Local restaurant The Busted Nut will be hosting a visit from America’s Best Restaurants (ABR) in late October 2023. 

America’s Best Restaurants, a national media and marketing company focusing on bringing attention to local, independently owned restaurants, will bring its ABR Roadshow to the restaurant on October 23.  Popular dishes will be highlighted, along with an extensive on-camera interview with owner Tatia Nelson about the restaurant’s special place in the community. The episode will be aired extensively on social media channels at a later date.

The Busted Nut was nominated by a customer to be on an episode. 

Nelson and her husband opened The Busted Nut in 2004, in the former space of a fine dining restaurant.  The name came from its original iteration, as Nelson opened it as a “peanut bar”, with nuts in the shell available for patrons. They made the restaurant a more casual vibe than the previous concept, with an expanded menu and customer-focused friendly staff. 

Located in historic downtown Hastings, the eatery offers a relaxed atmosphere with vintage photos on the wall and slight industrial look. There is outdoor seating and seasonal events like summer car shows and winter fish frys. 

While Nelson opened the bar without a lot of experience in the restaurant industry, she is confident that she has an environment that people will appreciate. 

“I would like people to know we are a family-friendly bar and we have an amazing staff that makes you feel like you want to come back,” Nelson says. “We have great food and we’re just a small cozy bar.” 

Popular food items that may be featured on the episode include the burgers, which include unusual flavor profiles such as The Hulk, which has green olives, cream cheese, homemade wonton strips and homemade blackberry ketchup, and the Nut Burger, which has bacon in the meat and as a topping, along with two cheeses and peanut butter. 

“I tell people to get the blackberry ketchup if they want a pb-and-j burger,” Nelson says. 

The Busted Nut won Best Bloody Mary in 2023 by readers of The Star Tribune. 

America’s Best Restaurants will be filming on location on Monday, Oct. 23 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.  The restaurant’s finished episode premiere date will be announced on their Facebook page and will be featured on America’s Best Restaurants’ website at https://americasbestrestaurants.com/rests/minnesota/the-busted-nut-bar-and-grill. 

Restaurants featured on the ABR Roadshow are found through customer nominations or by a restaurant applying to be featured at www.americasbestrestaurants.com.