The Family Meal
Renowned Twin Cities chefs show off their home kitchens
By Suzy Feine
Photo by Alex Steinberg
Enlightened Victorian
Tim McKee’s restaurants, Solera and La Belle Vie, feature warm lighting, wood tones, and a sense of comfort. The same aesthetic is evident in his 1884 Stillwater home: Sunshine yellow walls flood the kitchen, giving it a Spanish farmhouse style, while the original wood cabinets and tin ceiling pay tribute to the home’s Victorian roots.
Photo by Alex Steinberg
When McKee, his wife Amy, and their children, Jacob, 12, and Ava, 10, moved into the house 10 years ago, white walls, a rose border, and carpet in the kitchen didn’t appeal to them—but the possibilities of the space did. McKee ripped up the carpeting, which was hiding two layers of linoleum and numerous nail holes. “Every time the previous owners heard a squeak they’d pound a nail into the fir floor,” says McKee, who grew up in Stillwater and always loved old buildings and the St. Croix. “It’s a real soft wood so it scratches, but I think the imperfections work well with a house of this era.”
The McKees continued to rework the space by replacing the stainless steel sink with a deep, hammered copper one. A gas range replaced an older electric version. South American granite tops both the cabinets and a custom center table, which is used as a work area and for dining in the kitchen. “The table is a little bit higher than standard and I’m a little bit taller than standard,” McKee says.
With only two, non-work days per week to spend at home, McKee cooks for his family with the best ingredients he can find. “I have good relationships with a ton of farmers, so the majority of the products I buy are organic, farm-raised, locally grown products,” he says. Above his range hangs dozens of All-Clad pans at the ready for when he gets the urge to whip up a batch of steamed artichokes, his family’s favorite.
Moroccan Inspiration
Wrapped in deep crimson red, the kitchen of David Fhima’s Victorian home in Minneapolis is steeped in visuals. “My kitchen is surrounded by wines and knives and spices and breads and pasta—and that gives the whole ambiance to the room,” says Fhima, owner of LoTo and currently executive chef for Lifetime Fitness’ 45 Life Cafés. “And I love red. It puts you in the mood to eat; it puts you in the mood to cook. Red is the color for food and the color for love. It’s an emotional and passionate color.”Fhima shares his home with his fiancée Lori and four children: Chloe, 16; Elijah, 14; Miryam, 8; and Racquel, 5. Born and raised in Casablanca, Morocco, Fhima has spent the past three years infusing his home with memories of his homeland. “We’ve tried to take this great Victorian house and give it European-Mediterranean flair,” he says. “So there are a lot of clashes of civilizations in our house, which also happens a lot in my cooking.”
Photo by Alex Steinberg
The early 1900s home has a rear kitchen just off the backyard, where the family enjoys spending time. Four or five nights per week, Fhima shops the local markets and creates unique family meals. “I don’t like making the same dish twice for my kids,” he says. One exception is Fhima’s specialty: cinnamon chocolate French toast every Sunday morning. In the Fhima household, it is a tradition to listen to music—from the Eagles to Beethoven’s Ninth—while they cook together.
Minor enhancements to the kitchen included an antique stove and Pergo floors, both of which Fhima installed himself. “I love to cook barefoot,” says Fhima, whose favorite things to prepare at home are Dungeness crab paella, seafood risotto, lamb and couscous, and pepper steak. “Cooking is like an electricity and I want to be able to feel everything.”
Fhima dreams of one day expanding his kitchen to have even more space for the visual stimulation he loves. “The problem in a house is that kitchens are not as big as in a restaurant so people hide things in cupboards,” he says. “There’s nothing more attractive than a beautiful pan. And especially one that is totally worn out. It’s like a beautiful woman with beautiful wrinkles.”
Room with a View
Perched atop a knoll in south Minneapolis overlooking Cedar Lake, Brenda Langton’s 1950s rambler holds a kitchen akin to her cooking style: down-to-earth, all-natural, and spiced with color. “When I’m home I like to cook really simply with whole grains, vegetables, fish, chicken, and noodles,” says Langton, whose love of cooking began at 15 years old when she got an after-school job at a natural foods vegetarian restaurant in St. Paul. “It just totally sucked me in.”
Photo By Alex Steinberg
The most captivating element of her kitchen is not the space itself, but the view it enjoys—something Langton moved a wall to expose during a kitchen remodel three years ago. She, along with her husband and fellow restaurateur Timothy Kane, hired an architect to remove a load-bearing wall that was blocking the view of the lake.
Once the room was opened to the natural beauty of the outdoors, Langton and Kane completed the remodel with birch cabinetry capped with all-natural granite. Light sage green walls set the stage for Kane’s handmade, open-face wall cupboards. The Wolf five-burner stove and Sub-Zero refrigerator are the only elements that resemble restaurant flair.
“I’m not a materialistic person,” Langton says. “The kitchen is small, but it’s fine in terms of cupboards, and when you’re working in a kitchen, you really want things close.” Her cupboards—6 inches higher than standard cupboards—offer more space than meets the eye with deep drawers, pull-out shelves, and a floor-to-ceiling pantry.
Up to four nights a week, Langton cooks meals at home for Kane and their daughter, Celina. “By the time I’m home, I just want to stay home,” says Langton, whose favorite meals to create at home are baked gnocchi with organic tomato sauce and sautéed seafood with heirloom tomato salad. “I don’t want to go to a restaurant after being in one all day.”
Suzy Feine is a freelance writer and editor from Elko.
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