Mill Valley Kitchen owner opening restaurant at Le Méridien Chambers hotel

The owner of Mill Valley Kitchen will open his second restaurant in the Twin Cities, this one at Le Méridien Chambers hotel in downtown Minneapolis, replacing an eatery owned by D'Amico & Partners.The new restaurant will be called Marin and will open in the early summer, according to a news release.Executive Chef Michael Raun, who created the menu at Mill Valley Kitchen in St. Louis Park, will oversee Marin's kitchen as well as the hotel's banquet and in-room guest services. He had a similar role at the St. Paul Hotel, according to the news release.The owner of Mill Valley Kitchen and Marin is Craig Bentdahl, the former CEO of Excel Bank. He opened Mill Valley Kitchen in June 2011.
Bentdahl said the cuisine at Marin will be "sophisticated, flavorful and healthy." He also said the space will undergo a major redesign, with Shea Inc. architects overseeing the project.D'Amico announced at the end of December it wasn't renewing the lease for D'Amico Kitchen because it has opened three new restaurants in the last two years and has plans to open another in 2013. D'Amico had been at Le Méridien Chambers since June 2009.Howard took her love of music a step further last year when she was contacted by School of Rock in Mason. Much like the Jack Black movie School of Rock, the program teaches kids ages 12 to 17 how to perform in rock shows.Michele's Granola grows from kitchen hobby into crunchy success.Howard is the school's vocal instructor and show director. "I don't have kids, and in a way, I'm living through them," she says. "They're really great, and it's fantastic to watch these kids shred and transform into a rock band."
But it was her own touring days that cemented Howard's love of healthy foods. While on the road with Fairmount Girls, Howard realized healthy food often wasn't readily available, so she started bringing her own food, and eventually, the band's food, too. The then-booker at Southgate House asked if Howard had ever thought of cooking for rock bands, which led her to start Bedrock, a bed and breakfast out of her own home. Visiting bands paid for the food but the bed was free, with the expectation that when Howard and her band visited, they would have a place to stay.In 2007, Howard was the kitchen manager at Melt in Northside. During her four years there, she made connections with Danny Korman, owner of Park+Vine. She created the menu for the vegan lunch counter at the Over-the-Rhine shop, including the mac n' cheese, lovingly called "crack n' cheese" by regulars. Howard still cooks for the lunch counter, although she is no longer there on a daily basis.After leaving Melt, Howard began looking for her own kitchen, but she couldn't find one in her price range. She originally thought about starting a food truck, but at the time, she worried about restrictive city regulations. She decided a restaurant suited her better.