Annual SMSO fundraiser to include swing, Motown sounds

BENTON HARBOR - As venues go, Southwest Michigan Regional Airport probably wouldn’t grace most A-list performers’ request lists.

For the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, however, Southwest Michigan Regional Airport offers a fitting setting for the annual Allegro fundraiser, set for Saturday.

When SMSO Music Director Robin Fountain arrived, “he always wanted to do a concert in an airplane hangar,” Executive Director Sue Rue said. “We set this up about three years ago and had the orchestra play the first year. We decided, ‘Hey, why don’t we combine the auction with it?’ That took off, so now we just have our auction out there.”

“Fly Me to the Moon and Let Me Dance Among the Stars” is this year’s theme for the Allegro, which starts 6 p.m. at Fiskars Aviation Hangar, Southwest Michigan Regional Airport, 1123 Territorial Road, Benton Harbor. Tickets are $50, with all proceeds benefiting the symphony. To purchase, call 982-4030 or visit www.smso.org online.

Several noted area restaurants have joined forces to supply food and drinks, including Bistro at the Boulevard, Clementine’s Too, Lemon Creek Winery, Mark III, Nordberg’s Cajun Deli, Port 412, Pizza Hut of Michigan, Pump House Grille, Tim’s Too, Tosi’s and the Flour Shop.

The Allegro isn’t the SMSO’s only fundraiser, but is the most important one in helping to meet its financial goals, Rue says. She estimated that the symphony runs on a $650,000 budget.

“We’re at the end of our fiscal year, so this has got to bring it all together. We’re hoping to bring in about $50,000,” she said.

The featured entertainment for this year’s Allegro features two well-known local musicians. Ed Bagatini and his New Swing Orchestra will kick off the proceedings by playing “nostalgic tunes of days gone by,” according to an SMSO news release. Versatile, led by guitarist Marcus Robinson, will close the night.

“We used to not have any music, and when Robin came on board - we started with music,” Rue said. “This year, we wanted to attract a more diverse audience, so we have a swing band, and Marcus Robinson’s going to do more of a Motown dance type of thing.”

A cash bar also will be available, “with complementary wine on all the tables,” Rue said.

There also will be a $10 50/50 raffle, for which entrants need not be present to win, she said.

As always, many unique items will be auctioned silently and live during the evening, including a breakfast with U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph in Washington; a chance to conduct the SMSO; a Fireball Freshwater pearl necklace; a Gladiator Garage Works refrigerator; a kosher Mexican dinner for 12 people; and a golf round at the new Harbor Shores development.

The ticket price is lower than the $75 and $95 of past years, in recognition of the current economic climate, Rue said.

That said, the SMSO has experienced “very good ticket sales” this year, Rue said.

“We have more auction items this year than I’ve ever seen since I’ve been here, and I’ve been here eight years,” Rue said. “So we’re doing quite well at this point.”

Like any nonprofit entity, the SMSO has endowments, but doesn’t rely heavily on them for its bottom line, Rue said.

“That’s a good thing, because if we did we’d be in the same boat as a lot of other symphonies. Most of them (endowments) are underwater, which means they can’t take any money out,” she said.

The SMSO’s smaller size also makes a difference, “because we can be more flexible when times like this hit,” Rue said. “We have 50 regular players, which we fill in with subs. A normal orchestra size is 62 (people), plus or minus.”

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Chef Tim Sizer oversees Timothy’s, Tim’s Too

UNION PIER - Tim Sizer is ready to serve you a dinner you’ll never forget in Union Pier … and in St. Joseph.

With no overlapping main dishes, sauces or desserts, owner and executive chef Sizer is overseeing two completely different fine dining establishments in Berrien County.

Different, that is, except for their focus on fresh ingredients and Sizer’s own special recipes.

Timothy’s at Gordon Beach Inn in Union Pier is a full-service restaurant specializing in seafood entrees and upscale cuisine.

Tim’s Too Asian Grill in downtown St. Joseph is a “create your own stir fry” restaurant that allows customers to help build the perfect meal.

“They are totally night and day,” explained Sizer, “other than Asian influences.”

And those influences are reflected in the flavors and tastes offered in each menu, with such entrees as Ahi tuna poached in extra virgin olive oil with a mango salad and Pacific Rim Thai grouper.

From the outside, the restaurants certainly look nothing alike.

Housed inside an old inn and nestled next to the woods, Timothy’s at Gor- don Beach Inn features a cabin-style environment complete with fireplaces, hardwood floors and exposed ceiling joists inside and around the dining room area.

In contrast, Tim’s Too, which is located in the middle of downtown St. Jo- seph, advertises a modern environment with Far East decor and furnishings, hanging lamps and Asian-themed uniforms worn by servers.

“This is a create-your- own stir fry restaurant where you come in and get to pick and choose and design your entire meal around your own liking,” Sizer said, “tasting the sauces and mixing them together to get whatever profile you want.”

He said Timothy’s at Gordon Beach Inn is a full-service Harbor Country restaurant - “one of the more upscale restaurants in the area.”

Timothy’s at Gordon Beach Inn features mouthwatering entrees such as coconut and macadamia nut crusted grouper, miso glazed wild king salmon and Caribbean spiced Delmonico steak, with a variety of side selections including deep-fried spin-ach, roasted tomato soup and a choice of specialty salads.

“When we opened, we really strived to use the freshest ingredients,” Sizer said. “Everything is made from scratch, all of our dressings, all of our desserts, we don’t buy anything that’s prepared.”

And because Timothy’s at Gordon Beach Inn specializes in dishes from the sea, the 14 seafood items on its menu are less than 48 hours old, and flown in two to three times per week from Chicago, and once a week from Hawaii.

“It’s not like being on the coast of Florida and being able to get fish that same day out of the water, but with the technology today, you can get fresh fish that’s less than 48 hours old,” Sizer said.

At Tim’s Too, customers can pick from a selection of rice and noodles (such as long grain wheat rice, Chinese egg and oriental spinach noodles), vegetables and meats, and sauces, including woo doo diablo, spicy lime basil and mint mango. Also offered are appetizers such as potstickers and spicy sesame peanut noodles.

As with Timothy’s at Gordon Beach Inn, everything at Tim’s Too is served fresh and made from scratch.

“We don’t buy anything prepared,” Sizer explained. “All the sauces were made by me and designed by me. There are no overlapping sauces (with Timothy’s). They are all totally different. Our vegetables are cut everyday for that day’s service. Our fish is cut today for tonight. All of our meats and poultry are cut the same day for the service that day. So we try and do the same thing here as there. Something very consistent, something of value and something that, hopefully, tastes good to the consumer.”

Sizer, born and raised in St. Joseph, studied the culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University in Prov- idence, R.I., before moving to Florida, where he ran two seafood restaurants owned by the same family, one in St. Augustine and the other in Atlantic Beach. He credits the development of his culinary talents and expertise to his time spent there, because he was allowed to experiment and use the tools he learned in school.

After 13 years of living in Florida, however, he decided it was time to move back to his home town.

“It was time to either open up a restaurant or just forget about it and work for somebody else my whole life. And I thought, if I’m going to do it, I might as well do it now.”

And in May of 2001, Sizer opened Timothy’s to great success. He credited much of this achievement to his staff’s talent and expertise, and to the market at the time, which he said was in need of a new restaurant. He also noted that the restaurant’s clean and simple ambiance, so unlike the fancy establishments in the city across the lake, attracted many vacationers and customers from Chicago.

Another benefit was gearing his menu toward fish, where he said he was more experienced (and where few area restaurants specialized) and then striving to keep the quality and flavor of the meals consistent so his business would garner a strong reputation.

“One of our main goals was to make sure if you came and got a good meal and came back two or three weeks later and got the same thing, the meal would taste exactly the same,” he explained. “Consistency is one of the key’s to a new restaurant’s success.”

Then, almost six years later, he opened Tim’s Too Asian Grill in July of 2007.

He said this was partly in response to his love of Asian cuisine, and partly to slow winter business in Harbor Country, during which he operated Timothy’s despite the lack of customers compared to the busy summer season.

“I’ve got 15 to 25 employees at any one time and they deserve to work year round, and it’s also hard to lay people off and try to rehire them in the spring every year. That would be a crazy cycle to try and have to do. So I thought about having a restaurant that would be busy all year round,” he said.

Sizer said he always enjoyed Asian cuisine: the flavors, fresh vegetables and the light sauces. He said it is a very nutritious, and now popular, cuisine.

Besides its wide range of vegetables and meats, Tim’s Too offers 24 different sauces (from mild to hot) for customers to mix and match with their selections. Tasting cups are provided, along with a list of suggested combinations, so customers won’t have to guess how their final product will taste.

And just recently he’s added a full service bar, complete with cold sake and a selection of Asian beers.

Lunches at Tim’s Too start under $10, with dinners around $13. He pointed out that this was a half to a third the cost of the entrees at Timothy’s at Gordon Beach Inn.

“My pallet is kind of normal,” he explained. “So if I like something, almost anyone is going to like it … We use a lot of ginger root, garlic, lemon grass, coconut root, some things you might not have seen in a smaller town … there just wasn’t anyplace like this.”

Timothy’s is located at 16220 Lake Shore Road in Union Pier. Spring hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. For more information, call (269) 469-0900, or visit Timothy’s online at www.timothysrestaurant.com.

Tim’s Too is located at 511 Pleasant Street in St. Joseph. Spring hours are Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. For more information, call (269) 985-0094, or visit Tim’s Too online at www.timstoo.com.

By Matt Fritz
Harbor Country News staff writer

Posted under Uncategorized

By Julia Perla and Kathryn Macneil

Out with the Girls in St. Joseph (excerpt)

Refreshed for an evening out, we reconvened at Tim’s Too Asian Grill, Chef Tim Sizer’s ultimate fusion experience in the heart of St. Joe’s bustling downtown. We each created our own stir-fry—to be cooked as we watched—by choosing from a staggering assortment of fresh vegetables, meats, fish and sauces. The end result was customized perfection for everyone.

Tim’s Too. (Photo by KATHYRYN MACNEIL)

Posted under press

It’s mixture fusion, Asian, and St. Joe, Michigan. This is Tim’s too located just off of state street in downtown St. Joe. Owner and St. Joe native Timothy Sizer created a restaurant concept new to the area.

“Most restaurants you go to you sit down you don’t see the kitchen, you don’t see the prep people, you don’t see the chefs, you don’t see anything of that sort so you get to see everything which I think is unique.”

It’s similar to a Mongolian grill type of set up but with more of an Asian influence. Globes hover below the ceiling as Malaysian photos hang on the walls.

Appetizers include roasted pot stickers and calamari with 5 different sauces.

The center piece to Tim’s Too is their creation bar. Grab a bowl, fill up on whatever noodles and raw veggies you want. Don’t forget the sauces. You have your choice of more than 24 different kinds…however it is suggested you mix and match. Heat levels range from 1 being the most mild to 5 being spiciest. Grab a separate bowl for your favorite types of meat and you’re meal contribution done.

If you’re looking for a great place of fusion and Asian then head over Tim’s Too in St. Joseph, Michigan.

Tim’s Too
511 Pleasant Street.
St. Joseph, Michigan 49085
www.timstoo.com
269-985-0094

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Tim’s Too lets you take your meal in your own hands

HOME-GROWN RESTAURANTS
LAURA BAILEY
Tribune Correspondent

ST. JOSEPH — Tim Sizer’s love of Asian culture and food inspired the creation of his newest restaurant, Tim’s Too Asian Grill, in downtown St. Joseph.

But unlike other restaurants, the chef isn’t the only participant in the meal. Patrons play a role here, selecting vegetables, meats (and vegetarian “meats”) or seafood, house-made sauces, noodles or rice for a one-of-a-kind stir-fry.

“It really gets the customers involved because they get to pick and choose what they want to eat,” Sizer said.

A graduate of Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., Sizer opened Tim’s Too in July 2007. He is also the owner of Timothy’s, an upscale restaurant with Asian-flavor influences located at the Gordon Beach Inn in Union Pier.

For about a year, Sizer had been toying with the idea of opening another restaurant, this time in St. Joseph, his hometown.

At the suggestion of friend Tim Foley, owner/head baker of Stevensville’s acclaimed Bit of Swiss Pastry Shoppe, Sizer visited a stir-fry restaurant in Chicago last December and his vision for his own restaurant became more clear.

After selecting ingredients salad bar-style, patrons at Tim’s Too give their raw creations to the chef at the end of the line. The kitchen is open to the dining area, so Sizer and his staff are available to answer questions about the food items, including the 24 different sauces he formulated and creates from scratch.

“Like my other restaurant, we don’t buy anything prepared,” Sizer said.

Like picking colors from an artist’s palette, choosing a stir-fry sauce at Tim’s Too allows patrons to create their own masterpieces.

Varying from mild teriyaki to “Voo Doo Diablo,” (the hottest sauce, rated a “5″ on the restaurant’s heat index), there’s a sauce for everyone. Customer favorites include the teriyaki, galanga (made from the galanga root and described as sweet and syrupy with soy and garlic), and Tim’s Too sauce (a red curry base with sweet vermouth, basil and ginger).

Patrons can watch as the chef cooks their food on an enormous round grill — known as a Mongolian barbecue — at the front of the restaurant. Its placement in the window was intentional — Sizer hoped to lure potential customers walking along St. Joseph’s bluff just a block away.

So far, attracting customers hasn’t been a problem. During the week, most tables are full shortly after noon, with groups of young professionals from area businesses, including Whirlpool world headquarters in Benton Harbor just a few miles away.

Many of Sizer’s customers are vegetarians and some frequent the restaurant four or five times a week.

“We have a lot of vegetarian customers from Andrews University and the Berrien Springs area. We have a number of sauces with no chicken or beef base — without any meat products at all,” Sizer said.

Other healthy advantages offered at Tim’s Too include sauces made without MSG or dairy, and the option of having meals cooked in a separate wok for those with food allergies. Foods can be cooked with little or no oil, or even with zero-calorie ginger- or lemon grass-infused water.

A dedication to using the freshest ingredients possible is another reason for the restaurant’s success.

“We try to use indigenous things to the state and the local area and use the farmers as well,” Sizer explained. “I just scratch my head — why you would buy produce from a company that you might not even know where their produce comes from? By the time you get it, you don’t know how long it’s been sitting in a warehouse or where it’s been transported from or to. (Here) you’re right in the fruit belt, the vegetable belt — there’s no reason not to (buy locally).”

The décor of Tim’s Too is simple, modern and Asian-inspired: blond bamboo covers the floor and tabletops and white, round paper lanterns dangle from the ceiling. Most walls are painted lime-green with accent walls in chocolate and metallic silver stripes. Photos of Malaysian marketplace scenes hang above a banquette spanning the length of the dining room.

“I wanted a relaxed feeling, an Asian feeling, obviously,” Sizer said. He worked with friend Mary Richert of Michigan City to develop the interior design.

Future plans include creating more of an “after-hours” feel in the evenings with the addition of wine, spirits and beer to the menu (Sizer expects to receive a liquor license for the restaurant in early February). Outdoor dining in the summer, serving stir-fry wraps on the bluff, and possible expansion are also in the works.

“We’re committed to downtown, hopefully bringing more people down here and maybe making St. Joe a little more unique, especially in the restaurant arena,” Sizer said.

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