Karl Lichtfuss

Originally from Rockford, IL and a resident of the Twin Cities since 1990, Karl has built an impressive resume establishing himself in respected restaurants in New York City and Minneapolis (check out his resume below).

In February, 2010, Karl became the Executive Chef of the Depot Tavern, and thus joined the First Avenue family. Karl’s enthusiasm for cooking leads him to a career specializing in regional cuisine, slow food, and street food.  His interest in Food Anthropology, why and how people come to eat what they do,continues to fuel his creative approach to food.

Karl explains his approach to The Depot Tavern menu, “My vision for the menu was to have a lot of fun and creative things that people still recognized as good bar food. It’s really just the kind of stuff I'd want to eat while sitting and having a beer with some friends.Expect the menu to be pretty fluid.  We'll change things up quite a bit, and I'd like to get my kitchen staff involved with their ideas as well.”

We are thrilled to have Karl aboard The Depot Tavern culinary crew and can’t wait for you to enjoy all of the food he has created.

• Graduated from New York Restaurant School

• Externed at Aquavit in New York City

• Promoted to Sous Chef after one year as Line Cook at Tejas in Edina

• Joined Roger Johnsson and Don Saunders at A Rebours in St. Paul as a line cook

• Became Executive Chef at Joe’s Garage in Minneapolis

• Joined The Depot Tavern as Executive Chef