For two years, there has been a lingering question about the Grand Rapids dining scene: “When is Søvengård re-opening?”
A former Grand Rapids Magazine Restaurant of the Year, the Søvengård helped push the city’s culinary scene forward until it wrapped up its stint at its original location. A bigger vision was in store a mile west down Bridge Street, but the journey took several twists and turns before the new, 5,000-square-foot location, 1232 Bridge St. NW, was ready to open in July 2025.
The long road to reopening took the Søvengård all the way down Bridge Street where a planned new development with Ben M. Muller Realty Co. went awry. The partnership then pivoted to the current building that is across the street from the planned site. The renovation included a build out by Ten Ring Construction.
“This is only the end of construction,” Søvengård co-owner and chef Rick Muschiana said in July, just prior to the reopening. “The next part of the journey begins now. We’ve just done a big mountain climb, but now we take a breath and do it again.”
Most discussions, in person or online, about the Grand Rapids restaurant industry touched on The Søvengård’s two-year absence. It was something Muschiana himself heard a lot too. And that was a touching reminder throughout the reopening process that what he set out to do resonated with many Grand Rapidians.
“There is demand for what we do, countless people have told me, ‘Thank god you’re opening again, this town misses and needs you,’” he said. “When they say they need you, it feels really good to be needed. That’s really helped us feel like we’re headed in the right direction.”
With that two-year absence, however, the Søvengård is essentially a new restaurant to Grand Rapids again.
When Søvengård initially opened in 2016, Muschiana opened with a long line
of experience in the food and beverage business. While the New Nordic approach to food was refreshing in West Michigan, so too was his approach to the beverage menu. The beer and wine menus were incredibly well curated, while the cocktails offered a wide range of flavor notes.
That came while the seasonal menus helped highlight the agricultural products Michigan is proud of.
“We call it Midwest farm-to-table New Nordic,” Muschiana said. “For us, people don’t need to be scared of the New Nordic thing, We’re not a Swedish or Danish restaurant. New Nordic, for us, and the movement is a deeper dive into farm- to-table. We’re serious about sourcing, about making things from scratch, our sustainability efforts, menu seasonality, paying people fairly and just doing our part in our little corner of the world.”
As Muschiana further defined the restaurant’s approach, he likened it to an aspirational brand, one that just happens to make food. He hopes the message and mission resonates with West Michiganders who are feeling the economic and environmental struggles and hopes they can be an outlet to help support a broken food system. (It should also be noted, Søvengård will also have a market section to pick up local produce and artisan products, including items likely used in the menu.)
While there are plenty of diners ready to dive back into the seasonally rotating menu at Søvengård that takes a New Nordic approach to the local produce of West Michigan, Muschiana also knows the restaurant will need to court new diners again.
“We know we need to offer something that feels familiar and new at the same time,” he said. “I get nostalgic for some highs, but I try not to live in the past. I try to have my eyes forward with respect to history and past and everything that’s been built.
“The same expectation for our customers of when you come in July, the menus will be different from when you come in September.”
The new location helps provide a platform for The Søvengård, which won the Magazine’s Restaurant of the Year award in the March 2020 issue, just days before the world shut down. In many ways, the restaurant did not get to experience any ripple effects from the award, as by the time the original location closed in 2022, the restaurant industry had yet to still recover from the shutdowns. But it was around that 2022 time when Muschiana was hitting his stride in the kitchen.
Beyond the menus, Muschiana’s New Nordic philosophy expands to the staff. He said the COVID-19 pandemic further solidified his position to make the Søvengård a great place to work.
“We’ve learned a lot of lessons, and now we’re trying to be even more forward with our culture and let our employees create that with us,” he said. “The post-COVID employment landscape has changed people’s perspectives in what they demand. While we’re not perfect, we’re just trying to listen and be proactive rather than reactive. “Our number one priority is to make Søvengård a great place to work.”
Much like the first iteration of Søvengård, the space feels like it could be plopped
into a much bigger city. Big windows help provide natural light to the three separate rooms that each have their own aesthetics. While they’re separate, they each can be joined for private events.
Diners walk into the first room, greeted by an opening into the kitchen in one corner and a centerpiece bar on the far wall.
One of those rooms, which Muschiana calls a porch, is a long shotgun-style room with two big skylights and a large door that opens up to the beer garden. The beer garden is key to Søvengård, and it always has been. The first iteration, now the second location of Broad Leaf, has an ideal beer garden.
If it is possible, the new Søvengård has improved upon the original and created an even better beer garden. It helps that it’s removed a bit from the hectic Bridge Street corridor and set within a residential neighborhood. The beer garden includes a large garden and living wall that will provide the restaurant with florals, herbs and vegetables.
“There’s no Søvengård without a beer garden,” Muschiana said. “It will return. We think it will feel like it grew up a little bit. A little more ‘neighborhoody.’
“When I was first dreaming of this restaurant, I envisioned people walking down, pushing strollers, and activating it in that way.”
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