More about Chef/Owner Mike Willenbring: Manger is the culmination of Mike's career spent learning restaurants from nearly every angle—and a belief that a great restaurant should be about more than what is on the plate. Mike began working in restaurants in 2011, moving up from dishwasher to Head Chef with time spent learning the front of the house along the way. Previous jobs included line cook at Lake's Tavern and Grill, Breakfast Cook at the MSP Airport (OTG Management), Culinary Assistant at Cooks of Crocus Hill, and all positions at Revé Bistro & Bar, which eventually led to him becoming Head Chef and General Manager. During that time Mike staged (one or two day educational/training stints) at some locally iconic restaurants including La Belle Vie, Heyday, The Grand Café, Vincents, and Bellecour. In late 2018, Mike and his wife, Nicole, took the leap of opening Manger. From the beginning, the idea was to create something approachable but still ambitious: a neighborhood restaurant where someone could come in for a burger and a glass of wine on a Tuesday, celebrate a 50th wedding anniversary on Saturday, or experience higher level of service and execution by coming to a wine dinner or Chef's Counter Tasting Menu. The ambition is equally focused on the culture of Manger, which is outlined in the restaurant's mission statement. It defines genuine hospitality as extending warmth, kindness, inclusion, grace and generosity while creating human connection and a sense of belonging. That sentiment is equally important as it relates to the working environment and its employees. Mike and Nicole believe a restaurant should be a place where employees enjoy coming to work, feel supported, can demonstrate the skills they already have and are given opportunities to develop new ones. That investment has helped create an unusually experienced small staff, with an average tenure of roughly five years. The team shares the same commitment to hospitality and the restaurant's mission. Manger's staff incentive and education program now supports employees pursuing WSET wine certification which can be fully funded by the restaurant itself. The goal isn't simply to teach people how to sell wine; but to build a restaurant staffed by people who understand what they are serving, remain curious about their craft and have opportunities to grow professionally. Hosting regularly scheduled wine classes, seminars, and tastings with Master of Wine Ashley Hausman Lohmer highlight the restaurants commitment to wine education. Mike's role at Manger is equally BOH as it is FOH, working the line cooking each night, but also overseeing the wine and beverage program. Mike's philosophy is that he doesn't want staff to specialize or pigeon hole themselves into one aspect of the dining service. You'll see chef's talking about wine and servers helping shuck oysters or build cheese plates because the team mentality is to provide one comprehensive experience that we are all equally responsible for and apart of. Having a guest hear that the server is actually the employee that made our Normandy style Cheesecake that they love so much makes the restaurant experience much less transactional and much more intentional. Intention carries over to the wine list as well where Mike and his family have personally traveled extensively through the wine regions represented on the list. The wineries visited, or winemakers that we've tasted with make up at least half of the producers represented, and are indicated on the wine list. From Champagne, Burgundy, Bordeaux and the Loire Valley to Oregon's Willamette Valley, California, Portugal, Italy and Australia, travel is the largest part of how Mike learns about wine and ultimately decides what belongs at Manger. Lastly, our bar program explores the drinking traditions of France with a collection of apéritifs, quinquinas, vermouths, amari and digestifs, alongside seasonal and French-inspired cocktails. If wine isn't your thing, we hope you start of with spritz or tonic of some sorts, maybe trying our cognac old fashioned, and finishing with 15 year Calvados, or maybe some Chartreuse! At our core all we want to do is to have a great restaurant serving great food and drinks, build a workplace where good people can develop their talents, and make every person who chooses to spend an evening at Manger feel genuinely welcomed and cared for by the level of intention we put behind everything that we do.