For 36 years Gailya Cherry has been coming to the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market every Friday and Saturday to sell her corn, squash, onions, and best of all, her tomatoes. People come from all over the area to buy her famous tomatoes, which she says are some of the only homegrown tomatoes that can be found during the summer. Although times have been rough lately, Cherry has not been deterred. Her consistency makes her a favorite at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market, and if you take a trip down that way, be sure to check out her wares.

Creative Loafing: How far you drive to get here?

Gailya Cherry: Denver, N.C. That’s where the farm’s at. We raise horses out there. About 65 of them.

What sells best out here?

Tomatoes. That’s the most popular. We sell them $1.69 a pound. We ought to charge more than that but other people have them out here and if you charge too high, people notice. People look at prices. But we’ve been coming so long that people know that we have the best homegrown tomatoes in the summer, so they’ll pay. They pay a $1.69 rather than pay $.99 and have them shipped from somewhere.

Looks like you have a lot of stuff here. Does the Farmers Market provide you with tables?

Well, most of the stuff we’re able to store since the beginning of the season. But most is our stuff. The Farmers Market only provides one table per vendor.

Tela Loli knows her business. Albanian-born Loli came to America blind to the fact that she would soon become manager and co-owner of the nationally acclaimed breakfast restaurant, Le Peep. In the seven years that she and the restaurant have been around, Loli has made it her goal to make sure that everyone who enters Le Peep’s doors has a pleasing, and filling, food experience. With a large menu featuring delicious breakfasts, brunches and lunches, Le Peep has a lot to offer, all before its 2:30 p.m closing. Even when the doors of the restaurant are locked, Loli makes sure that Charlotte stays full and happy by offering catering for those craving Le Peep’s unique hospitality and mouthwatering menu for parties and events.

Creative Loafing: Did you come to America with the intention of entering into the food industry?

Tela Loli: The truth, no. I love cooking and taking care of the customers. I’m a very friendly person. If I were in any other business, it would be accounting, so mixing my love of food and pleasing the customers with my business background works. I never thought that I would be in the food industry, but working with Le Peep gave me a feel for how it would be working in the U.S.  and I love it. It’s been seven years and we’re still going strong.

For the past eight years Kelly Stegenga has been perfecting the art of baking and pastry-making. The Ohio native moved to North Carolina after completing her externship with Pinehurst Resort and has since fallen in love with the state. She chose baking and pastry-making as a profession from her love for sweets and has been the head chef at Amélie’s... a French Bakery since last May. Stegenga takes her work seriously and spins her own artistic touch on the torts, tarts and petit fours that the French bakery has become known for.

Creative Loafing: Has baking always been an interest? Or was it something that you got into after you started as a chef?

Kelly Stegenga: Well, I always enjoyed cooking and being in the kitchen, including baking. I would always help out my mom when I was younger, and I would make dinners when I got older. Then when I was in high school I decided that I wanted to go to culinary school. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be baking and pastries or the regular culinary program. But I decided on baking and pastries because I love sweets.

What makes your pastries “French”? How are they different?

They don’t have a lot of food coloring, and they are far more traditional in style. No bright-colored roses on them, they’re not like Harris Teeter or Food Lion cakes. No Disney characters or sports teams on top. And we use a lot more eggs, cream and butter. French baking is actually pretty fattening.

So you work at a French bakery; you ever been to France?

I haven’t. I’m kind of scared of flying. They’re trying to get me to go sometime, and I would love to go. I would just have to get over flying.

As a chef, caterer, and former DJ, it is safe to say that Chef Jay Jones comfortably wears many hats. At Chateau Noir, a full-service catering and event planning company, Chef Jones serves as the executive chef. His philosophy is simple: By making all his ingredients from scratch, he’s able to provide you with a culinary experience that’s not only enriching, but also satisfying to your palate.

Creative Loafing: I saw that you have an online cooking show, "Culinary Creations." Is that something you want to take mainstream?

Chef Jay Jones: Yes, eventually at some point in time. I can’t say I’m necessarily like, “Oh, I’ve got to get on the Food Network,” but I try to make it educational for people. I try to make it entertaining, but I want to teach people also, that’s important. Because, a lot of people just refer to cooks, or cookbooks, or a recipe, I want you to be able to come to me for information on something.

If you had a Food Network show, what would it be called and what would be your niche?

Because a lot of people are afraid of restaurant cuisine, like they think they can’t do it at home, I think it would be, "Restaurant Cuisine at Home," where it’s those dishes you get at the restaurant, and people say, “I had this really good, chicken stuffed with this and that, but I have no idea how to make it.” So it’s taking those recipes that people get, and showing them how to make variations of restaurant-style food at home, along with the educational part of it.

Mixing traditional bar food with higher-end dining can be tricky. This is one of the challenges that Pete Tolles has encountered after becoming the kitchen manager for 1300 Southend Tavern almost three months ago. After living in Florida, Tolles has been in Charlotte for the past two years and is mastering the art of mixing tavern cuisine with a slightly more sophisticated edge, all the while incorporating a touch of traditional Southern taste into the Tavern's menu.

Creative Loafing: How long have you been in the industry?

Pete Tolles: I’ve been in the industry for about 16 years now, as far as after school goes. I started when I was a young kid, back when I was 11 before we even had to have work papers. I started off as a dishwasher, worked my way up to a busser, then a server and finally a chef.

How does working in a tavern or bar setting affect your creativity?

Well it’s actually very new to me. Coming in, I was very used to working in country clubs, where I basically started my career. I worked at about nine different country clubs. As far as working in a tavern setting, I’ve never worked in a setting like this before; it’s a little challenging for me. Of course you have to provide regular bar food for people who come in and watch the games.  At the same time you still have to be creative so that you can appeal to people who are just coming in to dine.

Does cooking ever make you hungry?

Actually, no, it doesn’t anymore. I like to taste and everything, but I see food so much that I don’t eat much anymore. As you can see, I’m not very big.

1300 Southend Tavern is located at 1300 South Blvd.

Do you remember waking up to your grandmother’s cooking, and how the mouth-watering aroma filled the house? Chef Donna Cook, of Donna Cook's Personal Chef Services, seeks to rekindle that memory with her specialty cuisine that fuses the familiarity of comfort food with a healthy twist.

Creative Loafing: What would you consider your best recipe? Why?

Donna Cook: I think my best recipe is crab cakes with a roasted red pepper aioli. They’re full of crab, which is unique or different from a lot of other crab cakes that you have. They also can be made very healthy for you. You can bake them in the oven, rather than frying. So it cuts out a lot of the fat. And the roasted red pepper aioli is just phenomenal with the crab cakes.

A lot of chefs are specializing in the healthier cuisine — what distinguishes your healthy cuisine from the rest?

I like healthy food, but I like healthy food that’s familiar or comfort food. So, I like to take everyday foods and make them healthier. About 10 years ago I was diagnosed with diabetes, and if I was going to be successful in managing my diabetes, I had to take foods I was familiar with and make them work for me. I wasn’t very happy with eating the boiled chicken and steamed broccoli.

What’s your least favorite healthy food to work with?

Maybe tofu — I don’t work with tofu very often. I have never acquired a taste for it on my own. So it’s something I try to stay away from. When I do cook it for clients, it’s always trial and error.

Visit her site at www.donnacooks.com.

Toni Belanger has found her bliss, and it's covered in icing. Her bakery, the Ooey Gooey Bake Shop, celebrated its first anniversary April 1 after a challenging year. Not only did a couple of punks burglarize the shop last fall (don't worry, they stole the cash register but forgot the cash), the economy has forced her to lay off 70 percent of her staff and her health has had her in and out of doctor's offices and on an operating table. But, one year in, she's delighted with her staff — comprised of her sister, Tracey, a former Emeril Lagasse baker, Jessica Garon, and two teens who fill in on weekends — and excited about her future prospects for dough.

Creative Loafing: How is it that you own a bakery and you're so thin?

Toni Belanger: The day after Thanksgiving, I had to have my gallbladder removed. Before that I had a tough time eating and my stomach hurt all the time. Now I can eat anything I want. I love the BLT salad from Firebirds; I must eat that 2-3 times per week. I also love our Magic Cookie Bars — they're super sweet. I still can't seem to gain weight, though.

Have you always been a foodie?

No. When I first started Ooey Gooey, out of my home, I didn’t know how to decorate a cake. I could make a box cake with icing and sprinkles look like the most hideous cake you’ve ever seen in your life. I dropped out of Johnson and Wales and hired one of my classmates. That was my training period. We wore out two brand-new ovens baking for neighbors and local schools. My husband, Ted, made the cheesecakes; no one else could. Now I can decorate elaborate wedding cakes, and I love it.

What have you learned during your first year as a small business owner?

To listen to my customers. They come in with their own recipe ideas. Surprisingly, many of them are from New York. They say Charlotte doesn't have enough bakeries. So, on Mother's Day weekend we're closing the shop and I'm taking Tracey and Jessica to New York City for the Bridal Expo. We're going to scope out the bakeries while we're up there and try to find out what our customers are talking about.

Ooey Gooey Bake Shop is located at 10210 Couloak Drive. You can reach them at 704-394-9926.

John Marrino fell in love with two things when he lived in Germany in the 1990s: his wife and locally produced beer. Over there, it's common for each village to have their own brewery ... and he thinks it's about time the Queen City had her own local brew, too. So as Olde Mecklenburg Brewery's beer master, he's modeled the beer off of one of his German favorites, even importing a Bier-Meister to make sure his all-natural, four-ingredients-only brew is in line with the German beer purity law, established in the late 1500s. Good news: It is. Better news: Charlotteans can now pick up freshly brewed beer by the growler Thursday through Saturday. Best news: Growler refills are only $4-8.

Creative Loafing: What kind of beer did you drink in college? Be honest.

John Marrino: When I was an 18-year-old college student in New Orleans, I drank Michelob. That was when I was too dumb to know any better. It was the best beer Budweiser made; it's the only one they make that doesn't have corn and rice in it, which cheapens the beer. My favorites now, of course, are German pilsners.

When was the last time you produced a meal using ingredients from your local farmers' market? It appears that the days of using fresh ingredients have ceased, and have been replaced with the convenience of fast food. This is where Chef Tori Groat comes in to save the day. She is the founder of Eat Right at Home Personal Chef Services. As noted on her Web site, her philosophy is simple: using local, organic ingredients provides us with a closer connection to the foods we eat, makes us more aware of the food providers in our communities and brings us full circle to healthy farm-to-table eating.

Creative Loafing: I read in your biography that you prepare special diets for clients with food allergies. What is the most challenging food allergy to cook around?

Tori Groat: I don’t think any one allergy is tough to cook around. I would say multiple food allergies can be tough. I have really been able to work around that; I have two kids that have multiple food allergies, so that made me very experienced, very quick.

You speak on your Web site about "organic ingredients providing us with a closer connection to the food we eat." How is this achieved exactly?

Well, let me first start by saying that the term organic is really loosely used, and it differs from state to- state.  So anyone can put a label saying organic on their food. With me, I get to see the farmers. I can see when it’s picked, how it’s grown, and these are all things we have lost connection with. Just having that connection with farmers helps me.

For those people contemplating a transition from a McDonald’s diet to an organic diet, what advice would you give to convince them to try organic products?

Well, I have quite a bit of experience with that because I used to be the McDonald's eater. I was very hesitant at first to try organic products, but the taste cannot be beat, it cannot be compared. And the way you feel is a big difference. I heard a quote from a farmer, this put it so well: "Cheap food is neither cheap, nor food." And I love that, because it is so true. We do, we have to make our health a priority by eating real foods.

(photo by Logan Canale)

Chef Darryl Hurts, owner of Spice Makers Personal Chef Services and Louisiana native, believes that when it comes to making good food, passion must be the main ingredient. The Johnson & Wales graduate has established himself as a personal chef where he aims to provide the Charlotte community with food that is second to none.

Creative Loafing: Who are some of your favorite chefs?

Chef Darryl Hurts: I like Bobby Flay. He’s probably one of the ones I look up to the most. Even though people might categorize him as a TV chef or this, that, and the other, his style of cooking is pretty similar to how I would like my food to look, visually. Even if we don’t use the same spices, his presentation is what really captures my eye about his cuisine. He’s definitely one of my favorites. To be honest, I don’t have many more other than that.

What is your least favorite part of working in the food industry?

Probably the fact that it takes away from your personal life, especially if you let it. There can be a lot of cases where a normal day for you can be a 12-hour shift, especially if you work in a restaurant or hotel. And if you’re at the sous-chef position or executive chef position, that’s something that is expected from you on the day- to- day basis — you may not have one day off for the whole entire week. That is definitely one of the things I look down on as far as the industry goes.

As far as me being a personal chef, I had the opportunity to kind of take control of my own destiny, as far as how much time that I’m working, and how much time that I’m not working. Sometimes it’s dictated by my client’s schedules, because I cook for some of the NBA players, so depending on when they’re in town, and when they’re not in town, is kind of when I can do my thing for them.

Why did you choose the track of a personal chef, why not an executive chef at a 5-star restaurant, for example?

When I graduated from Johnson &Wales I started working for a company called Compass Group. I was the Executive Chef for Presbyterian Hospital, so I was on the health care side of things. I also worked at the Johnson & Wales downtown as the Sous-Chef/Production Manager, and no disrespect to the company or anything like that, because I learned a good deal on what’s good and what’s not as far as the industry goes, but it was just one of those things where I think because I rose up in positions so fast, so much responsibility was placed upon me. So there would be days where something would go wrong, and I wouldn’t be at work that day, but it would be my fault. The pressure, I guess can be overwhelming.

But, me being a personal chef, I was able to take that back. If I mess up something, it’s because of me. I rather blame myself and put the blame on me, instead of someone else messing up, and the blame get put on me.

(photo by Logan Canale)