Table for Two

In the first episode of 2024, Jessica sits down at the Table for Two with Dave & Jean Thompson, of District 36, Urban Cellar, Urban Grill and Urban on the Square and the Association's 2023 Restaurateurs of the Year. Technically Dave & Jean are in the process of retiring. The couple has turned over day-to-day operations and management to longtime employees and family but their definition of retirement is not typical. Em...

Building upon both the recognition and reputation he garnered as a standout competitor on Bravo’s Top Chef program, Chef Kevin Scharpf could have easily capitalized on his success and opened a restaurant in a major metropolitan market. But this award-winner instead stayed true to his roots—opening his Brazen Open Kitchen and Bar in Dubuque’s up-and-coming historic Millwork District. Today Chef Kevin’s seasonal menus draw patrons fr...

It was 1970 something when B-Bops Founder Robert Johnson and his cousin faced a dilemma.  Both held car loans and had only one payment saved in the bank.  They needed jobs fast and found two possibilities—one in insurance, the other at a local burger joint.  Bob took the restaurant job and Des Moines will be forever grateful.  He went on to create B-Bop’s, which today has a dozen locations and more on the way.  His success has alwa...

Matt Johnson is a man who has both found, and given, opportunities in the hospitality industry. A director for both the Iowa and National Restaurant Association Boards, he passionately champions hospitality-related issues—from liquor liability insurance to credit card fees. He is also an advocate for people seeking a first job or in need of a second chance. Leveraging the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, he has provided employment to m...

With a culinary resume that would have made opening a fine dining restaurant a logical next step in an already illustrious career, Chef George Migliero surprised a few people.  The award-winning chef, who studied under multiple Michelin-starred French chefs and has served everyone from presidents to Julia Child, purchased a pub. The Boston-native envisioned creating a “Cheers” like place with top shelf cuisine. Now 11 years in, his...

Ana McClain hails from a family with a passion for food.  Her sister is a television chef and her mother attended culinary school just for fun.  However, it was the realm of food and beverage business that drew Ana, a native of Mexico and her husband Quinton, a native of Cedar Rapids, to the Czech Village district of his hometown.  In 2014, they made a significant impact on the area’s post-flood renaissance when they opened Lion Br...

The term black sheep doesn't have to be negative. When Stephanie Mehmen and her friend heard rumors of a century-old flood damaged building about to be demolished, they knew they had to do something. As she envisioned what kind of business it would take to save this beloved building, the thought of a restaurant came to the forefront. And the Black Sheep Social Club was born. Today the restaurant and its staff are attempting to...

When he’s developing menu items Chef Benjamin Smart, Culinary Director for one of Iowa’s most popular breweries keeps one thought in mind – people may come for the beer, but let’s get them to stay for the food. That approach appears to be working as the brewery has just broken ground on their fourth location in Iowa. Not a typical path for an award-winning chef, Smart earned a geoscience degree, but kept feeling called back to the ...

Nina Easley wears many hats: mother, advocate for dyslexic students, and owner of a rural Iowa coffee shop that's helping revitalize her hometown's main street. With deep roots in Earlham, a tiny town just 20 miles west of Des Moines, Nina's decision to open a breakfast spot featuring a secret beignet recipe from her late husband’s family, is the fulfillment of a dream the two had often discussed. Today, Easley'...

16 years ago, Amy and Andy Walsh had a vision for Mickey’s Irish Pub: a true pub environment with elevated beer and gastropub cuisine, where people actually talked to one another. The high school sweethearts had met while working in a restaurant decades earlier and knew what it would take to make a hospitality endeavor work.  They pulled out most of the pub’s televisions, unleashed Andy (a trained chef) and his culinary talents on ...

Jeff Bruning calls himself an “insurance refugee.”  He took a traditional path—graduating high school, then college, then getting a “grown up” job.  But he quickly realized that being behind a desk was not the future he wanted. He took what he thought would be a placeholder restaurant position and found his passion. He also found his people—in the form of creative, business-savvy partners. Together they became Full Court Press and ...

Mike Whalen, President, CEO, and Founder, of the Heart America Group, is well-known by Iowans for many things—his multi-location Machine Shed and Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse Restaurants, envisioning and then creating Wildwood Hills Ranch, an equine therapy camp for at risk youth and veterans suffering from PTSD, as well as his run for federal office as a 1st District Congressional candidate.  However, this multidimensional hospital...

Sammy Mila once was described as having the “most famous hands on YouTube.” The one-time food stylist for publishing giant Meredith Corporation, Sammy’s hands have been featured in countless recipe videos. However, styling food for magazine photoshoots and making how to videos doesn’t bring the same joy that directly serving people does. When a well-established Des Moines bakery/dessert lounge came available for sale, Sammy decided...

When biotech scientist Bethany DeVries left her corporate research position and purchased a boutique wine bar, she set out to replace any sense of wine pretentiousness with wine accessibility. The owner/operator of Iowa’s only self-serve wine bar constantly rotates the 30 to 40 self-serve wines available daily in her establishment, ensuring there’s a profile, taste and price for everyone.  She’s made tasting notes for 10,000 wines,...

LeShawn (Shawnnie) Smith took a leap of faith when she left the corporate world to start a boutique bakery in Cedar Rapids’ Newbo City Market.  She quickly made her mark in the local food scene with toffee butter cookies and lemon pound cake. With her Mama Pearl at her side, she invested both financial and sweat equity into her dream.  However, her dream was nearly squelched by the pandemic.  Because she was a new business, she did...

Award winning chef George Formaro has been speaking the language of food since he was child.  He had the good fortune of being raised in an Italian American home where every dish had a story. But the culinary artist behind Des Moines favorites Centro, Gateway Market, Malo, Zombie Burger, and more doesn’t need a gourmet meal to evaluate a chef.  Chef George says he sees everything he needs to know by the way a chef makes a cheesebur...

Five-time James Beard nominee and 2022 Iowa Chef of the year Joe Tripp takes a seat at the Iowa Restaurant Association’s Table for Two. The owner of Harbinger, Little Brother, and Basic Bird speaks with Jessica Dunker from one of his busy restaurants about ghost kitchens, hyper local ingredients and fare, and the surprising synergy of fusing fresh Iowa ingredients and comfort food concepts with Asian culinary techniques and flavors...