9 Bean Rows transitions to Wren in Suttons Bay

By Madeleine Vedel

Sun contributor

On Aug. 1 chef Adam McMarlin, most recently the owner and creator of Wren the Butcher in the Marketplace Center on East State Street in downtown Traverse City, took over the reins of 9 Bean Rows restaurant from Nic and Jen Welty, owners of the 9 Bean Rows Farm CSA and Bakery on M204. 

“Adam is a person we know and love. He’s someone who will do something great from the get-go.” said Jen.   

9 Bean Rows Restaurant opened in the old Fire House on North St.  Joseph St. in Suttons Bay in 2013 as a tri-partnership between the Weltys and Paul Carlson: the farmer, the baker, and the chef.  The site has gone through a number of incarnations in its history, including housing an upright piano on the second floor where a Mrs. Finn gave music lessons to local children. “As a child, I would walk in the front and go around the fire truck to the stairs, same drill for the monthly meetings of the village township,” said Suttons Bay local Karl Bahle.

It was a big move for the Weltys, who from 2010 through 2012 had run the original 9 Bean Rows cafe in the 300 square-foot “incubator” space on East Front St., along the Boardman River in downtown Traverse City, where The Cooks’ House and Georgina’s got their start. “It had a distinctively bistro vibe. Jen’s pastries were divine and her food was spot-on French technique applied to fresh food found here,” said Rose Hollander, long-time inhabitant of Suttons Bay and Traverse City.

Many have been delighted by the restaurant-cafe in the red brick Firehouse, the warm atmosphere, good farm-to-table food, and beautiful bar and drinks. The team set the bar high, and attained their goals. “I could always get seasonal produce creatively prepared at Nine Bean Rows,” wrote local chef and cookbook author Nancy Allen. “My favorite dish was the grilled octopus with the big white beans. Chef Paul was the first person in a Northern Michigan restaurant to prepare octopus to its rightful, tender succulence.”

Chef Carlson and the Weltys parted ways in 2016; the Weltys have since been juggling managing the restaurant, as well as their bakery, vegetable farm, and CSA.  They succeeded in reinventing the restaurant, hiring a new chef, and brought it back to rave reviews. Then on July 2, the new chef and kitchen staff walked out. It was a decisive moment. “What I understand now is that if somebody [the chef] doesn’t have ownership, then we will always be destined to failure,” Jen confessed. “Looking towards a perpetual need to re-staff, to face this again. It was too daunting.”

A special event farm-to-table dinner with Iron Fish Distillery scheduled the very next day, and no chef, Jen reached out to Chef Eric Patterson of The Cooks’ House in Traverse City. Within minutes he was on his way to Suttons Bay, took stock of the fridge, and the next morning appeared with Adam, his former sous-chef of three years, at his side to cook. In the giddy aftermath of a successful event, an agreement was made, though the details of the discussion are a bit hazy. According to Jen, “I was watching Adam cook. I don’t even remember how I broached it to him, maybe I just said, ‘Want to move in?’ and he said, ‘That would be cool’.”

Adam remembers it this way: “It’s exactly what I’d been looking for a while. The kitchen staff all walked out at once. So she was trying to figure out how to handle that. I just said, half joking, ‘If you ever wanted to sell the restaurant, let me know’. Her response was, ‘Well, do you want to buy it?'”

Adam is putting his experience and his network to work. The plan is to serve dinner five nights a week, Tuesday through Saturday. The newly baptized Wren will be casual but special, feature great local ingredients, handled with respect and care. His skills as a charcutier, at the fore of Wren the Butcher, will here be seen through a farm sausage appetizer and a special section of the menu.

This Michigan native looks forward to building a loyal crew of employees, both in the front and back of the house, and to becoming a mainstay for the area. Describing his personal cooking style and influences, Adam references his time working in California for a French chef from the Loire Valley, as well as the three years he was sous chef at The Cooks’ House, absorbing Chef Eric Patterson’s classic French training and Chef Jennifer Blakeslee’s taste for Indian and Asian flavors. But beyond skills in the kitchen are the restaurant management skills he gleaned.

“The way Eric shops for the restaurant has been by far the most valuable and the thing I’ve taken to heart the most from anything I’ve picked up since I’ve been in Traverse City,” said Adam. “Wren the Butcher—working in that manner, keeping things that tight, is a huge reason why I am still in business there. Nose to tail, whatever you get, you use. I purchase what is available and in season. That’s where I start when I write a menu.

“To me, it’s profoundly important to have respect for food in general, to make a serious effort to not waste it. I’d rather run out of something than have extra.”

Karl Bahle, of Bahle’s of Suttons Bay, evoked both sadness and hope as he spoke with me: “[9 Bean Rows] was a unique venue with an interesting take on food relative to what the normal fare has been in town for a few years. We were worried that the location would simply languish for a period. Now, we’re looking forward to the new venture Wren and experiencing Chef McMarlin’s take on the local food scene.”

As I get off the phone with Jen, she shared one last detail. She and Nic received a number of offers from individuals interested in buying the building outright. But they preferred entering into an arrangement with Adam, ensuring that a restaurant continues to operate out of the old Fire House, and that all the front of the house staff will keep their jobs. Adam is now a partner in their LLC, giving him ownership of the hard-won liquor license, and the ability to get right to work. Together with their accountants they are working out the details for a gradual shift of full ownership over the next three years.

“It’s super awesome that Adam’s just taking it over,” said Jen. “For me it’s bittersweet. It had been pretty good, so close to something, but the reality is that Nic and I have more work than we can ever possibly dream of. 9 Bean Rows has so much going for it, but the restaurant was taking up too much time for us. We would like to do more on-property, on our M-204 farm, special events. We will be able to focus on us a little bit more. And to have everybody under the same roof.”

Suttons Bay will get the best of the Weltys: a great bakery renowned for fantastic flaky croissants and country breads, the year-round vegetable farm CSA, and Nic’s local farmers’ MI Co-op enhancing his and his colleagues’ ability to sell to institutions, as well as a great new talent in a much-loved restaurant venue. Meantime, Adam’s team of capable employees will continue Wren the Butcher in Traverse City until it finds its own buyer.