At the Table – Chef Scott Franz, Ely’s Ivy
Since opening in 2017, Ely’s Ivy in downtown Grand Forks has become one of the region’s best farm-to-table restaurants. Chef Scott Franz built the restaurant around relationships with local farmers and producers, sourcing a large share of proteins and ingredients from the region and letting those ingredients shape the menu on a weekly and monthly basis.
For Franz, cooking is less about chasing trends and more about honoring great ingredients, good execution, and the simple pleasure of feeding people well.
Quick Bites with Chef Scott Franz
When did you realize you might have a talent for cooking?
When I was a line chef prepping lobster tails, I was having fun and working with this really expensive protein and all I could think was this is awesome and people are paying me to do this.
Where does inspiration for new dishes come from?
Sometimes it’s a fresh ingredient. Sometimes it’s something I tasted somewhere that stuck with me for years. It might even be a song. Inspiration can come from anywhere.
What’s an unexpected ingredient you’ve put on the menu that worked?
Celery Hearts. On our tasting menu I serve a Celery Victor Salad which is an old recipe but it’s always a hit.
Favorite ingredient to cook with?
Seasonal mushrooms. I love porcinis, but whatever’s in season works. They bring so much depth of flavor.
Favorite late-night kitchen snack?
Good chicken wings.
Favorite North Dakota ingredient that deserves more attention?
Red River Valley red potatoes.
What food trend is overrated right now?
Trends in general. Good food doesn’t need them.
What’s a classic dish that stands the test of time?
Beef Wellington and Eggs Benedict.
What’s playing in the kitchen during prep?
Grateful Dead or maybe classic soul or new hip hop.
A dish you could cook forever and never get tired of?
My dad’s family recipe for chicken and dumplings.
A meal that changed the way you think about food?
A tasting menu at Joël Robuchon’s L’Atelier. It was nine or twelve small dishes. They were simple ingredients, perfectly executed. It was eye-opening how good it was and what my palette experienced.
Where would you book a table tonight if you could eat anywhere?
Alinea in Chicago or Owamni by Sean Sherman in Minneapolis.
Finish the sentence: Great food is really about…
Execution, good ingredients, and keeping it simple.
