Page 42 - The Peorian, Vol 3 Issue 2

42 thePeorian.com
Personal Profile
SPICE RACK
Seasoned by a sweet work ethic,
Mohlenbrink’s business is cooking
By Terry Bibo
On a sub-zero
Monday in late
January, Travis
Mohlenbrink hosted a wine
dinner for 70 people at his Salt
restaurant in Peoria Heights.
Winds were wailing. Travel
was treacherous. Schools that
would have been open were
closed. Yet a restaurant that
should have been closed was
open, and not for business.
Mohlenbrink was holding
a fundraiser for the St. Jude
Midwest Affiliate. Patrons braved
the weather to provide $4,400-
plus; he kicked in to round off the
total.
“One night, a few hours, $5,000
to St. Jude,” he mused the next
morning. “That’s a successful
night in my eyes.”
And that fits with his motto,
“Do it the hard way.” In part, he
means a unique twist on familiar
foods, which make life a little
easier for everyone else. (Think:
Oreo doughnuts or gourmet
macaroni and cheese.)
Coupled with a businessman’s
eye for the creative possibilities to
be found in a simple spice rack,
that motto may underlie the more
intriguing restaurants to open
here in recent years.
Mohlenbrink is the owner/
operator/general contractor
for Cracked Pepper, Salt and
the recently opened Sugar.
He considers those seasoning-
themed venues as appetizers,
so to speak, for what could be
termed the main course: Thyme,
a still-evolving craft-beer and
food-forward pub he hopes to
open in the Warehouse District
by year’s end.
“In my opinion, this will be
the flagship operation,” he says.
“I want their jaws to drop when
they come in. And the food
should speak for itself.”
Now 38, Mohlenbrink could
be the older, more businesslike
brother of actor James Wolk. A
native of Donovan, Ill., near the
Indiana border, he worked in the
hotel/restaurant industries for a
decade. Perhaps most notably,
he served stints with Restaurants
America in Chicago and St.
Louis Bread Co., which is better
known here as Panera. That
big-time background has proven
invaluable since he founded
Cracked Pepper as a sideline in
2005.
Geared to “catering, corporate-
style,” Mohlenbrink and a
couple of helpers provided
a steady stream of boxed
lunches and snacks for clients