Chad Ginther, 37, Cedar Rapids
Owner @ Bigg Daddy’s Dogs

This week it’s a bit of stretch calling this feature “InTheKitchen,” because technically you don’t have a kitchen, right?
Bigg Daddy Dogs is actually a mobile food unit, otherwise known as a push cart. I always wanted my own restaurant after spending several years working as a manager of various food venues. One day my Mom called me up after watching a news segment on the food cart business and it got me thinking this would be a nice way to ease into owning my own place.

What’s available at “Bigg Daddy?”
We offer a Philly cheesesteak sandwich made with Italian beef, sautéed onions, green peppers, cheese whiz (this is how they do it in Philly), nine-inch Johnsonville brats and Chicago hot links — a spicy pork sausage. These come with
the classic condiments along with a southern influence I encourage everyone to try at least once called “Southern Mild Chow Chow” — a combination of cabbage, mild pepper rings, jalapeños and cayenne seasoning.

Do you have a lot of regulars or more new customers enjoying the novelty of lunch from a cart?
I offer a buy eight get the ninth one free punch card which has helped with repeat business. A couple customers will come to me for chili cheese dogs three to four times a week. I have a pretty steady flow or newcomers. People visiting downtown for a special meeting or event are always surprised to see me set up in Cedar Rapids and really appreciate the convenience.

How do you get your name out?
I’m participating in the Taste of Downtown this week and have been at the farmers’ markets all season long. Both are great ways to get my name out to those that might not know about me. We have a lot to offer downtown, just a matter of getting people to stop by and discover what’s here. The markets are fantastic revenue generators which helps me through the winter months.

Your family is always on site, helping you. How have they helped you build your business?
My family has always wanted to see me succeed, and helping out with the business has been proof of that. My wife, son, parents and nephew are all there doing whatever they can do to help. My son has been known to play the harmonica at the markets, chatting it up with customers. Everyone does whatever it takes to help.

What are your long-term goals?
I’d love to open up my own restaurant downtown but will keep the mobile cart going strong. It’s so unique to our community. I’d hate to give that up. The goal of an actual restaurant is looking more
and more like a realistic goal for me which is an exciting next step.

What’s your favorite part of your job?
The people make my job fun and unique every day. Whether they actually buy from me or not the fact that people will stop by, make small talk and thank me for choosing to be downtown is a great feeling.
— QUINN

Derek Perez, 39, Iowa City
Owner @ El Bandito’s

Where did you learn to cook?
Most of my background in cooking comes from my mother. She learned a lot of her cooking from my father’s side of the family. She’s German; he’s Mexican and Italian. I always have been a big fan of my family’s Mexican food. I thought I’d try to use some of that influence to make this restaurant. I learned from her, but also, I used to own 126 with my brother and his wife, and the chef there taught me a lot about cooking.

This place seems like a big change from 126.
Yeah, maybe in terms of the atmosphere, and the price point is lower here. But focus there has always been making sure that the food is extremely good, and I try to make sure that happens here, too.

What’s your favorite thing on the menu here?
My favorite thing would most likely be the tacos, any of the tacos, because they’re so fast. That’s what I grab and I eat. But there’s not one thing that I’m unhappy with. If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t put it on the menu.

Are you a flour or corn tortilla person?
It depends on what the meat is. My family always cooked with flour tortillas — that’s what I always ate when I was growing up, so that’s what I’m inclined to say is my favorite. I’ve been lucky enough to find a really good tortilla maker in West Liberty, and those are just perfect for what we do.
— ANNE

DETAILS: El Bandito’s, 327 E. Market St., Iowa City; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday, (319) 358-2836, http://elbanditosiowacity.com

Amy Bean, Marion
Co-owner @ Mr. Beans

When did you open the first Mr. Beans?
Our first location was downtown in the Towne Centre on Third Avenue and Second Street SE. Prior to it being called Mr. Beans, we had Ashley’s. Our Marion location opened in 2006, and post-flood we reopened downtown in the ground floor of the Alliant Tower in 2009.

What are some of the benefits and challenges of having two locations?
There are definite challenges everyday. However, establishing your base of customers, your regulars, is a major benefit. One of our biggest challenges was the fact that we were gone from downtown for over a year. People started to get used to not having us be part of their regular stops. We were fortunate to have many of our regulars visit us at the Marion location and we’ve seen many of our old customers return since we’ve reopened downtown.

So you’re name tells people you are a coffee shop, but your menu is much more.
We are more than just coffee. The name can sometimes throw people off. The reality is we do sell a lot of coffee, but the food business is by far our biggest seller. We offer boxed lunches for business meetings which is very helpful for downtown businesses.

Can you please tell us what you put in your frosted sugar cookies that make them so addicting?
I’m afraid not. You’re not alone. Those sugar cookies have a life of their own. I’m not sure what would happen if we took those off the menu.

— QUINN

DETAILS: Mr. Beans, 200 First St. SE, Cedar Rapids, open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, (319) 363-2995 and 1080 E Post Rd., Marion, open 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, (319) 447-4455.

Bryan Herzic, 39, Iowa City
Owner/executive chef
@ Orchard Green

Why did you want to become a chef?
Because it came natural to me. I started cooking when I was 15, and it came easy, it was natural, and I enjoyed it immensely. It was a passion.

Where did you start cooking?
In a small town in Wisconsin. It was family-owned restaurant, a supper club. It was a lot of fun. for my formal training, I went to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. I graduated in 1990. From school, I went to The Peabody Orlando and I worked in all their outlets. That was a great experience, working with some great chefs. After a while, I wanted to get out of Florida. I wanted to go back to the Midwest. That’s when I answered an ad through my culinary school and I got with Jim Mondanaro of Fresh Food Concepts and I worked with him for 10 and a half years. That brings me to a year ago, where I decided to break off and open this restaurant.

How would you describe your culinary style?
I cook what I like to eat. Foods that I know that I really enjoy and flavors that I enjoy. I know it’s kind of funny to say that. People will say that they cook French or Italian … but I just say that I cook food the way I like it. I like robust flavors, whether it’s Kalamata olives or a crispy, seared Pittsburg-style steak. I think when people come here to dine they’ll get the full flavor. I like to be healthy, too, and use a lot of vegetables.

What do you cook at home?
I like to cook with my kids. My son’s already making omelets. He’s been doing that for a couple years now, since he was about 7. I like to barbecue. Pork, ribs, steak, chicken, anything outside. I’m an outdoors person. I grill out all year long.

What do you like to do when you’re not running a restaurant?
Play with my kids, that’s the big one. I like to garden, I have a couple of small gardens. I’m a hunter and fisherman, too.

Do you cook the food that you grow and catch?
Oh, absolutely. A true sportsman, you have to go for the whole package. I think it’s really neat to catch a big Walleye and cook it for dinner.

— ANNE

Hicham Chehouani, 37, Iowa City
Owner @ Crepes de Luxe Café

Why did you decide to open a crepe restaurant in Iowa City?
I grew up in Morocco, in Rabat, the capital of Morocco. My mom used to work for a French family as a nanny and they had huge restaurants and they were doing crepes. A friend and I bought a food cart in downtown, and we started doing crepes during the day. People were very interested in crepes. Most of them had seen them on TV, on the Food Channel, or they’d had them when they traveled to Europe. After a while I started looking for local spots because the cart is limited.

When you went from operating a cart to a cafe, what changed?
We have a larger menu. And the style is different. It’s not like grab a crepe, walk down the street, and eat it. When you wrap a crepe, it’s totally different design; it’s just like sandwich. But when you put it on the plate, it’s beautiful.

What crepe do you recommend to a new customer who has never tried one before?
Do they like veggies, or meat, or seafood, or sweet things? If they like veggies, I suggest the ratatouille – it has zucchini, eggplant, onion, cheese, and green pepper. If they like meat, we refer them to the herb chicken – it has aioli sauce, Swiss cheese, and a little bit of spinach or lettuce.

Which ones are your favorites?
I eat almost a crepe a day. My favorite ones are Citrus Burst (a sweet crepe with lemon and powdered sugar) and L’Ocean (a savory crepe with salmon and garlic sauce). I love seafood because I grew up by the ocean.
— ANNE

DETAILS: Crepes de Luxe Cafe, 309 E.
College St. Iowa City; 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
and 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday, 10 a.m. to
9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Friday and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday; (319) 887-2233; www.crepes-de-luxe.com

Juli Walker, 32, Cedar Rapids
Head Cook @ Starlite Room

How long have you been at Starlite?
I’ve been connected to Starlite for a while — my mother-in-law worked here about 50 years ago when the place first opened. Actually, working myself I’ve been here for a couple years. I’ve been cooking for family and friends for over 15 years and love the fast pace environment Starlite brings to the day.

Starlite’s been recognized for a number of awards, correct?
Yes — our hamburgers have been recognized a number of times, including Corridor’s Best Burger (Gazette), Best of Iowa (Icon), Best Hamburger in Cedar Rapids — the burgers were also mentioned in the New York Times.

Where do you think the recognition stems from?
We use a special seasoning in-house, along with the consistency. It helps when people know they can come in and have a great experience with the food, and two years later they’re going to get the same thing.

What do you enjoy about working for a locally owned hot spot?
The place is much more personable than others — more close knit. There’s buy-in from everyone. When things get hectic, my boss will jump right in and start helping out. A lot of places will
never have that advantage. It helps us and
helps the business.

Tell me about your customers.
You can set your watch to our regulars. We have individuals that come in on a regular basis as well as groups that meet weekly. Parties will come in on occasion which is also fun.

What’s your favorite part of life at Starlite?
The pace. The busier for me, the better.

— QUINN

How did you learn to bake?
I started with just decorating cookies at home.
My Grandma did Christmas cookies. She saw how much I liked it and bought me the Wilton books.
This was when I was in elementary school. In high school, I started doing birthday cakes. There were 40 people in my class. Every time someone had a birthday, I would make them a cake, and that was kind of my practicing.

I went to The University of Iowa for business management, and while going to school, I started working here part-time and picked up more skills. Then, right before I graduated, the management position opened up, so I had a job
right out of college.

What do you like about working at a bakery?
The people. We have regular customers that we know by name, which is really fun, especially in a big community like this. I love the customers. And I love the people I work with. There are six people that work at this location, and we’re pretty close-knit and relaxed. My favorite thing to work on here is wedding cakes. I like meeting with the brides and the grooms and talking about what they want their cake to look like. The best thing is when I deliver the cake and sometimes the couple is there taking pictures, and I get to see their reaction to the cake — that’s so rewarding.

What’s popular for wedding cakes this year?
We’re doing a lot of cupcakes now; those have become really popular. For cakes, it’s not the traditional white-on-white. A lot of people like to
do color. Ribbons in cakes are popular, and we’re seeing a lot of brides who want to do fresh flowers on the cake. A lot of couples want the cake to

match the wedding. They’ll bring in pictures of the wedding gown or of their invitations, and ask for a style that mimics that.

What are your most popular cake flavors?
Probably our most popular is the white chocolate mouse with raspberry. That’s popular with both weddings and other occasions. We also do strawberries and cream, which is always a hit. In the summer we do key lime, blueberries and cream, and peaches and cream. Those go over really well because they’re nice and light. For a chocolate cake, we have a double fudge that’s chocolate cake with a fudge ganache, which is my personal favorite. And our cookies and cream is really popular — it has an Oreo mousse in the center, and that seems to go over really well with kids.

And you make more than just cakes, right?
Cake is our main focus, but we’ve branched out a little bit. We do cheesecakes — if we do it in a cake flavor, we can probably make it into a cheesecake, too. We do cookies, brownies and pies. We’ve started doing breakfast pastries. And we’ll do cream puffs and other pastries here and there.

What’s your favorite thing to bake at home?
I love making cookies at home, especially when it’s stormy or cold outside. I don’t do many cakes now that I’ve been working here. You kind of get caked out. But I like doing desserts — coffeecake or cheesecake, anything that’s fun and different and has multiple steps. I like to cook, too, just as much as I like to bake.
— ANNE

Details: Yummy’s Gourmet Cakes, 218 Norcor Ave., Coralville; (319) 351-3545; www.yummys
gourmetcakes.com Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon Saturday

Dave Carey, 41, Cedar Rapids, Owner CR Fieldhouse

Fill-up fee: $6 to $9 for a sandwich
Details: 1140 Blairs Ferry Rd. NE, Cedar Rapids; Happy Hour 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day; (319) 378-6447, on Facebook

H: What inspired you to open up CR Fieldhouse?
DC: It’s something I’ve wanted to do for quite awhile — just a matter of finding the right location and adequate space. I’ve been wanting to open something up on the NE side of town, largely due to the fact I live over here, my kids go to Linn-Mar, a lot of my friends spend a lot of time over here and there is a definite need for something like Fieldhouse on this side of town. A lot of bars and restaurants claim to be a Hawkeye bar, but not to this level.

H: How would you compare the CR Fieldhouse to the Iowa City Fieldhouse?
DC: In terms of atmosphere similarity, zero — the exception being the Hawkeye memorabilia. In simplest terms, CR Fieldhouse is family friendly, whereas Iowa City is more of a night life spot. When I first announced I was opening a Fieldhouse in Cedar Rapids the response was ‘you can’t open a bar in CR like the Iowa City Fieldhouse’ — and I couldn’t have agreed more. CR Fieldhouse has the advantage of being family friendly with a smooth transition into a great night spot as the evening goes on. We have family-oriented deals Sunday to Thursday where you can get one kids meal free for every adult meal purchased, along with Hawkeye Frisbee giveaways.

H: What factors went into play when deciding where and how to open your doors?
DC: Location, parking and square footage were important for CR Fieldhouse. I’m not reinventing the wheel in terms of a business plan, but CR Fieldhouse is unique in the capacity we can handle (329 people) — it’s unlike any place I’ve owned. Our menu is also unique in the sense you have standard stuff like hamburgers, pastas, but can also get a filet mignon — the diverse menu caters to the diverse crowd.

H: How do you feel local business has evolved since you first started out in the restaurant/night life business?
DC: Fifteen years ago, this community was very pro-franchise. It was where everyone would go to eat, forgetting that many times the money you would spend would leave our community benefiting people and communities thousands of miles away. I’ve noticed a great shift in the past 3 to 4 years where people are much more into supporting the local restaurants. They understand money spent in the mom and pop restaurants stays here, benefiting the entire community.

Given you’ve only been open a few weeks, what feedback have you received so far?
DC: People say (the CR Fieldhouse) is something we’ve needed in Cedar Rapids for quite awhile. Love the atmosphere, love the food. Ninety-five percent of comments have been positive.

H: And the other 5 percent?
DC: A few days back a table complained to me that their tenderloin sandwich was taking over the plate — way too big. That’s been about the extent of negative remarks. If that’s what I’m getting in terms of complaints, I’ll take it.

— QUINN

Harriet Woodford, 44, Iowa City
Co-owner @ Leaf Kitchen
You recently expanded to a 32-seat restaurant offering wine, beer and sake. Why?
We had limited seating and it became an issue. Lunch was full, brunch was full, and we were doing private parties for dinners. So we knew people wanted us to do dinner, and if you’re going to dinner you might as well have wine and beer. So far the response has been great. I think people were afraid that our prices would go out of reach, or we’d get rid of all the kitschy kitchen stuff we had around. We tried to combine the new and the old. So far it’s been well-received. And we’re still selling our cookies, and we’re still doing afternoon teas.

Tell me about your afternoon tea.
Just like coffee has its own culture, so does tea. It’s a chance to sit and catch up with a friend. We also have groups, and bridal and baby showers coming in for tea. We serve high tea — you get two finger sandwiches, a fresh scone, a truffle, a mini cake, and a pot of tea for $11 per person — and cream tea, which is a fresh scone and a pot of tea for $7.

What is your food philosophy?
Simple and fresh. We buy probably 80 percent organic, or at least local, or try to. People ask why our food is so good, and it’s really just because it’s fresh. The basis of any good food is fresh food. Our dinners are a Euro-Asian type cuisine. We serve entrees and izakaya-style dishes. Izakaya is the Japanese word for tapas; the food is meant to be shared.

What are your most popular dishes?
I’ve been told that we have the best Hollandaise sauce in town for our salmon Benedicts. For dinner, my favorite thing is our seared beef tataki with sesame dressing served on a bed of lettuce. For lunch we really have great quiches. It’s all good. People are always asking
me what they should get, and I’m like, you really can’t miss with anything. If it wasn’t good, we wouldn’t serve it to anybody.
— ANNE

Shawn Price, 35, Marion

Owner/chef @ Braise

Have you always wanted to cook?
I majored in anthropology. So no, it wasn’t a path I’ve always had. I started cooking in college and found I really enjoyed it. I started working part time in restaurants then headed east to attend a culinary school. After a few years in New York I came back here, worked as a chef and decided to apply what I have learned to my own business, which opened in January 2010.

So what’s your perception of coastal versus Midwest living?
This is a great place for kids. In terms of the business, I miss the accessibility of certain ingredients, but the ability to network and build clientele is a huge benefit.

You talk about the value of local and sustainable foods. How do you practice what you preach?
Buying local has become a trendy thing to do, but it’s going to be a necessity long after the trend fades. Connections I’ve made with local farmers and meat producers is going to makes a huge impact on the freshness of products. Local can be costly but worth it.

What’s your culinary style?
I like to throw in global influence to amplify comfort foods. The Braise menu reflects traditional tastes but with unique additions to turn it up a notch. I have been baking my own bread too.

What has it been like to run your own business?
I have been pleasantly surprised with how supportive people have been. An unexpected challenge is the business side. I’ve always been in the kitchen, so it’s been a learning process.

Where do you and your family go out to eat?
Lincoln Cafe, Zoey’s Pizza, Villa’s Patio and Siamville.

What advice you would give to someone starting their own business?
Ask a lot of questions and seek advice from a couple sources before you spend your money. The more information you have, the better.

— QUINN