Work resumes on San Pedro Cafe

By Randy Hanson

Things didn't go as Bob Wasmund and Pete Foster planned after they bought the former Mr. T's tavern in December 1997.

The partners had hoped to open two new restaurants the next summer in the historic building at 426 Second St.

But they couldn't reach an agreement on renovating the 130-year-old former bank with the owner of the other half of the building. Then, when plans were set to refurbish just their half, the contractor upped his price.

"So we've been moving forward and stepping back, but we're pretty much on track now," said Wasmund. "We're hoping to have it open in the fall."

After 10 months of work on architectural drawings, and securing city and state approval for the project, Wasmund and Foster were back to square one. Which, although not as elaborate at the original plan, isn't a bad place to be.

They have the blueprints for the San Pedro Cafe, a first floor restaurant with indoor seating for 72, plus another 20 to 25 in the garden patio at the rear of the building.

The name comes from the small Caribbean island of San Pedro, located off the coast of Belize.

True to its name, the restaurant will offer Caribbean specialties like jerk chicken and rasta pasta. But the cuisine won't be limited to the Caribbean theme.

A fully exposed kitchen centered around a wood-fired oven promises to be the restaurant's main attraction. The oven will be used to bake a variety of Neapolitan-style pizzas, plus bread and various entrees.

San Pedro also will have home meal replacement cases similar to those found in the popular cafes on St. Paul's Grand Avenue. Sandwiches, salads, pasta dishes, wood-broasted chicken and pizzas will be among the foods available for take-out.

San Pedro will open for breakfast at 7 a.m., serving eggs, omelets and specialties like a roasted pepper and Canadian bacon frittata. The breakfast menu also includes poached eggs on crab cakes, topped with chipolta pepper and hollandaise sauce.

The already completed menu also has appetizers, salads and sandwiches. Dinner entrees include roasted chicken with caramelized onions, goat cheese and rosemary; hardwood-grilled grouper fillet; shrimp linguini bamba and more.

Foster said Ron Bohnert, a respected chef at the Radisson Hotel in St. Paul, helped develop the menu. It will be completely new from what is offered at Barker's Bar and Grill, the successful Second Street restaurant that Wasmund and Foster also own, Foster said.

Had the partners been able to build an addition on the rear of the former Mr. T's, they would have put a more formal restaurant on the second floor. The addition would have housed rest rooms and an elevator, allowing access to a full prep kitchen in the basement.

Foster said they still intend to restore much of the building to its 19th century appearance.

"It's a great old building. We don't want to do anything to mess that up," he said. "We think it's going to be a real neat old building when we're finished with it."

Workers were prepared to resume work on the project this week. Wasmund and Foster are now acting as their own general contractor. They're aiming to open San Pedro Cafe in December, Foster said.