Natural-born restaurateur

When Patti Soskin was growing up in St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood and all of her friends were playing house, "I was playing restaurant," she said. Something obviously stuck. Yum! Kitchen and Bakery, Soskin's mob-scene restaurant, specializes in fresh, wholesome fare that's served with a side of the philosophies that define Soskin's life: Choose happy ("That's one of the lines that my husband uses at home," she said. "And we do."). Work hard and be nice to people ("That's from a poster that my kids got for me," she said). "The restaurant allows me to do really nice things for people, and I love that," said Soskin. "Food creates bonds. It heals the soul."