On our first night in Bemidji during our summer vacation up there, we were trying to get the lay of the land in terms of restaurants. It was a Monday night, so a few places were closed. (We found that parts of Bemidji literally shut down from Monday thru Wednesday.) We weren't all that hungry, but we figured we needed something. Driving around the downtown area, we found a handful of bar and grills that were open, but one sort of stuck out from all the outdoor seating they had in the street in front of the place. We decided to hit up Bar 209 for dinner that evening.
Bar 209 sat at 209 NW Minnesota Ave. in downtown Bemidji for a number of years. Two brothers - Derek and Brett Leach - had an early life taste of the restaurant business when they both worked at the old Union Station, an upscale restaurant housed in an old train depot that opened in 1976. Derek was 13 when he worked in the kitchen washing dishes and doing prep work, and Brett was 11 or 12 when he started at Union Station busing tables.
An opportunity arose for the brothers to buy an existing little burger joint - Bar 209 (located at 209 Minnesota Ave. NW in Bemidji) in 2011. It wasn't long before they expanded the menu and realized that they needed more space. In late 2014, the brothers agreed to purchase the American Legion building a half block north of Bar 209. Membership in the legion had dwindled to about 50 members and the 7,000 square foot building was way too big for their needs. The Leach brothers needed the space as the original Bar 209 was long, but too narrow to comfortably seat people in the place.
It turned out that the American Legion post was way too big for Bar 209's needs, as well. The Leach brothers hired a design team out of the Twin Cities who suggested putting two restaurants in the building. The brothers decided to go with a "day & night" concept for the restaurants. A breakfast place on one side and the new and improved Bar 209 on the other side.
Pictured at right - Derek and Brett Leach. Photo courtesy Bemidji Pioneer.
Work finally began on the building and by June of 2018 the new Bar 209 opened on the north side of the building, while Red Stu - a breakfast place named after the brothers' father - opened on the south end. In addition to 209 Bar and Red Stu, the brothers also own the Cabin Coffee House & Cafe (we went there for coffee one day), and Turtle River Chophouse, a supper club that's located about 11 miles north and east of Bemidji. (Look for an upcoming Road Tips post on Turtle River Chophouse.)
We parked our car just down the street from 209 Bar and walked toward the front door at the corner of 3rd St. NW and Minnesota Ave. NW. (see map) As I said earlier, Minnesota Ave. was shut down for the block in front of Bar 209 for outdoor seating. With COVID-19 restrictions on dining inside, 209 Bar set up a number of folding tables and chairs in the street. My wife and I looked at the set up and decided against dining in the street. But there were a lot of people seated outside. We figured that because outside dining in Bemidji is limited because of the short season, people there probably didn't care if they were sitting in the middle of a street to have dinner.
We went inside and were greeted by a hostess who took us to a booth along the wall. In Minnesota, you had to have a mask on to go into establishments, but once you were seated in a restaurant, you could remove them. We found that most people complied with the mask mandate that Minnesota's governor had decreed earlier in the summer, even though they may not have liked it.
Bar 209 was very nice. It featured a number of high top tables including a couple of community tables in the middle of the dining area. The bar curved around in front of an open serving window looking into the kitchen. Booths were on the north wall of the restaurant and high-top tables with banquette seating along the wall faced opposite the bar. I would call the decor in the place as modern industrial.
We had been given menus when were seated and our server for the evening asked us what we would like to drink. They had a number of beers on tap including a handful from the Bemidji Brewing Company located just a couple blocks away. I wanted to go to Bemidji Brewing at some point to try their beers, but I didn't want to try them before then. I ended up getting a Bell's Two Hearted Ale. My wife got a glass of 209 Bar's house red wine - a French blend.
The menu at 209 Bar featured appetizers, salads, sandwiches and wraps. Bar 209 is known locally for their good burgers and they had a number on the menu - all their beef is sourced locally from Stittsworth Meats in Bemidji. The different burgers sounded good, but I had a burger for lunch earlier in the day and I wasn't all that hungry. But they also had pizza on the menu with the dough made-from-scratch in the kitchen daily.
And that's what we ended up getting. It was a 10" pizza with raised dough and we got our usual sausage, pepperoni and mushroom. The crust was sort of chewy, but the chunks of sausage had that great fennel flavor, the pepperoni was spicy, and the mushrooms were earthy in flavor. Actually, there was almost too much crust for the pizza as most of the toppings were center of the pizza. But it was still all right, in our book. And it turned out to be just enough for what we needed that night.
My wife thought she had better get some greens in her, so she ordered up the house salad - a mix of spring greens and romaine lettuce, with sliced cucumbers and cherry tomatoes all topped with shredded cheddar cheese. She got the balsamic vinaigrette dressing to go with the salad. She said the greens were cool, fresh and crisp. She just had a couple pieces of pizza, so the salad was a nice addition to her meal.
I would have to say that our visit to 209 Bar was all right. The menu is pretty basic and caters more to a bar crowd and families. We thought the place was nice, had a laid-back vibe and was comfortable. We just thought it was a little strange to be eating in the street in front of the place, so that's why we decided to eat inside on what was a beautiful Northern Minnesota evening. The service was fine - our server was pleasant and efficient. 209 Bar isn't fine dining, and they don't pretend to be. But it would be a good place for a casual meal in downtown Bemidji.
Comments