Chef Rob Connoley opens Squatter's Cafe in Grand Center

The James Beard semifinalist chef prepares foraged and farm-to-table foods—"not farm-to-fable,” he says.

by Pat Eby

November 7, 2017

11:48 AM

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Duck Hash (sweet potato, maple, wild rice, egg)

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The inaugural menu at Squatter's. In another nod to simplicity, all prices include tax and gratuity.

Squatter’s Cafe isn’t your run-of-the-mill breakfast and lunch spot. Located in KDHX’s Larry J. Weir Center for Independent Media, it offers local, farm-fresh food from chef Rob Connoley and sous chef Justin Bell. The café opened for business yesterday—and was promptly met with its first challenge when a patron from a nearby business looked over the menu and said, "I want one of everything."

"We laughed and said, ‘OK, what do you really want to order?’" recalls Connoley. The woman was serious. "Justin and I cooked it and packed it up in seven minutes. This is our goal: Great food, beautifully packed, in record time.”

A James Beard semifinalist, Connoley pulls out all the stops, even in such straightforward dishes as house-made yogurt with fruits, berries, nuts and extras, which vary with the season. “Because I’m in the kitchen all the time, and I eat the food, I make healthier recipes," he says. "We float a small carrot cookie in our yogurt. These are shredded carrots, honey, and quinoa—no sugar and no gluten.”

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The menu gives just enough detail to intrigue but not so much as to over-explain a dish. Connoley doesn’t identify farms and suppliers on the menu, because items change daily based on what’s fresh. “I’ll tell people if they want to know where everything is grown," he says, noting that the wheat comes from Margot McMillen of the Central Missouri Grains Project and the yogurt culture from Caspian Sea. "But what’s most important isn’t in the name. How does it taste?”

Connoley regularly engages in the process of self-discovery and examination, which hearkens to his early training at DeSmet Jesuit High School. “You have to do what you have the passion for,” he says. For Connoley, it’s cooking foraged and farm-to-table foods. "And I don’t mean farm-to-fable," he adds.

He cites a series in the Tampa Bay Times called Farm to Fable, which details how people can be misled. “We do 100 percent farm-to-table," he says, "when it’s convenient and when it’s not.”

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In a similar vein, Connoley doesn’t want farmers growing to order. “I’m interested in what they choose, what they are passionate about. I’m a forager. I work with what I have. Every vegetable doesn’t have to be perfect or the same size. Chefs cut up things. We can make things work. I want to be the chef who goes around at the end of the market and buys what’s left. That works for the farmers, and it helps me.”

With the goal of maintaining a sustainable kitchen and restaurant, he serves dishes in glass containers that the customer can keep or return, as well as bowls and platters made of sorghum grass. Any kitchen waste is composted. “There are a lot of people who have the goal of zero waste," he says. "My catch phrase is ‘We have the commitment to zero waste.’ The week before opening, Justin and I did a 12-hour food prep day. At the end of the day, we had less than four cups of food waste. We use everything."

Connoley’s philosophical approach to food, combined with his experiences in the nonprofit sector, allowed him to open Squatter’s Cafe in just over a month. He continues to work on Bulrush, his highly anticipated forager’s restaurant, at a steady but slower place.

“For Squatter’s, I didn’t need to go through the process of negotiating a lease,” Connoley says. “I pulled from my years of experiences in the nonprofit world to execute a memorandum of understanding instead." He worked with KDHX executive director Kelly Wells to talk through the details, from shoveling snow to cleaning bathrooms to paying for cooking equipment repairs.

The café and independent radio station also share many similarities: They both aim to build community. They both embrace differences and diversity. And they both strive to uphold their organizations' core values.

Located at 3524 Washington in Grand Center, Squatter's Cafe is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m.–2 p.m.