Issue 7, February 18, 2004:

Bølgen & Moi Open
Restaurant in Hudson

With 70 invited guests from Norway, the culinary duo Trond Moi and Toralf Bølgen are ready to open a new "Bølgen & Moi" restaurant in Hudson – two hours north of New York.

By ESPEN TJERSLAND
Hudson, NY

"We have not invested more than $200,000 in this project, so we can afford to fail if this does not go well," Toralf Bølgen, the foremost wine expert in Norway, says. He has just flown over from Norway to inspect the progress of the restaurant, which is due to open on March 6.

Ice Cream Parlor
Trond Moi, one of Norway’s premier chefs, has long planned to open a restaurant in the U.S. with his partner Toralf Bølgen. They run a successful chain in Norway, and since July 2003 the two have been busy working on their latest project in Hudson.

"The original plan was to open a restaurant in Manhattan," Trond Moi, 34, says. He had even found a spot in Manhattan’s West Village, but because of September 11, the restaurant dream was postponed.

Instead, he set his eyes on an old ice cream parlor in Hudson – a two hour train ride north of New York.
"Just look at this wonder of a bar," Moi says. A long, shimmering ice cream bar from 1948 stretches across the room. Iceboxes with raspberry, vanilla and chocolate are still intact. "Beautiful," he sighs. "This is where we will serve beers and wine and cocktails."

American Inspired Food
The restaurant will be open during lunchtime five days a week. The menu will include "Bølgen & Moi" classics, like the famous "Stanley and Steven pizza" and the "Thorenfeldt burger", an American style hamburger with homemade fries. Guests will also find various finger foods, as well as Moi’s special fish soup, smoked salmon, and fillet of lambs. "We will serve a lot of the same dishes as we do in Norway," Moi says.

The food will come on specially made dishes from Figgjo, hand painted by Trond Moi’s wife, Line Dunsæd, 28. She works as an interior designer and has designed the new venture, as well as the other seven "Bølgen & Moi" restaurants in Norway.

The New Hamptons
The Hudson restaurant has a classic country look – brown and red colors, oak floors. There will be a fireplace in the fine dining area and a huge garden terrace where people can enjoy a cold beer under the steamy sun during the summer.

But the restaurant is far from finished. Local craftsmen have spent months refurbishing the place. Floors are overlaid with cardboard, and walls are covered with plastic and newspapers. Sofas, tables and chairs have yet to arrive. Painters, electricians and plumbers are busy working on the scene.

"We were supposed to open last fall, but things have not gone exactly as smooth as we had planned," Trond Moi admits. Nonetheless, he is confident that they will meet the deadline for the grand opening.

A local jazz band (with the plumber on the drums) will liven up the atmosphere among the Norwegian celebrity guests, and the renowned Norwegian photographer Knut Bry will display a collection of photos from his century old farm in Ål, Hallingdal.

Hudson is a beautiful valley with old Victorian brick houses painted in brown, red and blue colors. It is one of the main antiquing centers of America, and Warren Street, the main road, has more than 60 antique shops and various fine art galleries.

"This is said to be the new Hamptons," Moi says. "A lot of New Yorkers come out here on the weekends. This is really an up-and-coming area."

But on this cold, winter day it does not look like the Hamptons. The streets are empty, and most shops close at 4 p.m. Bob Callahan, owner of the Pavillion antique shop, looks tired. He sits behind an ancient elephant, smoking a cigarette.

"Hudson is really slow in the winter time. I don’t even know what time it is," he says. "But it gets more crowded during the summer."

Trond Moi will ship over two chefs and two waiters from Norway. The rest of the staff will be hired locally.
Moi says the locals have been very curios and friendly about the new restaurant concept on the corner of Warren and 2nd Street. As he stands in the bar area, explaining where the coffee machine, the pizza oven and the old mirror are suppose to fit in, a number of locals pop in to take a glance. Trond Moi takes them gladly on a guided tour of the dusty restaurant.

Recipe for Success
Bølgen and Moi became partners in 1995, when they opened their first "Bølgen & Moi" restaurant at the Henie-Onstad Art Center at Høvikodden outside of Oslo. Since then, they have been on a culinary mission and established eight restaurants together. Although the restaurant in Kvinesdal had to close last year, the restaurant chain had a turnover of close to NOK 100 mill. ($12 mill.) in 2003.

Trond Moi, who hails from Kvinesdal in southern Norway, has written several bestselling cookbooks, and with his special style, often artistic and provocative, he has become a household name and a celebrity chef in Norway. He has also won three National Championships in Cooking.

Lived on Lapskaus Avenue
His parents, Anne Grethe Bye and Alf Moi, lived on Brooklyn’s "Lapskaus Avenue" (Eighth Avenue) for several years before they got married and moved back to Kvinesdal in 1964.

"The American dream has been an important part of my childhood," Moi says. "You are not considered a real kvindøl before you have lived in America," he says with a laugh, and recalls a trip to Chicago with Norway’s National Cooking Team (Kokkelandslaget) in 1993.

"On the way back I stopped off in New York, and I said to myself, ‘Yes! This is my town’. Since then it has always been a dream to open up a restaurant here," Moi says.
Ten years later, his dream is about to be fulfilled. Not in Manhattan though, but in an old ice cream parlor in Hudson. "I have a good feeling. This is going to be great," he says.

But in the back of his mind, he is already picturing a future Norwegian restaurant on Bergen Street in Brooklyn – with an opening exhibition of his parents wedding photos from the 50’s…

Previous Stories:

• Issue 6, February 11, 2004
Norwegian Diva With
Broadway Dreams

• Issue 5, February 4, 2004
Norway's New Princess Named

• Issue 4, January 28, 2004
Helga's Historic Walk
Across America

• Issue 3, January 21, 2004
Arne Næss Jr. Dies
Climbing in South Africa

• Issue 2, January 14, 2004
Norway's Kurt Ready
To Conquer the World

• Issue 1, January 7, 2004
Dragsten Honors Sons of
Norway's Founding Fathers

• Main Stories 2003