diff --git a/app/js/app.js b/app/js/app.js
index 082a7cf7..b849f5cc 100755
--- a/app/js/app.js
+++ b/app/js/app.js
@@ -192,7 +192,8 @@ var ExplorerApp = Backbone.View.extend({
       }
       type = 'elasticsearch';
     }
-    var dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset(datasetInfo, type);
+    datasetInfo.backend = type;
+    var dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset(datasetInfo);
     this.createExplorer(dataset);
   },
 
@@ -203,13 +204,12 @@ var ExplorerApp = Backbone.View.extend({
     $('.modal.js-load-dialog-file').modal('hide');
     var $file = $form.find('input[type="file"]')[0];
     var dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset({
-        file: $file.files[0],
-        separator : $form.find('input[name="separator"]').val(),
-        delimiter : $form.find('input[name="delimiter"]').val(),
-        encoding : $form.find('input[name="encoding"]').val()
-      },
-      'csv'
-    );
+      file: $file.files[0],
+      separator : $form.find('input[name="separator"]').val(),
+      delimiter : $form.find('input[name="delimiter"]').val(),
+      encoding : $form.find('input[name="encoding"]').val(),
+      backend: 'csv'
+    });
     dataset.fetch().done(function() {
       self.createExplorer(dataset)
     });
diff --git a/src/model.js b/src/model.js
index 3ac84c46..2266c290 100644
--- a/src/model.js
+++ b/src/model.js
@@ -9,28 +9,16 @@ my.Dataset = Backbone.Model.extend({
   __type__: 'Dataset',
 
   // ### initialize
-  // 
-  // Sets up instance properties (see above)
-  //
-  // @param {Object} model: standard set of model attributes passed to Backbone models
-  //
-  // @param {Object or String} backend: Backend instance (see
-  // `recline.Backend.Base`) or a string specifying that instance. The
-  // string specifying may be a full class path e.g.
-  // 'recline.Backend.ElasticSearch' or a simple name e.g.
-  // 'elasticsearch' or 'ElasticSearch' (in this case must be a Backend in
-  // recline.Backend module)
-  initialize: function(model, backend) {
+  initialize: function() {
     _.bindAll(this, 'query');
-    this.backend = backend;
-    if (typeof backend === 'undefined') {
+    this.backend = null;
+    if (this.get('backend')) {
+      this.backend = this._backendFromString(this.get('backend'));
+    } else { // try to guess backend ...
       if (this.get('records')) {
         this.backend = recline.Backend.Memory;
       }
     }
-    if (typeof(backend) === 'string') {
-      this.backend = this._backendFromString(backend);
-    }
     this.fields = new my.FieldList();
     this.currentRecords = new my.RecordList();
     this._changes = {
@@ -43,6 +31,9 @@ my.Dataset = Backbone.Model.extend({
     this.queryState = new my.Query();
     this.queryState.bind('change', this.query);
     this.queryState.bind('facet:add', this.query);
+    // store is what we query and save against
+    // store will either be the backend or be a memory store if Backend fetch
+    // tells us to use memory store
     this._store = this.backend;
     if (this.backend == recline.Backend.Memory) {
       this.fetch();
@@ -298,13 +289,11 @@ my.Dataset.restore = function(state) {
     };
   } else {
     var datasetInfo = {
-      url: state.url
+      url: state.url,
+      backend: state.backend
     };
   }
-  dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset(
-    datasetInfo,
-    state.backend
-  );
+  dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset(datasetInfo);
   return dataset;
 };
 
diff --git a/test/backend/csv.test.js b/test/backend/csv.test.js
index be4c79e6..4c684227 100644
--- a/test/backend/csv.test.js
+++ b/test/backend/csv.test.js
@@ -25,10 +25,9 @@ test("parseCSV", function() {
   '"Xyz ""ABC"" O\'Brien", 11:35\n' +
   '"Other, AN", 12:35\n';
   var dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset({
-      data: csv
-    },
-    'csv'
-  );
+    data: csv,
+    backend: 'csv'
+  });
   dataset.fetch();
   equal(dataset.currentRecords.length, 3);
   var row = dataset.currentRecords.models[0].toJSON();
diff --git a/test/backend/dataproxy.test.js b/test/backend/dataproxy.test.js
index 660b867b..2c873ab1 100644
--- a/test/backend/dataproxy.test.js
+++ b/test/backend/dataproxy.test.js
@@ -71,9 +71,9 @@ test('DataProxy Backend', function() {
   equal(backend.__type__, 'dataproxy');
 
   var dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset({
-      url: 'http://webstore.thedatahub.org/rufuspollock/gold_prices/data.csv'
-    },
-    'dataproxy'
+      url: 'http://webstore.thedatahub.org/rufuspollock/gold_prices/data.csv',
+      backend: 'dataproxy'
+    }
   );
 
   var stub = sinon.stub($, 'ajax', function(options) {
diff --git a/test/backend/elasticsearch.test.js b/test/backend/elasticsearch.test.js
index 4ab6aa07..a4434961 100644
--- a/test/backend/elasticsearch.test.js
+++ b/test/backend/elasticsearch.test.js
@@ -250,10 +250,9 @@ module("Backend ElasticSearch - Recline");
 
 test("query", function() { 
   var dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset({
-      url: 'https://localhost:9200/my-es-db/my-es-type'
-    },
-    'elasticsearch'
-  );
+    url: 'https://localhost:9200/my-es-db/my-es-type',
+    backend: 'elasticsearch'
+  });
 
   var stub = sinon.stub($, 'ajax', function(options) {
     if (options.url.indexOf('_mapping') != -1) {
@@ -292,10 +291,9 @@ test("query", function() {
 
 test("write", function() { 
   var dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset({
-      url: 'http://localhost:9200/recline-test/es-write'
-    },
-    'elasticsearch'
-  );
+    url: 'http://localhost:9200/recline-test/es-write',
+    backend: 'elasticsearch'
+  });
 
   stop();
 
diff --git a/test/backend/gdocs.test.js b/test/backend/gdocs.test.js
index 4846621d..c5ab0d52 100644
--- a/test/backend/gdocs.test.js
+++ b/test/backend/gdocs.test.js
@@ -169,10 +169,9 @@ var sample_gdocs_spreadsheet_data = {
 
 test("GDocs Backend", function() { 
   var dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset({
-      url: 'https://spreadsheets.google.com/feeds/list/0Aon3JiuouxLUdDQwZE1JdV94cUd6NWtuZ0IyWTBjLWc/od6/public/values?alt=json'
-    },
-    'gdocs'
-  );
+    url: 'https://spreadsheets.google.com/feeds/list/0Aon3JiuouxLUdDQwZE1JdV94cUd6NWtuZ0IyWTBjLWc/od6/public/values?alt=json',
+    backend: 'gdocs'
+  });
 
   var stub = sinon.stub($, 'getJSON', function(options, cb) {
     var partialUrl = 'spreadsheets.google.com';