The life that Phiner Dike leads requires a lot of energy. Before settling in as restaurant owner and chef at A Phiner Bistro in Cleveland Heights, the striking, Nigerian-born woman traveled the world, studied law, modeled and authored three books. Now, in addition to cooking and running the restaurant, she teaches juicing classes, sails Lake Erie with her physician husband, and enthusiastically gardens.

The energy for all this, Phiner says, comes from juices and organic foods, a way of eating that she shares with others at her restaurant.

“My passion is to teach people how to eat well, how to be well,” Phiner says. “I make food the way we should all eat—nothing processed, canned; nothing breaded, deep-fried.”

Her menu is not all tofu and carrot juice, though. She turns wild-caught seafood and organic meats and vegetables into multi-cultural dishes that draw from Brazilian, European and Mediterranean cuisines. Phiner has loved good food since childhood when, as the oldest of seven, she helped her parents in their upscale grocery store. She broadened her tastes through extensive travels with the family before she came to  the United States as a teen-ager to study law at Cleveland State University.

Although her enthusiasm for law faded, her passion for food remained. Phiner opened her restaurant five years ago in Avon, and moved to the current location in January. The restaurant  fulfills her two missions in life, she says—to eat healthfully and help others do so, too.

Phiner’s book, “Juicing for Your Health,” is available at the restaurant.  

A Phiner Bistro is at 2199 Lee Road in Cleveland Heights, phone 216-320-0688.