ABOUT US
Chef/Owner Natalie Allesee
Personal Chef Natalie is classically trained, with 15 years of restaurant experience. She spent 4 years as the Senior Sous Chef of the former James Beard nominated Heartland Restaurant, where she fell in love with creating daily changing menus, and working exclusively with local products. She ran kitchens in Duluth, Portland Maine, Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and was most recently the Executive Chef of The Lynhall before leaving to start her own private dining & event focused business. Natalie founded Rowan & Dough on the principals of working with the best products possible, and maintaining quality and accessibility while adhering to the limitations of Minnesota seasonality. She enjoys creating menus that are low waste and showcase Northern inspired cuisine, and is always looking to offer unique perspectives on what dining can look like outside of a restaurant.
Chef Elise Gangesetad
Private Chef Elise fell in love with food growing up on her family farm in Iowa where meals brought people together. She spent many years assisting in the preparation of these meals, and could experiment with different ingredients and flavors. A former teacher, Elise transitioned into the restaurant world for one simple reason: she loves working with food. The former Chef de Cuisine of Khaluna, and Sous Chef at both The Lynhall and Bellecour, Elise brings with her years of experience making pastries, southeast Asian food, French cuisine, and afternoon tea. Looking forward, Elise plans to develop her blog Eats By Elise, where she can catalog her years of recipe development.. Her passion lies in the details, and she loves implementing low waste cooking methodology into everything she does.
About Rowan & Dough
Our Mission
As climate change progresses, and ingredients get more difficult to source & grow, it is paramount that as an industry we start to adapt to an ever changing world. It has to go beyond sourcing locally when it's convenient. We believe that through education & compassion, we can usher in a new era in our industry. This era begins with beyond livable wages & positive cultural influences for staff, food that can be approachable to guests on different economic levels, sourcing well & limiting waste. We aren't perfect, but we do the best we can, and are committed to learning and always striving towards doing better. We all do better when we all do better, so let's all do better.
Our Products
We source our ingredients from Minneapolis & Saint Paul farmers markets, local food co-operatives, & a large range of local farmers What we don't purchase locally, we make sure follows our ethos as an organization.
Our Hospitality
We are honored to take part in your lives. We exist to help you create memories. We custom curate our experiences to fit your needs. Whether it's cooking a familiar dish, or wowing people with elevated menus, our goal is curate joy & connection through the experience of a meal.