PENNY ALLRED, co-owner & Chef of TWO BIT STREET CAFE located at 126 Historic 25th Street 393-1225

CRAIG STEINMETZ Owner & Chef of CLUB RESTAURANT located at 172 Historic 25th Street 395-0166

JUNE ROBINSON with her son COLBY Owner & chefs of CEDERS RESTAURANT located at 1967 Washington Blvd 393-1414

ARLAN GAGESTEIN co-owner & Chef of PEDDLER'S located at 111 Historic 25th Street 394-1912

STREET: What urged you to open your own restaurant?
Penny-Two Bit Street Cafe: Friends & other people, plus I think a slight case of insanity.
Craig-Club Restaurant: To be able to offer another choice of upscale dinners. Also, to give more variety to 25th Street.
June-Ceders Restaurant: Menopause-I lost my mind in 2002 and here I am.
Arlan-Peddler’s: Almost everybody I knew that had sampled my cooking at one time or another, but had absolutely no idea what opening a restaurant means, had at one time or another said I should open a restaurant. It took just one friend to say I found a buiding. Let’s look at it.

STREET: Did you cook as a child?
Penny: Very Carefully. I especially remember the pudding cake I made out of Nestlé's Quick and water. I put it in a shoebox to bake it and thought it would cook just fine in the drawer of my child's play cupboard. Imagine my surprise when it didn't: guess I thought it would work like an Easy Bake Oven.
Craig: Yes, I started out grilling as a young teenager and helpng my mother prepare dinners. June: Yes, but I don’t think I ever was a child.
Arlan: Never. My mother was an “old school” mother. She cooked three meals a day and I never took part in any of it.

STREET: What is your favorite item on your own menu?
Penny: Hmm...who gets time to eat? When I do, most everything. When we wrote the menu we put together all the things we like to eat in hopes that our customers will like it as well. Craig: The sesame crusted salmon with the soy ginger glaze and our wasabi drizzle is among my favorites.
June: Oh please - You mean to eat?
Arlan: Anything with fresh halibut.

STREET: What is your favorite food to prepare?
Penny: Fish sauteed “finished in the pan:” dishes.
June: Pasta, fish, desserts.
Arlan: I have a fondness for fish. I love to eat it. I love too blend dozens of components to create an experience for the consumer where they may say wow!

STREET: What item (s) are you most known for?
Penny: The Creamy Greek Pasta, Salmon Cakes and many of the Grilled Sandwiches.
June: Brownies, gorgi, cream puffs, souvlaki, dolmathes.
Arlan: In my catering business the most requested and talked aboout items are my hors d’oeuvres.

STREET: What are/is your favorite restaurant(s), other than your own, that you enjoy dining in regularly?
Penny: The Red Iguana, Rivers, and Café Trang in Salt Lake. I haven't had a chance to try very many restaurants in Ogden. I only recently moved back here after 20 years.
Craig: Athenian, Union Grill, Frescos, Shin Sei Sushi Bar.
June: Market Street Grill.
Arlan: I don’t have one. I love ethnic foods and usually it’s just what I am in the mood for.

STREET: What is the most embarrasing moment in your chef experience?
Penny: The most embarrassing moment really hasn't happened to me yet because I'm still new. I can hardly wait! I've had things take longer than anticipated or not turn out quite right. I recently made my Racy Rum Cake and cut into it only to find it hollow in the center. It still tasted good so I just filled it with whipped cream. Who knew?
Craig: Missing an ingredient when doing a cooking class. June: Catering to the South Ogden Fire Dept, and that’s all you need to know.
Arlan: I am still waiting for it to happen. In the final hours before a catering function I’m always convinced this is going to be the worst one ever.

STREET: What is the most unusual comment ever heard in your restaurant?
Penny: It probably was when someone asked if they lay down underneath one of the tables to remember what the place looked like back in the good old days. Boy if these walls could talk!
Craig: A customer said he wished our restaurant was in Park City where they live.
June: Do you eat the whole grape leaf?

STREET: What is the funniest thing that has ever happened in your restaurant?
Penny: I wouldn't really call it funny ha-ha; but we do have some funny things happen that we attribute to our ghost.
Craig: Somebody accidently received the wrong entree at dinner. They loved it and didn’t even notice it was not what they ordered.
June: My hard of hearing staff, deaf actually, on two occasions accidently locked my husband and the Coke delivery man down in the cellar. It was a while before anyone heard them. It was funny for me, but not for them.

STREET: What trade secret or favorite ingredient in your cooking can you share with us?
Penny: Make it FRESH and MAKE IT TASTE GOOD.
Craig: The extra whisk.
June: Garlic and butter.
Arlan: Never buy fish on sale. There is a reason they are trying to blow it out the door. The fresher the better. For a less fishy taste trim the belly fat off your filets.

STREET: Is there one of your recipes you would be willing to share with our readers?
Penny: I would tell you but then I'd have to kill you. (You know the saying). I really don't use many recipes per se.
Craig: The Club Restaurant House Rissotto/. Arborio rice 2.5 cups, Olive Oil 3 oz., White wine dry, 3 oz, yellow onion 1/4 cup diced, chicken stock 5 cups, thyme 1/2 tsp, tumeric a pinch. In soup pot, brown lightly the rice with the oil until golden. Add onion, cook a few minutes. Add the thyme and tumeric. Add the stock in 3-4 increments, about one cup at a time until absorbed. Take off heat, stir in cheese and butter, serve.
June: Ranch dressingbuttermilk, mayo, package of Hidden Valley Ranch, mix and eat. Our customers love it.
Arlan: I always tell people they can’t have the recipe but I will make as much as they want.

Photos by Adam Alfaro