By Leo Mezzrow
Lucia Watson opened Lucia’s restaurant in 1985. Since that time, her restaurant has become one of the standards of fine dining in the Twin Cities. One of the first local chefs to promote seasonal and organic fare on her menu, Watson has co-authored a cookbook (Savoring the Seasons with Beth Dooley), and has twice been nominated for the James Beard Award, the most prestigious recognition for influential national culinary figures.

But you won’t see Watson on the lecture circuit or on local TV like some of her high-profile colleagues. As she put it, “I like nothing better than cooking in my kitchen.”

Recently, she stepped away from the stove for a conversation with our own Leo Mezzrow.

You have written that your grandmother Lulu was a large influence on your work as a chef.
She was a wonderful cook. She was a frugal, intuitive cook—like all women of her generation. She inspired me by making do with very few ingredients. We would spend summers in our remote cabin in the Canadian wilderness. She taught me to pick blueberries, to make pies, and to bake. She never measured, even baking. She would use butter the size of a nutmeg, she would pinch and measure with her hand. It was a sensual art for her, too. That was important for me, and inspiring. There was never a question that I would be a cook. I didn’t have the career issues a lot of women have. It’s just what I did.

Before you opened Lucia’s, what did you do to prepare yourself for running a restaurant?
I had a wonderful opportunity before I ran my restaurant. I ran the kitchen in the Minnetonka Art Center, a really neat art school. I rented that kitchen with a wonderful partner at that time, and they said we could cater out of the kitchen, and do whatever we wanted, as long as you run the business for the lunches of our students. So it was a great opportunity to learn about running a business without any capital investment because they had the kitchen, the dining room, and the clients. It was very cheap rent. They just wanted good food there. I did that for seven years. I got to study cooking, to learn about business, to cater, and to cook lunches every day, Monday through Friday.

Before that experience, I worked at 510 Groveland, which at that time was a very exciting and busy restaurant. It was really an amazing place. I worked there for two years. I did everything there. I baked, worked the line, did garnishing, everything. That was wonderful training. The chef was Klaus Mitterhauser, a kind of stern, European-technique chef which was really good for me.

Before that, I worked for a restaurant in a Virginia suburb, a wonderful French restaurant—again with a very talented chef who taught me a lot. I guess that’s my history.

You are one of the top chefs in the Twin Cities. Many of your colleagues are very high profile. They appear on TV, do lots of public relations, and they go out to other restaurants. You apparently do not. How does that work for you?
I’m nose-to-the-grindstone. I like nothing better than cooking in my kitchen. I also do more things out of the Cities than in the Cities. I just got back from the Travers City (Michigan) epicurean weekend. It was really neat. You should really go to it next year. You can check it out on the Web. There were 12 chefs from all over the country, including Mario Vitali and Terrence Brennan, and, gosh, so many others. We taught classes, did demos, and then they had a grand reception, with wine tastings, and lots of wine functions.

But really, Leo, it’s not about me. It’s about my restaurant. I want people to say, “Oh, Lucia’s! I love that restaurant, I love that food.” Nothing makes me happier than when I meet people and they say, “Oh, I didn’t know there was a Lucia. The food is amazing!”

That’s what it’s about for me, that’s what ultimately is a success. Not where I am, or any hobnobbing.

Goodfellows recently closed, as did 510 Groveland. Very few restaurants that were here 30 years ago, or even 20 years ago when you opened Lucia’s, are still in business. You have not only survived, you have flourished. You just added a new bakery next to your wine bar which is next to your restaurant. You have not branched out; you have done it all at your Uptown location. What is your secret that keeps you going and succeeding in an extremely competitive restaurant market?
It is a very competitive market. I was saddened and surprised that Goodfellow’s closed. I know it was loved by its owners. Like mine is. I think the answer to your question is my staff. They’re the ones in the trenches. They’re the ones interfacing with every client, putting out the food, looking at every plate.

My location also has fostered a lot of regulars. I have people who eat here every day, twice a day. Honestly. And not just one or two. And I have lots of people who come here every Tuesday night for dinner or every Friday for lunch. I have an amazing, wonderful set of regulars. And I listen to them. I think that’s really important. Because they know. And it’s funny because they will almost take ownership of the restaurant after years of eating here. If they tell me something, it’s almost that they are, you know, part owners.

It seems then that there is a Lucia’s family, not just the people who work here, but the folks who eat here, too.
Very much so. Very much so. And that gives me pride that I can offer a place where people can feel that comfortable.

You were a pioneer in that your restaurant was one of the first in the Twin Cities to serve locally grown, organic, fresh produce. Today, you can’t open a new restaurant here without these products. Are you surprised? And in a word currently used a lot, is it sustainable?
When people say I am a pioneer, it’s really the opposite. I’ve just gone back to what everyone has done for all of eternity until the invention of powdered soups and instant food.

Do you know who Gary Nabhan is? You should read his book (Coming Home To Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Food). He’s a wonderful food thinker and writer. I did a talk with him last year in Madison (Wisconsin). I asked him, “How long ago was it that people just bought locally, when they would not think, ‘I want a local chicken.’”

He said it was only as far back as our grandmothers. Like your grandmother and my grandmother. Especially when they were young. Then when our mothers took over, that’s when it all changed. So I’m not really a pioneer. I’m just doing what’s always been done. It’s really going back to the future. If you’re a cook, any kind of cook, you want food that tastes good, is high quality, is fresh. Even bad cooks want that.