While my wife and I were in Bemidji for a summer vacation earlier this year, there was a restaurant that was walking distance from our hotel that we had passed a number of times. It turned out in talking with locals that it was one of the better places to eat in the area and came highly recommended. One night we headed over to Sparkling Waters for dinner.
Doug and Reva Howe were franchisees of the Mr. Steak restaurant in Mankato, MN. An opportunity arose in the mid-1970's to open a Mr. Steak in Bemidji and the Howes moved to the area soon thereafter. The Howes ran the Mr. Steak for 10 years and sold the property to Kathy Guess who turned the restaurant into a Bonanza steakhouse.
Just after the turn of the century, Reva Howe took a job as the sales manager/coordinator for the new Hampton Inn and Suites located just across the road from the Howes old restaurant. When Kathy Guess shut the restaurant down at the end of 2007 after not wanting to sign another 10 year franchise agreement, Reva got the notion that she'd like to resurrect the old building into a new restaurant. The building was in need of repairs and updating when the Howe family repurchased the property in the spring of 2008. The building was given a facelift and added on to with extra dining areas and an upstairs area. With updates complete and a staff in place, Doug and Reva Howe opened Sparking Waters in October of 2008. Their son Logan is the operating manager for the restaurant.
Sparkling Waters is located in between the two one-way main roads on the far south side of Bemidji. (see map) It's actually on the isthmus between Lake Bemidji to the north and the smaller Lake Irving on the south side. There are drive-in entrances on either side of the restaurant, but parking is available in a larger lot on the south side.
We went in the south main doors and the restaurant seemed like it was closed down as there wasn't anyone in sight at the hostess stand or in the first dining area we saw. But it did seem pretty nice in the place. There was a nice little holding area just as you come in the front door, a nice dining area that looked like it could be closed off for receptions and meetings, an upstairs dining area and patio, and a couple of other dining areas near an open-window kitchen where we found where people were actually seated. We finally found someone who worked there and told her that we'd like to have dinner. It turned out that most people come in through the door to the bar area on the opposite side of the restaurant during the week and that's why we didn't see a hostess.
We were seated at a table in a little alcove area off the bar and given a couple menus to look over. Our server for the evening was a nice young lady by the name of Jessica. My wife started off with a Lavinia martini - one of the specialty martinis made in the Waves Lounge at Sparkling Waters. It consisted of Absolut raspberry vodka, Chambord liqueur and lime juice. I asked if they had any of the Kona Big Wave and Jessica said that they did. I got a bottle of that to start out.
The menu at Sparkling Waters wasn't very deep, but that's a good thing in our book as some restaurants know their place and specialize in a few things. In Sparkling Waters case it was beef, fresh water fish and seafood, and a couple of pasta dishes. Small plates/appetizers, salads and sandwiches are also available on a separate menu.
Because the menu is pretty short, it was going to be pretty easy to figure out what I wanted to have that evening. They have prime rib every day that they're open (closed on Sunday) compared to other restaurants that may only have prime rib on Friday or Saturday nights. Barbecued pork ribs are available at Sparkling Waters, as well as shrimp, lobster tail, a USDA Choice filet, and a Mediterranean seafood pasta dish that featured mussels, shrimp, kalamata olives, chopped tomatoes and capers over a bed of pasta.
My wife went with the Atlantic salmon. It had a honey glaze and grilled lightly. It was served with a vegetable medley - some things we weren't certain what they were in the medley - and my wife had a choice of potato. She got the garlic mashed potatoes. She thoroughly enjoyed the salmon and was very impressed with the vegetable medley. There was some sort of squash in the medley, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was exactly. My wife got a glass of the Cavazza pinot grigio to go with her meal.
I also went the fish direction with the tantalizing Walleye a la Meunière - Minnesota walleye dredged in a seasoned flour, then cooked in a white wine/lemon/butter sauce. It was topped with capers and the same vegetable medley was on the side. My choice for potato that evening was the twice-baked potato. It was served in a small bowl with the fish and veggie medley. I also wanted a glass of wine with my meal and I chose the Merryvale Starmont chardonnay.
The walleye was simply outstanding - light, flaky, not fishy in taste at all. The meunière sauce was tangy and rich, and it went extremely well with the walleye. I especially liked the twice-baked potato that was sprinkled with chives. And the vegetable medley was surprisingly very good. I did like the squash, as well.
The meal wasn't very filling, so we decided to get some dessert. My wife was torn between the raspberry/caramel drizzled cheesecake and the housemade chocolate/cherry ice cream. I said to Jessica, our server, "Let's do both!"
She sort of laughed and said, "You can't go wrong that way!"
The cheesecake was huge! The raspberry/caramel drizzle was more of a pour on the slice. It was very good and I asked Jessica if they made the cheesecake in house. "No, I'm sorry," she said apologetically. "We get it from Sysco, one of our food service purveyors. But, it's good, isn't it?" I couldn't disagree with her on that.
My wife was very happy with the ice cream. A mint leaf adorned the top of the scoop and she said it had a great flavor with the chocolate and cherry combination. She made quick work of the ice cream and helped me put a significant dent in the very good and decadent cheesecake.
After dinner, things were winding down and I asked Jessica if I could get a scotch. I got two fingers of The Macallan 12-year-old scotch that my wife took a couple sips of as she said she felt she needed to "help me out" in drinking it. With music from artists such as Della Reese, Frank Sinatra, Trudy Desmond and Johnny Hartman playing in the background all evening long, it was a nice and relaxing end to a good meal.
As we were enjoying the scotch, Reva Howe stopped by to talk with us. We were asking questions about the place and she gave us the history and run-down of how she and her husband had started the Mr. Steak in 1977 in the same building, then sold it when the company changed their menu to a more "healthy" alternative about 10 years later.
She told us that she always harbored feelings for the Mr. Steak restaurant and for the building in general. "When they built the Hampton Inn over across the street and I started to work there, I would look over here and sort of dream about having the building again," she lamented. "When the lady who bought the building from us decided to close down, I knew I wanted it back."
My wife was quizzing Reva Howe on the ingredients of the vegetable medley we both had that evening, especially the squash. "That is a squash," she told my wife when asked. "That's a white bush scallop squash." (Click here to see a picture of the squash.) She said that it's a summer squash and her son, Logan, raises them in his garden at his home outside of Bemidji. "In fact, he raises a lot of the vegetables we serve here at the restaurant in the summer," Reva said.
The next evening, we had finished up our meal at another restaurant and were hoping to have an after dinner drink. However, the bar at the restaurant had closed, so I told my wife that maybe we needed to head back out to Sparkling Waters and go into the Waves lounge to see if they were still open. There were five people seated around the three-sided bar and I asked the bartender if he was still open. "Well, technically, we close at 9 p.m.," he told us. (it was a bit past 9.) "But if people are here and I don't have any place to be, then I'll stick around."
It turned out the bartender was Logan Howe. We had told him that we had dinner the night before and had talked with his mom about things around the restaurant and around town. He said, "Yeah, she went home early tonight. She knows things are in good hands when I'm here." And then he laughed.
My wife was asking him about his garden and especially about the white bush scallop squash we had the previous evening. He went back into the kitchen and brought out a couple of the small squash. "They cook up very easily," Logan explained to my wife. "Just cut 'em up and bake 'em." He handed the two squash to my wife to take home with her.
Two women at the bar and a couple on the opposite side were regulars. There was a traveling salesman sitting at the bar, but it appeared that Waves was a regular stop for him when he would stay in Bemidji. We hung out for about an hour and a half, and my wife was significantly over-served by Logan. It was fun to hang out like one of the regulars as everyone was friendly and talkative.
It was a great meal on one visit and a fun time in the lounge the next night at Sparkling Waters and Waves Lounge. Everyone we came across at the restaurant and lounge were personable and friendly. We thought our meals were very good - I can't rave enough about the Walleye a la Meunière that I had. And my wife really enjoyed her honey-glazed grilled Atlantic salmon. For beef and seafood - or combinations thereof - this is probably the best place in the immediate Bemidji area to eat. Good food, good drinks, good service, and good atmosphere add up to a wonderful experience at Sparkling Waters.
That is so nice of them to give you the squash - looks like a wonderful place to visit.
Posted by: Jeni | October 19, 2020 at 07:07 AM
Bemidji, in general, was a good place to hang for a few days. Some good restaurants and bars in the area, plus it's a great bicycle area. It's only about a 4 hour drive from the Twin Cities and we'd have no problem heading back up there to stay again.
Posted by: Road Tips | October 19, 2020 at 09:53 AM