Minooka welcomes new restaurant amid historic downtown buildings

Minooka welcomed a restaurant nestled among the historic buildings along Mondamin Street in late December.

Rooted Minooka brings a unique type of dining experience to add to the already growing restaurant culture downtown.

Owners Brenda Keener, front of the house, and Eddie Duracka, head chef, met through a church friend almost three years ago and have worked on this restaurant to create a destination for the residents and to pull in diners to the Minooka area.

“We wanted to bring our vision here and help make the downtown area viable,” Duracka said. “We love how our area is growing. It’s great for the economy with all of the restaurants downtown.”

The restaurant boasts simple, yet stunning colors of green, pearl, and black to give it a moody, yet earthy vibe. Mixed textures in decor such as velvet, wood and tin walls compliment the vintage architecture of the historic building which started in the late 1800′s as a general store, then bank, post office and a string of restaurants. Behind the bar sits the post office box that belonged to Keener’s grandmother when it was working post office. The building exudes history and Rooted Minooka will continue its local legacy with farm to table food, locally sourced, just like both owners have history with the town and the land.

Keener is fourth generation in Minooka with a strong farming family background. Her family took grains to the silos across the street from Rooted Minooka and the wooden tabletops in each front window were handcrafted from wood from her grandfather’s corn crib. Duracka grew up in Channahon and attended Minooka Community High School and his wife’s family has been farming land in Minooka for years. When the pair decided to go forward with the restaurant and craft cocktail bar, the focus was fresh and local. A true farm to table concept to celebrate the livelihoods of so many in this rural community and showcase how a menu can reflect seasonal goods.

Rooted Minooka was created. The duo needed a name to reflect the vision and “rooted” and Duracka came up with rooted.

“The name speaks to us because we are rooted in our community, our faith and our families, those things are important to us. We have put our roots down in this community restaurant,” Duracka said.

Duracka has been a chef all over the country but wanted to come back and settle down in his home area. He said when planning his menu, he first finds seasonal produce then proteins to pair. The beef, eggs, chicken and lamb come from local farmers as well as produce in season. Duracka makes his handmade pastas and collaborates with kitchen staff chef Frank Hutman-who makes the breads, and cooks Dennis Budde, Zach Grayson, and Mathias Zemeckis.

“We are constantly learning and collaborating, everybody brings something to the table,” Duracka said.

The winter menu includes dishes such as homemade agnolotti pasta with squash and ricotta filling, parsnip, parmesan and sage brown butter; cassoulet with braised lamb, pork sausage, white bean and winter greens; clams, roasted pork belly, roasted beets and more.

Keener said her first vision for the space was to create a bourbon and wine bar, but when the direction went to a restaurant and bar, it was still important to her to locally source liquor, wine and beer to make the bar just as native and seasonal friendly as the food menu. Regional wines include those from Bishops Hill Winery in Joliet and Sable Creek Winery in Plainfield as well as others from the U.S. and Italy and Spain. A variety of gin, vodka and bourbons were brought in from Illinois and Michigan and craft beers from the Chicagoland area.

“Local is important to me and we will continue to have the bar evolve into more,” Keener said.

Local is so important to Keener that the entirety of the remodel was done using exclusively local contractors.

Popular cocktails include the brown butter old fashioned, “An Ode to Coffee” made with bourbon, a coffee liquor and other decant ingredients, bourbon based “A Flannel Sweater,” and “Visions of Sugar Plum with gin, cinnamon plum tea syrup, lemon juice and a brulee of plum.

Wine and whiskey flights are available as well as nonalcoholic cocktails called “Zero Proof Cocktails” and dealcoholized sparkling wine from California.

The menu hosts a variety of coffees from Clancy Brothers Coffee Roasters and teas.

The restaurant seats 55 people along with 13 seats at the bar. Reservations are encouraged as the space fills up quickly. Keener said diners can ask for specific seating, even at the window seats which is great for people watching or an overall view of the restaurant. Keener said there will never be screens at Rooted Minooka, she envisions patrons engaged in their drinks, food and table guests a place to relax and be present in conversation with friends and family.