Cesar Gutierrez is the culinary director of Pinstripes, which has three locations in Illinois and one in Minnesota, in Edina. (Courtesy of Pinstripes)

Occupation: Culinary director of Pinstripes (four locations, three in Illinois, one at 3849 Gallagher Drive, Edina; 952-835-6440; pinstripes.com)

Age: 39

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? I loved animals, so I wanted to be a veterinarian; and I loved building things, so I wanted to be an architect.

What was your first job in the food industry? My mom had a restaurant in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. So every day after school, instead of going home, I went to the restaurant, where I did my homework and helped with anything.

How did you wind up in the restaurant business? Growing up, I saw my mom grinding it every day. She'd get up at 4 a.m. She'd drive her big Ford truck to the market and load it up with tomatoes, other vegetables, this and that. She didn't come home until 9 or 10 p.m. every single day. I thought, "What a hard life." So, at 16, I became a police officer. In Mexico, it's kind of crazy. There was a lot of shooting and stuff like that. A lot of my friends were killed, and I finally said, "It's time for a change." My aunt lived in St. Charles, Ill. I moved in with her and started to work my way through the restaurant ranks -- dishwasher, line cook, so on.

What are the challenges of cooking at a bowling alley? Before I started working at Pinstripes, I worked for celebrity chef Rick Tramonto in Illinois. It was extreme fine dining. But we took a hit when the economy slowed. Later, I worked at a high-end steakhouse. Same story. The beautiful thing about Pinstripes (with a bistro, bowling alley and bocce ball) is that people expect a burger joint but they get much more. They're blown away by the flavors and presentation. We make every sauce, every dressing and 75 percent of the pastas in house. We cook our pizzas in a wood-burning oven.

What's your favorite dish on the menu? The gnocchi and yellowfin tuna. Gnocchi is very rustic and Old World. We hand-roll it. Then we pair it with yellowfin tuna marinated in garlic and lime, giving the dish a New World flair.

What's your secret ingredient? I've been cooking for more than 20 years, and one of the most interesting things about cooking is you're always discovering something new. Recently, I started cooking with Mexican oregano and espelette pepper from France. But the interesting thing is the French took it from Mexico or South America.

What do you think those ingredients bring to your cooking? The marriage of those two -- the espelette pepper and Mexican oregano -- is really interesting. We have a dish on our menu called Cindy's roasted chicken, and it's marinated in espelette, lime juice and Mexican oregano.

What's something few people know about you? I was a SWAT team police officer at age 16. I don't normally share that with people. I have a 17-year-old kid, and I cannot see him becoming a police officer at that age.

What culinary trend do you wish would die? Culinary trends keep things moving in new directions. I'll look at a trend -- the fois gras trend or the glut of burger places -- and know that in the end it all comes down to good comfort food. That's what we have here at Pinstripes. We don't have a lot of trendy things, but we have a lot of items you can eat every day.

What's something in your career that you wish you had done differently? I wish I'd gone to culinary school. When I was 21 and a sous chef, I asked my executive chef, "Should I go to school?" He said, "Don't worry about it. It's a waste of time. I'll teach you." He did teach me, but it took a long, long time. I was a sous chef for eight or nine years before I became an executive chef.

What's your favorite restaurant? Esca, a seafood restaurant in New York. The chef does very simple things, but pairs the flavors really, really well.

If someone were to play you in a movie, who should it be? Mr. T because he has a nice bald head like mine and he's tough looking.

What's the weirdest food you've ever eaten? Grasshoppers. I liked them, but they were pretty weird.

What's next? I've learned a lot from different chefs, worked under a lot of great chefs, so right now, I just want to pour my heart and soul into our kitchen and help Pinstripes open more stores. (Four Pinstripes are planned around the country in the next few years.) I want to maintain the consistency and provide our customers with great-quality food and service.