A slice of heaven in Chef Gene’s kitchen

By F. Josephine Arrowood
Sun contributor
This summer, area residents and visitors alike have been making pilgrimages to the Cedar City Market, where they are embraced by the warmth of freshly brewed coffee, cinnamon rolled into golden pastries and nourishing, seasonal soups, all created by Chef Gene Payerk. He entered the culinary world less than a decade ago, but has already established a loyal following throughout Leelanau County with his disturbingly delicious desserts and other palate-pleasers.
“I like ‘scratch’ cooking,” relates the quiet, trim man in the crisp white jacket who has presided over Chef Gene’s Kitchen since the end of April. “When I make sandwiches, I could just use the bread here [in the store]. I’d rather make the two-day dough, roll it out three times — in my mind, that makes it a little better, a little fresher.” He continues, “With fast food, there’s a whole generation that didn’t learn to cook from their parents; it’s gratifying to be able to have that knowledge,” and to pass the results on to his appreciative customers.

His cinnamon rolls, bedecked with dried cherries and walnuts, and lightly drizzled with frosting, fly out the door each morning. Architect-builder Dale Scheiern of Cedar delivers his verdict as he reaches for a warm pastry on the store’s big wooden counter: “They’re a unique cinnamon roll; the dough is more croissant-like, with a flaky texture. Gene doesn’t need to rely on frosting to cover it up and give it its flavor.”
Shari Rosinski of Maple City also stops in regularly on her way to work. “It’s the best cinnamon roll in the county,” she declares, gathering enough treats for herself and the 10 women with whom she works at Bahle’s in Suttons Bay.
Other offerings from Chef Gene’s Kitchen include pies with jewel-toned fruits that wink from vents in flaky, hand-rolled crusts, buttery croissants, sandwiches and wraps, and breads that include sourdough, wheat, sourdough rye and dill parmesan. Soups are created fresh daily with mostly local ingredients like wild leeks, morels and asparagus; varieties include beet borscht, roasted garlic potato, cream of broccoli, beef barley and his popular clam chowder every Friday. He welcomes special pastry orders, including birthday cakes, and at customers’ requests has recently launched a delicious Balaton cherry pie made with the sugar-substitute Splenda.
Gene grew up downstate in Warren, a blue-collar, largely Polish enclave on Detroit’s east side with strong ties to the auto industry. After high school, he began work in a factory that created prototypes, such as brakes, for automobile parts companies like Bosch. He also attended Macomb Community College, earned three degrees in the industrial-manufacturing field, and eventually became a manager at his plant.
Seven years ago, at age 35, doctors discovered a life-threatening heart defect that would sideswipe Gene’s steady career, and set him and his family on a course that would ultimately lead to a new, more nurturing life in northern Michigan. After surgery to replace his faulty aortic valve (a congenital condition), and then an endocardial infection that necessitated another valve replacement, Gene faced a year of recuperation, and some hard choices. He quit his manufacturing job, and enrolled in the Macomb Culinary Institute, where he immersed himself in classes that included cooking basics and history, as well as specialties in baking and pastries.
He and his wife Joan, a mammogram technician, also made a momentous lifestyle decision. The couple had honeymooned in Leelanau, and dreamed of someday retiring to their favorite vacation destination. Suddenly, “someday” was now, and in 2005 the Payerks and their two children moved to an 11-acre farm in Centerville Township. There they cultivate 800 viniferous grapevines, asparagus and 80 fruit trees, including cherries, Honeycrisp apples, Asian pears and Red Haven peaches. The family also plans to convert a post and beam barn, restored by Joe Fabiszak of Cedar, into a bed-and-breakfast someday.
Out of the kitchen, Gene enjoys his 1950 Ferguson tractor on the farm, boating on Lake Leelanau, and beach time at Good Harbor with his family. Even with all of the hard work — the chef is in his kitchen at the Cedar City Market every day (most mornings by six a.m.), and also sells his goods at the weekly Glen Arbor and Suttons Bay Farmers Markets — life in Leelanau looks as heavenly as a slice of his cherry pie.
The Glen Arbor Farmers Market continues through August 28, and the Suttons Bay Farmers Market through October 6. Chef Gene can be reached at Cedar City Market at 228-5415.