OUR STORY
GOURMET THAT GIVES BACK
New Fireside Grill owners focusing on community
By Mary Zielinksi
KALONA — Borge and Shawn Zierke, who became the owners of Kalona's
Fireside Grill this month, plan to be community partners, purchasing as
much locally produced organic products as possible.
"It's how we can sell back into the community," said Shawn, stressing
that the emphasis on a family-focused restaurant not only will remain,
but also will be augmented.
The Fireside Grill's popular lunch specials will stay the same, but there
also will be early bird senior dinner specials.
Chef Borge came to Fireside Grill in December and has added his special
style to the menu.
He said regional cuisine "has continually been my specialty." As a
result, he has a cooking style that incorporates barbecue from the South,
pork from Iowa, Cajun-Creole from Louisiana, freshwater fish from
Minnesota and Iowa, and waterfowl and seafood from the shores of
Maryland.
Borge says he is a "hands-on manager who enjoys the teamwork aspect of a
food service operation." A major aspect of that teamwork will be the fact
Borge and Shawn will take an active role in the operation, with the older
of the couple's five children becoming involved.
Borge comes with more than 18 years of professional cooking and food
service management experience.
Shawn has almost as many years of business and management experience,
including food service.
Another plus is the couple's local roots.
Borge's father has been the tech services veterinarian with DeKalb Feeds
(formerly Yoder Feeds) in Frytown for years, and Shawn's grandparents
owned and operated the Osincup Drug Store in Washington, Iowa, for 39
years. Her mother, Janet Osincup Hurley, is a co-owner of the Fireside
Grill and president of Chef's Pantry & Provisions LLC.
Borge earned an applied associate of science degree from Des Moines Area
Community College and, while at Southeast Missouri State University, was
selected from other Compass chefs in the region to be trained at the
Culinary Institute of America in New York as a Masterworks chef.
When he was in Maryland working as chef at Mason's Restaurant in Easton,
Borge said he had the privilege of cooking for the cast and crew of the
"Wedding Crashers" and "Failure to Launch" movies. He also cooked for
Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld.
Borge has been featured on local television shows and eating guides, and
in newspapers and magazines. His expertise won the University of Iowa
State Room the Ivy Award for food service excellence in 1993, and food
critic and gourmet Mimi Garmezano predicted he would be one of the top
chefs in Iowa in 1995.
At present, the only change is that on Sunday (which features a brunch),
the Grill will close at 3 p.m. rather than 4 p.m.
The larger goal remains to keep Fireside family-focused with an emphasis
on fresh food from as many local sources as possible and great customer
service.
"I really am a front-of-the-house person," said Shawn, who plans to greet
and get to know patrons.
Fireside Grill opened May 6, 2006, in a portion of the former Reifs
Family Center. The building was heavily damaged by fire Sept. 9, 2004.
