The Chef Behind Haskill Creek’s New Menu: An Interview with Frank Hanes

Interviewed by Scot Chisholm- Haskill Creek Co-owner.

Frank Hanes’ culinary journey reads like a passport stamp collection – North Carolina, Brazil, Vermont, Italy, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and now Whitefish, Montana. The classically-trained chef who once helped helm the first Michelin-starred Moroccan restaurant in America has traded the intensity of fine dining for something more meaningful: bringing elevated, healthy cuisine to the Flathead Valley. As Haskill Creek prepares to launch its ambitious Wellness Bar food menu, we sat down with Hanes to discuss his unconventional path, why he walked away from chasing culinary accolades, and how he’s reimagining fast, healthy food for Montana.

SC: I wanted to start by asking how it all started. Where did you grow up and how does that experience influence your food today?

FH: My life’s been pretty nomadic. I’ve never really lived anywhere consecutively for four years. I was born in North Carolina and lived there for eleven years, then Brazil, then moved to the Northeast, and kind of been all around ever since. My dad sold textiles which brought us to Brazil, and his long-term passion was to open a bed and breakfast in New England. A lot of my passion for food has come from traveling, seeing different cultures. Food was something that always spoke to me – anywhere I go, I can eat their food, and we can bond over that. I’ll try anything and everything.

SC: How did you first fall in love with cooking? What initially inspired you and how did you learn?

FH: When I was fifteen in Vermont, you were able to start working. My mom walked me in on my birthday to this deli we used to go to, and she literally yelled to the manager, “Frank’s fifteen!” I started that weekend, and that was kind of the end of it. I loved the craziness of running around, the tight deadlines, keeping it constantly going. In high school I was always concerned – I can’t sit at a desk, I can’t do office work, what am I going to do with my life? Food was something that always spoke to me, so it just went hand in hand with where I am now. Though I’m still continuing to learn how to cook – that’s a never-ending story.

SC: You worked at Aziza in San Francisco, which was a Michelin-starred restaurant. Tell me about that experience and what you learned from chasing those kinds of accolades.

FH: I was one of the executive sous chefs at Aziza – it’s a Moroccan restaurant in the Richmond district, actually where I met my wife. We worked together there. It was a Michelin-starred restaurant, and I was trying to pursue that star for myself. I was in Vermont when I got called to come back to San Francisco, and that was part of it – I’m gonna get my star, I’m gonna push myself to make that happen. It felt like a notch under your belt.

But honestly? I think the Michelin star is 100% a red herring. It’s this thing that everyone chases that’s really maybe a false sense of security and success. Half the restaurants I was following when I was aspiring for that dream are closed now. What was that worth – 100 hours a week to make this dream come true? COVID happens and half the restaurants close down. One bad experience could take it all away.

SC: So you opened The Spot here in the Flathead. Was this your first restaurant?

FH: The Spot was my first restaurant – a gourmet donut shop we launched right as the pandemic was ending. I used to wake up at 2 a.m. to make donuts – I’m not sure I’ll ever make donuts again! [laughs]. But opening The Spot completely changed my perspective. Here I was, coming from Michelin-starred kitchens, and I opened a donut shop. Now I hear it on the radio all the time: “Come meet at The Spot.” To me, that’s so much more valuable than chasing some accolade. The Spot has become part of the fabric of the Flathead. That taught me that actually impacting people’s daily lives is what’s valuable. Not some made up star.

SC: How did you end up in Whitefish?

FH: One of my good friends from high school had moved here – he went to Bozeman and made friends up here. I was in San Francisco during COVID. We had just laid off 140 employees in our restaurant group. It was me, my boss, and the two owners. It just wasn’t what I signed up for. I was at the restaurant late one night and my friend FaceTimed me and said his roommate was moving out in two months if I wanted to get up here. I went home, put in Whitefish and Glacier National Park came up, and I was like, “All right, let’s do it.”

Coming here, I found a place I loved. It’s growing. People are coming in and wanting to do awesome things. There’s not many places left in the country where you can still really help shape the food scene in the right way.

SC: Since selling The Spot, you’ve done a bunch of cool stuff – from private cheffing to events – but now we’re collaborating on the Haskill Creek Wellness Bar. It’s open for smoothies and coffee now, but soon to have an amazing food menu as well. Tell us about the concept we’ve been cooking up together.

FH: I’ve really enjoyed this whole experience, working and collaborating with you and the team at Haskill Creek. Essentially, we’re trying to create a menu of healthy food, that’s fast, tastes great, and is very high quality. This is something that I think is lacking in the area, especially around lunch time. You’re not getting something that was made three days ago, you’re getting something that’s made immediately, but meant to be fast. I think we’re all excited about a new lunch option, but we’ll have breakfast too! 

SC: Ya I can’t wait for that. We’ve extended the Haskill Creek quality standard in the retail side of the store, to the wellness bar too. Everything’s intentional – sourced locally where possible, all organic ingredients. The smoothies have been a huge hit so far – they don’t contain massive amounts of sugar like most places. And the coffee and espresso we use is actually mold-free – yes, that’s a thing (anyone reading this should look it up).

So let’s talk about the philosophy behind the food menu. Starting with breakfast – what are we thinking?

FH: Breakfast I’m really excited about. We’ll have breakfast bowls and toast. It reminded me of this famous restaurant in San Francisco that I love called The Mill, and their toast game is like the coolest thing – lines of forty people out the door. We’re utilizing local bakeries around here and trying to accentuate the good products you can find in the area. We’ll have an egg salad option, different savory-sweets like peanut utter and jelly with a whole other twist. And we’re utilizing products that Haskill Creek sells right in the store. From olive oils to spices.

SC: And for lunch?

FH: Pick a salad, pick a sandwich – we’re basing it on the Chipotle model where you stick with your base, your protein, and your toppings. We’re utilizing local greens and proteins. No deli meats, nothing meat-glued or processed. It’ll be bare minimum. Great salads are hard to come by here, and we’re trying to keep the food as clean as possible while optimizing as much flavor as we can.

SC: No offense to delis. I love a good club sandwich, but processed meat just isn’t the Haskill way. Talk about sourcing locally, because that seems central to everything.

FH: We’re sourcing through local distributors as much as possible. One example is Wicked Good Produce – Brooke’s done an amazing job collaborating with local farmers to make a big presence in the Flathead. But what I want to do is take it another step and utilize what farmers can’t sell. Like, “Hey, we’re going to lose all these strawberries.” Well, let us take those strawberries off your hands. Let us get one more pop out of them before you have to compost them. We want to help the farmers as much as we possibly can.

The menu will change seasonally. Obviously in the middle of winter we won’t be using too much local stuff, but we’ll work with farmers across the pacific northwest, and utilize different preserving techniques – pickles, vinegars, dressings – whatever we can do to eliminate as much waste as possible.

SC: Is there something on the menu you’re especially excited about?

FH: Toast is definitely one, but the egg salad is my favorite. And the Ghia Alice hazelnut spread is amazing. There’s puffed quinoa on there – something very uncommon that I think will make people really excited. We put that on toast as kind of like a kid’s Nutella banana sandwich, but elevated. Maybe we’ll do braised apples to make it more local, or stewed pears, pear jam, apple butter.

What about you?

SC: For me, I’m most excited about having a simple tasty salad with protein on top – like organic, ideally local, chicken. I know that sounds basic, but it’s impossible to get in town. And I know there’s so many people around here that work their ass off during the day. So from a work-life-balance perspective, being able to grab something that’s not horrible for you at lunch is actually kind of a game changer.

Then I’d probably say the bone broth. After tasting your samples, I think I’m getting that every day. But I heard a rumor that Basal down in Missoula has the best bone broth in the state – so, challenge accepted?

FH: [Laughs] The broth is going to be great. We’re utilizing hopefully Old Salt Coop, or Range, and other local providers to make it. Throughout my years I’ve found chicken has the best flavor, but we’ll still utilize local beef bones for extra body. We’ll do two or three different broths. When I think of broth, I automatically go to pho, so I want to incorporate an Asian-style broth heavy in lemongrass, steeped like tea with tomatoes at the end. Then a classic American style – you could use it to make the best chicken gravy in the world. Plus we’ll have a couple different soups at all times, utilizing what farmers might have excess of.

SC: Why is the zero-waste philosophy so important to you?

FH: From a business standpoint, that’s how pennies turn into dollars. But bigger picture – I met this farmer when we did a hamburger pop-up at the Spot. He told me, “Honestly Frank, it’s easier for me to grind all my meat than individually sell my cuts.” So he’s got this beautiful cow he’s just grinding away and shipping off to who knows where. That story always resonated with me. Why do I have to get beef from Argentina when I drive past several beef farms on my way from Eureka to Whitefish? Making sure we utilize what’s at our back door is really important, and that’s what we’re going to try to do here.

SC: Out of all the products we carry at Haskill – from oils to spices to spreads, what was your favorite for the menu?

FH: Ghia Alice spreads for sure. But I do love the Enzo olive oil – especially the clementine one. They do a great job.

SC: We sell a lot of that, and we’re not even a culinary store quite yet. But maybe we will be. Let’s end with this: If I could take you for a meal at any restaurant in the world right now, where would you choose?

FH: Probably this restaurant called Mæmo in Oslo, Norway. When I was in New York, the chef came and did a collaborative dinner and I was blown away. It’s Nordic cuisine – a lot of seafood, but also preserving techniques. He does things like cooking cream down to almost brown butter consistency, then churning that into ice cream. Different curing techniques, but it’s all about flavor done in a beautiful way. To me, flavor is more important than anything. Every person eats with their eyes before they order, but at the end of the day, you’re eating something and you want it to be super tasty. Taking that extra care shows passion – it’s making sure you’re taking your product to the highest level.

SC: It’s a date. Well Frank, I really appreciate you sitting down with me and for your partnership. I mean it when I say we couldn’t have done it without you.

The Haskill Creek Wellness Bar opens for full menu service this winter, featuring locally-sourced ingredients, house-made bone broths, and elevated comfort food designed for people who care about what they eat but don’t have an hour to wait for it.