JANUARY 9, 2002
Dennis Narlock, who does business as Chef Nardane, is starting the year 2002 with high expectations for his new Touch of Magic Ballroom in East Grand Forks. He already has hosted a couple of events in the elegant banquet and ballroom overlooking the Red River.
The new ballroom was the scene of a grand bash to thank people who helped build the new facility, and to show it to people of the community who have been supportive of the chef’s dreams.
What matters more to Chef Nardane than money, he says, is how guests feel when they reach the top of the wide stairway or come by elevator to this Touch of Magic. He wants a wow. And that probably is what he will get.
As they arrived, guests were awed by the ballroom that takes up 6,200 square feet of the 10,000 square-foot facility. The rest of the space is devoted to kitchens and offices. The ballroom has paneled windows that provide a panoramic view of the Red River and Grand Forks. There are stone columns with gold gilding at the top. Dark mahogany chairs surround round tables that were set for 350.
Tableware is the large European style, and the gold lines on the china are under a glaze to protect them from wear. Coffee carafes with glass liners were secured by the supplier, Dakota Foods, from Germany. Russian crystal centerpieces, designed in Poland, have a Star of David on top.
Chef Nardane says that his family is just one generation away from Poland. He is one of six children of Dan and Yvonne Narlock. And he says all the jobs he hated to do in the kitchen as a child when his mother was sick gradually have become an asset.
He has developed a specialty of cheesecakes named after celebrities—or, as he calls them, the icons in his lifetime. The dessert table at his opening party included Debbie Reynolds crème caramel cheesecake, chocolate strawberries and pineapple, His Holiness Pope John Paul II pierogi cheesecake, Dame Elizabeth Taylor’s Beverly Hills cheesecake, and mountain cake.
The menu for his first party began with liver pâté and garlic cheese served with crackers and breads at the round tables. The salad course served at the tables was mixed greens topped with raspberry vinaigrette. The main course buffet featured creamed salmon, rack of lamb with raspberry mustard sauce, prime rib, garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus with toasted cashews.
A buffet, Chef Nardane says, offers a choice of tastes for the guests. The Touch of Magic dinner plates make plenty of room for tasting, too, since they are 11 inches in diameter.
As he was preparing for a wedding reception Dec. 29, Chef Nardane was working with a staff of four in the kitchen and planned to have six or seven servers. Usually, he figures on one server per 50 guests. The dinner was to be served buffet style, with servers available to assist any guests who find a line difficult.
Chef Nardane, at 36, is a man who dares to dream. He was operating Touch of Magic in the Comfort Inn of East Grand Forks until the motel was closed because of the flood. He was about to leave the area before he found the place to follow his dreams.
With the help of Mayor Lynn Stauss of East Grand Forks, he was able to get a low-interest loan to develop the vacant area above Applebee’s. And arrangements were made to work with the new Cuckoo’s Nest lounge owner, Kyle Gregoire, for service of wine, beer, champagnes and liquor.
Now, he envisions a private membership club in his new Touch of Magic Ballroom. He hopes to start in the coming years a club that would provide celebrity entertainment and fine meals to members.
The chef told guests at his opening party he is grateful for a family that taught him to believe nothing in life is impossible if you have a vision.
After nine years of business, Nardane closed Touch of Magic and began selling off his assets. On June 12, 2011, the Grand Forks Herald reported that Nardane intended to join a recently established Catholic religious order in the Diocese of Fargo.