Fischer's On The Green crab cakes: available until Sunday. And that's it.

Chippewa Valley diners took a one-two punch to their hungry tummies this week with the news of not one, but two major restaurant closings. Fischer's On The Green and Sweetwaters Restaurant – both of them long time fixtures in the local restaurant scene – are shutting down, some sooner than later.

 

Sweetwaters closes July 1.

Just today, the Leader-Telegram reports on an email sent to the board of the Hillcrest Golf & Country Club regarding their upscale Fischer's On The Green eatery – it’ll be closed as of this Sunday, May 29. As you may know, the locally revered steakhouse had a long Eau Claire history, most of which was made at its Hastings Way location. A fire forced it to move to Hillcrest only a few years ago.

Earlier this week, we heard about Sweetwaters Restaurant up on Clairemont, which after 25 years of serving up the grub, will be closed as of July 1. We haven’t heard as to why either eatery is closing, though we can assume businesses has not been stellar as of late, not for any upper tier local restaurant. It’s enough to make one wonder about the ability of this area to support “fine dining.”

“When people around here spend money, they do it on things (like 40-inch flat screens) instead of on experiences (like a play or a meal).”
– chef Nathan BergIn recent years, Native Bay, The Creamery, Haymarket Grill, and others have shuttered their operations – and all of these places were generally considered to be  “fancy places” to some degree, the kinds of upscale dining restaurants where Chippewa Vallians go on special occasions – maybe a few times a year. In a bigger city like Minneapolis, we might find the same situation, but cities like that have a much larger pool of people to draw from, perhaps allowing them to endure longer.

 

The Creamery's bison ribs. Sigh.

“That’s true in concept, but I used to live in Madison, and they have a metro area of about 300,000. So let’s say five times the size of Eau Claire. Well, they have a lot more than five times the number of fine dining places,” said Nathan Berg, former owner of Native Bay and former chef at The Creamery. “Cost of living is part of it, but I get the impression that it has to do with the culture for fine dining.”

Paying $30 to $50 for a meal is close to impossible around here, Berg said, while Twin Cities folks will barely bat an eye. Even the locals that can afford to regularly drop money on upscale food choose not to. “Fiscally conservative and materially driven,” Berg suggested. “When people around here spend money, they do it on things (like 40-inch flat screens) instead of on experiences (like a play or a meal).”

“And when they do pay for the experience, it’s something that fits closer with the culture,” he said, citing Country Jam or the popular pontoon rentals at Native Bay for which people happily forked over hundreds of dollars.

And it seems like, even if people around love and rave about restaurants like Native Bay, the tendency will always be to save money and pick cheaper options, no matter what the economy's doing.

No offense to the fancier eateries still in business round here, but you gotta wonder – is the Chippewa Valley simply not the place for fine dining?