Tour de Force

The couple almost never eats at home, so as they dined out, night after night, year after year, they introduced themselves to chefs, shared wine and a few stories, and exchanged numbers. After long business and eating trips abroad, Bob would transcribe his meticulous tasting notes, with plenty of detail about wines and dishes, and then make photostatic copies of his work, creating the most sought-after private food ’zine in town. The tasting notes have been an inspiration for many local restaurateurs, and why not? Very few Minnesotans have ever dined at Pierre Gagnaire on Rue Balzac in Paris. Bob and Sue have done so eight times.

The Macdonalds also have shared their wine collection with chefs the world over. Bob is a Burgundy nut, a member of the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, and one of the few people in the country who can tell you what a ’28 Latour and a ’59 La Tache taste like. His wine cellar has no conventional light sources, which can be harmful to wines as they age.

“I own 1,400 bottles,” Macdonald smirks. “Anything over 2,000 is bull. Wine is all about sharing. I’ve brought the best Oregon wines to three-star restaurants in France, was one of the first to share Oregon pinot noir there, and brought the best small French producers to the best restaurants in this country. Do you know who my hero is? Andre Simone, who died with only three bottles left in his cellar. It frustrates my kids, but, oh, well.”

Bob and Sue bring great wines on almost all their restaurant visits. Chefs from La Belle Vie’s Tim McKee to Five’s Woodman (whose wine list Bob helped create) to Restaurant Alma’s Alex Roberts have experienced their largesse.

“They are extremely generous and kind with their wines, offering tastes to the kitchen and purchasing plenty of wines off our lists,” says Levain’s Brown. “And they are the least pompous people I know. One day they asked me who in the local food scene I wanted to meet. I told them Jason Robinson, and they arranged dinner for us with our wives at Krua Thailand. I was in Chicago once, and they took me to Blackbird and introduced me to [chef/owner] Paul Kahan. It was amazing. They just make it happen.”

Sunday dinners at the Minikahda Club—with cuisine provided by the club’s estimable chef, Ferris Shiffer—have become the stuff of local legend. Tim McKee and Jack Reibel met at one of these dinners, Reibel going on to cook at McKee’s La Belle Vie in Stillwater (he now cooks at the Dakota). Kevin Cullen, Marcus Samuelsson, Lenny Russo, Vincent Francoual, and dozens of other chefs have met, hung out, and dined like rock stars at the Sunday suppers.

“Those dinners have made my food life complete,” Shiffer says, “allowing me to cook for great chefs, and for all of us to meet in an informal way and share ideas. I use those dinners to try out new things I have seen but never get a chance to cook.” Not only do Bob and Sue arrange the suppers, but they took Shiffer to Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago when French legend Marc Veyrat cooked there. They’ve made eating trips with Shiffer and Francoual to Barcelona and shared Bob’s sixtieth birthdaydinner with Shiffer at Michel Bras in Laguiole, where a magnum of Mouton Rothschild 1945 was downed. 

The conversation becomes sentimental when it turns to the Macdonalds’ son Todd. After graduating from New England Culinary Institute, he worked his way through the ranks of some great kitchens—Clio in Boston, Bouley in New York City—and then opened Cru in NYC with Shea Gallante, to rave reviews. Todd is a real rising star.“One day we would love to be involved in a restaurant with him,” Bob says. “We’ll see how that goes.”

Spend time with the Macdonalds and you come away certain that their endeavors are as much motivated by personal relationships as by food and wine. “We love chefs, and we love food, but most importantly,” Bob insists, “we love sharing experiences about food that has integrity. Sure, we’ve eaten at some cool places [El Bulli, Fat Duck, and Cambal.O in 2005], but we are happiest in a place like Krua Thailand or the Swan Oyster Bar in San Francisco, sharing simple food with like-minded friends. The best meals we eat are the picnics we share in France.”

Lucky ants.