“When you’re both a chef and an interior designer, the restaurant is your canvas. Such was the case with Mimi Snowden, who shaped her ideas of a creative dining experience in her restaurants Cafe Sparrow in Aptos and the Bleu Spoon in Seacliff. Though she’s now out of the daily grind of running a restaurant, she has emerged as the county’s most prominent restaurant designer, and her creativity and exquisite tastes are in evidence through Santa Cruz, from the swank downtown spots Vida Lounge & Grill and Aqua Bleu to the newly redesigned Stagnaro Bros. restaurant on the wharf to the hot new eatery Betty Burgers in Seabright. From her beautiful Corralitos home, Mimi still keeps her hand in the food side of things with popular cooking classes, works with clients on design projects, and expresses her boundless creative interests by pursuing other, more traditional art forms, including sculpting and crafts. Of her creative energies and constantly full schedule, she says, “I’m really ADD when it comes to these kinds of things.””