Inside Caroline Smith's latest project, Howard's Bar in Stillwater
by Diane
July 12, 2023
Caroline Smith, a professional musician and at-home chef, and her husband Adam To, a professional chef and at-home musician, found their next calling just east of the Twin Cities. Previously known as Whitey’s, Howard’s Bar in Stillwater, Minn., is a new establishment designed to cater to the needs of locals with an artsy, delicious twist on bar food.
To, a former chef at a Michelin-Star restaurant in Hollywood, grew up in Apple Valley, Minn. More than a decade ago, his band Moonstone performed with Smith, whose stage name is now Your Smith. The two reconnected while living in Los Angeles, and today they are married, raising a child (and doggie!), and running their own business back in their home state.
The happy (yet hyper-busy and a bit stressed out) couple spoke with me the weekend after Howard’s grand opening on June 7. We shared a lot of laughs, humanistic commentary, and fun, insider background information — including Smith’s next steps in her prolific, shape-shifting, in-demand music career.
Transcript edited for clarity and length
Diane: How are y'all feeling?
Adam To: Oh, my gosh. I mean, a lot has been leading to this moment. So it's like a big adrenaline dump to unveil it, do the soft opening, have a grand opening, get some feedback, put some food out, and really see what it looks like. So, today — we're closed on Monday. So we have a moment to reflect and think about all the craziness.
D: What is some of the craziness you've experienced? What's some of the feedback? Or what are some of the vibes that you've been feeling in the first week and weekend? It's been, what, seven days now?
Caroline Smith: Well, it'll be one week tomorrow. The soft opening was on Tuesday.
AT: So, just to give a little bit of backstory. We took over Whitey's Bar, which has been in that building in downtown Stillwater for the last 24 years. It's a favorite to locals and tourists alike. It's an institution of downtown Stillwater. So it was a big order to come into a place that so many people love. And what we wanted to do and what our mission was to serve the locals. Provide a comfortable place, a familiar place, something that's really going to work. So, to take it over, to do the remodel, the upgrade — we stopped serving Whitey's menu on Sunday and started serving Howard's menu on Tuesday. So that's a full switch within a couple days. The day of the soft opening, we're sawing our booths at 3:30. People are coming in at 5 o’clock. People running around. I've got stuff in the oven. It's that sort of atmosphere, that chaos that you see.
CS: And then I'm like, "Did anybody let the dog out?"
AT: Where's the baby?!
CS: We still have our own families to manage.
AT: Exactly. It's that chaos that I knew it would be, but you get the doors open, people start coming through, tickets start coming up. And then you just go. And then to have it go well, to have people come in, we're pumping out food, people are getting drinks, the atmosphere is great, the candles are lit — all that stuff that you envision, and it's happening, and it's going well. It's a dream come true. And going back to wanting to serve the community, to see Howard's Bar work as a natural evolution from Whitey's. It's not something that we forced. We've been in the building for the last eight months running it as Whitey's, working alongside the staff, getting to know the regulars, getting to know the needs and the wants of people that come through that door.
CS: And they were not shy to tell us what we should and should not change. We just became a sounding board for what — they were like, "Don't you ever switch out the fresh-squeezed juice."
“Magazine” by Caroline Smith plays in background
AT: We're there to make it work. We took what we thought were the best things about the previous business, and then we added our thing –
D: Own personal touch.
AT: Exactly, and to see the evolution work for everybody was a huge sigh of relief, a huge weight lifted knowing that we did our best and took all the information from our guests and created something that is a real every man's — every person bar. Anybody can walk through there and have a good time so that felt really good
CS: Howard's bar, the everybody's bar.
D: Where everybody knows your name. I was gonna say the branding reminds me of Cheers.
CS: That was what we were going for!
D: I immediately saw and I was like, Cheers. Yeah, man!
CS: We were like, "Where everybody knows your name. Let's incorporate that into the branding."
I think that's honorable to make the community's voice a part of it. Because, really, a bar is supposed to feel like a hometown place where you can go and relax. And I feel like the community is very much a big part of having a great restaurant or having great service.
“The Spot” by Your Smith plays in background
D: Why Stillwater, though?
CS: It just kind of happened. That kind of fell into our lap, not to speak for Adam. But he's been a cook since he was 19 — climbed the ranks as a sous chef, executive chef, working all over the country. We're both from Minnesota. We knew each other because Adam was in a band called Moonstone. I also play music. And we played a show together in 2010 or something like that. And we reconnected in California. He was a chef at a Michelin Star restaurant in Los Angeles. And I was doing music and then the pandemic hit, and we moved back. And we're like, let's have a baby. Let's buy a house — do all those things we can't do in Los Angeles. And then I was always like, Adam's always been kind of working towards owning his own — again I’m totally speaking for you. I'm sorry.
AT: No, I love it.
CS: (Laughs) Comes from a family of restaurant owners. It's in his DNA. I mean, all the way back to — your grandfather owned a pho restaurant in Vietnam. So it's always been his long-term goal. I don't think that we envisioned owning a restaurant together or that soon.
AT: I didn't envision owning a restaurant with Caroline Smith. If you would have told me that 10 years ago, or 15 years ago, I would've been like, "Shut the front door!"
CS: The true honest story is it was circumstantial. I got pregnant, and Adam was like, “Man, it's gonna be really hard to figure this out once we have a baby. We have nine months to figure this out.” And that was really what happened. He made a business plan. And our really good friends — his best friend from high school owns a wedding venue spot.
AT: Paikka. It's a great place. Book it now!
CS: It was the only people that we know that have done any commercial anything. So they connected us with their real estate agent. And that real estate agent was just like, I just happened to be working — or my partner is working with the owner of Whitey's who is looking for somebody. And we were like, "Oh, I don't know. Stillwater." That was so not in our minds. And then halfway through the meeting, at the same time, the light bulb went off for Adam and I – we looked at each other. We're just like, “We're having a baby, a restaurant in Stillwater. That would be so amazing. What a journey.” And we're like, “We'll think about it. We'll talk about it." And we got in the car. And we're like, "Oh my god, we have to do this. We have to do this."
D: You could just feel in your bones that you needed –
AT: When you put something out into the world, you're like, "Okay, I think I want this." And then an opportunity comes your way, you have to be creative and open, flexible. And so I think it goes down to what you value. And what we decided what we valued was having a family and this business and so —
CS: And we live above the restaurant. And that was always a goal, we wanted to live above it. We have our little family unit just all in one building. Also, we're totally oversimplifying the whole story, because also there's the financial element (laughs).
AT: We don't need to get into all of that!
D: Ooo! That's the juicy stuff, money.
CS: I'll just say this — what we learned, and the knowledge I would love to pass on to anybody listening is that the state of Minnesota has incredible grants and support and mission-driven lending that supports people like Adam and I. Women business owners, people of color, low income (laughs).
D: Because we all know that being a musician brings in the dough.
CS: Being a musician and a chef in the middle of the pandemic — not great for your finances.
D: Well, I also got to say — I haven't spent a lot of time in Stillwater, and I went with a friend to the soft opening. And then at one point, we're like, let's walk around. It's so pretty.
CS: So beautiful.
D: So I'd recommend anyone who lives here in the Twin Cities to check out Stillwater as a destination spot that's not too far. It's right on the St. Croix River.
CS: And shout out to the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce. They keep that little town poppin’ all year round.
D: I want to talk about how, Adam, you worked at a Michelin-Star-rated restaurant in LA And now you're making bar food. I mean, and that's one way of putting it. But the food — I had a burger. And it was so good. It reminded me of a Parlour burger a little bit, because it's just so juicy and flavorful. Tell me about going from working at this prestigious restaurant in LA to a bar.
AT: Well, I guess throughout my career, I've worked at a variety of places, styles, cuisines, and things like that. So I've worked in neighborhood restaurants and also fine-dining restaurants and stuff like that. The last one in LA is a restaurant called Trois Mec. And it was extremely focused –
CS: And stressful.
AT: Well, just amazing – working with the highest quality product. It's a 28-seat restaurant, and the kitchen is right in the middle of it in this little strip mall right on Melrose and Highland in Hollywood. So it was just an incredible experience. We would host guest chefs from around the world. So it was an experience of a lifetime.
CS: Yeah, he got to work with a lot of people who we put their cookbooks on our shelves. Idols.
AT: I learned so much and was exposed to the best of the best in terms of technique and working alongside other excellent chefs and learning from great chefs. So, yeah, it was an experience of a lifetime. But moving back, with Howard's Bar, it's certainly a departure from the pre-fixe menu-type courses, 32 components on each course, using tweezers, and all that stuff. So, I love a focused kitchen, and luxury ingredients. But Howard's, this is our family business. Like I said, the focus is to make it work. And the focus is to really hone in on what you're doing. And make sure it makes sense. So I'm not going to come into Stillwater and open up Howard's Bar and bust out tweezers. But what that translates to is that we use the same attention to detail, and we source the best product that we can get. We are organized. We run things professionally. But the things that we're producing are more casual.
CS: Also, Adam's always been known for his “grubbin' food.” In LA, our friends would do pizza Sunday, and we would make pizzas at our friend Tommy's house. And Adam would come in and he'd make pizza, but it'd be an incredible pizza. Or he'd be like, "We're not doing pizzas. We're doing —"
AT: Calzones!
CS: Philly cheese steaks or whatever, and they'd just be next level.
AT: Well, yeah, you do it all the time. I mean, you guys are incredible musicians and songwriters.
CS: I know right, Diane (laughs)?
AT: You guys can just whip out excellent stuff anytime you feel like.
D: Well, that's something I would love to talk about ... Cooking is an art form. It's a creative form — because it takes technique. It takes skill, just like being a musician. I'd like to hear you talk about maybe some of that crossover. My partner is really good at cooking too. And I'm always in awe. I'm curious to hear you talk about the crossover between being an artist and being a cook. Because I imagine you two still probably play music together and jam out and probably still want to keep playing music.
CS: To be honest, Adam plays more music than I do ... You're always on drums. You're always picking up guitar.
AT: Oh yeah, instruments and stuff. Caroline, it's kind of cool to have a partner where she loves to cook and she does music professionally.
CS: And you love music, but you do cooking professionally.
AT: When she's cooking, I'll be like, "Hey, why are you doing it like that?"
CS: Oh my god, no, it does. It drives me nuts. He'll be like, "Did you know that if you put lemon in before you cook it, it's gonna take the lemon flavoring out. What you should do is zest it if you really want that lemon flavor." I'm like, "Okay, that's my grandmother's recipe so just lay off! This is how my grandma does it, okay."
AT: And if I'm ever messing around with music, and I'm like, "Oh, maybe I'll write some lyrics." Show it to you, and you'll be like, "And what are you doing? No."
CS: We do write music together. It's fun.
D: That is such a cute balance. Because you each have something to teach each other.
CS: I mean, this whole relationship is just sunshine and flowers and butterflies constantly. We never fight (laughs). Nothing's ever stressful.
D: Can't be, no way.
CS: Having a baby is so easy. I don't know why people say it's hard.
D: I've heard that same thing! Everyone says it's hard. And I'm just like, are you kidding me?
CS: It wasn't the hardest year of my absolute life ever. No way, absolutely not (laughs).
D: Yeah, tell me about raising a kid right now. What's that been like?
CS: Adam and I only do things in one mode. And that's all at once.
AT: Pedal to the metal.
CS: Just do it all in the same year we have a kid. But no, I sound like a soundbite when I say this, but I understand now why people say it's an absolutely magical experience to have a kid. And all of the hardships, it's worth it. The thing that we do every night is like — every parent of a young kid knows, "At 8:00 he goes to bed. I just have to hang in there for another hour, and then I get a glass of wine. I get to watch HGTV or whatever." And then he goes to bed and you're like, "I miss him. I wish he'd wake up. We should go wake him up!" We don't. You never should wake a sleeping baby.
I think we're so lucky to have our family in town. Adam's folks live here. My mom lives here with her partner. And they're so helpful. Our friends in LA are like, "Do you know how much it costs to go out for dinner?" Like, just having a babysitter? It's crazy. We're so lucky. But things get really tense, things get stressful at home and we just really try to be happy around Marty and not let that affect them. It's nice, he's kind of like a little escape sometimes from the real life stress. Sometimes it's fun just to be like, "Say mama." And he'll be like, "Mama!" And you're like, "It's all worth it!"
D: Aww!
AT: That's the thing with the restaurant and us going pedal to the metal. My mom will be babysitting him in the apartment and I'll be running around with my apron on. And I'll just be zooming by him right now because it's such a busy time. And I'm like, "Hang in there, slugger! I'll take you out to the park soon. I swear!" Excited for things to level out a little bit and have some normalcy with the family. But when we're busy with the restaurant. And we're putting in all this time – we're doing it for a little guy.
“Trying Not To Love You” by Your Smith Plays in the background
D: Well, then I got to ask because I know The Local Show and The Current, in general, are huge fans of your music, including myself. What's your future plan for music? Or do you not think about it right now?
CS: I'll just say this, if music knocks at my door, I'll always (be) there to answer it. There was a brief time in the middle of the pandemic when it wasn't knockin'. I didn't have the energy to make TikToks. And if you do, that's great. I love TikTok. I spend way too much time on it. But I don't want to be a TikTok person. And in the middle of the pandemic, it wasn't really knocking at my door, because it came down to just being like, "Are you a TikTok star? Are you going to do a bedroom concert or for some weird cause that you nothing about?" I did those. I'm not judging anybody that did. But as I was doing them, I was like, "This is not it."
And long story short, there were a lot of opportunities that were on the table that kind of just faded away. And that was when music just kind of stopped knocking. And I was like, "That's okay." I think it's important to hold onto things loosely in this short life. So I went back to school. I did other things. I got an amazing job. And I was like, who knows? And people, the whole time are like, "Are you gonna do music?" And I was always like, "When it knocks, I'll answer." And so all I'll say is that it started knocking on my door again, so things are a-brewing.
D: Yay!
CS: So I actually also just got booked for Lumberjack Days in Stillwater, their little festival – headlining July 14 at Lumberjack Days … Amazing people have headlined it. It's crazy. And I was so excited when they asked me. I was like, "Yes!"
D: Novelty events? Heck yeah.
CS: Totally! Also, I was so excited for our new Stillwater friends to be able to see my show. They're always asking, "When are you going to perform and when can we see you? Is Lizzo going to be there?" As much as I'm sure she'd love to come to Stillwater to perform. She's a little busy these days.
D: Busy being a worldwide superstar.
CS: Exactly. Being the most famous person in the world.
D: Gosh, isn't that something? Tell me about how — because I know you two had a really close friendship and then you came out with this amazing song. And then, Gosh, seeing her soar — I gotta imagine has been insane.
CS: I think that she was always going to soar. And exactly nobody that has ever crossed paths with Lizzo is surprised that she is where she is. A-hundred percent, she was always going to be there. And I think that she is such a powerful and important persona in our world and pop culture. Because it reverberates throughout every person that identifies with female, who's socialized as a woman, feels her body positivity on such a massive scale. Especially with Marty, my son's generation. I'm just like, "Are there going to be body issues?" Maybe there won't. And that's probably unrealistic because there's billion-dollar industries that rely on body issues, and so it's not going anywhere anytime soon. Don't get me started. But just the fact that we have hope because of her presence is amazing. That's what I feel.
“Let Em Say” by Lizzo and Caroline Smithplays in background
CS: Howard. We named our bar after our dog, Howard. He's become quite the mascot around town.
AT: He's only bit five people.
CS: Just joking. As my sister always jokes, he's never had a dominant day in his life. He's the sweetest little guy. And by little, I mean 90 pounds. He's a half Staffordshire terrier, half "papa was a traveling man." And the long story short is that we named him after a bar. And then we named the bar after him.
D: Oh, I love that. Howard is a great name.
CS: We were thinking and thinking, and he was just sitting with us when we were thinking. And we were like, "What feels warm like Whitey's?" But it's not Whitey's because that's not our business. But what's a welcoming name, and then I just looked at Howard and said, "What about Howard"? And Adam was like, that's amazing ... We couldn't name it Marty's because what if we have more kids.
AT: Well, I also don't want to give him a big head (laughs). He doesn't need that.
CS: Also, our friend Marty opened Marty's Deli. Northeast Minneapolis. Shout out Marty's Deli. Go there. Also, people ask if that's our restaurant. It's not. It's Marty Polacek.
AT: I say yes, but —
CS: (Laughs) She was like, "Go ahead. Take credit. It's cool." Okay. Thanks, Marty.
AT: No, we make the bread every day. Yeah, yeah.
CS: And no, Marty, our son is not named after Marty — Marty's Deli. I get these questions!
D: Well, people gotta know the juice.
CS: Marty will say yes, that he is. So don't ask her (laughs).
D: Any other FAQs that the people are like, what is this? What is that?
CS: What's our favorite thing on the menu? The burger. Everybody orders the burger. It's really good.
AT: The Smoke Trout Dip is really good. House-smoked rainbow trout with cream fresh.
CS: So good. I'm not a fish person. And I'm not a smoked person. And I love that dip.
AT: Calabrian Chili Hummus is a nice surprising one that people are really liking.
D: I really liked the Walleye Fingers. The dip was super good. I'm usually not a tartar sauce person.
AT: Oh yeah, it's an Old Bay mayonnaise.
CS: And the Pork Schnitzel. It comes with a —
AT: Warm fingerling potato salad.
D: You're sourcing local ingredients as well.
As we transitioned the business into Howard's, it was important for us to source the best products we could, especially for things like livestock and stuff like that. We work with Peterson Meats. And that's where we get all of our beef products, breakfast sausage, bacon, things like that. So it's raised in Farmington, 45 miles down the road. And it's great to run a restaurant and then have personal relationships with the people ... So we get on the phone, and I can speak directly to them. And the integrity just reverberates through the place. And so that's what we're looking to do. So, it's a building process. We'll be incorporating more produce from local farmers in the area as well. So I'm creating those relationships now. I'm a little new to town. But we're working on all of that as well.
D: What if this becomes so successful? Have you ever thought about maybe opening multiple restaurants becoming this like Empire of –
CS: Empire - yes! No (laughs).
AT: No, I'm a cook. I'm not like a finance guy or a money guy.
D: Sure, you're not a businessman.
AT: Yeah, so what I value is being able to show up for myself and my family and my interests. I love being able to show up for myself and have a lifestyle where we can have integrity in the business. It's on a scale where I can be a part of it and monitor everything and make sure that it's representing what I'm about. I'm not obsessed with the idea of like growth in that way where it's – “Oh, this one's good. You gotta do it!” Okay, well that's when things go sideways. And you start putting money before people and the quality of what you're doing. I'm just not interested in that. I would love to just maximize this opportunity. Have it be what we're about. And have some time to spend with my family. And maybe get back on stage one day. Strap on the old six-string.
CS: Yeah, I think our goal in life is just to have a happy little life.
Howard’s Bar is open now in Stillwater. More info