By DORIS RUBENSTEIN
Thinking of Jews whose names are associated with restaurants in the Twin Cities, the first names that arise (to this reporter, at least) are the Leventhals of the Cecil’s Deli dynasty and David Fhima, whose fine dining sites have been celebrated for the past three decades or so. One name that doesn’t appear on that list is “Capp.” That’s about to change now.
The Capps, Martin and Esther, were well-known (especially in St. Paul) for their philanthropy, enough so that their names grace the front of the Minnesota JCC branch in St. Paul, a lounge in Temple of Aaron Synagogue and The Scramble in the Children’s Museum, among others. Martin and Esther Capp were a team: He took care of business (construction), and she took care of the home and community connections.
Granddaughter Susan Capp remembers Martin saying, “I write the checks, but Esther does the work!” Esther spearheaded Jewish Family Services’ resettlement of Russian Jews to St. Paul during the 1980s and early 1990s as a volunteer. Lisa Capp, Esther’s daughter and current president of the Bloomington-based family business, Capp Industries, said that her mother made monthly visits to one family that emigrated here from the former Soviet Union.
According to the family, the kitchen was Esther’s seat of power and operations. Some people have a way of making a table feel like more than just a place to eat. Esther Capp was one of them. Known for her warmth, hospitality and the effortless way she welcomed guests — including virtual strangers — into her home, she understood that the best meals were not just about the food; they were about the people gathered around the table.
That spirit lives on at Esther’s Table, a restaurant created to honor the legacy of the Capp family and their tradition of hospitality. It’s no accident that Esther’s Table is located in the newly rebranded and fully renovated Sheraton Minneapolis Downtown Convention Center hotel on Nicollet at 13th Street: Martin Capp built the hotel 63 years ago — originally called the Capp Towers Motor Hotel — and the family has never relinquished ownership through good times and not-so-good ones. This iteration of the hotel, following a $40 million restoration, is truly 21st century: the lighting alone is worth a visit to the lobby and ground-floor ballroom; the top-floor glass-enclosed dome (an original part of the building’s design) is timeless, although the spectacular views of downtown Minneapolis have changed as the city has developed.
So, do Esther’s recipes appear on the menu of the Esther’s Table restaurant?
“It was an original idea,” said Lisa Capp, “but it didn’t really work with the concept. Hers was home-cooked Jewish food. … It’s the hospitality she offered to everyone that is the heart and soul of the restaurant. In addition, I wanted to honor her contributions to the family, the community and our business. We sort of tried, but we couldn’t get it to translate into restaurant food.”
Choosing a chef to honor Esther Capp’s spirit turned into an eight-month search by Austin Tyler-Thull, the hotel’s general manager. Tyler-Thull enticed executive chef Keven Kvalsten away from another popular downtown hotel’s kitchen. What made such a successful professional jump over to Esther’s Table?
Kvalsten shares the culinary neshama (soul) of Esther Capp — even though he’s not Jewish.
“There was a light that beamed around him when I told him that this is a family-owned business,” Tyler-Thull commented.
Kvalsten believes in “hospitality that is warm and genuine, paired with exceptional service, and … creating an experience that feels both welcoming and elevated.” And everything’s fresh and made in-house, using locally sourced products whenever possible.
The menu was created by Kvalsten from the wellspring of his own creativity. Lisa Capp held onto the idea of having something from her mother’s cookbook on it. She says, “We did talk about the food that Mom made and that gave him a feeling for what we wanted to accomplish.”
What other reason might there be to bring someone from Mendota Heights or Plymouth all the way downtown to this hotel? Perhaps, a B’nai Mitzva party or a wedding reception. When Martin Capp built the hotel 60 years ago, it had a kosher kitchen, which was a plus for the observant Jewish community. That’s gone now, but catering manager Tina Williams welcomes outside caterers to use the facility. There still are some items from Esther’s Table that might be a big hit with the kosher crowd, particularly the walleye croquettes.
Esther Capp died in 2017, at the age of 91. There are only so many people in the Twin Cities who will have a personal memory of her. Her spirit lives on, thanks to her daughter and granddaughter, and you can feel it at Esther’s Table.
(American Jewish World, December 2025)
