Food the Focus of the New Searles on Fifth Ave.

ST. CLOUD -- For the new owners of the old Searles building in downtown St. Cloud bringing it back to its old glory has been a labor of love. From completely new bathrooms on two floors to a lot of painting and cleaning to building a brand new bar there has been a lot of work that has gone into the fresh look.

Michelle Agnew and her husband Darin bought the building back in June. She says when they open the doors to the new Searles On Fifth Ave. their focus will be on the food.

What makes us a little bit different is we are a restaurant before we are a bar.  We're a very fully staffed bar with liquor and wine and all the spirits and a good number of local taps, but we are a restaurant first and foremost.

She says that will start with the food on the menu.

Our food is handcrafted in a way that our steaks are hand-cut on-site, our burger is ground on-site daily, our sauces, and everything is hand done.  We really take pride in that because flavor matters. Food well-done matters to us.

Darin is a professionally trained chef and they both have a background in the hospitality industry.

For craft beer lovers they will have 60 tap lines on the first floor and 16 taps on the second floor.

The first floor will be open at 11:00 a.m. for lunch seven days a week, the second floor will be open at 4:00 p.m. daily for the dinner crowd.  They plan to be open until midnight or 1:00 a.m.

Agnew says they eventually want to add regular live entertainment on the second floor.

They have hired their staff and are in the process of training them now.

Agnew says their three priorities are loving their staff, loving the building, and loving the community.

As for when you'll be able to go there for lunch or dinner, they don't have a specific opening date yet but they are opening to start doing some soft openings in the next week or two.

Agnew says you should follow their Facebook page for updates on specific opening dates.