Salsa Guy Cafe

Those who go back 24+ years with me know the humble origins of Salsa Guy Cafe was a table at the Noelridge Park Farmers Market. It was all about LOCAL and my story involves so many of YOU who were dependably there and faithful to supporting my local, small dream that blossomed into something amazing and BIG!!

Meet my friend Abby from ABC Acres all Iowa-made Specialty Food and Gift shop. I haven’t known her that long but I do know her story! She has amazing products and is working day and night, 7 days a week to make her dream blossom too.

I wanna share her small business with you and help her move forward. Please follow them on Facebook and make a trip to her gift shop at the farm!

6657 Mt. Vernon Road SE. This is just across the street from the former Squaw Creek School. Farm fresh eggs, produce, plants and hello: RAW MILK that I use to make amazing batches of Kefir and homemade Greek Yogurt! (For my personal use only - FYI).

Store hours vary each week so you’ll always want to check in on the FB page for her schedule AND the list of farmers markets she attends…..Just like ME back in the day!

Spend $30 at her farm store and you’ll get a FREE SANDWICH COUPON for Salsa Guy Cafe worth up to $15 dollars! She already has the coupons and is ready to wow you with her great inventory!!

For this week her farm store hours are Wednesday, 2 until 6 p.m. and then Thursday from 3-7 p.m.
And of course, tell them Salsa Guy says hello!

Wishing Joe Winters KCRG a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY today! We go WAY BACK and I’m honored to call him a good friend…

20 years ago, in the earliest days of the Downtown Farmers market, Joe stopped by my stall one morning before he went on air. We’re not allowed to sell to the public before 7:30 a.m. but I considered Joe a VIP (which he is) and I let him buy an Avocado Ranch Dressing and a jar of BBQ Sauce.

Unknown to me, Joe went live on the air just minutes later and showcased both products along with his morning weather update.

You could hear the roar of approaching footsteps in the distance. MOBS of people showed up at our stall in the next hour and for the next couple of months, I could barely keep those products in stock! I should probably name a product after Joe soon. I’ll start brainstorming…..

Joe, hope it was an amazing day. I forecast 100% chance this will be your best year yet!

It comes with the blessing of knowing so many wonderful people! I was at my 3rd funeral this morning in the last 7 days when a text came in from a dear friend informing me the 4th funeral is next week.

Long Post Alert: Trust me, this one is worth the time……

I have many stories to share with you over the next several days but for today, I want to tell you about my friend Mike, aka “Uncle Mike” to so many in this Community.

Mike was a friend going way back to the Pack 3 Cub Scout days at Grant Wood School. It just happens that with 135 boys, we were the largest Cub Scout pack in the United States. It was a wonderful chapter of my life as I had the honor of serving all these families as the Cubmaster.

Many life-long friendships were formed and Mike was certainly one of the best. He was a man that you would want in your foxhole if there was a war. Smart is an understatement, he was brilliant, but also soft hearted and KIND. Mike served in the Navy as a medical technician and then went on to earn degrees in Microbiology and Chemistry.

He went on to earn 3 unique patents as a research microbiologist and consultant. He loved western re-enactments and would have been perfect had he ever been cast in a western movie!

This is where the story turns and becomes very profound and personal to me.

Only one year into my journey of producing and selling Fresh Summer Salsa, the Iowa legislature enacted new food safety regulations that required salsa vendors at the local farmers markets to secure a food production plant license along with forms, fees and inspections.

It basically wiped out the entire field of home-based salsa makers in a single day!

One of the new regulations required pH testing of all batches of products made. The local lab here in Cedar Rapids charged ONLY $75 for one test of one pint. That cost alone put my new successful business at risk…..

I called my friend Mike…

Mike was the “calvary” that rode to my rescue. Within one day, he made time to work with me, let me borrow a $10k commercial grade pH testing meter and helped me develop and write my HACCP plan that allowed me to test every single batch of product made on site and instantly! Two weeks later, I had my own pH meter from a scientific instrument supplier and I’ll never forget the look on the inspectors face when he showed up for my license inspection and not only did I pass with flying colors, but the Salsa Guy model for food safety was something they encouraged other plants around the state to adopt in their own operations!

Mike and I had a total “nerd out” on food science, which I was already well versed at, since after all, I’m the oldest son of a retired Apollo engineer so I was blessed with a science brain and obviously, a passion for great food!

Okay, as Mike would often say, ”Let’s throw another log on the fire” because this story now pivots to me sharing with you the newest menu item I’m introducing at Salsa Guy Cafe starting tomorrow and Uncle Mike was a part of this story too!

Can you imagine how one might feed 135 Cub Scouts, their siblings and parents when we embarked on our regular camping trips?

We would feed 300 people on some of these occasions and there was a traditional breakfast dish that was required fare at every Pack 3 camp out.

Mountain Man!

Think blazing fire, hot coals, Dutch ovens, eggs, onion, bacon, sausage, potatoes,,cheese, more cheese and then topped off with you guessed it, Fresh Summer Salsa! Allow to cook for 50 minutes and you had some of the best breakfast fare to ever pass through your belly!

Mike would always be up early and ready to help in any way possible. We drank a lot of pre-dawn coffee back in those days while making breakfast for the MOB!

Starting tomorrow morning at Salsa Guy Cafe, we will start serving ”Uncle Mikes Mountain Man Skillets” each day on our breakfast menu.

It comes on a cast iron skillet with a bubbling sauce that will make you want to lick it up but please don’t, that cast iron is scorching hot!

I will hang up a picture of the Pack 3 Cub Scouts in our entry tomorrow for everyone to see, notably the boys who are now grown men with their own families!

Uncle Mike, what an honor to know you and call you my friend.

See you at the campfire again someday…