“Fries with burgers on the side.” It’s a clever little marketing tag that begs a larger question: why would anyone create a restaurant concept that makes a leading man out of America’s favorite culinary sidekick, the humble french fry? For Blake Lingle, co-founder of Boise Fry Co., the answer is simple. He just wanted a great fry.

Paul Wegner has been cooking since 1973, starting with his family’s restaurant, The Lantern Pizza, in southeast Idaho. It was during his sojourn in Italy, however, that Paul realized that his perception of Italian cuisine as a boy from small town Idaho was a pale reflection of the genuine article. “The culture of food and wine is what Italy is all about, and I was in absolute shock and awe of the simplicity of Italian cuisine, and at the complexity it achieved by using the food for what it was meant to be, and not some grandiose production.”

While you might expect most chefs to tell you that they were born to cook, Michael Mohica, the owner of Ono Hawaiian Café, is the few I’ve met who has actually said just that. “I was raised in a kitchen cooking with my grandmother in Hawaii, and she taught me everything I know about cooking.” And what he learned, he brings to Ono.