Alary’s Bar is now serving a full menu of sandwiches, burgers and beyond, thanks to a newly built kitchen. We chat with the St. Paul institution’s new chef, Mik German about all things Alary’s, including the new menu and a 70th anniversary outdoor tailgate party coming up the first Saturday in October.

And while the spot is adding to its lineup, we get reassurance that some traditions will always remain the same — the spot that opened in 1949 by former Chicago Bears player Al Baisi and Larry Lehner will always have the Bears game on, for one. And the Minnesota Wild game tradition continues to be alive and well.

What’s your first food memory? My mom was a longtime cook and restaurant manager when we were really poor and she couldn’t afford a babysitter. She would take me to work and I would sit there during the lunch rush and watch the kitchen do its thing. Restaurants seemed to be in my blood. I was 3, 4, 5 years old at the time.

When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up? A high school English teacher.

What was your first job in food? Washing dishes at a Vietnamese restaurant in Woodbury. Shortly after, I got my first cooking job at a truck stop in Baldwin, Wis. where my dad lives.

How did you wind up in the restaurant business for good? As I got older, I realized that cooking wasn’t just a job, but it was something that I loved to do. I was always trying to make a dish better. It was a turning point in my life. It’s what helped me grow up.

What’s changed on the Alary’s menu? In 70 years of business, we never had a menu. We never really had a kitchen. In the fall of last year they built this wonderful kitchen and gave it a nice new renovation. Previously I was the chef at O’Gara’s, which closed temporarily last September for construction of new apartments before it reopens on the first floor. I started working here at Alary’s at the end of December. The lunch and dinner menu started rolling out in January. I like to think of the menu as upscale bar food.

What are some of the menu highlights? We do really good burgers. Our burgers are smashed down on our flat top to get a nice sear on both sides. We have a bison reuben, so we put a unique twist on an item you can find all over the Twin Cities. It’s a bison brisket that we source from a farm in Wisconsin. We brine it, cook it, slice it ourselves. We have a fried chicken sandwich that I would pit against anybody’s fried chicken sandwich in town. We have a couple of really unique appetizers too. One is the baby dill pickles. It’s a petite pickle that we bread and deep fry. It really adds a lot more flavor and keeps them a lot crunchier than a chip or spear. You bite into it and there’s still a crunch.

What’s the last thing you cooked at home? I’m in the process of moving right now so our entire kitchen has been out of service for a few weeks. It was probably burgers on the grill. We like to grill, but these days it’s more than normal because we don’t have a kitchen at the moment.

If you could only eat or drink five things for the rest of your life, what would they be? I would start with my grandmother’s pancakes. The carrots cooked in duck fat from The Strip Club Meat and Fish in St. Paul. It was my favorite restaurant and I went there all the time with my wife. It was a sad day when they closed. The Potatoes O’Brien from Mickey’s Dining Car in St. Paul. My wife makes these ribs that are so unbelievably good that I don’t even try to make ribs. I have no idea what she puts in it, she won’t share the recipe. The Emma Jane from the D-Spot restaurant in Oakdale. It’s a burger with an egg, slice of pancetta and a great harissa aioli sauce. It’s a monstrosity of greasiness and goodness.

What’s next? It’s our 70th anniversary this year. So on Oct. 5, we’ll have an outdoor tailgating party with food and drink specials and probably some giveaways. Updates will be posted on our website and social media pages. The football season is just starting and we’ll always have the Bears game on. And with hockey season, we’ll always have the Wild game on and shuttle people to and from the Wild game. There will always be dozens of beers on tap to choose from. The main difference is, there’s now a full menu to choose from. Before we were just serving pizza because we didn’t have a full kitchen. Mainly, we just want everyone to know how great Alary’s is. It’s been here for 70 years. I’m St. Paul born and raised and I love the iconic places in St. Paul such as this place. It’s why I was excited to work here.

ALARY’S BAR

Where: 139 E. 7th St., St. Paul

For more information: 651-224-7717; alarys.com