Daniel Peterson wasn’t actually looking for a new full-time job.  He had been happily serving up fare such as elk, bison, and trout at lodges and resorts in Jackson Hole, Wyoming for the last 13 years.  He wasn’t looking for a change, he was just taking a vacation.  

“I get a month and a half every fall and every spring just to go travel and relax,” he explains.  “So I came back here and I kind of needed a job just to keep me busy.”

Peterson grew up in the area and is a graduate of Iowa Mennonite School, now Hillcrest Academy.  His parents live in Kalona, and when he came back to visit last fall, he found temporary work in the kitchen at Kalona Brewing Company.  

“After that month was over, I had to go back out west, and then this spring did the same thing.  And next thing you know, I’m stuck here,” he laughs.

Kalona Brewing Company’s new head chef says, “I’m excited to see what the future brings with me here.  Once we get all staffed, I am looking forward to putting out some food maybe people around here haven’t had before.”

He’s especially interested in trying out some Asian fusion dishes.  

“They’re crazy ideas, but the flavors come together, and the textures and the colors.  Everything aligns so much on the plate that everything just pops perfectly, so I’m looking forward to doing some stuff like that,” he says.

“Tuscan Moon has pretty good food, and I’d like to try to give them a run for their money,” he adds.  

The scale of service in Kalona might be an adjustment for Peterson; at Jackson Lake Lodge in the heart of Grand Teton National Park, they served 5,000 to 10,000 guests a day.  

“You’re putting out nice steaks, burgers, pastas, in rapid-fire non-stop motion,” he says.  But at the end of the day, Peterson felt a sense of accomplishment, and he hopes to bring some of those western-style dishes like buffalo and elk to the table locally.  

General Manager Shauna McKnight says the new chef will influence some of the menu, but “we have a few standards,” she says, that will always remain, such as cheese curds and woodfired pizzas.  

At the end of the day, Peterson is grateful to be back in Kalona, and even though it’s only been a few weeks since accepting his new role, he’s run into old friends and teachers who are impressed that he is doing what he said he wanted to do at a younger age.  

And mostly, he is grateful to be able to spend more time with his parents.  

“My brothers and I were adopted, and they kind of showed us what love is,” he says.  “I want to repay the favor of being there for them.”