The cities of South Bend and Elkhart are becoming a paradise for foodies

Achieving a standard of high quality and consistency is what drove Mark McDonnell, the founder of LaSalle Grill in downtown South Bend, to seek out the Four Diamond award from AAA back in 1993.

Just a couple of years after opening, McDonnell decided to emulate the Carriage House Dining Room at 24460 Adams Road ― which had been achieving Four Diamond consistency under former owner Evelyn George for several years.

McDonnell wanted to be known as another distinctive dining destination in northcentral Indiana.

“Seeking the award was a way of pushing myself and key staff to be better,” McDonnell says, adding that it took a couple of years of effort before the restaurant was able to achieve the Four Diamond distinction and other awards.

AAA inspectors are trained professionals who travel across North America to conduct unannounced in-person inspections at hotels and restaurants seeking the distinction, according to the organization.

Among other things, restaurants are judged on food, service, the overall vibe, management and staff as well as cleanliness and condition, AAA says, adding that customers can expect distinctive fine dining, well-served amid upscale ambience.

“Carriage House was a formidable competitor at the time,” McDonnell says. “I wanted to bring that same level of food, hospitality and service to downtown.”

Though it took LaSalle Grill at 115 W. Colfax Ave. a couple of years to achieve the designation, it’s now the longest tenured of Indiana’s five Four Diamond restaurants, including Joseph Decuis in Roanoke, Vida in Indianapolis, Artisan in Elkhart and Roselily in South Bend, which was added in 2023.

It should be a source of pride that the region is home to three Four Diamond restaurants, but it also says something about the clientele.

“It’s a testament to diners in our area, who are looking for something exceptional,” says Matt Soutra, vice president of operations for Navarre Hospitality Group, which runs Artisan at 505 S. Main St. in Elkhart, Cafe Navarre in South Bend and other area restaurants.

“If what we offer doesn’t match what consumers want, it won’t go anywhere,” Soutra says, attributing the support for fine dining to local clientele who have perhaps been influenced by the upscale offerings in Chicago as well as University of Notre Dame employees and visitors.

“You’ve got to have the market to provide these types of things,” he says.

Although having a customer base is critical to the success of fine-dining restaurants, a friendly culture of rivalry also has developed among the area’s top-end restaurants, which also have served as an incubator for future restaurateurs.

Chef Eamonn McParland, for example, spent several years working and learning in area restaurants, but he says he learned the most during the five years he spent at LaSalle Grill before eventually partnering to open the former Render restaurant in the East Bank neighborhood and eventually Roselily at 701 S. Main St. in the city’s Renaissance District.

“I learned a lot being in management meetings at LaSalle Grill,” McParland says. “I knew my way around the kitchen, but Mark (McDonnell) opened my eyes on hospitality, on how to take care of people.”

Achieving Four Diamond status requires a lot of attention to detail. Kitchen meetings are held early in the day to discuss menu changes. Those are followed by meetings with the service staff to discuss the menu, beverage offerings and other issues that might need to be addressed.

Any spare time is devoted to polishing glasses and flatware. Details aren't ignored.

While McParland learned at Fiddler’s Hearth, Cafe Navarre and LaSalle before opening the former Render and then Roselily, Brad Canniff gained about five years of experience running Artisan for Navarre Hospitality before opening his own fine-dining restaurant, Essence, about a year ago at 333 Nibco Parkway, also in downtown Elkhart.

Canniff knows what it takes to achieve the Four Diamond designation and hopes to gain that recognition when AAA updates its list this year. “It’s something we built our restaurant around,” he says, pointing out that food, service and décor are the main pillars of the award.

And there’s also the possibility that Cascade, which is being developed by Navarre Hospitality on the ground floor of the Three-Twenty at the Cascade luxury condominium tower in downtown South Bend, could seek the designation after it opens this year.

Are there enough sophisticated palates to support the abundance of fine-dining establishments in the area? Time will tell, but in the meantime, the area’s Four Diamond restaurants are likely developing the talent to support more.

“I’ve been working in restaurants for so many years and devoted so much blood and sweat,” says McParland, the latest restaurateur to achieve the status. “To get a little recognition feels good and validates what you’re doing.”

It means those restaurants are operating at a high standard.

Have you heard

Papa Vino’s Italian Kitchen at 5110 Edison Lakes Parkway in Mishawaka will close at 10 p.m. Sunday Feb. 25 and reopen at 4 p.m. March 1 to complete a restaurant refresh that’s already gotten underway and will include new carpeting, paint and some other surface work, says Steve Hunter, senior vice president of operations for locally-based Quality Dining.

But fans of the long-time establishment will still be able to get their foodie fix because Papa Vino’s is going to operate as a pop-up restaurant with a somewhat scaled-down menu from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday inside Uptown Kitchen in Heritage Square. Quality Dining had great success using its Uptown Kitchen space for dinner on Valentine’s Day and it hopes to get even more nighttime use of the restaurant by hosting prom dinners and other functions in the future.

Email Market Basket columnist Ed Semmler at esemmler@sbtinfo.com

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Roselily joins LaSalle Grill and Artisan as a Four Diamond restaurant