfway through his label-maker broke!
Soon there will be a finished product out in the dining room. Monday the booths and tables will be delivered and then the room will really start coming together. Until then.....

Just as all the fun and excitement has begun in the inside of the restaurant, we can't forget that the outside isn't finished yet. Leave it to John's son Hunter to paint the whole exterior! Shouldn't be that hard, it's only been like 99 degrees for the past week..... :-)

There are officially 5 new windows. The 3 in the front of the building and two that look into the bar from the dining room. Soon the stained glass windows will be put in and it will look beautiful!

Gordy's project this week was the limestone rock wall. Once he got the hang of it, the project really moved along. He finished in just a few hours. This is one of my favorite parts. It looks so much better

 in person. Trust me!








Well, that's it for today. Stay tuned... the crew finishes the walls, floors, lights and a beautiful dining room emerges! Can't Wait!

A whole week has past and the crew has been in full force. Sunday night was our last night of dinner service. Once the last guest had left, we began to clear out the dining room. Those booths were a lot heavier than I thought. Good thing we had lots of help that night!

I had heard there was an old radiator around the edge of the dining room, which had been covered up by the wood wainscoating years ago. Well, guess there's only one way to see it now...

With anticipation and excitement for the next day of demolition, we left to get a good night sleep. Brad and his construction crew were coming at 4am to begin! I arrived around 8am and was surprised to see how much they had accomplished in such a short time. Windows are in!

It was fun to see all the old wallpaper from years past as well as the original hardwood floor. Unfortunately, not in good shape.(And yes, the red one on the right is velvet!)

 Brad had a little trouble with pulling up all that tile. Not any easy task...

Well....stay tuned. Next entry: Stone wall!

Slow, but Steady...

The past few days have been interesting. Trying to continue lunch and dinner service with saws grinding and nail guns popping. It's all a part of the experience right? For those of you that have dined with us this past week we appreciate your understanding and support. The construction boys started with the limestone layers and quickly realized this was going to take a lot longer than they thought.

Recognize this? Its the entryway by the bar door. As the stucco was coming off, he noticed a covered up window frame. Does anyone remember this? Way back when, there used to be a service window. You could order right from the patio!

Well, the boys finally finished the limestone border. It looks beautiful! Next on the agenda: siding!

The Start of Something New

We are very excited to announce that we are getting a little "facelift" if you will, outside the building and inside the main dining room! We started on Tuesday by chipping off all the old stucco from the front. (By we, I mean Brad Smith and his crew from Traditional Construction. And by me, I mean I sat and watched!) It looked like very hard work.

Oops! Forgot there was a layer of brick underneath the layer of stucco. Anyone remember when this spot was actually the front door entrance?

Our project, to be completed by July 12th, will include three new windows in the main dining room. Cherry hardwood floors, new booths and tables, outside siding to match the whole building and a few more items. I'll keep those a secret for now. :)

You can see the beginning of the three windows on the left of the building. We are so excited about this project. Its been a thought for a very long time. We are so grateful that this dream is now becoming a reality. Stay tuned. I'll keep everyone updated as new things happen!