Sue Stultz follows lifelong dream by turning 1900s house into a restaurant
By Anna Skinner
Following a 40-plus year old passion and a 20-year hiatus from school, Sue Stultz opened the restaurant of her dreams.
Beginning from learning to cook with her mother and working with her father in the commercial cooking business, Stultz has been in the cooking and restaurant industry her entire life.
She always wanted to go to school for cooking, but marrying and having two daughters when she was young put her dream on hold.
Yet when she reached her 40s, she joined the Art Institute to follow her passion.
Shortly after, Stultz found a building, or 1900s house rather, for sale in Jolietville, just four miles west of the city, that could be used as a restaurant.
“I looked at it and was overwhelmed at first because it was so large,” Stultz said. “But I had noticed when I walked in the back of the kitchen that one of my dad’s stickers was on a piece of equipment.”
Her father passed away in 2009, and Stultz took it as a sign that her dad was encouraging her to buy the building.
So she did, and named it Heartland Café.
Stultz’s cooking background led her to creating a menu full of all the food she grew up on such as scrapple, potatoes and eggs … and no fryers.
“It’s classic American, but on the healthier side since there are no deep fryers, and I try to use everything as local and fresh as possible,” she said. “That’s the way I grew up, that’s how my mom cooked. I didn’t know you could fry bacon or hamburgers, Mom broiled everything.”
Stultz orders local, receiving her eggs from Barker Farm in Kirkland and her produce from Bilskie Farms.
“I’m really pushing being local,” Stultz said. “I like supporting and helping each other out.”
With only being open for seven weeks, Stultz is still looking for local avenues to purchase ingredients from. The building also came with a beer and wine license, and once she gets settled, she hopes to research on local beer and wine and possibly use places such as Blackhawk Winery in Sheridan or Sun King Brewery.
Within the next year, Stultz said she hopes to put in planters and grow her own herbs people can see when they come to eat.
So far, business has been great for Heartland Café. Many locals come to eat, including the local farms that Stultz buys from.
“Everybody has been real supportive,” she said.
She works the café with her two daughters, Amanda and Elizebeth, and three other employees.
“The thing I like best is just being around my family and watching everyone succeed and watching this business take off,” Amanda said of working with her mom and sister. “I know my mom has worked very hard to get where we’re at now, and I hope it takes off further.”
Stultz said her favorite item on the menu is the scrapple, potatoes and eggs.
“That is Mom to me, whenever I make that I feel like I’m with her,” she said.
Heartland Café is open Tuesday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dinner is served on Friday and Saturday nights until 8 p.m. The café is located at 4160 W. 176th St.
Restaurant favorites
Breakfast: Potatoes and eggs
Lunch: Marinated tenderloin
Menu price range: $3 – $12
Meet Sue Stultz
Age: Will be 50 in September
Family: Husband Tim Stultz, daughters Amanda Turner, 28, and Elizebeth Turner, 23
Pets: A miniature dachshund named Daisy
Hobbies: Cooking, going through the Internet and looking for different variations on traditional products, going to old book stores looking for the 1960s and 1970s recipes and changing them to fit today’s food recipes
