Constable: Essay could win you Downers Grove restaurant and a dream

The Borrowed Earth Café isn't just an upscale Michelin Guide-rated restaurant in Downers Grove. The organic, raw-food, vegan vegetarian eatery started in 2007 as the dream of owners Danny and Kathy Living of Naperville. Now, the Livings want to pass along their dream and give away their award-winning restaurant to someone else with a dream.

"That's such a cool idea to give someone their dream," Kathy Living says. "That's so Borrowed Earth Café."

Contest rules at winyourownrestaurant.com require the Livings to give away their restaurant and everything in it (including startup cash of as much as $5,000) to one winning essayist provided some requirements are met. Each essay must be 200 words or fewer and submitted by Aug. 1. There is a $125 fee for each entry. If the contest doesn't attract 640 people, the Livings can cancel the contest and give back the entry fees.

The Livings pick the top 10, and independent judges select the winner, who must take over the restaurant within 30 days of winning and is responsible for any taxes. The new owners will have the right to change the name, menu and look of the restaurant, but they must work out details with the property manager.

"One deserving, talented person with passion for food and business acumen will be able to live their dream and tell a great story," reads the Livings' contest pitch. The couple got the idea from similar contests aimed at giving away a bed-and-breakfast in Maine and a yoga studio in California.

Giving someone a chance to win a profitable and highly ranked restaurant meshes with the Livings' philosophy of life, which comes through in the restaurant's appearance, food, service, music and overall je ne sais quoi.

"It has a dream history," Danny Living says of the restaurant he started with his wife almost on a whim.

Kathy, who knits during our interview, and Danny, who happily plays his Tibetan Singing Bowl, both give off a hippie vibe, as if they've been in some sort of natural movement their whole lives. But that's not the case.

"Sorry, no hippie dippy, free love, flowers in your hair, Woodstock refugee, tie dye, incense and peppermints, funky monkey, commune story," reads a line from their book about their restaurant. Both 53, they were first-graders when Woodstock offered three days of peace and music. Kathy, who grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and worked in England, once drove a pink Mercedes as a sales director for Mary Kay. Danny, who grew up in Westmont, started as a clerk in the shipping department of a suburban company and eventually worked his way up to a job in IT. They used to be cogs in the corporate world.

"When Kathy met me, I had a buzz cut," says Danny, whose long locks now hang halfway down his back.

Having become vegetarians in the new millennium and thirsting for healthier diets, the couple did a 30-day digestive detox in 2006. Required to eat nothing but raw foods for three days at the end of the detox, the couple discovered that they liked it.

"Three days turned into a week, and a week turned into two weeks, which turned into nine years," Danny says.

In January 2007, they joined a raw food online group and offered up their home as a meeting spot. Word spread and the crowds grew. Eventually, the Livings were hosting dinners for 30 people. The restaurant idea just came to the couple while they were driving.

"I said, 'Yeah, we should open up our own place,' and then the car got real quiet," Danny remembers. "At the time, neither of us had jobs."

They also had four kids.

"Does anyone ever start a restaurant with no money?" Danny asked. Nothing seemed possible, but then the couple worked out a deal to lease a storefront at 970 Warren Ave., near the downtown train station and historic Tivoli Theater.

"When we first came here, no one thought we'd make it," says Kathy, who remembers a heckler informing her the restaurant was "un-American."

"Everything we've done is unusual and different," Kathy says. Their menu boasts "simply the best food on the planet" and puts healthy, natural spins on old favorites.

Borrowed Earth's cheese perogies feature "sunflower seed 'cheese' flavored with garlic, wheat-free tamari, lemon juice and red bell pepper wrapped in thin-sliced root veggies." The Earth Burger is mostly walnuts and carrots. The lasagna has noodles made of zucchini, and a spinach, kale and veggie filling topped with sunflower seed "cheese" and marinara sauce.

When the prestigious Michelin Guide first recommended the restaurant in 2011, Danny almost threw away the certificate. "I thought it was a tire offer, and Kathy said, 'Hold a tick,'" he remembers.

Borrowed Earth Café has made the Michelin Guide three years.

"It's been a place for people with diabetes or cancer, but 95 percent of our customers just like the food," Kathy says, noting customers come from as far away as St. Louis. "We opened it during the recession and we're still here."

With their youngest graduating college, it's time for the next adventure.

"We're butterflies. We'll stay at a job for two or three years and move on," Kathy says.

Spurred on by Danny's interest in the Tibetan Singing Bowl, a complex metal bowl that vibrates at different frequencies when properly struck, the couple are looking into the "healing arts" and music therapy. They want to continue working together on the same dream.

"The more we're together, the hungrier we are for each other," Danny says. "I'll come back from the store, and she'll say, 'I missed you.'"

The restaurant seats 30 inside and another 20 on the patio. The Livings have decorated the restaurant to match their interests. Everything, even the piano, could be changed by the new owner.

"And we have a robin who lives on our patio," Kathy says.

"With four eggs," Danny adds.

Following the legal script of similar contest giveaways, the Livings are ready to pass on their dream.

"I think it gives hope to people," Kathy says. "I'm just excited to see what it becomes next."