Aunt Maude’s
By Ellen Walsh
Photgraphy By Steve Aja

Chef Kurt Chausse of Aunt Maude’s Restaurant lists Julia Child as one of his main influences. As a kid, he would huddle around the TV with his grandmother to watch Child’s legendary cooking show. But he was not initiated into the kitchen world until the age of thirteen when he took a dishwashing job in Blackstone, Massachusetts. Encouraged by the restaurant’s cook, Chausse soon graduated from the sink to the stove. By the time he was in his early twenties, he had worked in several restaurants through out Massachusetts and New Hampshire. After attending culinary school at Des Moines Area Community College, Chausse finally landed in Ames, Iowa where he is now corporate chef for three restaurants: Aunt Maude’s Restaurant, O’Malley & McGee’s and The Cafe.

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Chausse prefers locally grown ingredients-- not only for the sake of freshness and taste, but for the sake of not supporting large agriculture corporations. As Chausse puts it, he is doing his part to, “keep corporations from taking over the world.”

Chef Recipes
Grilled Eden Natural Pork Chop with Parsnip Mash with Forestiere Sauce
Heirloom Tomatoes Panganella Salad