Breakfast Tostada. Photos: Chris Emeott
Chef Brian Ingram whips up meals like you’ve never seen before at Hope Breakfast Bar.
New York City. Las Vegas. San Francisco. Chicago. These are just a few of the lively cities containing kitchens that Brian Ingram has worked in. From Michelin-starred restaurants and MGM Resorts to international cuisine in Singapore and Paris and local cuisine right here in the Twin Cities, Ingram has had his fair share of plates around the world.
How Ingram landed in Minnesota out of all places, however, is the question at hand. “When I met my wife, Sarah … We really fell in love right away. She is this third-generation, sweet Norwegian with a huge family,” Ingram says. “I found that, at her family functions with 60 to 70 people, they would literally laugh and act things out. It became so contagious and cool.”
Ingram, who originally hails from a small town in Alaska, began to fly back and forth between Las Vegas, where he was working at MGM Resorts, and the Twin Cities, where Sarah lived; however, the two ended up making the full-time move to Nevada in 2017. But Ingram says, “I wanted to move back. I never thought in a million years I would fall in love with [Minnesota].”
Brian Ingram
The couple made the full-time move back to their quaint St. Paul neighborhood in 2018. Ingram quickly delved into the Twin Cities food scene and became friends with some of the most notable chefs in the area, such as David Fhima, Gavin Kaysen and Justin Sutherland. Between 2013 and 2019, he worked to open several concepts across the Twin Cities, including New Bohemia, Seventh Street Truck Park and The Freight House. “Everyone lifts everyone up and is rooting for each other,” Ingram says. “It’s a bizarre thing for me to see that chefs care about each other and want to work together.”
It was 2019 when Ingram discovered the first location of Hope Breakfast Bar at St. Paul’s historic Hope Engine Co. #3, the oldest firehouse in Minnesota’s capital city. “It was slated for demo, [and] we saw the story of people chaining themselves to the building to stop the developer,” Ingram says. “We looked at it, [and] we loved it … It was the third firehouse in Minnesota built by volunteers and one of the first racially-integrated firehouses. It had so many amazing stories, and we fell in love with it.”
Sarah Ingram creates the Unicorn Mimosa—which is prosecco poured atop cotton candy.
Although Ingram says they started with a “shoestring budget,” he and his team worked endlessly to restore the building. One day, out of the blue, Ingram recalls a phone call he received from a gentleman who wanted to sell them restaurant furniture. “We didn’t have two nickels to rub together,” he says. Regardless, the man showed Ingram around a woodworking business, featuring beautiful furniture—which Ingram loved, but it was out of his budget. “He gave it all to us. Every single piece of furniture, and had it delivered the next day … We wouldn’t exist without the people that stood with us in the beginning,” Ingram says.
And that’s what Hope Breakfast Bar is all about: Giving hope back to the community. With locations across the Metro, including its newest spot in Woodbury, which opened in July, Ingram says he’s working toward starting each day with optimism and bringing people together to make the community a better place.
Open for breakfast and lunch, Hope Breakfast Bar offers one-of-a-kind savory and sweet plates, starters and sides, and essential sips. Ingram notes its Carrot Cake Pancakes are a huge hit, as well as the Red Velvet Waffles, Pimento Cheese Scramble, Breakfast Tostada and the Hot Chicken and Stuffing Waffle. “So many people thought, ‘You’re a breakfast place, and you don’t have omelets or eggs Benedict?’ But there are a million restaurants you can get those, so we do something different,” Ingram says.
In the evening, Hope Breakfast Bar is open to the community for events—free of charge. Ingram recalls recently opening its Eagan location to a group of first responders and veterans with PTSD for a painting night. “It’s who we are. For us, we want to be there for the long term, and sharing a meal is such a cool thing to do,” Ingram says. He hopes to discover how to serve Woodbury in a purposeful way—in a way to inspire hope, you might say.
“Take a little step, and once you do it, it changes how you interact with the world,” Ingram says. “Once you see what action can do, and once you see other people, it’s contagious when you see that over and over, and see people show up. It’s pretty powerful.”
Brian and Sarah Ingram
Purpose Restaurants
Hope Breakfast Bar is a part of the Ingrams’ larger business, Purpose Restaurants, which is also co-owned by their partner, Jeff Bornmann. Feeling burnt out by the corporate world, the Ingrams worked to start Purpose Restaurants to create an environment where all types of people can flourish.
“So many people in hospitality are battling things like mental health, addiction, substance abuse. We do things differently here,” Brian Ingram says. Much of their staff are going through personal journeys, and Ingram says his mission is to support them in every situation. “[We work to create a] safe and inclusive work environment,” Ingram adds. “We want to make sure we have a place they can thrive and be healthy.”
Visit Purpose Restaurants’ other concepts by visiting the locations below:
- The Apostle Supper Club, 253 Kellogg Blvd., sits in downtown St. Paul, near Xcel Energy Center, and serves up gourmet supper club service, pregame bites and more inside the 1960s Palm Springs-inspired spot. Diners will also find The False Eyedoll bar located inside the supper club. apostlesupperclub.com
- The Gnome Craft Pub, 498 Selby Ave., is a modern gastro pub featuring over 60 beers on tap, unique dishes and a one-of-a-kind location in St. Paul’s Cathedral Hill neighborhood. thegnomepub.com
- Hope Breakfast Bar has several locations around the Twin Cities. Visit its Eagan, Edina, St. Louis Park-West End and St. Paul locations for exclusive, location-specific offerings. It also has a smaller location, Hope Express, at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul, where patrons can buy a meal for families in need, alongside other offerings. hopebreakfastbar.com
Hope Breakfast Bar
1390 Donegal Drive Suite 100
Facebook: Hope Breakfast Bar
Instagram: @hopebreakfastbar
