Mel Whitmer hopes to bring a more adult atmosphere to DeKalb with the opening of his new restaurant, Tapalaluna. Whitmer hired award-winning chef Randall Rodriguez to oversee the restaurant. The Northern Star had an opportunity to sit down with Rodriguez.

Northern Star: How long have you been cooking?
Randall Rodriguez: Thirty–eight years. I started with my father when I was 14.

NS: Where did you get your training to be a chef?
RR: Through my father, who was a graduate from the Culinary Institute of America, then I also went to Washburn.

NS: How long have you been with the O’Leary group?
RR: About six months, seven months. One of my sales people at Cisco told me they were a growing company looking for a corporate chef as they opened up restaurants.

NS: Was there a special dish that won you the Bon Appetit Magazine Iron Chef award in 2004-05?
RR: I did three dishes for the first one, and one of them you will see on the Tapalaluna menu: vested shrimp. And then we did a roasted ahi tuna lasagna, not the kind of lasagna you are used to. I layered it with roasted vegetables .. and then I did a sushi tapinaki to win the first one.

NS: What are your plans for Tapalaluna as a chef?
RR: To wow DeKalb with the food. I look forward to that. I have done it here [O’Leary’s] with some people already because I’ve been putting dishes out that are going to be going on Tapalaluna’s menu.

NS: What restaurants have you worked in?
RR: Downtown Chicago. I started as an executive chef down at O’Neil’s Bar and Grill and worked my way up to a corporate chef there.

NS: Is there a chef that you look up to?
RR: Bobby Flay, Dean Fearing, Stephen Pyles. They are all like southwestern fusion. That’s what I really like doing. You will see that in the Tapalaluna menu.

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