DOWNS, Ill. (AP) - Science teacher Brian Sparks used to look forward to having Ken Myszka in his chemistry class. It followed Myszka's home economics class, and the Tri-Valley High School student often brought something he'd cooked up in there.

Myszka, now 26, left the community to become an acclaimed chef in New York and Las Vegas. But he's back with "a farm-to-fork concept" that already has mouths watering.

Eventually, he and his team will grow all their fresh, organic produce on a farm near Downs, a small town along Interstate 74 in central Illinois, for a "destination" restaurant in nearby Bloomington that is expected to open in 2011.

In the meantime, Myszka and fellow professional chef Mike Mustard provide interactive dinner parties and cooking classes at homes in the Bloomington-Normal area. They also sell fresh harvests from Epiphany Farms at the weekly farmers market in Downs and will offer cooking classes at the Garlic Press in Normal.

His goal is to "bring a better understanding of food, health and well-being" to customers while leaving "the land a better place for the next generation."

"If you can accomplish your dreams in your lifetime, you are not dreaming big enough," Myszka says as he puts together pita chips and hummus as he would during a typical interactive dinner party cooking class. Who knew hummus could taste so good?

Sparks recently attended a dinner party at which the chefs prepared several courses of field-fresh food for the guests. He was not surprised by his former student's talents.

"It was obvious" already in high school that he had a flair for cooking, Sparks said. "It's so cool to see a young person with that kind of passion."

Myszka graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in New York in 2004 and earned a bachelor's degree in hotel restaurant management last year in Las Vegas. While in Vegas, he met his future wife, Nanam Yoon, who grew up in Seoul, South Korea, (they were married five months ago) and future business partner, Mustard. They joined his vision.

Myszka knew how good food could be with quality ingredients, and he decided that food grown organically and responsibly could make a fine experience even better.

The former sous chef at Solo Restaurant in New York and at Company American Bistro says he learned many of his techniques as a saucier at Restaurant Guy Savoy in Las Vegas.

For the home parties, Myszka first scopes out the kitchen to see what he needs and what menu would best suit the event.

He adapts skills learned in Vegas restaurants, where the average plate was $350, to dinner parties in the Bloomington-Normal area where the menu pricing starts at $35 a person. The price includes all food ingredients (mostly home-grown), recipes, equipment and cooking lessons with the experienced chefs for a minimum of eight guests.

"We know how to open an amazing restaurant," he said. It's the other parts they are learning.

They aren't farm boys. Myszka started in Chicago and Mustard in Sacramento. But what they have learned about manure management, natural pest control and general sustainable farming in a matter of months is remarkable.

Just as comfortably as they recite information they have learned from top chefs, they quote the theories of sustainable farming. They've done their homework. Overlooking the south hill of the farm where they live and operate their enterprise in a large, modern house with Myszka's parents, he points to the south and explains at what angle the sun will shine in the winter on their carefully planned winter crops.

Myszka envisions a day when the team will look at the inventory in the garden in the morning; plan the harvest and the menus, and serve extraordinary meals that evening.

"What grows together goes together," he said, waving an arm across the half-acre of crops.

On an August day, the half-acre provided most of the ingredients for bruschetta with poached teardrop tomatoes, roasted peppers, balsam and herbs.

A few days later, it was the source of the morning's picked greens: cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, pickled red onion, lemon and red white vinaigrette with fresh herbs in the first course for a dinner party.

On the farm, they raise grass-fed Angus cattle, free-range pork, pastured chickens and fresh eggs as well as vegetables, fruit and herbs. Across the pasture from the pigs, the chickens are doing their thing in the team's "eggmobile." A mobile home of sorts, it provides safety at night.

Although they take their mission seriously, they have a lot of fun. They named the pigs after different pork products. So far, they have Prosciutto, Pancetta, Mortadella, Bacon, Chops and Loin. Mustard's goal is to come up with different pork names without repeating them.

Myszka sees everything as connected in his sustainable systems. The natural way isn't always the easiest; it takes twice as long to raise cows on grass as to feed corn, for example, and more labor to rotate the animals to keep pastures healthy.

While it's been about four years since Myszka's epiphany, he is now nine months into his three-year plan for getting the unique restaurant open.

While he was tempted by the bright lights and many customers of Chicago, Bloomington is his target town for the restaurant. He is building his production base on the farm and his customer base through the home dinner parties.

The Bloomington Pantagraph is a Lee Enterprises newspaper.