Running a Vegetarian Restaurant in Cow Country?

Imagine my excitement when I realized that my own Badger State was home to an exclusively vegetarian restaurant. I recently visited the Cheese Factory Restaurant, located in Wisconsin Dells, a city famous for water parks and family entertainment. I spoke with the Hana, the restaurant manager, and Sage Louise, the chef, about running a vegetarian restaurant.

VeggieHeadOnline: Please give us a brief history of the restaurant. How long has it been around? Did it always serve a vegetarian menu? Why is it called the Cheese Factory?

Hana: The building which houses The Cheese Factory Restaurant was actually once a cheese factory, hence the name. We resurrected the building and it was born again in its present configuration in 1992. We've always served a vegetarian menu.

VHO: I noticed in your advertising that you don't stress that it's a vegetarian cuisine, or even mention it. Does that lead to much confusion when people ask where the steak is on the menu? What kind of reactions do you get when the waitstaff explains that it is a vegetarian menu?

Hana: Indeed we do not advertise or stress vegetarian cuisine because of our location in the heart of Wisconsin's cow country! We are constantly surprising otherwise die-hard meat eaters with the variety of healthy, delicious, satisfying choices of gourmet vegetarian meals. We also include some familiar American choices of food - like really good French fries, baked potatoes, lasagna and pasta dishes for those who simply won't try something different. We served an entire busload of middle American meat-eaters one time, most of whom never figured out the barbecue flavored tempeh we served was NOT meat. The funniest story I ever heard was how one of our waitresses responded when a particularly insistent male customer said in disdain, "Why, there's no meat on your menu!" Her response was to feign total surprise, shock, and horror, and beckon desperately for the Hostess, saying, "Oh My God, you're right, there's no meat on our menu!!!" The customer, of course, started laughing his head off, and ordered something he'd never tried before!

VHO: My dining experience there was just wonderful. My compliments to your chef. Please tell us about her.

Hana: Thank you!! Sage Louise worked in New York City at Dean & DeLuca and was personal assistant to the founding Chef, Felipe Rojas-Lombardi for eight years in the 1980's. Her personal quest for peace of mind brought her to Wisconsin in 1991 to participate at Endeavor Academy, a Christian school for the transformation of your mind through A Course in Miracles. In that same year, a group of fellow students formed a limited partnership to start The Cheese Factory Restaurant, and it fell quite naturally to Sage to head up the project. The Restaurant is now a perfect tool for those on the Course to extend the love in service that is part of their own personal processes at the Academy, and a way for them to financially support themselves.

VHO: I found the menu to offer a wide variety of dishes and the two that I sampled were terrific. I had the Mock Chicken Kiev and I sampled my dining companion's eggplant parmesan pizza, the special of the day. What wonderful creativity! Do you change the menu often? How do you get ideas for specials or particular dishes?

Sage Louise: the menu is really only changed twice a year - at the beginning of the Summer, and in the Fall. The weekly specials come to us in a variety of ways: (1) locally grown seasonal produce provides inspiration; (2) ideas are shared by some of the international students who work at the restaurant; (3) spontaneous creative outsbursts of cooking energy that occur out of the joy of being in the kitchen and working together in the moment; and (4) the miraculous transformation of what originally seemed like errors in recipes into some of our most popular dishes!

Hana: We enjoy a loyal following of locals, as well as visitors from Chicago, Milwaukee and the Twin Cities who own vacation homes in the area. Our busiest time is during the summer, though, of course, when tourists flock by the thousands. We are kid friendly...love them, and have a special vegetarian menu and crayons for them to color while awaiting their meal. Needless to say, we are filled nearly all the time in the summer.

VHO: Another reason I so enjoyed my visit was the atmosphere of the restaurant. It's so lovely on the outside with the deep blue color of the building trimmed by all of the flowers. Inside, it is airy and it gleams with the polished hardwood. It kind of has a nostalgic feel, with the soda shop counter and retro-looking jukebox. The music was a nice touch. It wasn't what I expected a veggie restaurant to look like!

Hana: Thanks! Did you get a chance to see our Starlight Ballroom, where we have dinner and dancing off-season? Or the Bridge, which contains an art gallery and doubles as a waiting area during the summer? We do everything we can to make our restaurant comfortable and different!

VHO: Tell me about the cookbook you have for sale.

Sage Louise: The cookbook came about as a result of the constant stream of requests by customers for our recipes. It was published several years ago and was compiled by all of our chefs from recipes they submitted and from those submitted by international students who had their favorites as well. It contains many of the specials made popular by the local clientele, and a generous selection of incredible desserts (our bakery is very well-known in the area as well).

VHO: Are there any other comments you would like to make?

Hana: Midwestern American cuisine is not normally inclined to vegetarianism - and many unsuspecting visitors to our restaurant have been quite pleasantly surprised to discover that meat substitutes and gourmet vegetarian cuisine is very delicious indeed!! For us, watching our customers delight in a new culinary experience is a very big part of the pleasure we glean in operating in the Wisconsin Dells area.

For more information about the Cheese Factory Restaurant or to order the cookbook, visit www.cookingvegetarian.com