How did we EVER manage to still be standing? Wellllll, let's just say it's been an unreal ride, and every one of those words in our headline has a story behind it. Over the next months, stay tuned for 20 (very true) short stories of survival, plus 20 creative ways we will be thanking YOU, our amazing customers near and far, who continue to believe in us.
20 years ago (and waaay before Gordon Ramsay shot to fame), two talented but wildly naive chefs and their supportive but unsuspecting wives sold almost everything they owned and placed their future into a restaurant they decided (against everyone’s advice) to call Hell's Kitchen.
There was NO way to predict the wild ride ahead of them, but here you are, reading about our 20th Anniversary. If you already knew Mitch Omer and Steve Meyer from their decades as kitchen warhorses in the Twin Cities, you're probably thinking, "Goddamn! Those nutjobs actually made it...never woulda thunk it."
Well, that's not quite true. Mitch passed away after his big heart gave way in 2015, and Stevie (who's probably pissed at us for describing them so, umm, graciously) retired in 2019. But the legacy of these two incredibly charismatic, and bigger-than-life characters who could cook like hell lives on in the hearts of all the employees of Hell's Kitchen who now own 100% of the restaurant's stock.
Stay tuned as we continue to post more adventures of our wild ride in Hell. As Mitch's best friends used to say when he'd f*k something up, "Who's gonna tell Cyn?" And then Mitch would drag his ass home and say "I didn't do it and I'll never do it again." Yup, it’s been a helluva 20 years so far.
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