Author: John Fladd

Cap Center seeks next culinary artist

The Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord is starting the search for its third Culinary Artist in Residence. According to Salvatore Prizio, the Executive Director of the Capitol Center, the residency is a way to help individual community members and to broaden Concord’s food landscape, while improving the experience for audiences attending events at the Capitol Center.

“This program,” Prizio said, “allows new Americans or folks who have been economically disadvantaged the opportunity to pursue a passion and open up a restaurant with minimal risk [and] utilize our commercial kitchens for a 12- or 18-month residency to start a restaurant. Eventually, our goal is that they, when they leave us, either go to a brick-and-mortar or they start a ghost kitchen somewhere or they start a food truck. Most restaurants fail in their first year. We provide the ability for [our Culinary Artists in Residence] to minimize that risk.”

The CCA’s first Culinary Artist in Residence was Batulo Mohamed, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“She was our first candidate,” Prizio said, “and she sold Somali meat pies and Somali delicacies at the BNH stage. She developed a great business catering, and then she saved up enough through the time that she was with us to buy a food truck. Now she has one of the most popular food trucks in New Hampshire.”

The Capitol Center’s second Culinary Artist in Residence is Susan Chung, owner of Sue’s Kimbap House, which is working out of the Capitol Center’s Bank of NH Stage. Chung said her residency has been a learning experience she wouldn’t have had any other way.

“It’s been amazing,” she said. “It’s been difficult, but I’ve learned a lot for sure. But the wonderful thing about this is that it really helped me and will probably help the next person be able to take [a restaurant idea] from a thought and a concept to reality. The team that the Capitol Center provides helps with everything in all aspects of the restaurant industry and what it takes — things that you wouldn’t even think about if you didn’t have a restaurant previously.”

Much like her predecessor, Batulo Mohamed, Chung is planning to use her experience with the Capitol Center to launch a food business that follows a different path than a traditional brick-and-mortar restaurant.

“So the great thing is, I’m here until April,” she said, “But starting Nov. 1, I have some exciting news that I’m going to [launch] a meal-prep business along with this restaurant for the next five months.” She said the meal-prep business will start by offering kits to make Korean dishes at first, then eventually dishes from other styles of cooking. “Right now we’re going to offer all of the favorites from our restaurant, like bibimbap, japchae, the combo bulgogi, and a few others. And not only will it be Korean food, it will be other foods as well. It’ll have a rotating menu.”

For Salvatore Prizio, seeing unique new businesses like Mohamed’s and Chung’s hints at opportunities to explore cuisines and business models new to the area.

“We had this amazing Somali food the first time around,” he said. “We have Korean food. Is there another community in the area that we could connect with via a food opportunity that’s not currently being offered on the street or in our area? We want to find somebody who has the willingness to commit to this for a minimum of 12 months and has the personal stamina to commit to the project. We want to see an enthusiasm for it, and see some creativity. Are they willing to innovate? Are they willing to embrace technology?”

For Susan Chung, operating out of the same building as a theater provides a unique way to combine food, media and technology.

“We’ve gotten approval for a K-Pop Demon Hunters dance party in February,” she said. “I think it’s going to be so much fun where everyone can get kimbap and all the food items that are in the movie.

Featured photo: Susan Chung and her family. Courtesy photo.

Bravo is home to two concepts

“The original plan was just to open up a fine dining restaurant,” Rhonda Duhamel said, “seven days a week from 4 to 10 p.m. at night.”

But, as boxer Mike Tyson once famously said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” For Duhamel, co-owner of the recently opened Bravo Restaurant (73 Hanover St, Manchester, 854-8139, bravonh.com) and its sister business, Café at Bravo (85 Hanover St, Manchester, 854-8089, cafeatbravo.com), the metaphorical punch was the need for more kitchen space, which led them to open a second, lunch-centered restaurant two doors down from the fine-dining one. Both use the same kitchen.

“Because we connect in the back, we are able to prep in the back for the restaurant and also make signature sandwiches for the cafe side along with homemade soups, pastries and salads; everything is made in house,” Duhamel said. “So that’s why we now have the Café at Bravo.”

This double business model has allowed Duhamel and her partner, Robert Singer, to serve two different types of clientele with little additional staff and minimal disruption to the fine-dining restaurant. The café is open until the early evening. The restaurant opens at 4 p.m., and there is little overlap between the two, Duhamel said.

The Café at Bravo focuses on sandwiches, salads, pastries and soups, she said.

“We make homemade soup — a special soup every day, and a specialty sandwich each week. We also just added a big catering side to the cafe, so that’s really ramping up now. People are ordering our signature sandwiches for their parties — businesses and Sunday football get-togethers. It’s a self-serve cafe. We do have a counter where people can come up and order their food, but we encourage people to use our kiosks.”

The kiosks are automated stations located at the front of the café, where customers can order and pay for their food before picking it up at the counter in the rear.

“We wanted to have very little overhead here on this side,” she said, “so we figured we would offer the kiosks…. We would rather pay our staff more and let the consumer not tip them.”

Two doors down, the Bravo Restaurant focuses on upscale American cuisine, Duhamel said. “We have everything from salmon, sea bass, seafood casserole — I actually had that last night — haddock, sole, and then we go into some nice chicken dishes. We have a nice rib-eye. Our tomahawk pork chop is very popular, and our short rib has been spectacular. And then we have filets and a [pasta] bolognese. We also do have a burger on the menu.”

The restaurant has the flexibility to meet several types of white-tablecloth-dining needs, Duhamel said.

“We have 101 seats. We have a regular bar and then we’ve added a wine bar here in our dining room. It’s a seated bar where you can have your meal. We’re very much into wines. We have 24 seats outside on the patio. We also have a private dining area with 16 seats, so we can rent it out for a family party to a business party. In this wine bar, we also have the ability to use audio if we have a chef’s tasting here. If we have upcoming special events, like a Valentine’s Day event, we can advertise on the screen here for our guests to see.” She pointed at a large abstract painting over the bar. “That isn’t a painting; it’s a video screen.”

Duhamel said that the two Bravo restaurants are a good fit for downtown Manchester.

“We complement the other restaurants in the city,” she said. “Hanover Street is the happening street, downtown. And now we have it filled — Hanover Street has no empty spaces.”

Café at Bravo
Where: 85 Hanover St., Manchester, 854-8089, cafeatbravo.com
Hours: open seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Bravo Restaurant
Where: 73 Hanover St., Manchester, 854-8139, bravonh.com
Hours: open seven days a week, 4 to 10 p.m.

Featured photo: Cafe at Bravo. Photo by John Fladd.