March 23, 2023

More than 2,500 people ate The Truffle Jam burger at Crawford’s Bar & Grill for January’s Downtown Burger Battle.

It was hard not to keep it on the menu.

And that has proved to be the right move.

“There have been people who were excited because they didn’t make it down or reservations were hard to get, so there are people now just trying it. It’s worked out really well,” co-owner Paul Ode said.

The same might be said for Crawford’s itself, which Ode and his four brothers bought from David and Tonya Graham at 214 S. Phillips Ave. nearly two years ago.

“We’ve far exceeded (expectations),” he said. “It’s done really well.”

The Burger Battle win is one example of a chef-focused culture within the restaurant, he said.

“All our team knows they can play around with food. They can play around with drinks. So we bring a level of flexibility and creativity, and we push them,” Ode said.

Now, the owners are planning for new areas of growth. Crawford’s is adding an upscale catering service and its sister restaurant, Wagoo Burger, is adding a food truck this season.

“We’re just trying to always elevate and do better,” executive chef Brett Potter said. “I just want to do really nice food and work on presentation and take what already might taste really good and try and elevate it.”

Potter primarily crafted the winning burger, using a prime beef patty, toasted pretzel bun, baby arugula, tomato and pepper jam, jalapeno bacon and black truffle cheese spread.

“I definitely put a lot of thought into it,” he said. “I wanted to do something relatively simple but that tasted really good, and as as long as everyone who came in liked it and enjoyed the flavor, that was all I wanted.”

Now, “it just doesn’t make sense to take it off the menu yet because people are ordering it so much,” he said. “All of January, we were very busy, just like everyone, but even in February, we had so many people coming in and wanting burgers, and hopefully they tried other things.”

There’s plenty more to try. The restaurant’s parmesan walleye is a signature dish, and the truffle cheese spread that inspired the burger is included in a Gouda dip appetizer. The orange honey salmon and apricot basil pork shanks are other big sellers.

Potter cuts the steaks daily, and “they’re all prime … the bison ribeye is pretty popular and really, really good.”

There are three main menu changes annually, with a spring-summer menu and new dessert menu coming within the next month. The restaurant opens daily at 4 p.m.

“In the past, they’ve tried to work in lunch or more hours, and this time frame is just working really well for us and staffing, so I don’t see much of an adjustment,” Ode said.

General manager Dan Myers, an industry veteran of Sioux Falls, is helping lead Crawford’s expansion into catering.

“He’s one of the most winningest chefs in the state, and we didn’t really hire him to be in the kitchen,” Ode said. “We hired him because we knew he could manage people and to ensure our food and whole service is elevated.”

The vision for catering is “real, chef-based, upscale catering,” he added. “We’re going to start pushing for spring now and then build it up. Right now, it’s been primarily corporate events, but it will be a full arrangement of needs for customers.”

The Odes also are building in Brandon to support the business, combining a new shop office for their core construction business with a 4,000-square-foot catering kitchen.

Additionally, its sister restaurant, Wagoo Burger, which is located inside Fernson Downtown, will expand its signature burgers and hot dogs into a food truck this season.

“In order to do it to our level of quality, we have to pick a handful of items or some new items that make sense,” Ode said. “It’s exciting. It just keeps all of us busy. It’s fun to work on this stuff with both our internal guys and with Fernson.”

The two businesses also are “actively looking for multiple locations between Sioux Falls, Rapid City, whatever, to do more Wagoo-Fernsons because we like our partnership, and it’s been going well,” Ode said. “We just haven’t found the right spot.”

His family also owns land between Brandon and Sioux Falls for another restaurant and bar, but “the rates have gone sky high, so it’s a future project,” he said. “Now it’s just waiting for the right time. … We’re ever-evolving, and I think that’s what our staff likes too. We’re not too stuffy. We’re pretty easygoing guys.”