Quality ingredients key to New Pioneer Co-op chef’s culinary success

Tony Carter Walsh didn't exactly dream of becoming a chef. But after several years in the restaurant business, the 46-year-old is now leading the kitchen at New Pioneer Co-op, where he was promoted to head chef in November.

Walsh's cooking career began 'out of necessity,” he said, because his family wasn't particularly 'well-to-do.” He'd received scholarships to attend the University of Iowa, but still needed a way to pay the bills.

He worked in Iowa City restaurants including Givanni's, Linn Street Cafe and Taste on Melrose and found himself becoming more 'curious about food from a scientific and anthropological standpoint,” he said.

Learning about food history and culture inspired Walsh to pursue it fully. Although he never graduated from the UI, he became sous chef at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Club - an exclusive restaurant for high-paying donors - under the direction of an 'amazingly talented” and disciplined chef, he said.

After a year in Chicago, Walsh received a job offer from One Twenty Six, a classic French American bistro in Iowa City.

Walsh originally is from the suburbs of Chicago, but his wife, Emily, is from Iowa City. They were considering getting married and starting a family and felt Iowa City would be a better fit to do so, so he took the job as executive chef at One Twenty Six and moved back to Iowa City in 2001 - the same year he and his wife got married.

In 2006, they had their first son and in 2010 they had a second.

For 14 years, Walsh worked at One Twenty Six - as well as its sister restaurants, Hearth and Moonrakers. Working there was his 'first introduction to sourcing local products and developing relationships” with local food producers, he said.

In 2014, Walsh was beginning to consider opening his own restaurant. But his wife was in nursing school and the two realized that he'd instead need to spend more time with their kids. Continuing to work in the restaurant business - infamous for long hours and late nights - was no longer looking like the best idea.

'I was ready for a change,” Walsh said.

He joined New Pioneer Co-op's staff as the prepared foods team lead and two years later was promoted to head chef, filling the absence left by former NewPi chef Matt Steigerwald.

'Matt did an amazing job,” Walsh said. 'He's phenomenally talented and I truly think he's one of the best if not the best in the state of Iowa. It's big shoes to fill.”

Walsh hopes to expand on Steigerwald's work and continue to represent NewPi's philosophy of high-quality, fairly priced, environmentally and socially responsible products - a philosophy he shares.

'When you start with quality ingredients, it's not difficult to make simple, delicious food,” he said. 'We're not giving people drab lentil salads, but healthful food that's also delicious.”

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