top of page

In the late 70s, during my junior and senior years of high school, I cooked almost 40 hours/week at Dakota House Cafe (all shifts). 

 

While going to school at Dakota State College from 1979 to 1983, I worked part-time jobs at Dairy Queen and the Dakota State College Trojan Center Snack Bar.   Also during that time, I was also assigned to Battery B, 1st Battalion, 147th Field Artillery (South Dakota Army National Guard) and often helped the cooks in the kitchen during guard drill weekends and annual training.

 

In 2000, while assigned to the 842nd Engineer Company (South Dakota Army National Guard), I received Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) training and became qualified as a Food Service Specialist.

 

In the mid to late 2000s, I became more interested in cooking and took it more seriously after watching many Food Network programs on TV. 

 

In 2011, I began taking pictures of some of my dishes with my cell phone. 

 

In 2014, I came up with, what I believe to be, a great restaurant idea.

LUNCH & DINNER

BREAKFAST

2.  EGG SCRAMBLES

3.  HOMEMADE HASH BROWNS

4.  OMELETTES

5.  POACHED & OVER-EASY

6.  SWEET BREAKFAST

Cooking

January 2017 - My son really scarfed down this food.  It's fried walleye, spinach leaves, ketchup and baked potato with butter and sour cream.   

Below is a collection of picture slideshows of some of the food I cooked since 2011.  I created a menu for each category of food, so if you want to go straight to the slideshow of a specific category, just click on the item in the menu.  To view all items, just keep scrolling down.

MENU

 

BREAKFAST (Usually served before noon, but not always):

 

1.  BREAKFAST TORILLAS

2.  EGG SCRAMBLES

3.  HASH BROWN PIZZA

4.  OMELETTES

5.  POACHED & OVER EASY

6.  SWEET BREAKFAST

 

LUNCH & DINNER (Served when I feel like cooking):

 

1.  BEEF

2.  CHICKEN

3.  PORK

4.  FISH & SEAFOOD

5.  VEGGIES

6.  PIZZA DOUGH & POT PIES

7.  KID'S MENU

8.  DESSERT

 

RESTAURANT IDEAS

1.  WORLD GRILL

2.  SOUP SANDWICH

 

1.  BREAKFAST TORTILLAS

1.  BEEF

2.  CHICKEN

3.  PORK

4.  FISH & SEAFOOD

5.  VEGGIES

6.  PIZZA DOUGH AND POT PIES

7.  KID'S MENU

8.  DESSERT

RESTAURANT IDEAS

There are far fewer restaurants in the small town of Pierre (population of 14,000) than what I enjoyed in Rapid City (population of 74,000) before moving to Pierre in 2005.  I often think how nice it would be to have other choices, so I came up with a few ideas below.

1.  WORLD GRILL

I thought about what the ideal restaurant would be.  I like variety, so having a place that serves food from around the world would be good.  I came up with a name, "World Grill".  I really believe this type of restaurant would be popular in Pierre, because all the locals say they wish they had more choices.  For that matter, I think it would be popular anywhere.

 

People could go to World Grill and eat food from a different country every day and not get bored with the food.   You can't say that about any other restaurant here, because they limit their menu to only one theme (ie., pizza, burgers, etc.) or one country (ie, Mexican, Italian, Chinese, etc.).  There might be a few people who enjoy the same food every day, but most people want variety. 

 

Below is a rough draft of my World Grill lunch/dinner menu.  In development, I scoured the internet for the top 100 dishes from around the world.  Then I narrowed it down to the ones I thought were the best.

 

I haven't researched food costs to set accurate/fair prices for each menu item.  Prices are just thrown in there to make it look like a real menu.   

 

The World Grill logo is my rendition of the world evaporating on a hot grill.

LUNCH & DINNER MENU

2.  SOUP SANDWICH

I thought of another restaurant idea that serves soup and sandwiches at an affordable price.  I came up with the name, "Soup Sandwich" as an homage to my Army days where I often heard (and used) the term, referring to something that was messed up.  I kind of like the name, even though it has somewhat of a negative connotation.  To me, it describes exactly what is served and I also like the fact that the name has a story/joke behind it.

 

Below is my sample menu, again with fictitious prices.

Breakfast
Scrambles
Hashbrowns
Omelettes
Poached
Sweet
Lunch-Dinner
Chicken
Pork
Fish
Veggies
Pizza-Dough
Kids-Menu
Dessert
Restaurant-Ideas
Soup-Sandwich
bottom of page