VERMILION LAKE TWP - The Black Bear Café is known mostly for its burgers and fries, as well as its weekly specials.

But last Saturday, Chef Bryan Morcom brought the smells and tastes of India to the Black Bear, as he took over the kitchen to serve up a three-course Indian-inspired meal with a local twist.

Using as many locally-sourced ingredients as possible, Morcom served up a curry featuring walleye and locally-grown vegetables, naan bread, and wild rice. The meal started with an Indian-spiced dumpling and ended with a chokecherry sorbet. The curry was spiced just right, with a hint of heat and a custom blend of spices that highlighted the freshly-grilled walleye fillets.

“Once the cold weather starts coming in,” said Morcom, “I think about curries because they warm you up on the inside.”

The wild rice and chokecherries were all harvested by Morcom and his girlfriend Emily Checco, a VCC student who helps out whenever she has free time.

The event, which was advertised only on facebook and by word of mouth, drew in almost as many diners as he expected, but it went so well that the event was held a second time two nights later.

“I’m starting slow with these things,” he said. “Anytime I get people out eating, not just drinking, that’s my goal. I really like the family atmosphere.”

Morcom is hoping to test the waters, and to see if the locals will support this local foods style of eating.

For those who weren’t adventurous enough to try the curry, Morcom also was cooking up the Black Bear’s famous burgers and fries.

The Black Bear, now managed by Morcom’s childhood friends TJ and Brooke Yernatich, is happy to have Morcom in their kitchen, expanding the restaurant’s reach and reputation. The kitchen is now becoming Morcom’s home base as he explores his culinary options in the area, helping expand its base as the Black Bear moves on to a new generation of owners and customers.

Morcom graduated from Tower-Soudan High School, spent four years in the Navy, and then attended a one-year program at the Le Corden Bleu College of Culinary Arts in the Twin Cities. But his real culinary education, Morcom said, began when he was offered an internship at Restaurant Alma under the supervision of James Beard Award-wining chef Alex Roberts.

“I was mesmerized by his philosophy of food,” Morcom said. “It was not what I had grown up with.” Morcom admitted that his childhood eating included a lot of boxed macaroni and cheese, and not a lot of anything close to fine dining.

Morcom spent 13 years at Alma, honing his craft, and seeing on a day-to-day basis how local, organically-grown food was the first step in creating fabulous meals.

“It’s a gift when you get it,” he said. “So cherish it.”

Morcom’s goal is to open up his own restaurant on Tower’s Main Street that would feature a seasonal menu with locally-sourced ingredients whenever possible.

“I want to create menus around what local farmers have available,” he said. “So they have a place to sell their produce.”

“I’m a chef, but it’s not about me,” he said, “it’s about the farmer and the quality of the food.”

Morcom moved back to Tower several years ago and is living in a family home on Birch Point.

“I need to be in the woods,” he said, “and I like the slower pace.”

Morcom also likes to be able to forage for wild foods like mushrooms, watercress, ginseng, fiddleheads, wild asparagus, berries, chokecherries, and cranberries, and then feature these foods in his meals.

Morcom has a large garden behind the old Legion building on Main Street, where he grows cabbages (for his sauerkraut), rhubarb, and this year, lots of flowers.

Living and working in the Twin Cities did teach him more than he would have ever learned on his own, he said, but now he is ready to be on his own.

“I have a good background now,” he said.

“I want to live up here but there is nowhere I can cook up here that would push me creatively,” he said. “So, I need to create my own job.”

Morcom believes the Tower-Soudan community can grow to support such a restaurant.

“We saw the traffic from the new state park this year,” he said, “but there are still not enough reasons to stop in Tower.”

Upcoming events planned

“I don’t think anyone has ever done a release party for sauerkraut,” Morcom said with a laugh. But this is just what he is planning for this year’s batch of “Towerkraut,” grown and processed right here in Tower. This year he grew 325 pounds of cabbage, which he lacto-fermented and then processed into over 200 quart jars, ready for sale.

Last year’s batch of about 100 jars sold out.

The date for the Towerkraut party is yet to be set, but it will be held at the Black Bear.

Morcom is planning a theme dinner on Sunday, Oct. 28, also at the Black Bear. The meal, which will be served before the start of the Vikings vs. New Orleans game, will be a New Orleans style shrimp boil, with newspaper-covered tables and shrimp, corn, and red potatoes piled right on the table, along with bowls of jambalaya.

“I will need to take reservations for this meal so we know how much shrimp to order,” he said, “so people can call me at 612-702-2463 or email bcmorcom @ gmail.com Morcom’s uncle lived in New Orleans for over 20 years, and has always done a traditional shrimp boil up in Tower on the Fourth of July, so be prepared for some authentic southern food.

But Morcom has a lot of other ideas to try out. He is ready to get his own catering license, so he can expand his horizons. And some unique ideas he has, for example, trying to bring a friend’s crazy idea into reality– a taco barge, as in a floating restaurant that could go dock to dock, serving up tacos.