ONLY CRACKED PEPPER WILL DO

By Katherine Tweed

Yummy. That’s the best word to describe the experience of eating and being at the Cracked Pepper in southwest Fargo, 4955 17th Ave. S.

Angeline VonBank, of the famous Buffalo, N.D. VonBank foodies, creates fresh meals six days a week from the best ingredients she can find to satisfy her own desire to have a familyfriendly food and home environment.

Her menu changes daily. She listens to her customers and incorporates their suggestions into the menu. Right now, soup from scratch is popular. Well, everything from scratch is popular.

At lunch, you can order the entrée of the day, sandwiches, soups and salads. The fresh- baked bread and desserts complete your meal.

Her four sisters call her Angie. They’ve all been in the food business, helping their parents at Clem and Hazel’s Corner Café in Buffalo.

VonBank did not go directly into the café business. She graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead with a major in business administration. She knew she always wanted her own restaurant.

She prepared herself. VonBank has worked as a cake decorator, doughnut fryer, prep cook, line cook, supervisor, sous chef, pizza cook and dessert baker.

While she enjoyed everything she learned while working at other people’s places, she still wanted to have her own café.

When she did a vision board to plan her career, she had a large family table on it. In the Cracked Pepper, a large family table welcomes folks to sit by the fireplace and enjoy their meal.

The café itself has grown with the theory that the business will decide what it will do. VonBank listens.

Many of the furnishings came from the Buffalo Café. Mom Hazel will show guests a napkin holder with the Buffalo Café’s name. Dishes and other furnishings are incorporated. Hazel is also a champion potato peeler who helps for large or special orders – as well as an all-around inspiration through love, support and sharing recipes.

An Irish flag sits at the end of the lunch counter to honor Grandmother Margaret Muldoon VonBank, the best gramma ever. Art by nephews hangs on the wall and VonBank is waiting for creations from her two younger nieces.

Her brother-in-law made the green recycling and serving cart. Her uncle fixed a bistro table, creating and welding a shamrock shape tabletop. An older niece works the counter at lunch. VonBank cooks and plans, inviting family, friends and customers to be part of the home-style atmosphere.

With every daily menu change, every special cookie or cupcake, fresh salads and her favorite soups, VonBank always remembers that the yummy food is part of an environment she created.

Eating at the Cracked Pepper means walking into warmth, dining on love-cooked food and feeling at home. You can read the daily menu in advance at crackedpepperdaily.com. Closed Sunday, the hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Oh, and on your table you will not find pepper shakers. You will find cracked pepper grinders. Add your own touch to your food – simply delicious.