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Chef Wayne Santi, of Mari Copa, Ariz., stirred up the barbecued shrimp Wednesday as Team Gourmet prepared to eat after riding on RAGBRAI.
ANNIE HUMBLE / Courier Staff Photographer
ANNIE HUMBLE / Courier Staff Photographer
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RAGBRAI team brakes for nightly gourmet meals
By ANDREW WIND, Courier Staff Writer
CEDAR FALLS --- At first, Teri Rokusek wasn't so sure about letting 24 sweaty bikers take over her home after a day of riding RAGBRAI.
The idea came via e-mail from Steve Tscherter, president of Lincoln Savings Bank, where Rokusek is a first vice president. He was seeking a volunteer to take in the team of cyclists at the request of an old friend whose daughter is a member.
But what really gave Rokusek pause was that the bikers would be preceded by a six-member crew including three chefs and their helpers. They would arrive in the morning to begin preparing a gourmet dinner. The cyclists and the crew call themselves Team Gourmet.
Rokusek considered the size of her kitchen --- which she thought was way too small --- and didn't even respond. When other possibilities fell through, though, she decided to open her home to Team Gourmet when it arrived in Cedar Falls Wednesday.
She still wasn't sure about the menu: Louisiana-style barbecued shrimp, red lentil and hot Italian sausage soup, antipasti salad served in baked asiago cheese bowls, cranberry balsamic glazed pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes with white cheddar cheese and fried sage leaves, and phyllo dough wrapped asparagus with jalapeno cheese sauce.
"I'm a peanut butter cracker gal," said Rokusek. "Gourmet and I would be the opposite."
After eating the meal, all her uncertainty was gone.
"It was excellent," she said.
Team Gourmet has been riding RAGBRAI for 12 years. It began as a way for chef Wayne Santi of the Chicago area to continue the annual Iowa bike trek after having a heart attack and needing to make changes in his diet. That first year, members of two families made up the team as Santi cooked along the way.
It has grown since then. "Everybody on the team is a friend of somebody who used to be on the team," said Santi, who now lives in the Phoenix area and no longer rides the route.
Team members gather in Chicago on their way to Iowa, but they come from across the country. Each person pays the RAGBRAI registration fee and buys a team jersey. They pay another $650 for expenses like the bus ride, truck rental and food.
The cost to bikers is offset by sponsors including Heineken, Amstel Light and the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Atlantic, which supplied a variety of drinks. Chicago-based Wine Styles was another sponsor, providing wine to go with every meal.
Along with the bikers and crew, Rokusek was allowed to invite some guests to the feast. Santi expected to feed about 40 people.
The truck that backed into Rokusek's driveway Wednesday contained three freezers packed full of meat, seafood, cheese and other food that could be purchased wholesale in Chicago. Everything else needed to prepare the meals --- from utensils to propane burners --- also could be found in the truck.
"We're really self-sufficient," said Santi. "We have a complete kitchen and pantry in the truck."
Vegetables and other perishables are purchased at grocery stores along the way. By 10:30 a.m., the crew was hauling the day's ingredients into the kitchen or to a table set up in the garage and was starting its work.
In the kitchen, veteran crew member Beverly Ebenroth was washing piles of asparagus and leaf lettuce in the sink. Her husband, Larry, was frying bacon on a burner in the garage.
The first three Team Gourmet cyclists arrived at Rokusek's about 3:30 p.m., with two more pulling in 10 minutes later. Cooking crew members were in the middle of a labor-intensive job: wrapping bundles of asparagus topped with jalapeno cheese sauce in phyllo dough.
"This is like driving up a hill," said Santi.
"With a 40 mile per hour headwind," added Patrick Crane, a chef in his first year on the team.
"This is not going on the menu again," said Santi.
Wanda Garrity, the third chef, was baking thin patties of asiago cheese in the oven. Then she formed them using the bottom of two small stainless steel bowls to create cheese cups for the salad.
At 6:30 p.m., everyone gathered in a circle in the front yard for introductions, followed by a few words about the food from Santi.
"The theme today is spicy, so everything is going to be a little spicy," he said.
That was fine with at least two of the local guests.
"The shrimp was outstanding and the sauce --- whatever was in that sauce," said Randy Peters of Reinbeck.
"You have to talk about the asparagus," said Tony Burns of Cedar Falls, raving about how it was triple wrapped in phyllo dough. "That was the most beautiful vegetable."
"I find the menu quite inventive," said Allie Fuleky, of Mill Valley, Calif., in her second year with Team Gourmet. "It's something you wouldn't find in a restaurant."
"He does a lot of new stuff that I haven't had before," said Elise Naughton, of Durango, Colo, a five-year veteran of the team. "But I haven't had anything that Wayne's made that I don't like." The 20-year-old is the youngest rider this year.
The oldest is 71-year-old Cal Nykanen of Chicago, who has been riding with the team since 1995.
"The team, I guess, is what keeps me coming back," he said. "It's just a fun group, and the people you stay with over the week, it's just wonderful."
Carrie Santi, Wayne's daughter, said RAGBRAI hasn't changed in the years she's been riding it.
"It's a wonderful way to see the Midwest," said the San Francisco-area resident. "There's a great spirit about it."
Carrie also commented on the friendliness of the Iowans she has encountered, including her host for the evening.
"I met Teri for 30 seconds, and I know that I'm welcome in her home," she said.
For her part, Rokusek was feeling "that whole sense of community thing" with the yard full of people she had just met.
"Even though they're from California and Chicago and Colorado, it's like we're all from Iowa tonight."
Contact Andrew Wind at (319) 291-1507 or andrew.wind@wcfcourier.com.
The idea came via e-mail from Steve Tscherter, president of Lincoln Savings Bank, where Rokusek is a first vice president. He was seeking a volunteer to take in the team of cyclists at the request of an old friend whose daughter is a member.
But what really gave Rokusek pause was that the bikers would be preceded by a six-member crew including three chefs and their helpers. They would arrive in the morning to begin preparing a gourmet dinner. The cyclists and the crew call themselves Team Gourmet.
Rokusek considered the size of her kitchen --- which she thought was way too small --- and didn't even respond. When other possibilities fell through, though, she decided to open her home to Team Gourmet when it arrived in Cedar Falls Wednesday.
She still wasn't sure about the menu: Louisiana-style barbecued shrimp, red lentil and hot Italian sausage soup, antipasti salad served in baked asiago cheese bowls, cranberry balsamic glazed pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes with white cheddar cheese and fried sage leaves, and phyllo dough wrapped asparagus with jalapeno cheese sauce.
"I'm a peanut butter cracker gal," said Rokusek. "Gourmet and I would be the opposite."
After eating the meal, all her uncertainty was gone.
"It was excellent," she said.
Team Gourmet has been riding RAGBRAI for 12 years. It began as a way for chef Wayne Santi of the Chicago area to continue the annual Iowa bike trek after having a heart attack and needing to make changes in his diet. That first year, members of two families made up the team as Santi cooked along the way.
It has grown since then. "Everybody on the team is a friend of somebody who used to be on the team," said Santi, who now lives in the Phoenix area and no longer rides the route.
Team members gather in Chicago on their way to Iowa, but they come from across the country. Each person pays the RAGBRAI registration fee and buys a team jersey. They pay another $650 for expenses like the bus ride, truck rental and food.
The cost to bikers is offset by sponsors including Heineken, Amstel Light and the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Atlantic, which supplied a variety of drinks. Chicago-based Wine Styles was another sponsor, providing wine to go with every meal.
Along with the bikers and crew, Rokusek was allowed to invite some guests to the feast. Santi expected to feed about 40 people.
The truck that backed into Rokusek's driveway Wednesday contained three freezers packed full of meat, seafood, cheese and other food that could be purchased wholesale in Chicago. Everything else needed to prepare the meals --- from utensils to propane burners --- also could be found in the truck.
"We're really self-sufficient," said Santi. "We have a complete kitchen and pantry in the truck."
Vegetables and other perishables are purchased at grocery stores along the way. By 10:30 a.m., the crew was hauling the day's ingredients into the kitchen or to a table set up in the garage and was starting its work.
In the kitchen, veteran crew member Beverly Ebenroth was washing piles of asparagus and leaf lettuce in the sink. Her husband, Larry, was frying bacon on a burner in the garage.
The first three Team Gourmet cyclists arrived at Rokusek's about 3:30 p.m., with two more pulling in 10 minutes later. Cooking crew members were in the middle of a labor-intensive job: wrapping bundles of asparagus topped with jalapeno cheese sauce in phyllo dough.
"This is like driving up a hill," said Santi.
"With a 40 mile per hour headwind," added Patrick Crane, a chef in his first year on the team.
"This is not going on the menu again," said Santi.
Wanda Garrity, the third chef, was baking thin patties of asiago cheese in the oven. Then she formed them using the bottom of two small stainless steel bowls to create cheese cups for the salad.
At 6:30 p.m., everyone gathered in a circle in the front yard for introductions, followed by a few words about the food from Santi.
"The theme today is spicy, so everything is going to be a little spicy," he said.
That was fine with at least two of the local guests.
"The shrimp was outstanding and the sauce --- whatever was in that sauce," said Randy Peters of Reinbeck.
"You have to talk about the asparagus," said Tony Burns of Cedar Falls, raving about how it was triple wrapped in phyllo dough. "That was the most beautiful vegetable."
"I find the menu quite inventive," said Allie Fuleky, of Mill Valley, Calif., in her second year with Team Gourmet. "It's something you wouldn't find in a restaurant."
"He does a lot of new stuff that I haven't had before," said Elise Naughton, of Durango, Colo, a five-year veteran of the team. "But I haven't had anything that Wayne's made that I don't like." The 20-year-old is the youngest rider this year.
The oldest is 71-year-old Cal Nykanen of Chicago, who has been riding with the team since 1995.
"The team, I guess, is what keeps me coming back," he said. "It's just a fun group, and the people you stay with over the week, it's just wonderful."
Carrie Santi, Wayne's daughter, said RAGBRAI hasn't changed in the years she's been riding it.
"It's a wonderful way to see the Midwest," said the San Francisco-area resident. "There's a great spirit about it."
Carrie also commented on the friendliness of the Iowans she has encountered, including her host for the evening.
"I met Teri for 30 seconds, and I know that I'm welcome in her home," she said.
For her part, Rokusek was feeling "that whole sense of community thing" with the yard full of people she had just met.
"Even though they're from California and Chicago and Colorado, it's like we're all from Iowa tonight."
Contact Andrew Wind at (319) 291-1507 or andrew.wind@wcfcourier.com.
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